Golden State Warriors: 3-pointers are not ruining the NBA

A few weeks ago, Charles Barkley used his platform on TNT to attack the current NBA meta of shooting 3-pointers. As Chuck says, this is ‘dumb@$$’ basketball – not the sport that he grew up on. Seeing as how the Golden State Warriors are slightly (largely) responsible for this current trend, I thought it would be fun to see if there’s any truth to what Barkley was spewing on TV.

The Golden State Warriors are responsible for creating a new era of basketball – but is the 3-pointer beginning to water down the NBA?

Now, there’s clearly a history of bias from the TNT crew. Whether it be Shaquille O’Neal attacking the modern players to protect his own ego, or Kenny Smith basically agreeing with whatever his peers say, it’s obvious a portion of the older players resent the new style of basketball that has taken the league by storm.

However, there is some credibility to what the former stars are saying. It’s easier than ever to score in the NBA. This is partially due to stricter referring but more so a result of the pace-and-space era. The number of 20+ point per game scorers has skyrocketed in recent years as everyone is a threat when 3-pointers are flying at such an absurd rate.

As Kirk Goldsberry highlighted on Twitter, the average 3-point attempts in the NBA has more than doubled since 2003. As you’ll notice, the exponential growth of the 3-pointer began right around the time a certain baby-faced assassin entered the league. There’s no question that Stephen Curry’s success laid the groundwork for what was to come – and the Warriors winning a championship proved that jump-shooting teams could win a title, opening the floodgates for copy cats to attempt replicating the Dubs’ system.

There is a distinct difference between the brand of basketball the Warriors played and the style that other teams ran, however. For example, one could praise the Dubs for their free-flowing, selfless, beautifully orchestrated attack in 2015-16, while criticizing the Houston Rockets iso-heavy and ref-baiting attempt at playing the numbers and shooting 3-pointers every time down the floor.

The sad reality is, very few teams can recreate what the Warriors did. Unless you have two of the greatest shooters of all-time, a legendary playmaking power forward and a bench of high-IQ veterans, it will be tough to play as efficiently as the Warriors. I mean, they are struggling to recreate their own magic now with Klay Thompson sidelined and a new patch of young players.

What makes this situation tough is that in order to win games, you simply have to shoot 3-pointers now. The Cleveland Cavaliers attempt the fewest 3-pointers per game and they have been getting stomped by teams who are superior at hoisting the deep ball. It’s just a way of life in the NBA.

One potential solution is moving the 3-point line back a few feet. The NBA has experimented moving the line before and with players casually pulling from near halfcourt, the best shooters shouldn’t be affected. However, I’m a bigger fan of widening the court and making the corner 3-pointer more difficult. This would restrict a large number of ‘corner specialists’ from being liable and potentially make the mid-range more valuable again.

Even with the 3-point rate rising drastically, I don’t think it will last. When you look back at past champions, none have been inefficiently throwing up 3-pointers. There is still a bar for success in the NBA and only the best shooters will be able to win with this style of play.

So, no. I don’t think the increase in 3-pointers is ruining the NBA. While it may be a struggle for casual fans to watch mid-tier teams jack up three’s all game, there is still a certain excitement when players like Curry or Damian Lillard heat up from deep. Until that feeling is gone and the skill gap is reduced, I don’t think we’ll have a problem with shooting 3-pointers in the NBA.