he’s joking but it’s true. i find myself half-watching, half-ignoring the games lately because of the lack of variety. it’s become so predictable with almost all teams prioritizing 3s in virtually all of their sets and actions.
Trapshooter09
Get rid of the moving screens on the perimeter and the defense would come back. It’s not basketball.
Part of the problem to me is that defense is the “character” aspect of basketball. It doesn’t get the same highlight reels or stats, so for the game to “test” and reward that, good defensive teams should win the actual game more often. Without it, we’re just going to see more and more self-centered chuckers enter the league.
teddybendherass
The man who popularized the short 3 is mad.
I love Pop but man is a curmudgeon fr
musicalpants999
I don’t think he said no one wants to play defense just that the rules make it difficult to do so. The rules are too tilted to offense now.
Trapshooter09
They need to do something about it. Past the obvious rule violation…players get leg injuries a the time from this. And don’t get me started on “flopping”. It’s not basketball either.
Ziobot
Players don’t play defense because the leagues favor offense more now, with a lot of rules to limited defense players.
-Jfree-
if rule changes where the only reason defense has become worse then it would be an issue in the playoffs as well. i just think teams have decided more and more thaat it is not worth trying 100% on defense in the reg season and since all teams do it its like an unspoken agreement. reg season has become an 82 game pre season for the playoffs. you can clearly see in the playoffs how much harde people close out on 3 point shots and it is way better.
trevortins
Itās because the league has become the same for most teams everyone is trying to get as much threes as possible except for the few teams whoās stars are good at taking 2s. Lakers, bulls, bucks and suns to name few who have stars that either excel at the midrange or scoring in the paint.
Everyone so running the same defensive sets and using illegal screens, defence has become a disaster.
Acrobatic_Switches
Make it a 3 point zone a couple feet out from the line. Put a 3 point circle at the logo so its not completely discounting the deep 3.
richmuhlach
Reverse it. Make scoring in the paint 3 points, mid range still 2 points, then anything outside the three point line just 1 point. Watch Boban become MVP.
TinTinsKnickerbocker
Man Pop used to have better jokes
Worstname1ever
Call travels and call moving screens. Bring some balance back
FG3000
Is this not the same type of “old man cloud” stuff heard when dunking became a thing?
motorboat_mcgee
Nobody is *allowed* to play defense anymore.
basketball1959
Just get rid of the 3 point shot and make it a regular bucket:) That’ll piss everybody off!
44035
LOL, he has a point.
Senmonov
Players are better and offence is so much more complicated. Further, the advent of people utilizing the 3 point line has effectively increased the size of the court.
Itās not that players arenāt playing hard. They are playing harder then ever. Watch a 90s a game and watch what individual players actually have to do on defence.
You watch a 2001 Lakers game and Shaq may not come above the free throw line the entire game. You arenāt seeing players forced to make multiple rotations and play multiple defensive coverages.
Watch a game from 1995 before zone defence and and you see 4 players standing around on one side of the court and one player isolating on the other side.
The rules are also issue. You can hardly contest jump shots anymore without a foul. Hard contest donāt happen. Players constantly foul bait. Moving screens are the norm. And, almost no contact is allowed.
Players are playing harder than ever, itās combination of rule changes, 3 point play and just more complex offence in my opinion.
relivesa
Old man yelling at clouds
AShinyTorchic
āNo one wants to play defense anymoreā
The rules donāt allow for it. Blame the NBA/refs for making defense impossible to play without fouling
-KFBR392
They need a 3-point equivalent for the big men. Change the rules so that a dunk is also worth 3-points, it’s the most exciting play in the sports, let’s reward it that way.
MrErnie03
Better players, better shooters, more spacing is just going to lead to more points. The rules don’t help, but it’s mostly a result of an increase in skill across the league
PM_ME_SOME_LUV
Anymore?
Valuable_End_515
Make dunks worth 3 points. Then at least guys who play inside will have a equalizer.
EsquireDr
Reminder that this was 4 years ago and NBA rules committee still didnāt get the hint: https://streamable.com/wjxt6
NBA has turned into a game of superstars who draw free throws
Atl-Fan_FTS
So the four point line really was created to give the white man a chance?
mjy6478
Or maybe the 82 game season is just too long and teams are going through the motions on defense. Iāve noticed the gap widening between points per game in the regular season vs the playoffs. There is no way teams are gonna an average 110+ points like they are right now come playoff time.
dvnrussell
The three point line could disappear and offenses would still absolutely take shots from the perimeter. The fact that it’s harder to defend is a big part of the reason. NBA shooters shoot about the same 21, 22, 23 feet away as they do 5, 10, 15 feet away.
