In an appearance on ‘The Herd,’ NBA Commissioner Adam Silver made a promise that the NBA will address one of its biggest developing problems: the oversaturation of three-pointers. Silver has heard the fan feedback but stressed that there’s a delicate balance at play.
“I agree to the extent that you start to see very similar offenses around the league. Teams have a brand, teams have an identity, Joe Dumars is a colleague now at the league office. The Bad Boys, I think the Showtime Lakers. So I recognize that offense can tend to look very similar we lose that at the same time, the league is going through a transformation,” said Silver.”
“Players like Victor Wemanyama, players like [Nikola] Jokic, are doing things that big men have never done historically. It wasn’t that long ago that we would bemoan the lack of skill among some players, that there was a sense there was too much physicality around the game.”
“You had the Hack-a-Shaq era. You had big men who just couldn’t shoot free throws but there are no big men anymore who can’t shoot. So I think we just gotta be careful.”
Many fans and experts have complained about the high volume of threes in NBA games, which may account for the recent drop in ratings. Some have even called for the NBA to implement some kind of rule or restriction to nerf the three-pointer but Silver explained how the process isn’t as simple as it might seem.
“I don’t want to knee-jerk move the three-point line. We’re going through a process now, seeing how these players are adapting to the new rules and figuring out whatever changes we should make. I wish it were as simple as just moving the three-point line back because then we would just do it.”
“Part of the concern from the basketball folks is that if you move the three-point line back, you’ll end up clogging up this area under the basket and that’s not such attractive basketball either. I think this is doable by examining the game and seeing where this is going… I assure you, we are on it. I think it’s a very fixable issue. As stewards of the game, we’ll tweak it. We will correct those issues.”
Stephen Curry and the Warriors dynasty revealed the full power of the three-pointer and teams have been racing to exploit it ever since. The result has been a league that revolves around the perimeter, with every offense looking strikingly similar to each other.
The lack of variety and over-reliance on shooting has resulted in some ugly games over the years but there’s no clear way to fix it right now without creating a worse problem. The plan for Adam Silver and the NBA is just to wait things out and give the players more time to adjust to the new rules.
If the problems persist, the NBA might step in once they figure out how to properly address the issue. In the meantime, they will be watching closely as the action progresses to see how the ratings and overall product on the court are affected by the three-point meta.
Thank you for being a valued reader of Fadeaway World. If you liked this article, please consider following us on Google News. We appreciate your support.
