Defense in the 1980s and early 90s were overrated; Therefore so are the players

Sounds like a LeBron stan

 

Crazy Kobe fan or possible Troll.....

This person obviously doesnt realise the last 10 years has had the highest eFG% in history of the league. Also the past regular season was the highest (equal to 2009/2010) of eFG%.

The OP leaving out the effect of pace on the PPG is just laughable. Also he doesn't realise the Mike effect in the late 90's where a lot of teams/emulate Mike/Bulls causing a hugh drop off skilled big men getting points from the post and teams actually relying on perimeter players like A.I, Kobe,TMac (WANNA BE like Mike players). High volume shooters but could not keep a high FG%.

Then the 2004/2005 rule change happened which got rid of the hand check rules which really opened it up for a league that was at that point relying heavily perimeter players.

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

 

I don't have to assume you never saw bird play. I just know you never did.

What you are missing about Bird besides the whole boat was Birds leadership. His shooting was so ridiculous vs. korver and parsons that it is a shame and travesty you would even put them in the same sentence. Bird was able to hit shots and just demoralize the other team with his shooting in ways that I haven't really ever seen since. And I am coming from the point of view of a rockets fan that absolutely detested the guy. But he was THAT good.RESPECT.

I remember seeing us play celts at one point and bird just made so many 3s and shots in 1st quarter I already knew the game was over. He was ridiculous.

Also defenses were allowed to tackle punch and basically do a heck of a lot more than they can now and bird was still a scoring force.

Finally and most importantly birds basketball IQ was absolutely off the charts. I mean ridiculous. He saw plays and made plays before they transpired. At the end of the day team play and IQ (if beautiful like it was with Bird) over takes athletic. Its like watching someone play tennis with great footwork. They just stand there and run the *athlete* all over the court. Also remember bird was 6 foot 9 shooter that had some of the greatest passing that has ever existed.

Lebron is a good player but not even in the same universe as bird. Its not even close. It is absolute blasphemy to put lebron in the same sentence as bird. The team play is near 0 these days and it's a different league. In that sense lebron survives in a war of attrition. The *team* game in NBA has dropped significantly and that probably has a lot to do with free agency and not really lebrons fault. I don't hold it against lebron but that said he just isn't anywhere near bird.

Also I put magic up there with bird. just ridiculous basketball IQ and game. A triple double machine. I think jordan was obviously damn good and thing about jordan was he willed his team to win and carried his whole team on his back. But even with jordan it didn't happen overnight. Jordan just refused to lose. Lebron is still fairly young so there is time but I just don't see the level of ridiculous in lebron that was magic/bird/jordan. In the case of the lebron he needed ray allen bailing him out just to get a ring last year. Lebron is good no doubt but really just one ..of the better of the modern day - lucky to have guys like ray allen to save face.

There will be another. Sadly it's not lebron.. not yet at least and no where near it.

 

Rocket River
hilarity has ensued

 

Bird did the 50/40/90 while averaging 29.9 ppg.

That's crazy to me.

Also chipped in 9.3 rebs, 6.1 assists, and 1.6 steals per game.

 

Larry Bird would be a Korver/Parsons hybrid??? Can you explain to me how a 35/36 year old Dirk Nowitski made the All Star team? and you think Larry Bird would just be a Korver/Parsons hybird? haha Clown

 

If Steve Nash can win 2 MVPs in this era, I shudder to think what Bird and Magic could do.

 

it gets me hard fantasizing about the nba bringing back the hand check and the nfl letting wrs and cbs battlehandfight past five yards.

 

My contribution to thread, Exhibit A:

<iframe width="854" height="510" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/f4gigN2zMU4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

Haha, I laughed. Old people up in here getting mad. Way too defensive

At least this guy provided numbers. Overall, I agree people need to stop living in the past. I believe someone presented some good info in another thread, that the Lakers of the 80s had the easiest path to the finals ever, and it was probably way easier when there were fewer teams

Not everyone is impressed with screenshots and select youtube videos of tough fouls. In ten years, will folks post Artest/Pistons fight and say it was way tougher in the 00s too?

 

Nice to see we have contribution by posters whose balls haven't dropped.

 

So Hakeem was a bad defender then?

 

it's not even about defensive. When someone says that bird is comparable to kyle korver that is an enormous joke.

lebron not as good as and nowhere near bird, jordan, magic etc. Lebron needed ray allen to bail him out. Cant shoot from outside. Can't even play a finals game without some cramps. boston garden didnt even have ac. as an old man I can easily say it's a damn shame what qualifies as even *good* these days.

 

We live in an era where an extremely old and unathletic team (Spurs) is dominating and turning off the a/c.

A player who can't dunk (Nash) won two MVP's.

I mean come on.

 

Yep, you

Much rather be what you described than some fool at the end of his life getting all upset on the internet

 

Your responses are irrational, typical ad hominem internet argumentation, and you're taking shots at other posters. They definitely don't deserve a real response from me.

 

Too bad basketball doesn't consist of 1 on 1 defense. Too bad defensive schemes today are vastly superior to defensive schemes in the past.

Rule changes have to be implemented due to how little scoring was occurring due to improved defenses. Defense in the 80s was pathetic and consisted of man to man defense. I watch Jordan's 63 point game against the Celtics a team that was allegedly an elite defensive team and I just laugh.

 

The Spurs are not unathletic and old. They have plenty of athletic and young players like Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green, Bellineli, Patty Mills and maybe even Splitter and Diaw.

 

Back in my day.

 

Lmao at your list of athletic players.

I'll give you Kawhi, despite the fact that he can't create his own shot. But that's it.