In a recent episode of “The Old Man & The Three,” former NBA sharpshooter JJ Redick raised some eyebrows for his rant on college basketball.
The segment was his response to a “knucklehead” fan who proposed that NBA teams could hold their opponents to 70-80 points if they “played as hard as college kids.”
Redick didn’t hold back in his answer…
“First of all, it’s just math. The shot clock is longer, so there’s gonna be more possessions in an NBA game. And there’s 8 more minutes of basketball. So, f**khead, that’s not possible. Secondly, what he doesn’t understand is, you watch college basketball, I’m like, these guys have not evolved their philosophy since the 1980s or 1990s. It’s ridiculous. Same sets that I used to run, that I used to watch growing up, that Kansa used to run. Bro, do you know why it’s so hard to play defense in the NBA? It’s not cause we can’t it’s cause there’s f**king space and the players are so good.”
JJ’s college basketball rant >>> pic.twitter.com/bCU6jsrCI0
— Jason Gallagher (@jga41agher) April 6, 2022
Everybody knows that NBA players are the best in the world at what they do. It seems, however, that not everybody fully grasps just how far the gap is between them and everybody else.
Every year, debates can be found comparing the talent of college players and NBA guys. The tweet JJ was referring to in his podcast was posted less than two weeks ago.
I love all the arguments I'm seeing today about the "quality of play" in college hoops, or "the product" or whatever.
Trust me, if NBA teams played 48 minutes of defense like Houston and Nova are tonight, we'd see a lot of games in the 70's and 80's in that league too🤦♂️
— Aaron Torres (@Aaron_Torres) March 26, 2022
Apparently this has somehow become a controversial take.
All I'll say is, in 2005, the NBA changed the hand-checking rules. These were the scores of the NBA Finals games the year before – with a half dozen Hall of Famers on the floor.
You're allowed to disagree if you want🤷♂️🤦♂️ pic.twitter.com/oZftW4MzrJ
— Aaron Torres (@Aaron_Torres) March 26, 2022
It is true that the NBA’s rate of scoring has increased tremendously over the years. Thanks to tweaks in the rules, and the adaptation of the three-pointer, teams are scoring more now than they ever have before.
But to say that college players are better defensively (or try harder defensively) than their NBA counterparts is a stretch that not many are willing to make.
After JJ’s mini-rant this week, it’s clear that a lack of effort isn’t the problem for pro-ballers. Guys are just too darn good for anybody to slow them down.
