[Yahoo Sports] Kenny Smith: Houston is the must-watch team in the 2nd half.

it was just a different era man. Back then basketball wasn't as in fashion, and people didnt have the advanced training techniques they had today - or the knowledge of attaining the kind of bodies guys have now. And you had a much smaller set of people competing to be professionals back then.

Pro-ball wasn't a lucrative career. Would magic johnson play in today's league - i am sure he would. I'm sure he'd be very good. But he might not be as dominant - who knows. You just don't, you can't compare.

I think Shaq was better than wilt. I think Magic would have been a 2 or 3 instead of a one in todays game. I mean Isiah changed the pt guard position forever. Kareem would be more like Yao. But it's not even fair - because they were the best for that era and deserve their place in history.

I mean, but let's be honest, who would you take when it's all said and done - Lebron or Jordan? Maybe Jordan had that clutchiness that no one can match, but in pure skills, even LeBron is just is too much.

But seriously - Dr. J - my favorite old school player...I don't know if he'd do better than a t-mac in todays game. You just can't say. Maybe if they had the advantage of all the training today's athlete's had they would make it. Maybe they'd break down. Maybe the physicalness and the speed isn't something that can be taught and just didn't exist back then.

But the game is different, and the athletes are different. Just watch an ESPN classic game and see how many dunks are made in a game compared with a game today.

 

if we had pre-HIV Magic instead of Tmac, this team would have a championship now.

 

Mike James was such a stud back then.

 

trust me, i have watched many 'classic games' when they were on this channel called CBS.

The fundamentals and skills are much lower than they were then. Obviously the kids skipping college may attribute to that. but the shooting and passing was so much more crisp back then.

i don't deny LeBron's skills and athleticism. But ultimately you are judged on winning championships and thriving in pressure moments.

Dwight Howard? Yao Ming? I think 90s Dream would destroy them all.

 

Highly doubt it. Spurs would still win and A healthy Shaq is unstoppable.

 

Magic Johnson? the best PG of all time?

He would score over Parker, they would have to double team him. plus Magic's passes were so good, we'd be on SportsCenter every game.

 

Man, I haven't read the rest of this thread, so maybe I missed something, but your post here is just wacked, with all due respect. I was watching the games back then and those guys you mentioned would dominate in today's NBA. You just don't know what you're talking about.

 

Both the people involved in that interview were idiots.

 

Advanced training techniques? How many current players have the durability of stockton or malone? back in the eighties, i dont recall players missing games b/c of plantar fasciitis.

the raw athleticism of today's players is greater, but they're cream puffs compared to the eighties players.

how could magic not be dominant? name 1 current point guard that he couldnt post up and shoot a hook over.

what're you basing this on? his height? do you think dirk should be a center?

with magic's court vision, speed, and ball handling, he'd definitely be a one.

Except kareem was far more mobile than yao.

i'm pretty sure anyone in their right mind would take the GOAT.

 

Putting a great point guard with unproven rookies and a center that hasnt really perform consistent in the playoffs doesn't = instant championship.

 

Yeah, don't feel like you have some badge because you remember the games being on CBS - I remember when the games weren't even live and they were taped delayed.

The fundamentals were much better back then, you wnat to know why? because guys LACKED the athleticism to compensate for that. In today's game, fundamentals are key, but can only take you so far. But extreme athelticism will take you further. There are rare exceptions, like Wilt. But look at the best center this decade and it's Shaq - who isn't called the big fundamental. And even duncun has weaknesses in his game. But he sure is big and powerful.


Hakeem had both, and would definitely succeed in any era.

That being said, I don't know what would happen if you put one player in a different era than today. Would today's players survive in today's game? Absolutely. Would they be as dominant? That I don't know. Yao 30 years ago would be truly unstoppable. Only wilt and russell would give him trouble. And he'd make their lives impossible.

But no one knows if wilt would be as dominant as shaq is today - and that in lies the difference. Fundamentals or not, todays players would kick yesterday's players butts.

How do I know this? Because it's a fundamental tenant of sports. Today's track atheltes run faster and faster. Today's boxers hit harder and move faster. Today's gymnast's pull more complex moves then ever before.

Today's basketball players are better than yesterdays. Just as if you put Roger Clemens back in the 1930's he'd pitch no hitters all the time. Even without the steroids.

 

Enjoy your wedding anniversary Deckard, you don't want to read what I've been reading. Enjoy the fact that you have seen the NBA game before these guys were born.

 

How about Jabar and TMac.

 

I love the game back then, don't get me wrong, but today's athlete's are far superior then yesterday's. There are exceptions to be sure - but c'mon, how many back boards did wilt break. The game was slower.

 

dude, i've been watching the same basketball you have....i just can admit that the game has evolved and so have the athletes. You're holding onto the past. Yao wouldn't looks slow 30 years ago. He looks slow because everyone else has speeded up so much.

 

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yeah, the afros must have slowed down the air time.
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you're right, he'd post up a lot of pt guards....but he'd also struggle with their speed and atheltcism. he never had to deal with guards like a tony parker.

by the time the detroit series roled around, magic was too old, but i would have loved to see isiah against a younger magic.

 

The flaw in you're logic is that you think the eighties players had fundamentals while today's players have raw athleticism.

but the greats from the eighties had both. jordan, pippen, barkley, hakeem, isiah, dominique, magic, drexler, etc...

since you used lebron as an example, i'll do the same.

how many of these players do you think lebron has an undisputed advantage against in sheer athleticism?

the only great sf who wasnt that athletic from the 80's that i can recall right now is bird. but i would take bird over lebron any day of the week.

 

You talking about the greatest center of times hell yea we would win a championship.

 

so you say that magic never had to deal with guards like tony parker.

and then you bring up isiah.

arent you refuting your own contention?

wasnt isiah's game very similar to parkers? except isiah was a better ball handler