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

[Ball so hard]

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.

It's a generalization that is fairly accurate. After all, no generalization is 100 percent accurate. I think you took his statement far too literal. Of course it's not possible for any human to only practice 3s. Do players today spend a disproportionate amount of time practicing 3s? You bet. It would be silly not to. The rest of his quote is also fairly accurate. I don't think you have to be an old crusty man to express your distaste for the current play style. I guess you'd say the same about any player who played in the 90s or later and made a similar comment.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

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

the trick is to avoid saying something stupid

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[Ryoga Hibiki]

There's a reason guys like Worthy and Barkley aren't GMs or coaches. They have a strong preference of nostalgia over knowledge.

They don't actually notice the nuances of today's game, and how closely everyone is scouted and their games broken down on film more than ever before.

I doubt either ever wanted to be a GM tho

Barkley did in Orlando

___
Sent from my Nokia 3210 using RealGM mobile app

[tsherkin]

It's a generalization that is fairly accurate. After all, no generalization is 100 percent accurate. I think you took his statement far too literal. Of course it's not possible for any human to only practice 3s. Do players today spend a disproportionate amount of time practicing 3s? You bet. It would be silly not to.

I'm less concerned with his remark about three-point shooting. I'm not actually really concerned with his perception or value of the current style of the game at all. I'm more frustrated with his commentary about the character of the players.

It's one thing to prefer the style of ball you played in your own time. Or whenever, the style you enjoy, from whatever era that happens to be. I don't mind that. I don't have to agree with that, it's subjective. It's his casual insult to the character of modern players which bothers me. And of course his generational grumbling about tattoos and social media and so forth. And acting like today is the only time when this is relevant.

[Ballerhogger]

He right in lot of what he saying. Players are not as serious and as dedicated to game as they were.

Dumbest thing I have ever heard. With all the money involved in basketball today you will dam sure people take it more serious then they used to.

Really ? Ask Ben Simmons , Kyrie Irving , James harden if they feel that way. And other players who refuse to work on their game

[MrGoat]

How ridiculous of Worthy. What a boomer. They also go to strip clubs (or was that the boomers?)

[dirkdiggler4177]

He right in lot of what he saying. Players are not as serious and as dedicated to game as they were.

Dumbest thing I have ever heard. With all the money involved in basketball today you will dam sure people take it more serious then they used to.

Really ? Ask Ben Simmons , Kyrie Irving , James harden if they feel that way. And other players who refuse to work on their game

I was wrong, that is the second dumbest thing I have ever heard. I'm not going to defend Ben Simmons, but do you really think Harden and Kyrie don't practise. They just woke up one day and became all-stars.

https://rocketswire.usatoday.com/2019/03/22/james-harden-went-to-the-gym-after-dropping-61-points-on-the-spurs-tonight/

[Beethoven]

truth

[heezyo2o]

Here's a little more of Worthy said:

" was asked what he thinks of today’s game and its heavy reliance on the three. And Worthy said the NBA has been diminished by “the rush of guys not going to college” — or at least not going for more than a year. “I mean, Kareem had four years with John Wooden, Michael Jordan and I had three years with Dean Smith, Isiah (Thomas) had some years with Bobby Knight. So you learned the fundamentals,” Worthy said. “Not only that, you learned how to live. You learned how to balance your freaking checkbook in college, there’s a lot of things. When you don’t get that, guys are coming to the NBA who are not fundamentally sound. All they do is practice threes, lift weights, get tattoos, tweet and go on social media. That’s it."

I don't see nothing wrong with it. He mentions tweets and tattoos at the end and people get all upset

[tsherkin]

Here's a little more of Worthy said:

" was asked what he thinks of today’s game and its heavy reliance on the three. And Worthy said the NBA has been diminished by “the rush of guys not going to college” — or at least not going for more than a year. “I mean, Kareem had four years with John Wooden, Michael Jordan and I had three years with Dean Smith, Isiah (Thomas) had some years with Bobby Knight. So you learned the fundamentals,” Worthy said. “Not only that, you learned how to live. You learned how to balance your freaking checkbook in college, there’s a lot of things. When you don’t get that, guys are coming to the NBA who are not fundamentally sound. All they do is practice threes, lift weights, get tattoos, tweet and go on social media. That’s it."

