A lot of old heads in the NBA complain about the waning physicality in the league. Kevin Garnett has repeatedly lamented the lack of intensity among the current players too. Recently, on his pod KG Certified, he complained about the missing “competitive energy” among current players. Draymond Green responded to this charge on his podcast, the Draymond Green Show, and urged KG and other old heads to accept the NBA as it is and get used to the change in the style of play.
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While lauding KG for “keeping it real”, Green did admit that a part of the yesteryear competitiveness is “lost”. However, he reflected that many may laugh during one-on-one situations, but they’re still trying to “kill that dude [opponent]”.
The 2017 DPOY also urged people to look at the difference in eras and how social media has captured the scenario. He argued that this is an era where “people who don’t know shit” will give out an opinion and the players have to deal with constant social media criticism from all corners. The forward believes that dealing with such criticism is not a worthy exercise.
“All the other stuff you have to deal with, coming from everybody who knows nothing. That’s when you like, “I don’t really know if I even want to deal with that”. Sometimes it’s just not worth it,” Green opened up about social media pressure.
The forward added that the NBA is at the “highest level” it has ever been as it is difficult to sustain your place in the league without developing shooting skills. Because of the additional burden of increasing the skillset, he asked the detractors of the current era to “stop it” and remarked that the “game is in good hands”.
As the debate regarding the quality of competition across the era gets brought up again, old heads and new-age athletes are at the intersection. In this wake, Gilbert Arenas, who lauds modern talent constantly, explained why the current NBA is perceived as “soft”.
Gilbert Arenas blames the refereeing for the loss of physicality
Arenas blamed the current perception of modern NBA players being less physical on the rule changes. As per the straight shooter, players complain to referees regarding foul calls because they are told that certain type of contact is not allowed. He expressed, “You can’t say I am soft because these are the rules. I’m designing my game off of the rules.”
He also explained that it could be argued that the preceding generations were “soft too”. As per Arenas, in the era preceding Michael Jordan, people could commit flagrant fouls and get away with it. However, that started changing at the turn of the 20th century. This is why Agent Zero thinks that every generation can argue that the generation following them is not tough enough.
