Watching the NBA these days will have you watching a bunch of guys camping out by the 3-point line to get their chance at a long-distance shot, and it has made one legendary broadcaster to turn his back on the sport in a way.
During an appearance on Michael Kay’s radio show, legendary broadcaster Bob Costas spoke on the state of the NBA and how a ridiculous number of 3-point attempts per game is ruining its entertainment value.
“What worked for a competitive edge, or at least arguably that’s what the analytics showed you to do, did not work well for baseball as an entertainment product,” Costas said. “And I think the same thing is true – I’m not as close to the NBA now as I am to baseball – but in what I’ve observed, it’s not so pleasing to see two teams combine for 80 3-point attempts in a game. Or to see a potential fast break, and the two guys on the wing run to the respective corners instead of finishing off a beautifully-executed fast break.”
Costas doesn’t like that the game has been reduced to just long-range shooting.
“A lot of the game’s texture has been reduced,” Costas continued. “A three-pointer used to be a punctuation and a big deal. But when it’s a matter of force then I think it loses some of its impact.”
This may be something we can blame on the likes of players like Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Even bottom-tier players are throwing up 3-pointers at alarming rates with not many of them finding other ways to score the basketball.
A simple look at any box score of any game will show a guy taking 8 to 10 shots a game and seven of them will be from behind the arc.
Costas is not wrong, but that is just the state of the game today. Once upon a time, it was all about having a dominant center, but now those centers are shooting the call like guards from the outside.
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