OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Draymond Green had just spoken for a few minutes Saturday morning about the state of the game, about how he believes it's officiated differently than it once was, how stars don't get the benefit of being stars like they did in the past.
And then the four-time champion with the Golden State Warriors was asked a simple question: Does he think the NBA game is boring?
“Absolutely,” he said.
Such is the challenge that the NBA is trying to fend off right now, the notion that this era of higher-scoring games, more 3-pointers than ever before and a lack of rock-'em, sock-'em physicality like there was a couple generations ago is hurting the product.
“I think as a league now, we look so deep into analytics, and you hear people saying out loud, we want a 3 or a layup. Don’t be shooting too many mid-range jumpers,” Milwaukee guard Damian Lillard said Saturday. "You hear that, and I think it just kind of takes away the originality of the game, I would say. It’s meant to be played at three levels. It’s meant to be played a certain way.
“But it’s a copycat league that we play in, and you can’t have everybody playing one way, a successful way and you playing a different way. You’ve got to get in line with what’s working to win, and right now that’s what it is.”
On the one hand, the NBA is about to enter a new series of broadcast and streaming deals that will generate at least $76 billion, about three times more than the last deal — so interest still obviously exists, even though ratings are down from a few years ago in a stat that the league freely acknowledges. Player salaries are bigger than ever, the league keeps setting attendance record and merchandise keeps flying off shelves.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver points to all that, and more, as proof that the state of the game is, he believes, “excellent.”
“We’re paying a lot of attention to it," Silver said. "I’m never going to say there isn’t room for improvement. We’ll continue to look at it and study it. But I am happy with the state of the game right now.”
But the NBA keeps hearing the question about the on-court product. And Green is among those that think issues exist. He cited an interview he recently saw where the late Kobe Bryant, who died in 2020, called the game “accidental basketball.”
“It's all penetrate and pitch," Bryant said in that interview. “You may make the shot, you may not.”
Said Green: “He couldn't have been more right.”
Green talked about a recent Golden State game against LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, and how it was “refreshing” to go against a thinker like James — who is notorious for finding weaknesses and exploiting them.
"Every possession is some type of chess move," Green said. “You don't get that today in the NBA, often. ... You don't just get that on a regular basis. It's just who can run faster, who can hit more 3s, it's no substance. I think it's very boring."
And for a team like the Warriors — with proven champions like Green and Stephen Curry, along with a champion coach in Steve Kerr — the run-and-shoot-all-the-time game isn't exactly the preferred game plan.
“You want to be one of the teams that aren't playing an accidental game,” Green said. “That's the challenge.”
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Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press