Can't remember the last time I've watched an entire NBA game. After watching about half a quarter I get bored or frustrated with all the weak foul calls and pointless three point shots and I turn it off.
I remember when an NBA team has only 1 at most 2 three point specialist (like chess, everybody has their own role). When ray Allen shot a 3, it feels really amazing and very important because it was rare. Now everyone is just shooting 3 pointers, it became boring.
Exactly my point also 💪💪💪 even those uncontested layups and dunks doesn't feel the same because they are uncontested. Back then you always said ohhhh or ahhhh when a dunk or a nice layup was made in the traffic. Now everyone moves out the way. In my opinion all of the fun elements are gone, contested layups/dunks, bigman game inside, fadeaway jumpers in the middle, all players had thier different roles, good defense, variety in the game or between teams, franchise players who stays with one team instead of chasing easy money, lack of interest/passion in general, no trash talking, no competivness. All of that is pretty much gone since about 10-12 years ago
The worst take of all: "The players are more skilled now!" (as they forget how to shoot the middy) while ignoring that _when you only take one to three 3pt attempts per game, a far higher proportion of your total 3pt attempts are going to be end-of-quarter AND shot-clock beating chucks/heaves._ ...compare that to now, where players take many more 3pt shots in rhythm - with spacing - to give the shooter more time before the closeout gets there. Players also now will intentionally avoid taking end-of-quarter heaves - just to keep their self-serving 3pt% "up". (as they forget how to shoot the middy)
@@jbiehl8478 Nah. That's an excuse. Despite more foreign talent in the NBA, the vast majority of the best players are still from the USA. We have LeBron, KD, Steph, Harden, Kyrie, Booker, Kawhi, AD, etc. That team on paper would smash the best of the rest. And most other Olympic teams only have a small handful of NBA players, with most of them not being stars. So it's definitely not a matter of talent. Pretty sure we lost to a team led by Patty Mills. 🤢
The defense is there. They need to emphasize more. There's more space to cover because of the three pointer...forcing defenders to cover more ground to contest shooters. And that's why teams play more zone type defenses...to occupy the "zone" of their nearby offensive player but also able to provide help-side. Or teams, for the most part, play man-to-man but just provide hell of help-side.
Basketball has been ruined for years. Did people really think the game would get more challenging once they practically removed players' ability to play defence?
They call too much contact and the refs are inconsistent. They also need to put some techs and big fines on all this flopping. I would say if they catch a flop after reviewing tape that’s a fine. If they catch it in game, especially after a review it’s a tech & a fine.
@Daniel Harper dont blame the warrior boy for being so goddamn good that everyone want to be a wannabe warrior like blame the other team for abandoning their style and focusing on 3 now
@Daniel Harper sure sounds like it……so tell me what you mean not even the warrior can shoot like the warrior cause that shit is dumb as fuck like go on tell me
If by bs you mean time advancing forward than yes, Chucks old head mentality assures me that EVERY ASPECT OF HIS ADULT LIFE is managed by a much younger, much more consciously aware individual. To be fair, that's all older people minus the ones actively embracing change and progress 🤷♂️
I can't even watch an NBA game today. There's no physicality. What would Shaquille O'Neal do in the NBA today? Rick Mahorn? Dennis Rodman? It's all threes and easy layups. Sucks.
Just sprint to the basket, take the ball and score. They can’t foul you. If they do take your free throws and more than likely, three point plays. Because who the hell can stop those guys at full speed?
AGREE!!!!!! This one really affect me lol I'm the type of guy who hussle under the basket and it is so frustrating that everytime I play pick up games 4 of my teammates is relentlessly jacking up 3s leaving me under the rim fighting for rebounds against 4 defenders lmao
Definitely and completely. It's equivalent to throwing balls into a basket at a funfair event . Nothing more. NBA is now owned and monopolized by the irritating teeth guard showman steve curry. There's no more curry left for basketball fans to look forward to. I for one have lost interest completely in NBA games nowadays.
Bro, I was watching highlights months back with the Lakers vs Magic with Los Angeles playing in Orlando. I kid you not, there was not one mid-range jumper in the whole highlights. It was all threes or layups with the occasional dunks. Super boring game.
