Speaking in a recent podcast episode, NBA legend Charles Barkley roasted the modern NBA and likened the product to an extended three-point contest. Barkley, an NBA Hall of Famer turned broadcaster, explained why he hates what the league has become and blamed the long-distance jumper for removing all complexity from the game.
“It’s awful basketball. I hate to be the old get off my lawn dude. No defense, and it’s becoming a three-point shooting contest,” said Barkley via All the Smoke podcast with Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes. “The only thing that bothers me is that [players] just go to the gym and jack up threes all night, and if they make them, they win, and if they miss them, they lose. I don’t mind guys shooting threes but you’re a big guy shooting threes now? If y’all just going to have a three-point shooting contest, just say it.”
Scoring has seen a record spike this season as teams are shooing more threes now than ever before. Seemingly every night, we’re seeing teams drop 120+ points or more in a game and the stars have been going off recently with multiple 60 and 70-point performances in a relatively short span.
While some might equate this uptick in scoring with more talent across the board, others believe a change in defense has a lot to do with it. Unlike in years past, defenses are limited in how they can slow down their opponents, and the rules, as they stand now, heavily favor the offensive end.
For Barkley, and many old-school fans and players, this change is not for the better and it takes away from the overall experience viewing experience for the fans. The 2024 All-Sar game was the perfect example of this modern trend gone wrong, and everyone can agree that it has the potential to become a serious problem.
The NBA Is Investigating The Balance Between Offense And Defense
The NBA will never revert back to how things were in the 80s, 90s, or even early 2000s. At that point, things were too far in favor of the defense, and physical contact was far beyond what should be considered normal for the game of basketball.
The NBA implemented several rules to combat this problem but the pendulum has swung too far the other way. Thanks to the explosion of the three-pointer and a boom in talent around the world, scoring has reached new unprecedented heights with mixed results. On one hand, some would argue it’s nice to see more points being exchanged in every game. On the other hand, the lack of defense across the board has diluted the quality of the product and it’s not a good look for the league.
Now, the outrage has grown so severe that the NBA is considering some major changes. Whether by eliminating the defensive 3-second rule or simply allowing more contact on defense, the league has a number of ways to address the scoring overload, and fans are eager to see what solution they will find.
Buntil a final decision is made, there’s nothing left to do but watch and see which of these players is able to rise above the rest in this crazy, high-scoring era of NBA basketball.
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