I was trying to think which players of yesteryear could play in the modern NBA Hakeem of course. Robinson maybe I think young Kareem would be good I wonder about Ewing. I think he would be a defensive liability. I think the big secret is they have to be punishing on the offensive end. Jocic and Embiid can stay on the floor while Gobert and Adam's cannot. Rocket River
If you’re a big that is threat offensively consistently other than the lob, there are ways to be able stay on the floor if they cannot guard on the perimeter. Bc they have to be guarded on the other end. Just like Jokic who is a monster offensively and a great passer. if you’re a big that can’t guard in space and rely primarily on pnr’s to be a threat offensively, you will be exploited and are a liability in the playoffs when you’re playing the best teams in the league who have guards who will feast or open up their teammates as a result
Yao, Rick Smits, 1980's Kareem, Parish, Mark Eaton, would all have difficulties in todays league and be less effective, not only due to a lack of mobility, but because of the increase difficulties of receiving post touches. They would struggle to guard in the modern NBA as the spacing/shooting is so much better and requires nearly every player to be able to somewhat defend in space or be dominant enough offensively to compensate. Prior to the early 2000's and the elimination of the illegal defense rules, teams pretty much conceded post entry passes by playing behind the center and instead fought to push him further away from the paint. By the mid-2000's fronting and denying became a much more popular and effective strategy since the rules now allowed teams to double off the ball as well as overload a side. Yao would've been GREAT in the 80's and 90's as he was unstoppable once he got the ball, the problem was he had a major problem simply getting the ball. Furthermore the defensive responsibilities of big men were much simpler then. They often just ran from one paint to another and rarely left it.
manute bol and shawn bradley would kill it. probably goerge muresan too because he'll scare opposing centers into submission
I don’t get your post. Yao played in the early to late 2000’s. What does the 80s and 90s have to do with him or the question posed by OP. Yao was an imposing force and close to dominant at that position in those years. Interesting how no one mentioned Shaq. Point is no one posts up anymore as its a lost art. I would argue if more big men played the post effectively a lot of those so called “old” big men would thrive today. But the game has moved away from the post to mid range, 3s and high screen and roll for bigs. Doesn’t mean post isn’t effective its just no one knows or wants to play that way anymore. Yao also had a 3 pt game but JVG forced him in the low block. So yes he would be able to play in today’s game. Defensively he may not guard the perimeter or stretch bigs but that can be offset due to his offense and length. Jokic still isn’t a good defender but his offense offsets his defensive liability.
I don't mention Shaq because while he could not guard the three He would destroy tears in the block It would balance out. It's the offensively deficient centers Rocket River
I mention Yao, because he came into the league at an interesting period of the NBA as it moved away from illegal defense rules and big men to 3's and perimeter players. I think Yao would've been lighter had he played in this era and would've been very effective offensively. The problem he would face with fronting and on defense however would be much greater today than in the mid 2000's. Very few teams were aggressively denying post entry passes and only the Suns played a 4 out spread offense during that time. Now nearly every team has lineups featuring spread offenses as well as fronting defenses. Even the much more mobile Embiid had problems getting the ball today due to Miami's fronting. I didn't mention Shaq, Hakeem, Ewing, Robinson, Mourning, etc because IMO they would all thrive in today's game due to elite skill level and athleticism. They would punish smaller defenders on switches and absolutely dominate on the offensive side of the ball. On defense Hakeem would be one of the best perimeter defending bigs, while Robinson, Mourning etc could probably be very good and Shaq, Ewing would be similar to Embiid. I don't think the post game is a lost art, only that for it to be effective and worthwhile in this era of much higher scoring efficiency, only the best post players like Embiid, Jokic, AD or Shaq, Hakeem, Robinson, Duncan etc can match the scoring efficiency of the modern game.
