Perhaps, what MZ meant by “if booster was banned,” was actually: “if the ban on boosters was properly ENFORCED so that nobody could actually get away with using boosted rubbers….”
But I do think you get something different from Hard, Tacky, Non-Catapult Chinese style rubbers.
I think one thing you get from a rubber like H3 is: The SHORT GAME is so much better with H3 that many lower level players may win more games just because of how much easier it makes the over the table game (short game).
The way a rubber like H3 works, the more you put into it, the more you get out of it on power shots.
So, for a lot of amateur players, H3 might make it harder to play, at least until you really get used to how to use it. But for a pro with a lot of power, who trains with it a lot, one of the advantages in the attacking game is: YOU CAN SWING SO MUCH HARDER AND PUT SO MUCH MORE POWER BEHIND YOUR SHOTS WITHOUT LOSING CONTROL, that you can end up with shots that have the same top end speed but A LOT more spin.
And I think I have already talked in another of MZ’s threads that also seems to be focused on top end speed without consideration of how much more important SPIN IS.
So, there are many reasons why a top pro may choose to use a rubber like H3.
But, coincidentally, some of what I spelled out above may in fact be why so many top Chinese players seem to fade and retire so much younger than so many players from other countries.
If the equipment they use gets it’s best effects from a player who can use MAXIMUM EFFORT on EVERY STROKE, this is much more useful for a younger player who can do that to his body hour after hour match after match training session after training session.
This is much harder for a player a little older.