"You can't play defense anymore" - Charles Barkley explains why millennials are "ruining my game"

charles-barkley

One of the biggest gripes of many people in NBA circles nowadays is the lack of defense. It has been a byproduct of several causes, including players’ and teams’ affinity for the 3-point shot, better-skilled hoopsters, record-high pace, and the league’s rule changes that favor offenses.

Charles Barkley thinks there’s another reason for the trend, going as far as to blame a generation of players.

“It’s the 3-pointer, first and foremost,” Barkley said about the scoring eruption in recent years. “But also, these millennials are ruining my game. It’s become a 3-point shooting contest. You can’t play defense. … Steve Kerr has actually been going crazy about this: You can’t play defense anymore.”

Barkley’s gripe

One of Chuck’s and his CNN show’s guests, Bob Costas’, observations was that the NBA teams are now scoring much more than they did in the past. That is only partly true, though.

The average points of 30 squads this season is 114.5 per game, which is actually a bit lower than that of last campaign, although there are still a little over two weeks remaining in the regular season. The lowest it has ever been was 91.6 points per contest, which occurred in the 1998-99 season.

However, in his remarks, Barkley missed out on that in the 1980s, teams typically averaged around 105 to 110. So, it isn’t as if the Hall of Famer wasn’t used to high-scoring games in the past.

Moreover, it’s also worth noting that the NBA in the early 1960s saw teams put up over 118 points per contest – without the 3-point line. Maybe Barkley has to look for a different reason then.

Agreeing with Kerr

The former MVP might be correct in saying that defense is no longer prioritized.

Like Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, Stephen Curry believes the NBA has “some stuff to correct” because of how players this season have been able to run up the scores, with Luka Doncic and Joel Embiid putting up at least 70 and four other players, including Curry himself, reaching the 60-point mark.

Kerr once went borderline mad about how the officiating nowadays has limited what the defense could do. Interestingly, the league has tried to enact some changes recently, which has resulted in a slight dip in scoring league-wide and in the former Coach of the Year being somewhat satisfied.

Barkley disagrees that there is better talent today

Going back to the Chuckster, his co-host, Gayle King, asked if the current crop of players are just better than those of the previous generations. The 11-time All-Star dissented from that notion, saying that there are no superstars today like Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson.

While that may be true, it’s tough to argue with some pundits who believe there are many more skilled hoopsters in the Association now. There is such a diverse set of stars this season that LeBron James and Steph might not even clinch an All-NBA selection.