For too many teams today, the NBA game devolves into a style of play that resembles offensive drills. The lack of defense (or offense that seeks to challenge any defense) is astounding.
Super hard to play aggressive defense when if you breathe on a dude, you've just gifted them 3 shots from the stripe and if they nailed their trey, they are turning in a 4 point play. Can't chance a 4 point swing so no defense and hope you hit your three at the other end to keep pace.
Why......hand checking is really holding a player to negate his quickness......it's like pushing a player with your arms extended ......it's an obvious foul.
What’s even more frustrating is lot of these guys aren’t even good free throw shooters. Before we were taught don’t even try to take 3s if you can’t make your free throws.
Everyone has one go to move. The three pointer. Talent has left and all you're stuck with now is a lot of Steve Kerrs out there looking like the GOAT of this era. Steve could have done what they're doing too, but back then we understood there was more to basketball than just standing and jacking up 3s. 🤣
Worst things about today's nba: Too many weak fouls, cannot play real defence without being in foul situation, no hand checking, too many flops, superteams (can't beat them, join them), travels (the 0 step has to go). I don't think there would be as many three point attempts if there would be hand checking and that some contact would be allowed.
I would gently use my forearm against my opponent in pick up games. I never would push them, but I could feel which direction they would go while keeping my eyes on the court and the ball. It was a bit of an advantage to compensate for me being sorter and skinnier. But they would cry foul, referencing NBA rules banning contact.
LITERALLY!! I used to watch entire NBA games or entire highlight videos, but now I simply CANNOT watch an entire game and just skip to the end of the highlight videos.
BRING DEFENSE BACK When players are pushed to the limit that's when they get creative. See how intense the NBA was 20 years ago and how aggressive they were. I'm not saying they should go back to 80s basketball but just allow more contact.
I actually believe that bringing physical defense back can minimize the injuries thats plaguing the league now. Players now only have to rely on their lower body to keep up with the man they'r guarding. Let them use their upper body to slow down the offensive player.
Absolutely this. We don’t need the Pistons’s rugby style, but simple hand checking, one forearm in the back when posted, body on body contact for rebounds etc. Let men be men. I would much rather see a 7 footer banging for position that standing behind the arc waiting to jack up a three. It’s just mind numbing to watch. I’ve been a basketball fanatic all of my life, and I’m 51, but I just can’t watch a full basketball game anymore. Sure, the shooting skills are higher than they have ever been overall, but the rule changes over time have ruined the beauty and passion of the game.
Modern players in general are *not* more skilled than players from earlier eras. The *league* has recruited players with different skill sets, because of how the rules have changed. But there is no way that Nikola Jokic or Giannis Antetokounmpo is "more skilled" than Kareem Abdul-Jabar or Hakeem Olajuwon. They may have developed *different* skills, but that's not the same thing as MORE skill.
@@iironhide6209 Still not true. The modern NBA in 1960 had 8 teams, drawing from a U.S. population of 180 million people. Now they have 30 teams, drawing from a U.S. population of 328 million people. While the league now *does* get 22% of its players from overseas, the number of NBA players selected per capita has gone up by about 60%, while the average age of the entire country has increased, meaning the real talent pool from which players are drawn is even smaller. Add to that the fact that more and more NBA prospects aren't completing college programs, and enter the draft from their sophomore year and earlier, and you've got a league stuffed with players who haven't learned fundamental skills, and have little incentive to learn, since half the league is actively tanking in lieu of competing. You've got a league full of raw players whose only real training comes from their high-school coaches, and for most of them, there's no incentive to improve their skills, because they're already getting huge paychecks. This is how a guy like Ben Simmons who either can't or won't shoot from more than 5 feet from the hoop is considered an all-star. Had he spent another 2 or 3 seasons at LSU learning his craft, he might actually have developed into a well-rounded player. The fact is, the NBA has changed the rules to adapt to the reality that they have more teams than they have talent, and the players they're getting are raw, and will take years learning on the court to have a chance to learn what they should have from a proper basketball program. So, they make defense irrelevant, and turn the game into a shoot-around. When Phil Jackson went to NY and tried to get them to adopt the triangle offense, the players wouldn't do it. It was too complex, and requires players to make decisions based on how the defense sets up, as opposed to just running predictable screen and roll plays. My point here is not that modern players are *unskilled*, but suggesting that players from previous eras were less skilled betrays a simple lack of understanding of how the league and the game have changed.