I don't see nothing wrong with it. He mentions tweets and tattoos at the end and people get all upset

It's cheap generalization and the broader whole of his conversation goes back to basically the late 80s anyway. It is very much odd.timing to be revisiting arguments from 20 years ago about the league w HS ballers but updating it to gripe about social media and complain about tattoos while ignoring the many players who do not exhibit the issues he has discussed while playing 0-1 years.in college.

[dribble1614]

he's right. gen z just mad that today's game is worse than the 80s/90s. pitiful defense, shot jacking, weak big men with lack of post game / physicality outside of the rare breeds like doncic, giannis, jokic and embiid etc.

[heezyo2o]

Here's a little more of Worthy said:

" was asked what he thinks of today’s game and its heavy reliance on the three. And Worthy said the NBA has been diminished by “the rush of guys not going to college” — or at least not going for more than a year. “I mean, Kareem had four years with John Wooden, Michael Jordan and I had three years with Dean Smith, Isiah (Thomas) had some years with Bobby Knight. So you learned the fundamentals,” Worthy said. “Not only that, you learned how to live. You learned how to balance your freaking checkbook in college, there’s a lot of things. When you don’t get that, guys are coming to the NBA who are not fundamentally sound. All they do is practice threes, lift weights, get tattoos, tweet and go on social media. That’s it."

I don't see nothing wrong with it. He mentions tweets and tattoos at the end and people get all upset

It's cheap generalization and the broader whole of his conversation goes back to basically the late 80s anyway. It is very much odd.timing to be revisiting arguments from 20 years ago about the league w HS ballers but updating it to gripe about social media and complain about tattoos while ignoring the many players who do not exhibit the issues he has discussed while playing 0-1 years.in college.

to me it feels like a tongue and cheek comment. Seems like this interview was more of a conversation and he was just talking, and they find a sound bite to make it pop. I'm not defending anyone, but personally I don't see the big deal.

Ironically Durant tweeted out what worthy said is basically true.

[JayMKE]

I don't understand how dismissive and defensive some people are about criticism from the not so distant past and those that came before. The game has been broken and had serious tweaks in the past and wouldn't you know it Riley is still mucking up the game, its stupid to think this is final form of basketball, times have changed and now the aesthetics of the game demand change.

[TravisScott55]

his generation was doing crack before games

[dc]

There's a reason guys like Worthy and Barkley aren't GMs or coaches. They have a strong preference of nostalgia over knowledge.

They don't actually notice the nuances of today's game, and how closely everyone is scouted and their games broken down on film more than ever before.

I doubt either ever wanted to be a GM tho

Barkley did in Orlando

Barkley has spoken in the past that he doesn't think a lot the GMs in the league know what they're doing and that he'd run circles around them.

He never actively campaigned for a job, but said he'd take one if it was offered to him.

Dunno if he still feels that way, but he's said as much in the past. We all know he'd be by far the laziest GM in the league. He'd be the Mark Jackson of GMs.

[Ballerhogger]

Dumbest thing I have ever heard. With all the money involved in basketball today you will dam sure people take it more serious then they used to.

Really ? Ask Ben Simmons , Kyrie Irving , James harden if they feel that way. And other players who refuse to work on their game

I was wrong, that is the second dumbest thing I have ever heard. I'm not going to defend Ben Simmons, but do you really think Harden and Kyrie don't practise. They just woke up one day and became all-stars.

https://rocketswire.usatoday.com/2019/03/22/james-harden-went-to-the-gym-after-dropping-61-points-on-the-spurs-tonight/

Do you think James harden cares ? Do see his body ? He can’t party and ball. That’ much is for sure . Just watch his season this year .. Kyrie missed half the games ..

[Pachinko_]

Old man yells at cloud...

Yeah it's so strange, it's always old guys and never teenagers who compare different decades, how do you explain it?
LOL

[Lalouie]

well, that IS what they do

[logical_art]

Old man yells at cloud...

Which says nothing about whether or not he's right or wrong (he's right).

[Bornstellar]

Old man yells at cloud...

Which says nothing about whether or not he's right or wrong (he's right).

No, he isn't

Dude's nowadays have way more specialized and intense training regiments and round the clock trainers, improved sports medicine, etc. I'm a huge critic of what the league has become in terms of spamming three pointers (go check my post history for yourself) and I frequently defend the older guys but the notion that guys now train less than guys back than is just flat out wrong. You can go look up some workout videos of players yourself. They're not just practicing threes

If you want to say guys nowadays are softies that post on social media too much that's one thing. But to call out their practice habits is stupid and just reeks of jealousy by the older generation