Player trainer David Thorpe told ESPN that the rule changes in the NBA, such as the handcheck rules, have made basically every minute played more intense, which would mean fewer minutes doesn’t necessarily equal a lighter workload.
“Being an NBA player is far more work now. Tom Thibodeau is the guy who figured out how to take advantage of the new rules. And watch his teams. The minutes now are so much more intense. There is movement all the time, unless you’re guarding isolation, which is rare. And it’s movement towards action. There’s more contact. There’s more mental fatigue. There’s more to do,” Thorpe said.
“Ask coaches who were in the league before and after, like Rick Adelman or Pat Riley. They'll tell you. There’s just so much more to defense these days.”
