TNT’s flagship Inside the NBA – with Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny “The Jet” Smith – is absolutely fun and well-produced. He just hasn’t provided quality and careful NBA analysis for years – it’s the ultimate basketball game “get off my lawn” right now.
Current NBA players are irritated by this.
You can see this in the Instagram comments of LeBron James and Kevin Durant on Friday, following Shaq telling Donovan Mitchell that he is not good enough during an interview in which Mitchell lost 36 in his seventh straight win in Utah.
This exchange between Shaq and Spida 👀
(by @nbaontnt) pic.twitter.com/tiNRhn7ofZ
– Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 22, 2021
After that, @CuffsTheLegend posted on Instagram asking why players don’t take constructive criticism from older players well, and LeBron James and Kevin Durant joined the conversation.
Bron and KD spoke some real truth about @CuffsTheLegend Previous IG post pic.twitter.com/DSrug4QdZX
– Rod Bridgers (@rod_bridgers) January 22, 2021
Durant: “Those old heads need to go and enjoy retirement. These boys have coaches that they work with every day lol. “
LeBron: “There is a difference between constructive criticism and mild hatred. I saw both things happen in my path, especially hate. You can hear it in their delivery. “
LeBron is on site here. What Shaq did wasn’t constructive criticism, it was calling a guy. It was hating the modern player. Mitchell handled this perfectly.
Today’s players are generally good at receiving constructive criticism and will hear from former players who have become coaches or mentors – NBA players (and WNBA players) worked with Kobe Bryant for a reason. They received instructions on technique and mentality, and it wasn’t Kobe trying to look better by tearing up a guy on television to support himself. It was genuine. Hakeem Olajuwon has been that guy for the greats who want to improve footwork. There is a long list of other former players in the same role, they are not there to self-elevate or increase their rankings.
Within the NBA it has become much more than basketball, but when it comes to the league, superstars players are often aging in search of opportunities to take down today’s players, say, as today’s game is not as good as it used to be, and tout your own compliments (and rings) back in the day. Shaq, Kenny and Charles are the greatest of all time, but they played in a different era – before the teams could play zone defenses (which changed after the game), before the teams focused on the value of the three, before the the analysis took over, before the pace picked up again – and they haven’t evolved over time.
This may resonate with some older fans (those who still have cable TV packages to watch TNT), but younger players and viewers are moving on.