76ers' Daryl Morey Says the Amount of 3-Point Shooting 'Essentially Breaks the Game'

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, as the old saying goes... at least until it becomes annoying.

The Houston Rockets, under the former trio of general manager Daryl Morey, head coach Mike D'Antoni and star point guard James Harden, were one of the early pioneers of heavily utilizing the three-point shot to gain an efficiency advantage, alongside Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors.

But now that the rest of the NBA has caught up, and threes are being shot at record rates, Morey—currently the president of basketball operations for the Philadelphia 76ers—believes the trend has gone too far.

"I don't think it's the fault of the teams or the analysts out there because their job is just to win, but to me the bottom line is [the three-pointer] was added many years ago and it's [worth] 50 percent more than other shots," he said during an appearance on a Sloan panel entitled "Have the nerds ruined basketball?" (h/t ESPN's Kevin Pelton). "That's simply too much. It essentially breaks the game."

Morey's Rockets were infamous for almost entirely shooting either three-pointers or attempts at the basket, virtually eliminating the midrange game. The offense primarily functioned on Harden isos or pick-and-rolls, which either resulted in a step-back three, a layup at the basket, an alley-oop finish to a rolling center or a kick-out to the three-point line.

But now Morey believes the efficiency advantage three-point shots provide has become a real issue.

"If the best players in the league taking wide-open 8-to-15 foot shots is worse than a heavily contested, off-the-dribble 3, that is bad for the game," he said, "and I think it's the responsibility of the league office to take a look at this because teams are just going to optimize."