Why does it seem the league's regressed nowadays? Players were so talented and their skillset is truly superior towards most players nowadays. Back then, the competition was harder than it is now and there were so many talented players you can think of on the top of your head. In this era, there's only a few such as, Lebron, Wade, Kobe, Shaq, Duncan, CP3, KG and some more. I can't even think of 10 players that can be compared to the old school players like MJ, Larry Bird, Jerry West, Olajuwon, Magic Johnson, Jabbar and much more. Shouldn't the league be improving instead of regressing? Most players lacking basic fundamentals and free throw shooting abilities.
lol you mentioned players from the last 40 years for the Old NBA, that's a huge range which does not lend much to your argument. You say MJ, who retired a little more than a decade ago and then you mention Kareem who first played God knows when, that's a huge range which means the old vs new is length of 30years vs 10years, so unfair. And then you forget several players from this generation including Kevin Durant, Chris Webber, Dirk Nowitzki, etc
because the league has regressed mostly in the last 10 years. the talent is still there but the mentality has taken a sharp nosedive.
The NBA has improved talent greatly in the last 10 years. AI, Antoine Walker, Franchise, GP, Vince Carter? That was horrible basketball. Mentality was score as many points as you can on garbage teams. Make Sportscenter. 10 years ago TMAC won the scoring title as a member of the last place Magic.
I think the 80s and 90s were the golden years of the nba. Players are now more athletic, physically gifted. But their fundamentals and discipline are questionable.
You should have stopped at the 80's. The 90's was ugly ball and defense. It was what happened during the 90's and early 00's that caused so many of the rule that has made the league so much more aesthetically pleasing today. The one and only redeeming quality about the 90's IMO were the fact that the Rockets won two championships.
In fairness, only Jerry West was out of place with that post. The rest of those players were all making all-star teams at the same time in the 80s.
Only Jerry West was not an 80's legend. Jabbar was both a 70's and 80's legend. All except West were playing in All-Star games together.
That's because they don't need fundamentals and discipline. Europe b-ball has all that fundamentals and discipline you sorely miss. Guess who wins between an average NBA team and an average Euroleague team? Dwight Howard in his absolute prime was collecting 20-20s and shooting in the 60% despite having just one offensive move: the dunk. But this is all generalities, the OP was mostly talking with nostalgia glasses on. Tim Duncan has more fundamentals than 99% of bigs in the 80's and 90's, and yet he played in this gen. Also, try telling Lebron, ZBo, Marc Gasol, Pau Gasol, Ray Allen, Kobe, KG, Brandon Roy and Nash how much they're lacking in fundamentals and see how that works out for you.
these threads annoy me. Just because Dream, Bird, Magic and MJ crowd the GOAT list for their positions doesn't mean the last 15 years isn't comparable. The league now is a much better defensive league, for instance, plus it has vastly better rules (no illegal defense). In the 80s and 90s, there were much more teams who basically did not play defense in order to entertain the fans on offense. The average games sucked, unless you liked to see GS and Denver score 150 points. The 80s was basically waiting all year for the Boston, Philly and LA (and Houston ) matchups in the playoffs, and watching MJ in the regular season. There wasn't much else to carry my interest. That said, flopping is a bad epidemic in the current NBA
Doesn't it seem like the NBA made the game more balanced to where bigger players are not quite the weapons they used to be do to zone defense, Shaq/Barkley rules, etc?