RollLocal1804
Make the half-court line the four-point line and then if you make it from inside the three-point arc on the other side of the court that’s five points.
WarriorBearBird
What if I told you the NBA doesn’t actually want anyone to play defense anymore?
OhlookSILLagain
“No defense” yet nothing to back up this statement. Overall fg% is the same, steals are the same, blocks are the same. You’d think there’d be a statistical change to represent this lack of defense claim.
laz10
The offensive player is allowed to carry, slap you and push off, even fully extending the arm into the defender
If the defence touches them it’s a foul and then they shoot after and get an and 1
If you jump straight up and the offence jumps into you, that’s a foul. A pump fake and then jumping into an airborne defender shouldn’t be a foul
Defence isn’t allowed
Bladewing10
The NBA became boring when teams started to score 120+ points every game. Thereās nothing to watch any more, no match ups, no defensive stands. Itās just running back and forth jacking up shots or dunking, thereās no finesse anymore. Itās not just the rules of defense being gutted to encourage more scoring, itās also the huge amounts of fouls refs call and the fact that players canāt show emotion without getting a tech.
Yes Iām an old man yelling at clouds, but thereās no reason to watch regular season games any more, and even a lot of playoff games are just as boring.
IAIRonI
This newer ‘era’ of basketball has made me not appreciate stats at all really. So many 40+ pt games and triple doubles etc.
pBeatman10
/r/nbacirclejerk Is “No one wants to play defense anymore” the new “No one wants to work anymore?” Very classy take.
CoolstorySteve
As a casual fan I am only able to watch the playoffs where everyone is playing at 100% intensity. The regular season is just one big all star game.
StraightShootahh
Itās a combination of things. Thinking Basketball has a really good [video](https://youtu.be/6IPXSqOhykg) on how scoring has been made easier in the NBA.
Essentially the rules have just become more and more tilted towards offense. The one that grinds my gears the most is offensive players being allowed to initiate contact and draw fouls.
Sure, if a players in your space and shooting motion but you canāt just barrel into players and get rewarded.
Combine that with 4-out spacing and some natural evolution of the game and you have the offensive boom that we have now. Where RS games just become 3pt and FT contests.
40 Comments
he’s joking but it’s true. i find myself half-watching, half-ignoring the games lately because of the lack of variety. it’s become so predictable with almost all teams prioritizing 3s in virtually all of their sets and actions.
Get rid of the moving screens on the perimeter and the defense would come back. It’s not basketball.
[Video](https://twitter.com/sny_knicks/status/1610785927647100928) of him saying that
of course nobody wants to play defense
league obviously doesnt care about defense
refs too
award voters couldnt care less
etc
Part of the problem to me is that defense is the “character” aspect of basketball. It doesn’t get the same highlight reels or stats, so for the game to “test” and reward that, good defensive teams should win the actual game more often. Without it, we’re just going to see more and more self-centered chuckers enter the league.
The man who popularized the short 3 is mad.
I love Pop but man is a curmudgeon fr
I don’t think he said no one wants to play defense just that the rules make it difficult to do so. The rules are too tilted to offense now.
They need to do something about it. Past the obvious rule violation…players get leg injuries a the time from this. And don’t get me started on “flopping”. It’s not basketball either.
Players don’t play defense because the leagues favor offense more now, with a lot of rules to limited defense players.
if rule changes where the only reason defense has become worse then it would be an issue in the playoffs as well. i just think teams have decided more and more thaat it is not worth trying 100% on defense in the reg season and since all teams do it its like an unspoken agreement. reg season has become an 82 game pre season for the playoffs. you can clearly see in the playoffs how much harde people close out on 3 point shots and it is way better.
Itās because the league has become the same for most teams everyone is trying to get as much threes as possible except for the few teams whoās stars are good at taking 2s. Lakers, bulls, bucks and suns to name few who have stars that either excel at the midrange or scoring in the paint.
Everyone so running the same defensive sets and using illegal screens, defence has become a disaster.
Make it a 3 point zone a couple feet out from the line. Put a 3 point circle at the logo so its not completely discounting the deep 3.
