Chuck D highlights key change in NBA basketball that has turned old heads away: "Why is Adam Silver letting this happen?"
The way the game is played in the NBA today has vastly evolved over the years, mostly due to how skilled offensive players are today. However, there have been some criticisms of the league's current state, from the focus on 3-point shooting to how offensive rules have been taken advantage of. Interestingly, rapper Chuck D questioned this in a post made on X.
Back in the day, basketball was played at a certain pace. Mid-range shots were the norm and launching the ball from beyond the arc was done only if necessary. Nowadays, the pace has been lightning quick and the spacing on the court has improved due to the presence of deep shotmakers.
However, some moves done by offensive players are viewed differently by many fans when it comes to dribbling and the number of steps allowed before a shot is made. In response to a meme video where a person is imitating some of the popular moves done by offensive players today, Chuck D was not pleased with what he is seeing from the league today.
"Why is Adam Silver letting this happen?" Chuck D asked. "The difficult thing about dribbling is keeping your hands on top of the ball. Which lets all know that all players can't handle the rock. Pass or shoot it imo."
Included in his caption, he added the usernames of Sirius XM NBA Radio producer Michael Pearson, former Suns forward Eddie Johnson and NBA Today host Justine Termine for Sirius XM NBA Radio.
However, it remains to be seen if the league will make any adjustment on this as some fans from a different perspective will argue that most of these moves are counted as legal by the rule book.
NBA senior vice president talks about tweaking officiating regarding traveling violations
NBA senior vice president Monty McCutchen said the league continues to navigate a thorough process of calling traveling violations, as per ESPN's Tim Bontemps.
"We take direction from our stakeholders," McCutchen said. "I think that [offensive players'] footwork had gotten to where the stakeholders had realized ... when you have a game that's played in space with highly skilled people and then you turn around on top of that and give them the advantage of extra footwork, it's virtually impossible to guard people."
From his comments, players have improved tremendously when it comes to their footwork and the kind of shotmaking they are capable of converting on a nightly basis. This is why this goal by the league is a challenging one, especially with how freely offensive players are countering various defensive sets by opponents.
Be that as it may, the league continues to figure out a middle ground in achieving a fair game that is monitored by referees.