I coached a middle-school basketball team. They all wanted to jack up threes all game long. As soon as I got them to understand ball movement and that it's easier to score the closer you are to the basket, they started winning more games.
Yup. Cp3 still plays like an old school pg. Devin booker plays like an old school SG. Crowder plays like your old school defender/shooter like bruce bowen, shane battier, trevor ariza etc, and Ayton just pound it inside the paint like an old school center. What they only missing is an old school power forward.
@@myblacklab7 i think its still beneficial for all players to play have a 3 point shot in their arsenal. Just dont let them make a living on it and focus on their position's specific roles.
@@jmgonzales7701 nah, your big needs to be under the boards rebounding, blocking shots, and making anyone coming into the lane think twice. The big getting out to the perimeter just weakens the entire team in my book. If your big doesn't want to be a big but wants to be a perimeter player, then that is a soft big that needs to move on, imo..
I don't mind the 3's, it's the lack of Defense. Every drive down the lane is an easy lay up or Dunk. No one challenges anymore, they just get out the way. There's no intensity anymore, especially on D.
Even late 2000s to early 2010s was awesome. Basically the end of the David Stern era. The star power was still strong but you had VARIETY. From the way teams played, to shot selection to cast of characters, etc.
The current NBA is like watching some old white men's recreational league down at the YMCA. The only difference is how often the 3 point shots are made. Boring. Bring the 90s back.
I do. I live in Memphis, and the Grit and Grind Grizzlies were the shit. GSW first championship with Curry, they even said the hardest series, was against the Grizzles, because they actually played old school defense first basketball.
I found it entertaining when the warriors were doing it and shortly after that. But for the past year watching NBA has been boring compared to watching Magic Johnson era highlights
Good point about the Magic highlights. I think the essence of the game that people really appreciate is passing. Teamwork involving more than one player is always more interesting in the long run than 1 on 5.
Remember for years people thought the San Antonio Spurs were boring? Over the years I've learned to appreciate their fundamental, unselfish play-style; it's honestly beautiful to watch. We owe them a big apology because this un-fundamental game is just horrible to watch.
@@samuelbach1631 There really is no solution- analytics have changed sports forever; even if they took the 3 point line away completely- the analytic effect on that is unpredictable. Its never going to be the style of basketball we like ever again
Simple answer.....YES, I agree 100% with Barkley, If you grew up watching the NBA in the 80's, 90's and early 2000"s then you witnessed NBA basketball at it's highest level.
introduce a flopping contest during the all star break to go along with the dunk and 3 pt contest but let the fans decide who participates. it should be marketed as an embarrassment if selected to participate. that way, players will try their best not to flop during games and get humiliated by being selected to the flopping contest!
Jacks from thirty five feet by players that would have struggled to even get minutes in prior decades. Flops so bad they ought to be in a bad B-movie. Free walks to the basket down an unguarded lane. Nobody even acting like they have any understanding of what a rebound is or why your team might want one once in a while. So many isolation plays that I don't understand why the other four players don't go sit down and take a break and get a drink for 20 seconds. It's ugly. It's eliminated so many interrelated skill sets that used to make watching basketball fun. I hate it...
I miss the 80s and 90s when game were more akin to combat than a game of HORSE. Big men battling inside, brutal fouls that sometimes aren't called when everyone in the league knew that player had it coming. But full disclosure, I stopped watching the NBA when Stern conspired to get the Sonics out of Seattle and into OKC. I wouldn't watch it today even if men were playing it.
Remember Hack-a-Shaq? Nobody could really stop him inside, so they'd just foul him and watch him make one out of two free throws. It was a legitimate strategy.
Yes. Three pointers at right time by real shooters were something special and dramatic at times. Sir Charles nailed it. NBA back than was so much more fun than now. Basketball used to be my favorite sport to watch. Not anymore
The one thing that drives me crazy is soft defense because they're so afraid of the kick-out. Let a team take their big's and just dump it into them all day. Nobody can stop them because nobody plays defense in the paint anymore.
