In an excellent three-part interview with ESPN's True Hoop blog posted Tuesday, Stan Van Gundy shed some light on how he approached defending players as a coach.
While the answer isn't surprising, Van Gundy was candid about how the hand-check rules of the early 2000s changed his approach:
One of the big ones that's changed a lot, even more than the illegal defense rules, is what you're able to do with your hands out on the perimeter guarding people. Your team defense became a lot better because it's becomes a lot harder individually to guard guys.
Van Gundy also commented on how rule changes have made centers less involved on offense:
I mean, you can front the post and bring another guy over behind him. You could never do that kind of stuff before. Certainly the rules have contributed to that. And I also think, you combine the rules with now, how are you still going to be able to get the ball inside because you don't have a rule that artificially gets your post guy some room?
The entire interview series is definitely worth a read.
