A big fan of punchlines, Charles Barkley rarely keeps his tongue in his pocket. Recently, he notably explained to cash why he no longer liked watching the NBA… Words are strong!
Retired for more than 20 years now, Charles Barkley has however remained very close to the orange ball. Today commentator for TNT, he analyzes daily the news of the big league alongside Shaquille O’Neal, notably. The opportunity to hear him drop a few wild phrases like during his career, but also to benefit from the immense experience of the old interior.
Yet, according to the Hall of Famer himself, he’s not very thrilled about watching the NBA these days. In fact, as he explained during a passage on the Dan Patrick Show, it does not even give him any pleasure! The reason for this? The style of play currently advocated, focused on shooting behind the arc. For Barkley, this takes a lot of its flavor from the sport:
Charles Barkley doesn’t like excessive outside shooting
To be honest, it’s not fun for me to watch the games, because it just became a three-point shooting competition. There are times when I watch a game, and a team has managed to create an open boulevard because they are playing three points, but they are not trying to attack the circle. And my biggest problem is that we have guys now who shoot at three points and who don’t know how to shoot.
We can sense the adage “It was better before” coming from the Chuckster, who played at a time when trench wars under the circle were paramount. Nevertheless, he raises an interesting point: some athletes who are little or not predisposed to three-point shooting now find themselves trying their luck behind the arc, in order to show that they can contribute in the field. This is particularly the case for the big men, who always deviate more from the circle with a few exceptions.
On the other hand, it is hard to believe that the situation will improve from Sir Charles’ point of view in the future. The advent of Stephen Curry and the Warriors has profoundly changed attitudes within the big league, and the game has been transformed. In a sense, you could even say that it made basketball more accessible to the public, the shoot not being fundamentally about athleticism. An aspect that the NBA will exploit to the maximum, for sure.
Charles Barkley does not hide it, he is not a fan of the current game at all. Unfortunately for him, this is not about to change, and he will have to live with it… especially since he is commenting on it on television.
