Penny Hardaway admits the NBA is 'not fun to watch anymore'

Excluding the millions of dollars, elite athleticism and height, Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway is just like us. He too is irritated by the NBA’s current style of play.

Gone are half court sets, layups and fast breaks that produce a plethora of strategies and varying outcomes from possession to possession. Instead, the NBA is essentially 48 minutes of shots from behind the arc, traveling - which has been rebranded “step-backs,” - and a whole bunch of isolation play. Frankly, plenty of longtime fans find the current state of play boring and redundant.

Hardaway is the latest to take note.

“It’s just not fun to watch anymore,” Hardaway told Jason Munz of the Memphis Commercial Appeal.

Plenty have argued that it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to sit through an entire NBA game and remain dialed in. Especially one of the regular season variety.

Given the current state of play, there’s likely a bevy of fans out there who would almost rather watch The Real Housewives of wherever they are than a Tuesday night tip between Atlanta and Utah.

Almost.

Hardaway, a four-time All-Star, doesn’t like what he sees when watching the Association. And as he perceives it, things have gone from bad to worse.

"It’s like, over the years, to me, it’s just getting worse and worse. Not in a bad way. But for me to watch, because I’m in college, I see the fundamentals and playing team ball. And just shooting all the threes now is just a little irritating to me to just watch an NBA game,” Hardaway added.