There have been dramatic changes in the way basketball is played over the years. The modern NBA has the most freedom in team offenses in the history of the league. This allows players like Luka Dončić and Nikola Jokić to have free rein over the court despite their position. And Michael Jordan’s former Bulls teammate Craig Hodges says that this is the exact reason he wouldn’t want to play in today’s NBA.
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Just another typical cross-generation beef, of the ‘Oh, things were so much better back in the day’ kind of stuff? Not quite. Hodges does have a point. The NBA he played in was very different from the NBA of today. Teams generally had a much simpler approach to generating offensive looks, for instance.
Many coaches followed the philosophy of, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ If someone scored on a set play, they would run the play until that player missed a shot. In many instances, Jordan wouldn’t miss a string of possessions. However, that applied to every player, not just the superstars.
The difference in the modern NBA landscape is that positions don’t hold the same value as they once did. Hodges revealed his distaste for this development on the “All the Smoke” podcast. Hodges isn’t a fan of the ‘every player playing in every slot’ kind of approach seen nowadays.
“I’m so glad I played when I played,” Hodges proclaimed. “It was more cohesive. It was more formalized basketball from the standpoint that it was a position game. Now it seems like it’s positionless.”
Hodges listed two players as prime examples of his take. He brought up Lakers superstar Luka Dončić and three-time MVP Nikola Jokić.
Typically, a big man would play strictly in the post, but Jokić initiates Denver’s entire offense. In earlier eras, teams would have slotted Dončić as a forward rather than a guard due to his height and build. But that is no longer the case.
There is some validity in Hodges’ statement. He isn’t bashing today’s game but just voicing his opinion. Aside from a handful of isolation plays, teams didn’t have such free-flowing offenses. Each action led to a specific outcome.
Nearly every team in the NBA functions through a read-and-react oriented offensive style. This includes plenty of drive and kick looks to get the defense moving before taking an open shot. The lack of certainty in touches for a role player like Hodges resulted in his stance.
But the NBA will keep changing as players and the game evolve. Hodges may not be the biggest fan of how the NBA plays now, but that could easily change in the coming years.
