Last week, I wrote how basketball has changed over the years from the time I played over 40 years ago, and I’m not sure all for the better.

For me, the biggest issue is how the 3-point line has changed the game. Now, before you readers whose kids I’ve coached remind me that my Grade 7 boys teams back in Alberta incorporated the 3-point shot into our system, I’m well aware of the contradiction. We had a particular role in our scheme for 3-pointers but it doesn’t mean I’m glad the game went in that direction overall.

Sure, the 3-point shot has made it easier for teams to come from behind and there is some pleasure in watching the skill that it takes for someone like Steph Curry to get open and be accurate from a distance, but what has been lost in the process?

The answer: a lot. In fact, I would argue that the game is much less interesting to watch since the 3-pointer became king. There are fewer things like off-ball screens, back door cuts, and give-and-go plays. There is far less of a role – if any – for post play. There is a negligible number of intermediate-range shots taken in any given game and even the fast-break transition is an after-thought.

It’s all about “rack or three” (lay-up or dunk or out for a 3-pointer) these days. So what we get are players driving the basket and, if shut down in doing so, firing the ball out to someone on the perimeter (i.e., all around the 3-point line). Then it’s rinse and repeat: dribble-drive, kick out; dribble-drive, kick out.

Sometimes, there’s some quick passing around the perimeter to get a shooter open and there are always strategies related to the high ball screen in play, but that’s the extent of the offence.

I know I’m oversimplifying but this is the essence of it from a fan’s perspective.

Some say that this type of basketball has become “unwatchable”. That might be taking it a bit too far for me but I get the point. I know I sound like the old man shaking his fist at a cloud here, but it’s just not as interesting and diverse a game as it was all those years ago.

But don’t take my word for it – check out Michael Jordan’s comments,  including the part of the article that says the extent to which NBA viewership has fallen over the past number of years.