Larry Bird punching someone after bodies fell. That was the NBA I love. There's rivalry. Nay, intense physical rivalry. It's not just the 3 Point that's ruining the game.
If coach Bobby Knight would have been the Denver coach when they pulled this stunt he would have thrown around every single chair in that stadium!!!! 3:50 Lol!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The 3 has taken over, it’s gone from a luxury to a necessity. It kills me when a guy passes up a layup for a 3. Don’t know what they’re gonna do to fix it,. One good thing a game is never over.
the league should extend the 3pt shot to maybe 24-25 feet, brings the mid range in to prominence once again, bigs would be able to actually post up and have a mid range game, Curry, Trae,Lillard become more unique with their consistent 30 footers, u can have the offensive uniqueness of the late 90’s/early 2000’s with modern spacing and better skilled players
Its entertaining watching guys like Curry, Lillard and Trae all pull up from deep, but guys like Giannis or Aron Baynes or even Harden shooting 13 3s per game (2019) is dumb basketball
@@bloatedstomach1678 especially they're wasting their height like it makes sense when lillard and curry do it, because it is their weapon for the lack of height what about 7 footers? it's just a waste
Maybe, I just want to see more variety in scoring, it's getting boring otherwise, watching MJ go to work with his mid range footwork moves was a thing of beauty.
@@andrewm7351 your right. A skilled guy moving without the ball and firing away fron mid range us much more effective than some clown firing 3s all day with no one under the basket...thats how talented and very smart guys llike john havlicek got off
Unstoppable players in the paint are generational talents. You don't see them often. If you do, their aggressiveness won't last more than a decade. Injuries will kill them. Once their paint aggressiveness decline, they'll start learning or resorting to shoot midrange.
Haven't watched an entire NBA game in over 15 years. The problem isn't so much the 3 point attempts. That will eventually balance itself out. The problem is that there's no defense anymore, which artificially pads the stats and makes people think today's players are great. Not a one of them would have survived a week playing back in the day when they had to face real defenses. Anybody looks like a great player if they are on the Globetrotters playing exhibition games against non-existent defense, and that's what the NBA has turned into. It's one reason why the Jordan vs. LeBron debate is such a joke. If LeBron had played his career in the same era as Jordan, he'd probably be ranked somewhere around 50th best player of all time if he even survived. Pistons would have obliterated him.
Totally ruined it. I get bored after 10 mins highlights of the finals, forget watching an entire game of regular season. Intensity is not there either. I go back watching MJ and Kobe, way more fun and more strategic way to play basketball. Today's game remind me of friendly I used to play with other kids after training, when the manager had gone home and could not see the sh*t we were pulling.
I've seen this in any game. It takes time for players to play from cool moves to efficient ones. The 3 point era is a result of players reaching for maximum efficiency in order to win. People will always, ALWAYS resort to efficiency in the end.
shooting 3's is not efficient. Going to the hoop is far more efficient. Players nowadays are too scared to go to the hoop and take the approach of: I shoot 50 shots in a game, I'll make 15 of them and end up with 45 points on 30% shooting, which isnt even that bad. Downfall, which they dont consider is that opponent grabbed 35 rebounds and made them into 2 point conversions, thus scoring 70. Now who is efficient??
That's just a terrible take. It's pure phisics. The longer the shot the less eficient. All you need to do is look at the box score and compare % from 3 and 2. It's just dumb to say so. What DAntoni once said: "if you're gonna take a LONG 2, you might as well take a 3". I agree with that. However some idiot translated that to saying that the 3 was more eficient than a 2 and everybody ran with it. That's just not correct. Some other idiot said "33% from 3 equals 50% from 2". While mathematicaly this is correct their assuming you're taking an equal amount of 3pointer vs 2pointer which rarely happens in the NBA. Again, it's a dumb thing to say. Going strictly with analitics is just bad for basketball.
First point. Charles Barkley is always refreshingly unbashedly right. Second I like how they objectivity analyzed the current style of play in the NBA. I completely concur with both points.
