The three-point revolution has been unanimously dubbed as the way forward for the NBA for some time now. But a few voices from the past still lament the game that was lost in the process. Chicago Bulls’ former guard, BJ Armstrong, thinks that basketball has become pretty much unwatchable because of its predictable small ball plays.
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Shaquille O’Neal, who made just one three-pointer during his four-championship-winning career, sparked a conversation around this by sharing Armstrong’s concerns with modern offenses.
In conversation with Mo Mooncey of ‘Hoop Genius’, Armstrong said, “NBA personnel, executives, head coaches, analytic people, [they] tell me to my face Mo, a 2-point shot now, is a bad shot. We only want three shots. We want the corner threes, layups, okay, or we want to get to the free-throw line.”
The 1994 All-Star played alongside Michael Jordan for the first six seasons of his career. MJ’s offensive skillset, which relied heavily on the in-between game, helped Armstrong win three NBA championship rings. Therefore, he finds the devaluation of the mid-range shot to be a travesty.
“So, when I go watch the game, there’s no more creativity, there’s no more imagination. We have basically robots running up and down the court. ‘You run to the three-point line, I run to the three-point line,’” Armstrong added.
There is certainly truth to his comments as the NBA’s reigning champions, the Boston Celtics, are currently defending their title from the three-point line. With 50 three-point attempts per game, they are on pace to easily surpass the record for most three-point attempts in an NBA season.
“It’s more fun for me to go watch a pickup game than to watch the NBA right now. No one plays the same exact way in the pickup game but when you watch an NBA game, everyone plays the same exact way,” the former Bulls guard concluded.
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Clearly, Shaq shares the concerns of the veteran guard as he re-shared Armstrong’s interview clip on his Instagram stories.
Shaquille O’Neal blames the three-pointer for all-time low ratings
As an analyst for TNT, O’Neal is still heavily involved in the game that made his name. However, he has admitted that modern games are becoming hard for him to watch. Unfortunately for the NBA, he isn’t the only one, as viewership this season has gone down by as much as 28% on ESPN.
The Big Aristotle, echoing BJ Armstrong’s sentiments, explained why he thinks the league is struggling to capture eyeballs. “It’s down because we’re looking at the same thing. Everybody’s running the same plays. At the top of the key, dribble handoff.”
Like many of the legends from his time, O’Neal believes that the league will continue to face a downward trajectory as long as every team follows the same strategy. He even pointed to Stephen Curry for bringing about the offensive revolution that has prompted a standardized offensive playbook in the NBA.
“Steph Curry and those guys messed it up. I didn’t mind Golden State back in the day shooting threes, but not every team is a three-point shooter, so why does everybody have the same strategy?”
