You bring up a great point. And there is more to the story. I see players doing things these days that would've quickly put them on the bench by my high school coach. More often than not our players do not understand how to roll properly after a pick. And that makes a huge difference in whether the pick and roll is effective. They roll the opposite direction and fail to get the picked player on their back. Additionally, our players more often than not fail to take away the baseline on drives and rarely stick their backside on a man when the ball is released by a shooter. I wasn't the most skilled player, but it took no skill to roll the proper way, take away baseline and box out when the shot goes up. Either 1. coaches are no longer teaching these fundamentals, 2. these fundamentals have not been pounded into the heads of coaches like they were to us 30 years ago, 3. players today don't care what their coaches tell them or 4. players don't understand how big a difference these fundamentals can make to the success of their team. It has to be one or more of the above.
On a related note, it seems to me the frequency with which centers come out to the arc to set picks for guards is over done. I understand that it helps open up the middle for guards to penetrate, and perhaps the game has changed enough to make it worthwhile, but it's probably a reason why our big men are getting less and less rebounds. On the other hand, we haven't had a center who can play like a center in years. So maybe getting them out of the action is a good idea
