Biggest difference between today's NBA vs yesteryear

Said the rules as it affects which skills are important. Athleticism hasn't improved much in last 10 years. Flopping has gotten worse, but doesn't match the rules.

 

Skills/Fundamentals

but a lot of this is because back in the 80s to the mid 90s you had guys coming out of college after their 3rd/4th years. They would develop their game in college and come out when ready. These players were much more polish and made an impact on their teams right away. Granted though that the ceiling for these players were pretty much known (whether or not they would be a star, good player, rotational, scrub) so it was much easier for teams to draft and help their teams right away.

Since - well early 90s we started to see players come out prior to their junior year more and more. Then Garnett made the high school jump and it just went down hill from there. It became a necessity to leave school early with teams starting to bet on potential rather than a finished product. As a result the product on the floor has become watered down.

But the same is still true - a lot of the juniors/seniors who come out tend to be more NBA ready but do not have that 'franchise players/all-star' potential to them. (recent rocket draftees include: Brooks, Landry, Patterson, Parsons)

I am not a fan of the one and done I would say let the players decide but I do wish kids would stay in school until at least to the end of their junior year. We would see a better college product and a better NBA product as a result.

 

More so than anything I'd say Skills/Fundamentals. The_Yoyo summed it up perfectly. Next I'd say physicality, the game is just flat out less physical than it once was. Even less than it was in the 90s. Too many foul calls IMO.

 

LeBron sees what you did there.

 

Depends on when "yesteryear" was. If it was the 50's-70's then there is a different answer than if you were talking about the 80's-2000's

 

The top 140 teams in PFs committed per game occurred before the 2000-2001 season.

 

longer shorts and no tube socks

:grin:

 

I don't think you have a point on the Athleticism and Fundamentals parts. Shooters today are better than they've ever been and the three point shot is more integral to how the game is played today. As for the atleticism aspect, player development is more evolved today and has led to stronger more athletic players. Probably the biggest difference are the rules on zone defenses and hand checking on the perimeter followed by the flopping.

 

exactly! Better shooters now!

 

I put fundamentals, but its not shooting that is the problem. Guys can shoot and dribble better than they ever have. The problem is passing and court awareness. The Spurs are the only team that pass the ball like its the 80's. Thats how a bunch of old, un-athletic guys have the best record in the NBA.

 

80s NBA was still much more brutal than the 90s.

Flopping has been around since the 80s.

 

Shooters who don't have to go up against physical hand-checking defense every night.

80's players were able to shoot well while still being physical. The late 90's/early 2000 young players stopped being able to do that (and overall scoring and interest in the NBA declined), hence the need for the rule changes.

 

Here's a great resource to help you with your question.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_stats.html

Turns out those years that Chamberlain and Russell averaged 22 rebounds for entire careers there were around 25-30 more available rebounds per game.

 

Anyone who says guys shoot better must didn't watch 80s basketball. How many guys can knock down shots all over the court? Not many. In the 80s ,there weren't nearly as many specialist. Example and I will use the bigs.

In the 80s and 90s,most of all the bigs could step out to 15 ft as well as work the post effectively. Today,how many bigs can do that?

Even if you look at guards shooting, guys like jeff malone,toney,and danny ainge could fill it and they weren't considered great shooters. When you guys shooting 44% being called good shooters is a joke. In the 80s and 90s, they wouldn't let you shoot the ball if that's th kind of shooter u were.

All in all,aau has screwed up basketball because it curtails fundamentals. Dudes are 1 dimensional at a early age and coaches aren't coaching guys,they're just managing them. You think calipari coached davis,wall,and cousins? Those guys probably has never been coached because they're not anywhere long enough to be coached. Whereas lewis,thompson,smith,and others coaches knew they would have players for 3 or 4 yrs. Elton brand was the 1st coach k player to leave early in 99. AI was the 1st under john thompson. I mean,the scouts called Hakeem raw,but dream had the dream shake in college. Now ,you don't even know if you will be around as the coach when a raw guy comes around. Look at Favors as an example or some of those international players.

 

NBA Player Jerseys

 

Mid range game was definitely better back then. Long distance shooting overall is better now IMO.

 

Rules.

Under the older rules, it's MUCH harder to be a great jump shooter and MUCH harder to drive down the center of the lane.

You can kiss the "golden age" of PG's good bye under the older rules.

Perimeter jump shooter value goes WAY down when you can make constant contact with jump shooters.

Driving to the lane is MUCH harder when the Bigs have more time to move in the paint and harder fouls are just that, hard fouls instead of the Flagrants we see tossed out all the team.

The bad boy Pistons could never exist under the current rules.

 

The old NBA was much more physical, largely because of rule changes in the "modern" era. There were freakish athletes in the old NBA, but there are just more of them in the new NBA. The game seems faster today. And shooting isn't the art form it used to be. The modern game has more "dunkers." The shorts were shorter and the heavily tattooed "thug look" wasn't "in."

 

Absolutely true.

 

80's players did not have to deal with guys as good at hand checking in the 90's. Also, I believe the hand checking rule allowed a hand check as long as it didn't impede the movement of the offensive player. The rule change should not have affected scoring that much if players were hand checking legally.