James Worthy on state of NBA: "All they do is practice threes … get tattoos and tweet"

[vital_signs]

JJ calls out Cousy - how dare he
Worthy calls out today's game - how dare he

[druggas]

They have more specialized training now than they ever did. Dude is just angry they get paid more and get to live better lives than they did back then.

What does he have to be angry about. He's got more money than he can spend, and college education, and the fame to be one of the greatest. Sounds like he's tired of what the NBA has become.

Sounds more like he's kvetching about 40 years of evolution in the game that it isn't exactly the same as when he played. He's also full of it and very wrong, and running his mouth like a fool.

You sound foolish in your post.

[tsherkin]

You sound foolish in your post.

"All they do is practice threes ... get tattoos and tweet" is obvious BS and just an old man being crusty. Maybe leave your ad hominem at home and focus on the fact that the quote itself is just nonsense.

[Ballerhogger]

JJ calls out Cousy - how dare he
Worthy calls out today's game - how dare he

Seriously

[1bigfan13]

LOL, if a basketball player from today were to transport back to like 1985, they'd be like 'so these guys just walk up the court, stand around for a few minutes and then shoot a weird hook shot or a mid-ranger?' They'd look slow and worse at every major skill part of the game.

This is literally the opposite of what basketball in the 80s was like.

Hell, you wouldn't know it by looking at them but even Larry Bird's Celtics were an up and down team that liked to push the pace.

[druggas]

You sound foolish in your post.

"All they do is practice threes ... get tattoos and tweet" is obvious BS and just an old man being crusty. Maybe leave your ad hominem at home and focus on the fact that the quote itself is just nonsense.

Seems like you don't want any player's opinion unless it coincides with yours.

[bballfan1three3]

any player born after 1993 can’t play... all they know is three’s , charge they defenders, tweet, be bisexual , eat hot chip & flop

What's wrong with hot chips?????

[tsherkin]

You sound foolish in your post.

"All they do is practice threes ... get tattoos and tweet" is obvious BS and just an old man being crusty. Maybe leave your ad hominem at home and focus on the fact that the quote itself is just nonsense.

Seems like you don't want any player's opinion unless it coincides with yours.

I'd like for their to be a baseline level of accuracy that doesn't conform perfectly to an old man yelling about the state of the world not being the same as it was during his youth. And that's what Worthy is doing. I don't mind if he doesn't like the way the modern NBA looks, it's inevitable that some people prefer what they grew up with or whatever floats their boat, but slandering a generation is just an old man being a jerk.

[og15]

They have more specialized training now than they ever did. Dude is just angry they get paid more and get to live better lives than they did back then.

Do you know him personally to conclude this?

Of course it's hyperbolic, and it's an exaggeration, no doubt, but how do we know he's just mad that they have more opportunity to be successful with basketball?

[JRoy]

He’s right

[og15]

LOL, if a basketball player from today were to transport back to like 1985, they'd be like 'so these guys just walk up the court, stand around for a few minutes and then shoot a weird hook shot or a mid-ranger?' They'd look slow and worse at every major skill part of the game.

This is literally the opposite of what basketball in the 80s was like.

Hell, you wouldn't know it by looking at them but even Larry Bird's Celtics were an up and down team that liked to push the pace.

Yea, that's in no way 1985, that's like 1959

[tsherkin]

LOL, if a basketball player from today were to transport back to like 1985, they'd be like 'so these guys just walk up the court, stand around for a few minutes and then shoot a weird hook shot or a mid-ranger?' They'd look slow and worse at every major skill part of the game.

This is literally the opposite of what basketball in the 80s was like.

Hell, you wouldn't know it by looking at them but even Larry Bird's Celtics were an up and down team that liked to push the pace.

The 86 Celtics were 16th of 23 in pace, but yeah, it was a shade over 102, haha. They boogied. And they liked to use the post a lot, which makes this all the more interesting, right? McHale, Bird, Parish (be it a hook or a middie), they actually had a really nice half-court offense. But they also hustled off of defensive rebounds and pushed tempo when they could get behind a defense that wasn't abandoning offensive rebounds for transition D the way a lot of more contemporary teams have done for a long time.

Surely, they didn't just walk up the court and hang around. But actually, I think he was trying to be sarcastic, and say something about then as daft as what Worthy said about the modern league.

[DoctorX]

James should have stuck to specifically criticize the game instead of the players but with that being said I agree with him on the game just being a 3 point shooting contest.

[DoctorX]

James should have stuck to specifically criticize the game instead of the players but with that being said I agree with him on the game just being a 3 point shooting contest.

[madmaxmedia]

He forgot, “…and play COD.”

[SalmonsSuperfan]

Worthy neglected to mention that they also eat hot chip and lie

[kenwood3333]

he forgot about
-play video games
-date ig models

[LuDux1]

any player born after 1993 can’t play... all they know is three’s , charge they defenders, tweet, be bisexual , eat hot chip & flop

And vaping instead of consuming cocaine

[Kilroy]

I think he was being nice...

[HotelVitale]

LOL, if a basketball player from today were to transport back to like 1985, they'd be like 'so these guys just walk up the court, stand around for a few minutes and then shoot a weird hook shot or a mid-ranger?' They'd look slow and worse at every major skill part of the game.

oh yea, cause when I think of James Worthy I definitely think of him just slowly walking up the court and standing around for a few minutes. Log off 12 year old.

Yeesh, bud. Not my fault if you haven't checked out a game from the 80s in a while, I'm having some fun with it but not saying anything controversial. That's when I fell in love with the game and don't think it's 'worse' in any sense, but yes the game was obviously more compact back then and there's no conceivable way you can argue that players were more skilled then. And the sets were a lot of jostling around awkwardly before the scorers or big men flung up shots when they got positioning they liked. I get that that was what 'skill' meant then and I definitely think those guys were amazingly good at that version of skill, but yeah almost everyone 1-5 is better at the basic stuff now (dribbling, passing, shooting) and the pn'r and spacing and DHOs and whatnot make for a more dynamic game.

I'd be alright if Worthy had said 'man I'm getting tired of 3's' or 'all these blowouts show how boring this new style of play can be,' but going after players as being less skilled and diverse in their skills is just dumb. Doesn't deserve any of our respect/defense.