[EXCLUSIVE] Roland Lazenby Reveals Why David Stern and Suns’ Previous Owner Strategically Made Scoring Easier in the NBA

Since the 2010s, the NBA has seen a tremendous change in the way the game is approached. The game has moved from a tightly defended court to a much more spaced one encouraging pacey play. In an exclusive interview with ‘The SportsRush’s Adit Pujari, prominent author Roland Lazenby explained the change in the game and the role of previous commissioner David Stern and Suns’ former owner Jerry Colangelo played.

Roland Lazenby is one of the most distinguished authors in basketball history. He has followed the journeys of both Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. His 2014 work Michael Jordan: The Life is one of the most decorated works of sports non-fiction. His time and role in the NBA allowed him an intimate peak into the NBA’s changing landscape. In the interview with Pujari, Lazenby discussed this change in detail.

Lazenby began by talking about the success of Phil Jackson and Tex Winter’s triangle offense. He discussed how in 2001, the league began to switch from that style of play to the one adopted by the Suns. 

With the league looking for more ways to indulge its fans coupled with the ever-changing era and rise of technology, David Stern looked for inspiration on how to increase scoring. For this, Stern found the Suns’ Pace and Space style to be the game of the future. 

Lazenby: “David Stern, the commissioner who had presided over this incredible growth in the NBA, he turned over to the second most powerful man in the NBA, Jerry Colangelo, who was a fierce figure who had become the owner of the Phoenix Suns after this career of playing college basketball and then being this powerful, forceful man. He allowed Jerry Colangelo to begin remaking the game in 2001. And of course, at that time came the popularity of the pace and space of the Phoenix Suns, explained by Jack McCallum in his book, Seven Seconds or Less.”

The Michael Jordan: The Life author also detailed how Stern was looking to adapt to the technology. The game was not just about putting people in the arena anymore. The rise of smartphones and the change in the nature of consuming these games led to strategic changes in the rules as well.

Roland Lazenby: “But there was a belief that the game needed to have more and more scoring. That’s how you sell more and more tickets. And the technology was changing. It wasn’t just aboutpeople sitting in the arena. They’re following games on their phones. It’s not that they’re,it’s like they’re having hors d’oeuvres. They’re having a few bites to eat of the game. They’renot sitting in the arena or in front of a TV set. They do. There are still TV ratings andticket sales, but millions more are consuming the game in small bites, in sound bites, and inpieces of video.”

Technology and the new means of consumption of the sport also paved the way for the rise of statistic savants. Lazenby detailed how the love for numbers and statistics and the rise of it all made running the triangle offense impossible.

“More importantly, it brought the rise of statistics, statistics, statistics. (38:01) The mathematics of all of this brought a new age of savants,of people who could measure the game every way possible. But they made it virtually impossible to run a, you know, the triangle offense that brought Jordan and those Lakers their victories,that was an offense that controlled tempo.”

On the changing rules and how it affected the triangle that brought so much success to the Bulls and the Lakers, Roland Lazenby said:

It didn’t run a slowdown offense, but it ranan offense that was very efficient. They ran a control break. Their defense could create fastbreak opportunities, but those bulls would carve you up in the half court with a two-guard front.And the NBA suits that wanted to get rid of that needed to cut the timeline from 10 secondsto eight. That two seconds is really big. If you got two guards slowly advancing the ball,it means you have to rush. And then the reset clock went from 24 seconds on an offensive rebound,where you had time to set up your offense and run it again and get the great shot.

As a rule, the scoring average of the league has risen in at least the last two decades. Last season, the NBA average of 114.7 points was the highest since the 1969-70. At the current rate, this season will likely register an even higher average only proving how significantly the game of basketball has changed.