“Once the ball can be left, they are trapped by the ball”: Kenyon Martin criticizes the defensive efforts of today’s NBA

Basketball has changed a lot in recent years. There are tons of differences in the way the games used to play in the 90s and 2000s, and how they are played now. While we see many 3 fast fire in the offensive, many often forget how defenses have also had to adjust. This has been a small issue in the broader debate about the stylistic differences between the different epochs of the League, and how some fans perceive that today’s players are more lazy on the ball defensive side.

Kenyon Martin shouted the defensive efforts of today’s NBA players. Broke how his team used to defend himself during an appearance in “Gil’s Arena” With Gilbert Arenas.

Martin entered the league in 2000, two seasons before the NBA allowed the teams to execute the defenses of the area. Before that area, the defenses were illegal, since the NBA believed that it made it more difficult to score, a fact that even its Airness Michael Jordan publicly recognized. Since the players were forced to play only men’s defensive schemes were a little simpler to operate, including a large number of double or triple teams in the star player of an opposite team.

Regardless of the schemes from zone or man to man, Martin’s great complaint is with today’s era, not playing defense. He exclaimed that his lack of effort allows star players to run freely, a tactic of his time was taught to close. He used Steph Curry as an example of someone difficult to deny due to his unique movement, but specified that “not all” in the modern league can move like Curry.

“I was terrified to let Tim Duncan catch the ball. Terrified to let Kobe catch the ball. Deny him. If you renounce it, deny it as far as possible “, Martin shouted. “You can’t go on the track to catch the mother screwed up … it’s illegal.”

Players like Martin will constantly argue about this or that, but the NBA in 2025 is drastically different from what the NBA was ten years ago, much less in the 2000s. The 3 banks’ ball at such a high volume makes it Difficult to “deny” all the time, especially when big men like Kat or Jokic can even sink a 23 feet foot easily. Not only that, but there is evidence that Martin is not seeing every game as close as it should be.

The Lakers showed an incredible defense scheme in Jokic that denies the entire Martin point

Last Saturday, Lakers chief coach JJ Redick prepared a “deny heavy” defense to reign the three-time MVP Nikola Jokic during the routing of the Nuggets 123-100 of his team. An X user (fka twitter) known as @Lilkobe2402 shared images of the Jokic scheme of the Lakers who assured that the Nuggets offensive was not dictated by him as it is. This included limiting the Joker’s movement, blocking its path and even triple in the ball.

While Jokic still finished the game with a triple double, it was only limited to 13 points, well below its 29 ppg season average. This individual game does not show the defensive efforts of the entire league, but it is proof that this was not lazy on the defensive side of the ball.