Reverse it. Make scoring in the paint 3 points, mid range still 2 points, then anything outside the three point line just 1 point. Watch Boban become MVP.
Man Pop used to have better jokes
Call travels and call moving screens. Bring some balance back
Is this not the same type of “old man cloud” stuff heard when dunking became a thing?
Nobody is *allowed* to play defense anymore.
Just get rid of the 3 point shot and make it a regular bucket:)
That’ll piss everybody off!
LOL, he has a point.
Players are better and offence is so much more complicated. Further, the advent of people utilizing the 3 point line has effectively increased the size of the court.
Itās not that players arenāt playing hard. They are playing harder then ever. Watch a 90s a game and watch what individual players actually have to do on defence.
You watch a 2001 Lakers game and Shaq may not come above the free throw line the entire game. You arenāt seeing players forced to make multiple rotations and play multiple defensive coverages.
Watch a game from 1995 before zone defence and and you see 4 players standing around on one side of the court and one player isolating on the other side.
The rules are also issue. You can hardly contest jump shots anymore without a foul. Hard contest donāt happen. Players constantly foul bait. Moving screens are the norm. And, almost no contact is allowed.
Players are playing harder than ever, itās combination of rule changes, 3 point play and just more complex offence in my opinion.
Old man yelling at clouds
āNo one wants to play defense anymoreā
The rules donāt allow for it. Blame the NBA/refs for making defense impossible to play without fouling
They need a 3-point equivalent for the big men. Change the rules so that a dunk is also worth 3-points, it’s the most exciting play in the sports, let’s reward it that way.
Better players, better shooters, more spacing is just going to lead to more points. The rules don’t help, but it’s mostly a result of an increase in skill across the league
Anymore?
Make dunks worth 3 points. Then at least guys who play inside will have a equalizer.
Reminder that this was 4 years ago and NBA rules committee still didnāt get the hint: https://streamable.com/wjxt6
NBA has turned into a game of superstars who draw free throws
So the four point line really was created to give the white man a chance?
Or maybe the 82 game season is just too long and teams are going through the motions on defense. Iāve noticed the gap widening between points per game in the regular season vs the playoffs. There is no way teams are gonna an average 110+ points like they are right now come playoff time.
The three point line could disappear and offenses would still absolutely take shots from the perimeter. The fact that it’s harder to defend is a big part of the reason. NBA shooters shoot about the same 21, 22, 23 feet away as they do 5, 10, 15 feet away.
Make the half-court line the four-point line and then if you make it from inside the three-point arc on the other side of the court that’s five points.
What if I told you the NBA doesn’t actually want anyone to play defense anymore?
“No defense” yet nothing to back up this statement. Overall fg% is the same, steals are the same, blocks are the same. You’d think there’d be a statistical change to represent this lack of defense claim.
The offensive player is allowed to carry, slap you and push off, even fully extending the arm into the defender
If the defence touches them it’s a foul and then they shoot after and get an and 1
If you jump straight up and the offence jumps into you, that’s a foul. A pump fake and then jumping into an airborne defender shouldn’t be a foul
Defence isn’t allowed
The NBA became boring when teams started to score 120+ points every game. Thereās nothing to watch any more, no match ups, no defensive stands. Itās just running back and forth jacking up shots or dunking, thereās no finesse anymore. Itās not just the rules of defense being gutted to encourage more scoring, itās also the huge amounts of fouls refs call and the fact that players canāt show emotion without getting a tech.
Yes Iām an old man yelling at clouds, but thereās no reason to watch regular season games any more, and even a lot of playoff games are just as boring.
This newer ‘era’ of basketball has made me not appreciate stats at all really. So many 40+ pt games and triple doubles etc.
/r/nbacirclejerk Is “No one wants to play defense anymore” the new “No one wants to work anymore?” Very classy take.
As a casual fan I am only able to watch the playoffs where everyone is playing at 100% intensity. The regular season is just one big all star game.
Itās a combination of things. Thinking Basketball has a really good [video](https://youtu.be/6IPXSqOhykg) on how scoring has been made easier in the NBA.
Essentially the rules have just become more and more tilted towards offense. The one that grinds my gears the most is offensive players being allowed to initiate contact and draw fouls.
Sure, if a players in your space and shooting motion but you canāt just barrel into players and get rewarded.
Combine that with 4-out spacing and some natural evolution of the game and you have the offensive boom that we have now. Where RS games just become 3pt and FT contests.
hey pop, worry about your tank job first aight?