When Knicks legend Clyde Frazier blamed players' poor shooting for hand checking rule change

For years, NBA fans have debated about the league's state and whether it was better, tougher or more competitive back in the day. Many agree that it was much more physical and better officiated before, but younger fans argue that this is the most talented era in history.

New York Knicks legend Clyde Frazier is a part of the "old-school" group. He believes that shooters were better in the past, despite the 3-point shot wasn't considered a primary source of offense.

In an appearance on "The Buster Show" in November 2020, Frazier claimed that the league didn't ban hand checking to incentivize scoring but to hide the players' shooting deficiencies.

"It was a necessity because players were not as good shooters as we were," Frazier said. "They had to get a continuity with offense … So, that's why they opened the game up. Take your hands off them."

He pointed out that teams used to score over 110 points per game in his time. However, when the league banned hand checking in 2004, several teams didn't average 100 points.

"When I played, every team averaged over 110 points a game," Frazier said. "Whereas when you look back three or four years ago and there's so many teams that don't average over 100 points. But now they are starting to because of the freedom to move and guys not being able to hand check you."

Hand checking has been a controversial topic, but it's been over two decades since the league got rid of it, and it doesn't sound like they intend to bring it back.

The NBA will continue to evolve and explore new things

Change is inevitable, and everybody has to adapt or perish. The NBA won't be an exception to that rule, and it has never been.

In 2019, the G League implemented a new free-throw rule that players would only shoot one free throw instead of two or three, depending on the circumstance.

The league has used the G League to test things out. While there haven't been any public talks about potentially taking that rule to the NBA, Adam Silver admitted in an interview on "The Dan Patrick Show" that they would continue to explore their options.

Fans have also discussed implementing FIBA rules, such as removing goaltending or playing 10-minute quarters. However, the game will likely stay the same for now.