Apologies in advance, but an observation based on the "Basketball Intelligence" piece offered purely as a public service announcement for awareness. It’s a global comment of a tiresome trend on Substack that I see popping up regularly that we should all agree to stop in the interest of everyone's IQ.
There is probably no better example of the Mandela Effect than the recent Substack NBA community's assertion that suddenly "everybody is saying that NBA teams play the same way" quickly followed by a pedantic discussion of pick and roll rates and other granular statistical minutia to "prove" that what people aren't saying isn't true.
See, no one is making that assertion - literally.
Nobody I've read or heard has said something like "you know the Nuggets with Jokic play exactly the same way as Anthony Edwards and the T-Wolves" or "Boston plays exactly the same way as Giannis and the Bucks" or "LeBron and the Lakers play exactly the same way as Brunson and the Knicks."
It's not happening because a team's granular style of play tends to reflect their roster, which is...different than everybody else’s. It’s precisely why teams like LA make trades…to change their roster which in turn changes their style of play. A casual observation would yield that not a single person is suggesting the Lakers today play exactly the same way as everyone else, or the way they played before the trade. This is understandable since to do so would be obviously nonsensical.
This line of argument is what is known as a "straw man"...where you put up a false or misleading argument as a straw man and then pretend that argument is pervasive. Then, you show intellectual superiority by easily knocking the straw man over by proving that what was never asserted is not true. When you do that to the "other side" - which doesn’t exist - you look smart.
So, what are people saying?
What I see fans saying is that there are too many 3-pointers in the NBA and that has made the game less interesting and less pleasing on an aesthetic level as a fan...at a higher viewer level. What I've also read is that the NBA is on pace to set another record of 3-point shot attempts, which have exploded over the past 10 years across the League. Oh, and I also read somewhere that 7'4" Victor Wembanyama – the new face of the NBA it seems - was pace before his injury to shoot over 700 three points shots.
So, the argument that's part of the actual discourse - that there are now too many 3s - not only speaks for itself but would make for a much better discussion topic on Substack. Which we can get to I suppose when everybody stops saying that everybody else is saying that everybody plays the same way.
I think you can find examples of both -- people saying there are too many 3s (which I've said as well, just from a strategic POV even) and those who say every team plays the same way. Just the other day, they were talking about hearing that a lot from ex-players in this video:
Neil, as always thanks for the great follow-up here. No need to respond – I promise this is my last rant here. However, I did want you to know that I listened to the podcast, including reading the transcript.
While I won’t unnecessarily waste your time, I could spend a lot of space detailing how these guys ironically prove my point...by trafficking in misinformation on the topic.
They spend a lot of time like so many others (although overly emotive and at high volumes) talking about "people," "they", and "those people" - without ever telling us who "they" are. This is a key problem. Everybody is mischaracterizing the issue for their own agenda and then offering zero substantiation of who is saying what they claim is so outrageous...and of course nobody in the media is challenging this idiocy or asking for receipts.
This whole charade is just so obviously made-up false outrage.
Exhibit A in the podcast is their total mischaracterization of what Draymond Green actually said on the issue. One of the podcasters stridently instructs us, "One of the things Draymond Green said over the All-Star break was um talk about the homogenization of the NBA, how everybody's running the same play and of course he's talking about the pick a roll the pick a roll has been dominating the league for 20 plus years."
Except Draymond Green never mentioned the pick and roll in the quotes I read. That's your first clue that these guys' attention to detail is perhaps a bit lacking despite yelling at you repeatedly that they "watch a lot of basketball." Draymond also never said that "everyone is playing the same way" or “running the same plays” as they allege...or anything else about the granular style of play at all.
That's because he was too busy making my point.
What Draymond said was that the game has become "boring.” That’s an aesthetic comment - not a tactics or style of play observation. He was clearly talking about the ubiquity of the 3-point shot, not the granular style of play to get to those 3-point shot attempts - pick and roll or otherwise.
The article includes an admission by the Commissioner on the issue that “We’re paying a lot of attention to it. I’m never going to say there isn’t room for improvement. We’ll continue to look at it and study it.”
