Why are things the way they are in the NBA?

The NBA has been getting a little weird.

Just the way the game is played today, it's so different than it was 10-15 years ago. How have we gotten to this point? Why are things the way they are? Is it just because of one player?

Is Stephen Curry changing the way we play basketball? It sure seems that way.

Think about it. In 2004-2005, we crowned the Detroit Pistons as champions of the NBA. They played a dirty, grind-it-out style of basketball. Defense first, offense second. That's unheard of in the NBA today... Would the 04-05 Pistons even succeed in today's NBA? That's something you have to ponder.

Stephen Curry has singlehandedly transformed the way we play basketball now. Dunks aren't the rage anymore. What gets us all going is the art of shooting. The art of the three-point shot. Stephen Curry has mastered this. I mean... did you see how he won the game last night against the Thunder?

Did you see where he shot the ball from? That's not even fair. Not to mention he broke his own record for Three-point shots made in a single season. There's 25 games left. Are you kidding me? We've never seen a marksman like this in the NBA. He's changing how they play. He's changing how they "defend". I put that in quotations because what exactly is defense in today's NBA? You hear legends like Isaiah Thomas and Oscar Robertson argue that the Warriors wouldn't be this good if they played in their era. That they actually played defense. Well with gems such as this....

How can you blame them?

Defense is an expiring art form in today's NBA. No one plays it. Why do you think we see NBA scores in the upper 100's and college scores in the upper 60's? One actually plays defense and the other plays "defense".

So how did we get here? How did the NBA go from "The Bad Boy" era of hard fouls and stingy D to no defense and "hard fouls" getting called as flagrants?

Honestly, I couldn't tell you. Every sport has a phase, I think basketball is just going through one right now. For example, we remember the read-option in football. Remember how Colin Kaepernick was good for a season and a half? Remember how awful he was this past season?

Let's not forget the moneyball period and the Oakland A's and baseball. It worked, just for a short amount of time though. Now big money and big minor league systems rule baseball.

College football and the triple-option? With the exception of Georgia Tech and Navy, that's gone.

Hockey? Well Hockey is just fast paced and crazy. It always has been, I'll take a nice fistfight any day of the week though.

Point is, three-point madness is a phase. At the end of the day, outside of the Splash Brothers and the Warriors, it's a low percentage shot. Yes, there are marksmen and yes defense still exists to some extent. Just like all the other phases, someone will learn how to defend it. Someone will learn how to test Steph Curry. Someone will learn how to rattle his cage. This is just going to take some time to learn how to stop it.

Kenny Smith said during All-Star Saturday Night that the three-point contest should be the main event of the night. Then the dunk contest happened. He took that statement back.

Defense will rule again one day in the NBA. Maybe a new phase will come about. Who knows. That's the great thing about Professional Sports.