I agree with part of what you say. The hacking defenses make the game ugly. That has little to do with shot clock though. If they would clean up the play, it would eliminate much of what you are talking about. You don't have to have a short shot clock to do it. You just have to have the nads to crack down on it so coaches stop teaching it as a strategy.
I think there is a difference in skill and a lot of what you are seeing in basketball today. In today's game athleticism can trump skill. If you can find extremely quick guards that defenders have trouble staying in front of, then you can be successful even if your basketball skills aren't that outstanding. In todays one on one style of play, shooting, passing, etc., take a back seat to being quick enough that the defender can't stay in front of you. That style, in my mind, promotes a degradation of skills in favor of athleticism, not the other way around. That's not to say some players who are lighting quick aren't also very skilled, it's just that quickness can take you far without being skilled in other facets of the game.