If the alternate reality that people are suggesting is true here shouldn’t his quote simply have been, “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Nobody runs the same plays.” He either grasps what people are actually talking about here or perhaps he just isn’t listening to the tropes from NBA media voices who misinterpret it. Maybe those two things are related.
Damian Lillard then echoed Green:
“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…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.”
Catch that? “Three levels.” That’s a higher-level strategic criticism of the current game. Not pick and rolls rates.
I'll say it one more time. Some people simply do not prefer to watch the current barrage of 3-point shot attempts and its effect on the aesthetics of the game regardless of how teams tactically get behind the arc to take the shot. It’s the overweight 3-point shot attempts that people don’t prefer. That simple unambiguous point – is the ONLY point people are making.
We need to stop trying to desperately obfuscate that simple and objectively valid observation with a series of mischaracterizations and personal attacks because some people love the current NBA product….and want to defend its embrace of analytics by making false straw man arguments of the other position. Some people simply don't like the product as a fan, even if it is more efficient as a strategy. Those are two very different things.
When you examine this issue, you’ll find that nobody is actually saying that every team plays the exact same way or runs the same plays with different rosters. We just need to stop pretending they are and providing comfort to those who traffic in that false truth.
Thanks again for the great and respectful engagement here.
I appreciate your point, but Dame also said "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," and Draymond agreed with Kobe Bryant saying the modern game was "all penetrate and pitch". We can also find Shaq saying everyone runs the same plays with the same strategy (and shoots too many 3s) because of course we can:
I feel like we're all just splitting hairs between the complaint that everyone plays the same way and everyone shoots too many 3s. It's versions of the same argument. I'm not desperate to defend the modern game, because I've argued they need to cool it some with the 3s. I'm a child of the '90s, Michael Jordan and the midrange. But it's not a strawman that commentators are complaining about both too many 3s and too many similar offensive sets to get those 3s.
It's not you...really it isn't.
Apologies in advance, but an observation based on the "Basketball Intelligence" piece offered purely as a public service announcement for awareness. It’s a global comment of a tiresome trend on Substack that I see popping up regularly that we should all agree to stop in the interest of everyone's IQ.
There is probably no better example of the Mandela Effect than the recent Substack NBA community's assertion that suddenly "everybody is saying that NBA teams play the same way" quickly followed by a pedantic discussion of pick and roll rates and other granular statistical minutia to "prove" that what people aren't saying isn't true.
See, no one is making that assertion - literally.
Nobody I've read or heard has said something like "you know the Nuggets with Jokic play exactly the same way as Anthony Edwards and the T-Wolves" or "Boston plays exactly the same way as Giannis and the Bucks" or "LeBron and the Lakers play exactly the same way as Brunson and the Knicks."
It's not happening because a team's granular style of play tends to reflect their roster, which is...different than everybody else’s. It’s precisely why teams like LA make trades…to change their roster which in turn changes their style of play. A casual observation would yield that not a single person is suggesting the Lakers today play exactly the same way as everyone else, or the way they played before the trade. This is understandable since to do so would be obviously nonsensical.
This line of argument is what is known as a "straw man"...where you put up a false or misleading argument as a straw man and then pretend that argument is pervasive. Then, you show intellectual superiority by easily knocking the straw man over by proving that what was never asserted is not true. When you do that to the "other side" - which doesn’t exist - you look smart.
So, what are people saying?
What I see fans saying is that there are too many 3-pointers in the NBA and that has made the game less interesting and less pleasing on an aesthetic level as a fan...at a higher viewer level. What I've also read is that the NBA is on pace to set another record of 3-point shot attempts, which have exploded over the past 10 years across the League. Oh, and I also read somewhere that 7'4" Victor Wembanyama – the new face of the NBA it seems - was pace before his injury to shoot over 700 three points shots.
So, the argument that's part of the actual discourse - that there are now too many 3s - not only speaks for itself but would make for a much better discussion topic on Substack. Which we can get to I suppose when everybody stops saying that everybody else is saying that everybody plays the same way.
Thanks for letting me vent.
