By Holden Hartle

Basketball, even outside of the NBA, goes through different waves of how people play the game. Normally spearheaded by a small group of players, a new style of play will burst onto the scene, and it will actually cause teams to modify their roster. That is long and convoluted, so let me give you some examples.

Through the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s, the NBA was led by several different stars that all had their unique styles of play. Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell dominated the league in the 60’s, while the revolutionary scoring of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar took the league by storm in the 70’s.

During the 80’s, the faces of the league were Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. But, during this era, the idea of grit and grind is introduced. This is the idea of playing tough defense, fouling hard, and showing the rest of the league that you are the toughest guy on that court.

The 90’s popularized the ideas of the pick and roll and isolation basketball, or ISO for short. The pick and roll was executed to perfection by John Stockton and his counterpart Karl Malone. The way Stockton and Malone pulled this off is something that NBA teams are still trying to perfect today. And, then, there’s the idea of ISO-ball, popularized by none other than Michael Jordan. His coach, Phil Jackson, created an offense in which Jordan would get the ball at the top of the three-point line, everyone would give him space to let him work, and Jordan would score easy buckets. It’s basically like a 1v1 between Jordan and the defender. ISO-ball, as well as the pick and roll, are both present in the league today, but the grit-and-grind mindset of the 80’s players are for the most part gone, with a few exceptions of course.

The reason that defense in the 80’s and 90’s was so prolific is because of hand checking. Before the 2000’s, you could place your hand on the offensive player’s hip to help dictate where they are going. In the 2000’s, the league ruled against it, which allowed people like Carmelo Anthony, Allen Iverson, and Kobe Bryant to play the same kind of ISO-ball that Jordan did, except with much more ease, as their defender is basically helpless without hand checking.

For the 2010’s, the revolutionary style of basketball has to do with the three-pointer, popularized by the Splash Brothers, Klay Thompson and Steph Curry. Though the three pointer had been in the league since the 80’s, no superstar made the three pointer a sole part of their game. Yes, Larry Bird could shoot the ball, but he was also an amazing defender and playmaker. Though Ray Allen could shoot the ball, I wouldn’t necessarily call him a superstar. And, though superstar Kobe could shoot 3’s, he could basically shoot from anywhere, and his main attack was the mid-range shot. But, Steph Curry took the three pointer and made it his primary way of scoring the ball. While playing in college, many scouts saw him as a risky prospect. He was small; he was thin; his defense was subpar, and many didn’t think that he could be a playmaker. Nonetheless, he proved all of them wrong by winning back-to-back MVP’s and becoming a three-time NBA champion. But, as for the three pointer, it is normally seen as a weakness if you can’t shoot 3’s. Even centers, who have historically stayed in the paint are forced to come outside of the paint and their comfort zone to help their team stretch the floor.

For the 2020’s, who knows what the NBA could become? A rule change could drastically change the way the game is played, like with the hand-checking rule. In any case, I’m sure the NBA will stay relevant and exciting for decades to come.

Editor: Makena Behnke