Biggest difference between today's NBA vs yesteryear

I wonder if any of the "radical" ideas like raising the goal or expanding the length/width of the court to accommodate today's athletes will ever gain much traction and become a reality. Anyone else think this is bound to happen some time in the not too distant future?

 

You are not following my point. If the NBA favored perimeters much more back then as you say, then why are the perimeter players now having more success than ever in dominating the Top 10 in scoring each year.

I explained that NBA coaches have adjusted to the new rules by using 3s to spread the floor in unprecedented volume and success. This spacing supports drives from anywhere on the court.

And this also directly relates to more athleticism in the NBA via to increased roles for 3 and D players.

 

The only thing I would like is if they widened the court a little bit.

It just seems to be too cramped in the corners from the 3-point line to the sideline.

 

And you are missing my point. The NBA rules didn't favor perimeter players back then. It favored great individual offensive players, regardless of position.

Now, the rules don't necessarily favor perimeter players... they hinder post players.

It's not that the perimeter players jumped past the big men in scoring... the big men fell off.

 

This.

 

Yeah, athletes are getting more athletic. NBA is no exception.

• Worse shooters? Nah, homez, not really. League shoots better in the 2010s than the average of 1970-1999 in 2P%, 3P%, eFG%, and FT%.
• Flop more? Maybe better camera crews and technology for the fans to see it, but the refs are calling 'em less. FT per FGA rate is going down (even though FT% is going up).
• Fundamentals? Maybe, but like... what exactly? Thumbs aren't down on those chest passes? Less bigs have a post game, but more bigs can shoot outside, which seems like a pretty fundamental skill to me. Don't forget how many stiffs there were back in the day who couldn't do much of anything other than be tall.
  I couldn't find league avg on assist rate, but they are turning the ball over way less and less each decade. The rate of decrease in turnovers is pretty constant, and there isn't a spike in the data on either side of '94 when handchecking was eliminated.

 

You're just referring to the exceptions, on the average NBA players today are indeed more athletic, in fact they're so athletic their ligaments and joints can't handle it long term. This is because of advancements in technology, training, medicine and just the fact that players are starting to play b-ball earlier.

For example guys who can dunk it are now just normal in the NBA, in the 80's you'd probably be seen as an elite player if you can dunk it. I actually like today's era, it's less physical but demands more basketball skills...in the old days if Malone wanted to defend he'd just smack people left and right. Now if Malone was playing in the current era he'd actually have to rotate and read the opponent offense...and even when he does everything right he can still be called for a superstar foul.

I mean, just look at the current evolution of the NBA, 5 years ago a guy like WB putting up 46-10-10 would result in everyone calling him GOAT, nowadays a lot of people are calling him out because his team is getting their ass handed to them because of his excessive hero ball.

 

My goodness how quickly some forget.

1) Spud Webb won the 86 slam dunk contest. Other than that feat, he was never considered even near an elite player.

2) Wilt Chamberlain was dunking free throws in HIGH SCHOOL...a fact which resulted in the so called Chamberlain rule: "When Wilt Chamberlain was in high school, he had a unique way of shooting free-throws. He would stand at the top of the key, throw the ball up toward the basket, take two steps, jump toward the rim and jam the ball through the net. Doing this resulted in basketball rules to state that a player cannot cross the plane of the free-throw line when shooting a free-throw."

3) Then many years later along came the Alcindor rule: "When Lew Alcindor started playing basketball in college for UCLA, the NCAA officials felt that he was too dominant a player—one who could dunk the ball at will. They felt he would be unstoppable, so they changed the rules to forbid dunking in college games. This was called the "Alcindor Rule.""

4) As far as WB, I suggest you take a look at these summary statistics on the Big "O" : http://www.nba.com/history/players/robertson_stats.html . This was done in the years when defense dominated the perimeter. Rules had to be changed because athletes in the modern NBA could not even begin to put these kind of numbers consistently.

My goodness, WB is no where near the accomplishments of Oscar...maybe some day he will get there, but he certainly isn't there yet.

 

Can't deny the elite athleticism of Wilt and Oscar and some of the other legendary physical specimen of the past.

Two different discussions, though:

1. Comparing the most athletic from each era, and
2. comparing the average level of athleticism across the league from each era

For example: How does Danny Ainge, at 6'3" and 175, stay on the court in today's NBA, let alone start for a dynasty and a contending Suns team? You putting him on Harden or Westbrook? I can't name a single starting guard in today's NBA that he could stay in front of long enough to not be a major liability. His lack of athleticism relative to the average starting NBA guard is what would keep him off the court.