Those were examples of players with a back to the basket post game. While Hakeem's was more fluid/elaborate/fancy than most, here he was merely representative of that class. Griffin is not close to the post player Barkley was. KJ likewise with Mark Jackson (which means no, I should not have used KJ in my example). Yes, MJ did. Others did not. There was no Corey Maggette or Kevin Martin that I can recall. The closest thing to that phenomenon was Reggie Miller, who is still several notches above them. That is not to say there were fewer free throws attempted. In fact, I believe there were more, they just tended to be on solid fouls in the post instead of touch fouls as an average guard sauntered to the rim. I also started watching in the '80s, but I still prefer the '90s because... I loved the Knicks style of play, especially under JVG when they made the finals in '99. Every basket should mean something. Every shot should be contested. Scoring 100 points in a game should be an accomplishment, not some sort of basketball team Mendoza line.
Early 90's was good, but late 90's got very ugly after everybody tried to copy Rockets iso-ball. The current emphasis on the perimeter game does make it fun to watch, but the traveling rules have gone too far with the Eurostep and jumpstop abuses. Also, most teams play a similar style now, too: pick-and-roll or dribble-drive iso, with the big men reduced to just spotting up or dunking on the roll. I would like to see a little more post play. I think they could fix this by just calling traveling on drives more strictly.
There's pieces of both I like. I really miss watching the post up games - you don't see that at all anymore. But the late 90s had iso basketball, which was absolutely the worst for watching. The other part of the 90s I miss is blocked shots. You don't see nearly as much these days because all defenders do is try to step in front of someone to draw a charge. You'll get called for a foul a lot of the time trying to block a shot even if it's clean. But I believe the passing has improved a lot in today's game which is fun to watch.
More true ballers like Mitch Richmond, Tim Hardaway, Penny, Jerome Kersey who did their thing with no zone defenses. Now you don't have as many "unconscious" moments and more integrated team play. You also had more characters like Dennis Rodman just doing their thing and not giving a ****... what you see now is a watered down product in terms of individual brilliance, but it's on level or better when you consider team play. Which is good for the game I guess, but not as satisfying for the basketball junkies.
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The low point for the 00's was when they tried to change the NBA basketball. LOL. The 90's were where men played.
Hahah, I'm having this discussion in two places. I thought the 90s produced some of the ugliest basketball in NBA history and we are only now just recovering from it. I don't blame the rules though because the ugly game was a natural byproduct of introducing the gym to NBA athletes.
I miss 90's basketball and nba on nbc. I think many of the players drafted in the mid late 80's became polished and in their primes during the 90's. Seems like every team had a dominant player and it was a show down / beat down every game. Not so much these days. Mid late 90's had a strong draft (kobe, shaq, kg, tmac, vc, ai, dirk, td, etc) but they have / or are fading into the horizon. It probably wont be another 5 or so years till we see what these current players being hyped are really made of. One thing is for sure though, big men of this era cannot compare to the previous.
I lol'd b/c it's kinda true. the 90's was stacked with super talented players who all wanted to be "the man". guys who rarely admitted it but wanted to be like mike. dominating. but that was the also the downfall of many of them. tough to get them to come together like Miami did. That's why there is so much backlash against miami. None of the young guys in the 90's would have even thought of doing that. Shaq wanted to pursue acting and be laker he didn't go there to join another superstar. Kobe let's not forget averaged something like 8 ppg when he first came into the league and was coming off the bench. players these days are too soft but it's also good to see good team play like the adelman teams.
you do realize most of the top shooters in NBA history came from the 90's...don't you? or are we still pretending that Lebron is a great 3point shooter?
NBA on TNT destroys NBA on NBC. Roundball rock was a better theme song. There is definitely more parity in the league now days. I remember the 8th seeds in western conference used to have less than a 500 record. There was a big void in the early to mid 2000s in talent, but I would say now days that talent void has been filled. With so much expansion teams in the 90s there were some truly awful teams. I think Rudy T deserves a lot of credit for causing the downfall of the 90's. His iso ball with hakeem became popular and and no one really likes that ball unless your team is using that to win. How many people big man shoes? Plus how many games did people watch back then with no league pass or internet.You were stuck watching whatever team they put on TV. Now you can watch the suns, ,warriors, or clippers if you really wanted.
of course technology is better now. back in the 90's u had to have satellite tv or league pass (cant remember if it came in during the late 90's or 00's). Hopefully Rose and Griffin are the first of a new generation of players who play with the spirit of the 80's n 90's. Melo, Bron, Bosh, etc. have disappointed me. Dwade is prolly one of the few players who i enjoyed watching from that class.
To me the big difference is storylines. The NBA used to market itself around individuals who became heroes or villains. Casual fans would tune in because they knew these storylines and characters. They were fortunate to have some very unique personalities. Then they all retired around the same time, and after that the game seemed to lag a bit...the interest level diminished. I think that's why the Heat are so watched...it's not just that they're talented, it's that there's a storyline there. They've become villains to many...that's intriguing.
IMHO Kevin McHale initiated the bad bad era of NBA hoops with his clotheslining of Rambis, and Riley's reaction to it. We had to endure the Lakers becoming thuggish, the Bad Boys being heinous, the (Riley then JVG) Knicks being OTT obnoxious until finally in the '00s the League got things back to a more balletic and beautiful view. Imagine Hakeem in today's age, or Clyde or so many others on other teams from back then compared to now, (sigh)
For better or worse, 2000's NBA was greatly influenced by the Europeans. Shooting and big men versatility has improved while flopping and lack of true low-post centers has become rampant.
The 90s NBA had much more character. To wit: -MJ: Anytime you have possibly the best player who ever lived play with a mix of such gracefulness and ruthlessness, your era has a leg up on other eras. And I hated MJ. The 00s had second rate clones of Jordan. -A more balanced game: The 90s had great players at every position 1 through 5. The 00s lacked epic centers outside of Shaq. Sorry, Dwight and Yao don't quite cut it. Now, it's just so guard centric. It was always great to see the centers match up like Hakeem, Shaq, Ewing, Robinson, even Mourning and Smits. -Rivalries and bad blood: Teams really hated each other. Remember how hard the Bad Boys made it for MJ? Or the Bulls-Knicks series? The Knicks-Heat? Rockets-Suns? Pacers-Knicks? The closest to that in the 00s were the Kings-Lakers. -Entertainment factor: When he wasn't pulling down 18 boards a game a wrestling with a homophobic Karl Malone, you had Rodman acting completely crazy and wearing a wedding dress. Or Reggie doing the choke sign toward Spike. Or Barkley just being a jerk. The closest thing to that now is Artest, who is no Rodman. Everyone else is so corporate and scripted by their PR firms--The Decision was just the logical extension of that.