I, too, concur withe the major points. But I dispute the idea presented in this video that this is the most talented group of players the NBA has ever had. The game is supposed to work in two directions: offense & defense. There is virtually no defensive talent on display worth noting. That is partly a function of the rules but it is also a function of sheer defensive laziness, which has become an endemic characteristic of the league.
@@DoctorHver Wilt, Bill Russel, Sidney Moncrief, Michael Jordan. Yeah, they will clamps and force current player to shoot 25% from 3 and 35% from mid range
Found this video after watching the Olympics Final between US and France. Haven't watched basketball since mid 2000s, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why both teams were shooting so many damn 3s. Big men with 12 to 14 seconds left on the shot clock dropping 26 footers, nobody in the paint, the whole thing seemed weird to me. Thanks for your video, great explanation of how the game has developed, though I now can't see any reason to get back into basketball
I do think it’s weird when you see so many three point attempts where NO ONE IS REBOUNDING. In these situations it really is a case of ‘if it goes in we win, if not, we lose’.
It depends. If it's like Steph or Dame who are a wonder to watch, it's fun. I just hate that that's all the teams try to replicate instead of variation. It's fun to see sharpshooters along with the bangers in the paint.
The great defensive games are no more. NBA games turned into a three point contest. They've taken the fundamentals out of this beautiful game. Totally agree with Barkley.
Steve Nash’s suns back in 2005-10 really started this change. They were deadly back then. The famous 7 seconds or less offense . Now the whole league adopted it and refuse to play defense
To me, Steve Kerr is the biggest reason why the 3 point era came way faster than it probably would've. Steph was the mascot, but Kerr was the mastermind. And yeah, the people who are saying that it's ruining basketball do have a legitimate reason to think so. There definitely needs to be a better balance. Also who else is looking forward to GS vs POR?
I was watching the Celtics and Nets last night and I had to turn the TV by mid-2nd quarter. All they were doing was shooting 3s. It was like go down the court and shoot a 3....other team go down the court and shoot a 3....repeat over and over and over.
I wouldn't say that the three point shot is exclusively the reason for the NBA's issues (I enjoy watching less than in past seasons), but it is a reason. Like some have said, the foul baiting, the flopping, defensive fouls that should actually be offensive fouls, the poor officiating, referees having frail egos in general and being whistle-happy, and watching star players take as many free throws as anything else is what's ruining basketball. Let me ask something: Prior to LeBron James, when did we ever see the biggest superstar in the NBA writhing on the floor in feigned agony to draw a call on contact that never occurred, much less getting a warning from the league for flopping?
Teams jacking up threes all game long does get really boring. I miss the midrange game, and the post-up game too. Let bigs be bigs. 👍 But things won’t change until/unless the league moves the 3-pt line out some, especially in the corners (which will require widening the court).
I’m fine with the shooting. Some parking lot threes with 20 seconds left on the shot clock are pretty frustrating. But what bothers me the most is the ridiculous fouls. You can’t hand check anymore, but even when a defender just has his arm out, all the shooter has to do is flail into the defenders arm and it draws a shooting foul. That seriously should be an offensive foul. The shooter is initiating the contact. I know its a different point from 3ball basketball. But when we are already seeing the best shooting from players we’ve ever seen, defenders can’t even defend in today’s game. That’s what ruining the game.
Every team learned the wrong lesson from Golden State's dynasty. While it proved the 3 pointer is indeed a more valuable shot, the thing gm's and coaches should've taken away from it is that a team that plays to its own strengths will always be better than a team that is trying to emulate someone else.
I agreed with all your points. It is definitely the case that the 3-pt era has its pros and cons. I just want to add a point regarding the spacing that it provides. As the area of defense get wider, there is more space for each team to work with. I think more plays and strategies are created due to this fact. And it makes the game more diverse.
