The goal of basketball since its inception in 1891 is to score more points than the opposition. Beyond putting the ball through the hoop, a team must also hunker down on the defensive end and do their best to prevent the other team from putting a sphere with around a nine-inch diameter through an 18-inch cylinder. However, Los Angeles Clippers star Paul George pointed out that doing so is not easy as it seems in today's NBA.
Speaking his mind in the newly-released episode of Podcast P with Paul George, the Clippers forward expressed his sentiments towards playing a game that's catering more and more to offensive players due to how referees officiate the game.
“[Handchecking is] a foul now. It's killing the game a little bit. Now we can't be defenders. You can't defend as well as we used to. You can get in the ball in pick-and-rolls, like you can be aggressive, you can be physical. [But] you can't do none of that now. The offensive player has the advantage now,” George explained.
“it’s killing the game a little bit… the offensive player has the advantage now”
great breakdown by paul george on how the nba has evolved on both sides of the floor pic.twitter.com/MvgtIqrpFk
— buckets (@buckets) March 10, 2023
It's not a coincidence that the league's average offensive rating has skyrocketed in recent years. In fact, teams have posted the highest average offensive ratings league-wide over the past seven seasons, with scoring reaching unprecedented heights this season. For the 2022-23 campaign, teams have posted a 114.5 offensive rating on average. If that holds, it would blow the previous best of 112.3 teams set last season out of the water.
Part of it is the officials' tendency to call ticky tack fouls, but a part of it is a shift in offensive philosophy for the entire league. Stephen Curry may have led the three-point revolution. But teams have finally acknowledged the fact that three points are worth more than two and it's resulting in more spaced-out offenses than ever.
“My first couple years in the league, you might get 60-70 possessions offensively. […] You had two bigs out there so the game wasn't fast. It was a half court set game so it just wasn't a lot of baskets to be gotten. Now, like there's maybe six or seven guys on the team that's shooting five, six threes,” George added.
It's unclear how the league can shift the game towards defenses' favor once more, although it's fair to wonder whether they even have any incentive to do so. The league's offensive boom appears to be here to stay. The only question now is just how well can teams, such as George's Clippers, capitalize on the current state of the NBA game?
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