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- NBA Hall of Famer James Worthy apparently is not a huge fan of the modern day NBA.
- The Lakers legend says all players do now is practice threes, lift weights, get tattoos, and tweet.
- Read more news about the NBA here.
Los Angeles Lakers legend James Worthy has seen a thing or two when it comes to basketball. He won an NCAA championship, was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, was the first overall pick of the 1982 NBA draft, won three NBA championships, voted Finals MVP, and is a Hall of Famer.
He also accomplished all of that between the years 1979 and 1994. So he’s definitely what you would call “old school” at this point.
In fact, James Worthy is so old school that he has some issues with the modern NBA game and its players.
During an interview on Wednesday with the Stoney & Jansen Show, Worthy said, “I mean, Kareem had four years with John Wooden, Michael Jordan and I had three years with Dean Smith, Isiah (Thomas) had some years with Bobby Knight. So you learned the fundamentals.
“Not only that, you learned how to live. You learned how to balance your freaking checkbook in college, there’s a lot of things. When you don’t get that, guys are coming to the NBA who are not fundamentally sound. All they do is practice threes, lift weights, get tattoos, tweet and go on social media. That’s it.”
Pretty big generalization, but, okay. Please continue.
NBA fans, and one current player, had thoughts on James Worthy’s comments
“So you don’t have that sound player; you have an athletic player. And that’s what’s happening to the game. It’s a lot of ISO and looking for mismatches. Bill Russell told me one time, they had five options off of one play. You don’t see that anymore.”
Worthy’s comments got the attention of many NBA fans, plus one current NBA player who actually kind of agreed with him: Kevin Durant.
My middy is sharp, but james is right, this ain’t the old days lol https://t.co/MbHHTPSsQn
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) May 26, 2022
All old players did was practice the Mikan drill… wear tube socks and read newspapers
— Lisan al SoupGaib Maud’Dib (@AppleSoup300) May 26, 2022
Jordan Clarkson (a role player) would take prime James Worthy’s ankles. The standard for being a professional basketball player was significantly lower back then 🤡
— Tee (@A_TravTech) May 26, 2022
“Wake up, eat hot chip, and lie” but for hoops 😂 https://t.co/GBYBYHTl9w
— Oluwajomiloju (@JomiAdeniran) May 26, 2022