Can we just ackonwledge that the epidemic of foul baiting isn’t just insufferable to watch, it makes players insufferable to guard?
I swear back in the day players just primarily tried to score and people guarded players against scoring the basketball. Modern players don’t just have to guard against the natural motions of scoring, they have to guard against the unnatural motions of foulbaiting. You basically have to keep your hands by your side like you’re in the line at recess and do your best to guard players without getting in their path or their potential paths when they inevitably try to “create contact” AKA do some weird shit that you would never do if you didn’t think the refs would bail you out.
This isn’t a Jordan supremacy argument although it could be. But like, how are players supposed to play defense when they have to acknowledge that your primary goal isn’t trying to score but getting to the line? It’s a weird chess that I never had to deal with. I think it’s an absolute disservice to the game. I don’t think Harden started this, but he made it a staple. The entire extent of foul baiting used to be doing like the Kobe pump fake and jumping into people. Somewhere along rip throughs and the head shackalackas it just became like the most “optimal” way to play and it’s a shame. It’s not just unethical, it’s like impossible to guard. I know there’s been a big fuss about the offensive explosion about the modern NBA and the impossible stat lines that come in almost nightly, but just like stop appreciating them as somethign other than a bastardization of the game.