[boarman1]

Question: What would happen if you transported an officiating crew from 1989 to the present day?

These referees would call modern-day NBA games the same way they did in 1989: illegal defense, hand-checking permitted, more contact allowed in general, stricter enforcement of carrying/palming the basketball, "Hack-a-Shaq" allowed. What present-day teams would be the best under yesterday's rules? Which teams would suffer the most?

https://sports.yahoo.com/cj-mc-collu...184128783.html

[Michelson Morley]

Don't know enough about NBA to give a good response, but let's open it up to other sports too... In baseball, the main thing would be the strike zone. In the 1980s and 1990s, we had a short, wide strike zone. Today we have a tall, narrow strike zone. This has also changed the way that pitchers pitch, e.g., you can't "back door" a slider over the outside corner anymore -- it'll be called a ball. If today's pitchers pitched to the 1989 strike zone, they'd be outraged about not getting the high strikes.

The other thing would be calls on slides at the plate. In the old days, catchers were permitted to block the plate, so the way for a runner to come in was to drop the shoulder and try to knock the catcher over. Now, a catcher who blocks the plate will be called for obstruction (which, IMO, is the way it always should have been), and a runner who comes in aiming for a crash stands a good chance of being ejected.

[NikNak]

Thanks for asking this question and opening up a new discussion.

I have renamed this thread accordingly.

Welcome to Sports.