Former NBA All-Star and former Chicago Bulls BJ Armstrong has played with the legendary Michael Jordan and has carried the Bulls to three NBA championships. But right now, he thinks basketball is not the same anymore, as games and players now “lack creativity.”
BJ Armstrong returned as a guest for The Hoop Genius Podcast in its recent episode, and he talked about the previous generations of the NBA, and how games now are lacking in creativity and have become a routine of three-point shots all around.
“Now we hear NBA executives, personnel, coaches, analytic people, presidents of teams, general managers of teams tell me to my face, they look at me with a straight face and they say the following: ‘A two-point shot is a bad shot,’” he said. “A two-point shot is a bad shot now. ‘I’ve made it! I’m shooting 60%!’ ‘Well, it’s a bad shot, we only want three shots: we want the corner threes, we want layups, or we want to get to the free-throw line.’”
He added: “I don’t understand.”
Armstrong pointed out how players now only want to shoot threes after threes and try to get fouled somewhere at some point, all for some free throws.
“When I go watch the game, there’s no more creativity, there’s no more imagination,” he said. “It’s just that we have basically robots running up and down the court. You run to the three-point line, I run to the three-point line. First, I try to get a layup. If I can’t get a layup, I try to get fouled.”
However, he doesn’t blame the players as he believes this is the trend and now and this is how they are instructed to play nowadays.
He said: “This is what’s being taught. I’m not going to be mad at the players. This is what’s being taught. We’ve stripped the players of any kind of imagination.”
Armstrong is not alone in this sentiment. Other former players who played in the league more recently than Michael Jordan like Shaquille O’Neal and Gilbert Arenas have also previously expressed their disdain towards the trend of games now focusing on who’s getting the most threes.
What is Michael Jordan Doing Now?
Outside of basketball, Michael Jordan now spends his time in business. Just recently, he invested in Courtside Ventures, a VC fund focused on sports, lifestyle, and gaming.
While the specific amount he put in was not disclosed, Michael Jordan put money in the company’s fourth round of investments, wherein the company is looking to make $100 million in investments. The company raised $189 million throughout its three previous rounds.
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Dan has been active in sports since 2016 and has worked behind the scenes as a scriptwriter for basketball, volleyball, and other sports. At a time, Dan has also been working as a sports commentator for CBA Pilipinas. During the pandemic, he has also been actively writing betting articles for CashBet and BetNow.
