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Brendan Haywood is dead wrong about the NBA's identity
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- Brendan Haywood is dead wrong about the NBA's identity
Brendan Haywood believes NBA teams have no offensive identity and I'm here to tell you it couldn't be further from the truth.
Hayward, who is one of the latest additions to Gilbert Arenas' new suite of podcast teammates on "Gil's Arena," sparked debate in the NBA community when he claimed that every NBA offense looks the same and distinctive styles don't exist anymore.
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"When we came in the league, the Nets were running the Princeton, the Lakers were running the triangle and then you had Sacramento running the high post offense with Vlade and those boys. Golden State run and gun, low post offense, cross screens," Haywood began.
"Everybody played to their strengths because they said this is what we do," he added. "Then you know what happened? Everybody came in with the iPads and everything else and analytics and they said, 'Hey, we want to be pace and space and shoot threes mid-pick and roll spread game.' The whole NBA plays like that. That's the offense that you're missing. Offensive identity has left the league," he continued.
The response
It's a bold claim by Haywood, but one that was met with approval by large cohorts of NBA fans. It's also a completely false one and a lazy take at that.
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Every era in the league has come under scrutiny for the product on display and this era may be perhaps the most criticized in league history.
Fans and NBA personalities are critical of the high volume of three-point attempts. They're tired of the foul-baiting. They claim that the defense is nowhere to be seen. They believe the on-court product isn't what it used to be.
All these sentiments have some level of validity, but much like Haywood's claim, they are lacking nuance, context and depth.
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Not paying attention
Haywood's point was ingrained in the belief that in the 1990s and 2000s, there were far more varied offensive playing styles. He points out the Warriors , Nets, Lakers and Kings and claims that NBA teams approached the game differently. What he fails to point out, however, is that those same realities exist now too, even if no one wants to accept them.
There is no way you can survey the current NBA and claim every playing style is the same. There is no way you can watch the Miami Heat play screen-less, high-paced offense and claim it's the same as the iso-heavy, ball-dominated version the Lakers play with when the ball is in Luka Doncic 's hands.
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There's no way you can watch the Boston Celtics prioritize paint touches to create mismatches and claim it is the same as the San Antonio Spurs ' offense built around the pick-and-roll gravity from Victor Wembanyama . Or if you watch the Golden State Warriors and claim their trigger and flow offense looks the same as the New York Knicks ' thriving in spaced isolation.
Incredibly complex offensive layers exist today, mainly because the general plaster is more evolved overall. They are so layered, in fact, that it has coincided with the need for advanced analytics in the league to help tell the story of exactly what offenses are prioritizing on every possession down the floor.
The advancement of players, both with the ball in their hands and away from the ball and from a mental processing standpoint, has allowed teams to open up the floor and provide the superstars with all the space in the world to showcase their gifts.
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Despite previous eras possessing undeniable all-time greats, those nuances in basketball evolution limited the offensive ceiling teams had, even if the action they tried to run had fundamental differences.
You could also go one step further and claim that every team, especially in the 1980s and 1990s, was playing inside-out. Most possessions started with a low-post touch and teams would play out of that.
There was once a consensus among the NBA community that jump-shooting teams couldn't win championships, but those narratives have now been comprehensively put to bed.
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Haywood must be forgetting that there was a time when you built your entire NBA offense around a center and drafting an elite big man was a prerequisite to success before NBA teams evolved, players became generally more skilled and NBA offenses became more elaborate.
Another reason why Haywood's comments are not accurate is that he's limited this belief to just the offensive end. When people saw his comments, no one challenged him on the other end of the floor.
Just as previous eras had a limited ceiling on the potential to score the ball, the same existed for defense, too. For one, the rules were different and most importantly, the space in which defenses had to cover just frankly wasn't remotely the same.
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Haywood claims that NBA teams have no identity offensively, but it is irrefutable that defensive coverages in the modern NBA have never been more creative. Scheming is at an all-time high and depending on the personnel at a coach's disposal, teams are required to deploy various defensive principles and formations to match those skillsets in the hopes of slowing down some of the best pure scorers we've ever seen.
Haywood should know better
Brendan's comments are so disappointing not only because they are incorrect, but because he should know better. Since retiring from the league in 2015, he has remained relatively close to the Association and the numerous iterations it has gone through.
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Being a color commentator for the Washington Wizards gave him a front row seat to different teams entering the Wizards' building and deploying different offenses and for him to be watching but not paying attention is doing NBA fans and the discourse a disservice.
He's clearly knowledgeable and nothing can replace personal experience in the league, but this is a great example of it also clouding judgment and creating individual biases to eras players competed in. He's also been a consistent contributor for NBA TV, whose intention is to objectively dissect the game, yet the coverage has become heavily narrative-driven in recent years.
Whether these NBA personalities who have throw-away opinions that fans scream from the rooftops are actually watching enough games on a day-to-day basis is a question. How much time they are dedicating daily to understanding how teams are operating is also a question. I fear how many people see Haywood's comments and take his word as a one-hundred percent fact without having an opinion of their own.
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The hard truth
There is simply no way you can watch the current NBA and believe that no varied offenses exist. Yes, we live in a copy-cat league and there is always going to be crossover and duplication, but the same has existed since the beginning of time.
What works is going to be replicated, unapologetically.
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It's disingenuous not to expect that, when winning is next to impossible at the professional level for most franchises.
Haywood is unhappy that every team is shooting an inflated number of threes and he's within his rights to feel this way. But never forget that just because the outcome is the same, it doesn't mean the process is.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Sep 21, 2026, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
