I think the opposite, Damson does a great job, my only nitpick is that he sometimes leans too far into a Denzel imitation vs that 80’s/90’s LA accent, but it’s not distracting nor does it take away from his acting.
And I didn’t watch snowfall when it first dropped for the same reason, not wanting to see another glorified crack story, but it doesn’t glorify the game and has been more of an interesting character development piece. I think it’s worth getting over your hang ups to watch, again, that’s coming from someone who had the same concern and now loves this show.