I wish more people would see this video Please show my man some love because this takes are at the top of the yt community. One of just a few people that can change my perspective on the nba in a few minutes More content like this and he'll blow up in a month or two
I wonder how the great passing teams of the pre-3 point shot NBA, such as Red Auerbach's Celtics teams, and the late 1960s - early 1970s New York Knickerbockers would do in the NBA now if they played their same "old style" of interior passing, cutting to the basket, hitting the open man, and taking high percentage shots - - - and hitting the boards for offensive rebounds. In 1993 my high school had an alumni varsity basketball game, with varsity players from the 1960s and 1970s against varsity players from the 1980s and 1990s. At one point in the game, at age 45, I was the youngest player on the court for the 1960s-70s team. We had been coached to play basketball the "old" way. The 80s-90s team had been coached in the 3-point way. When we (the "old" were on defense, we found that defending "the perimeter" was far easier than the defense we had to play two or three decades earlier. On defense, the 80s-90s team was unable to defend against interior passing and 8 foot to 12 foot shots. The "old" way won. With that in mind, the question isn't "How many 3-point shots would Rick Barry, or Tommy Heinsohn, or George Yardley, or Jack Twyman, or Oscar Robertson make now, but would the players now be able to stop their "old" style of play?
I’d pay to watch today’s NBA experimenting a game or a few without the three point line (pre 1980s) and see if the players get exposed to their weaknesses (fundamentals, low post games, etc). The players that have played in the 1980s, 90s, and even the early part of 2000s were coached by those who experienced the game (pro or not) without the 3s.
Actually all you’d need to do is start calling the rules by the old ways again, especially those pertaining to ball handling. It’s so much easier to get a good shot off when you can take 3-4 steps, shuffle your feet and “cradle” aka carry the ball whenever you please. Start calling the rules the old way and fundamentals come back.
I haven’t watched basketball religiously since 2018. Every team plays the same and a lot of good players are out of work because they can’t shoot three’s it’s sad. I hope the game becomes more diverse but at this rate layups and dunks will become more rare.
Watching the GSW in 2015, I thought it was amazing to watch, but there was no way they'd keep winning with that strategy. I was wrong, but I think I would've been right if they were any other team in history.
Amazing. I use to watch the NBA during the 90s and stopped around 1998. 2 years ago I started playing an online basketball game where I'd play characters at the centre position and I'd get mostly random positive messages from players like "you're the best C I've ever played with" "you dominate. You make the game fun." But then 1 day this guy sends me a long rant telling me the game isnt played like that anymore and I need to set up more 3 point plays. I didnt know what the hell he was talking about until a few months ago when I started watching vids like this. Incredible it's gotten like this.
The metrics which show the superiority of the 3 over the 2 may work over the course of the regular season, but not necessarily in the playoffs. In a 7 game series we are dealing with a compressed 4 to 7 game "mini-season", where one or two 3pt. 'cold streaks' (far more common when you are taking lower percentage shots) can end your season. Relying on 3s in the post-season is a losing strategy.
Well said buddy, really well said. It just doesn't work so well during the playoffs. A high volume of 3-point shooting is just a fraud strategy, nothing more.
It’s fun to see your team hit a three but when the game is running back and forth between the three point lines and hacking it up it’s really really boring.
I'm a football fan first and foremost. If all of a sudden some team discovered how to break football by playing in some bizarre fashion that was technically legal and technically way more effective at putting points on the board would I be upset about it? Would it make football unrecognizable the way 90's basketball and 2020's basketball are to each other? Maybe. It would change the way the game feels to me because I know the difference. A young person today doesn't understand what basketball was like in the 80's and 90's, so they're entertained by what they see. I'd be mad if football looked fundamentally different, but that would be my own problem. I used to love watching basketball but after the Warriors run I haven't had much interest. Everyone's emulating them.
To see how much the NBA has changed into a glorified 3 point contest, Reggie Miller's highest average number of 3s attempted in a season was 6.6, now players like Klay Thompson, Stephen Curry and James Harden average more than that for their entire careers
The game now consists of players standing at the three-point line ball watching, nobody is playing defense, and nobody is cutting to the basket trying to get easy layups. Just a whole bunch of players just standing around doing nothing, it's the most boring game ever.
When people say it’s the most entertaining I’m honestly dumbfounded. Everyone plays the same, pick and roll leading to a finish or a 3 point shot. No uniqueness at all just fucking boring
And they say players of today is more athletic? Maybe bcoz they can dunk with no one in their face. One time I have seen all 5 players standing behind 3pt lines, forward and center position empty. Creating a 3pt shot is athleticism to them.