I think you can find examples of both -- people saying there are too many 3s (which I've said as well, just from a strategic POV even) and those who say every team plays the same way. Just the other day, they were talking about hearing that a lot from ex-players in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml1yMMEDILg&t=340s
The ex-player media likes to push this talking point a lot more than you might think.
(Or current player in the case of Draymond)
Neil, as always thanks for the great follow-up here. No need to respond – I promise this is my last rant here. However, I did want you to know that I listened to the podcast, including reading the transcript.
While I won’t unnecessarily waste your time, I could spend a lot of space detailing how these guys ironically prove my point...by trafficking in misinformation on the topic.
They spend a lot of time like so many others (although overly emotive and at high volumes) talking about "people," "they", and "those people" - without ever telling us who "they" are. This is a key problem. Everybody is mischaracterizing the issue for their own agenda and then offering zero substantiation of who is saying what they claim is so outrageous...and of course nobody in the media is challenging this idiocy or asking for receipts.
This whole charade is just so obviously made-up false outrage.
Exhibit A in the podcast is their total mischaracterization of what Draymond Green actually said on the issue. One of the podcasters stridently instructs us, "One of the things Draymond Green said over the All-Star break was um talk about the homogenization of the NBA, how everybody's running the same play and of course he's talking about the pick a roll the pick a roll has been dominating the league for 20 plus years."
Except Draymond Green never mentioned the pick and roll in the quotes I read. That's your first clue that these guys' attention to detail is perhaps a bit lacking despite yelling at you repeatedly that they "watch a lot of basketball." Draymond also never said that "everyone is playing the same way" or “running the same plays” as they allege...or anything else about the granular style of play at all.
That's because he was too busy making my point.
What Draymond said was that the game has become "boring.” That’s an aesthetic comment - not a tactics or style of play observation. He was clearly talking about the ubiquity of the 3-point shot, not the granular style of play to get to those 3-point shot attempts - pick and roll or otherwise.
Here is a link to an article on what he said:
https://sports.yahoo.com/draymond-green-state-nba-boring-190444624.html
The article includes an admission by the Commissioner on the issue that “We’re paying a lot of attention to it. I’m never going to say there isn’t room for improvement. We’ll continue to look at it and study it.”
If the alternate reality that people are suggesting is true here shouldn’t his quote simply have been, “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Nobody runs the same plays.” He either grasps what people are actually talking about here or perhaps he just isn’t listening to the tropes from NBA media voices who misinterpret it. Maybe those two things are related.
Damian Lillard then echoed Green:
“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…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.”
Catch that? “Three levels.” That’s a higher-level strategic criticism of the current game. Not pick and rolls rates.
I'll say it one more time. Some people simply do not prefer to watch the current barrage of 3-point shot attempts and its effect on the aesthetics of the game regardless of how teams tactically get behind the arc to take the shot. It’s the overweight 3-point shot attempts that people don’t prefer. That simple unambiguous point – is the ONLY point people are making.
We need to stop trying to desperately obfuscate that simple and objectively valid observation with a series of mischaracterizations and personal attacks because some people love the current NBA product….and want to defend its embrace of analytics by making false straw man arguments of the other position. Some people simply don't like the product as a fan, even if it is more efficient as a strategy. Those are two very different things.
When you examine this issue, you’ll find that nobody is actually saying that every team plays the exact same way or runs the same plays with different rosters. We just need to stop pretending they are and providing comfort to those who traffic in that false truth.
Thanks again for the great and respectful engagement here.
I appreciate your point, but Dame also said "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," and Draymond agreed with Kobe Bryant saying the modern game was "all penetrate and pitch". We can also find Shaq saying everyone runs the same plays with the same strategy (and shoots too many 3s) because of course we can:
https://x.com/TheDunkCentral/status/1854624279465250905
I feel like we're all just splitting hairs between the complaint that everyone plays the same way and everyone shoots too many 3s. It's versions of the same argument. I'm not desperate to defend the modern game, because I've argued they need to cool it some with the 3s. I'm a child of the '90s, Michael Jordan and the midrange. But it's not a strawman that commentators are complaining about both too many 3s and too many similar offensive sets to get those 3s.