NBA players with that kind of personality are forced to turn it down or get hit in the pockets. That's why.
Big surprise. Fact is, the modern version of the NBA is different, and people don't like things that are different from their own romanticized version of the "glory years."
The nba game has never been more violent around the basket than today. Look at Tim Duncan when he came in the league and Duncan today. I think it's more of the action around the basket that effects his game not age.
I was a teenager in the 90s watching tons of basketball. The style of play was a lot tougher. Players were able to get away with a lot harder fouls, no hand checking fouls, different defensive rules, etc... But if those teams had to play under today's rules against today's teams, I don't know how much more dominant they would be. Also, today's teams are athletic enough to play well against those teams if they were allowed to play by 90s rules. Centers like young Shaq, Mourning, Mutumbo, Ewing, Robinson and Hakeem would physically dominate most if not all of today's centers, but the athletic wings of today's NBA would probably get the better of the 90's guys. If you put someone like Lebron back in the 90s with his size and skill set, he would have absolutely dominated. Pippen would probably have even had trouble matching up against him. The rule changes have almost made it like comparing apples to oranges.
The game was a lot slower around the basket when those guys played. 7 footers that could play for ever back then would get hurt today.
Why do people complain about what he said? Yes, he is right and wrong in different ways. The games back then were tougher, people had actual basketball skills. Now the rules are different to make more players look like MJ. The problem is that the skill level and fundamentals for the average role players is not the same as the 80s and 90s. Seeing teams score by the bunch makes for more exciting games and therefore, more league revenues. But it would be remiss to ignore the way that basketball was played a few decades ago, where every game seemed like a clinic because of the solid foundation in players skill sets. The league nowadays is more about hype. Also, lets not forget the type of fouls called back then versus today. The league today calls softer fouls (and to make it worse -- very inconsistently). Makes it for an ugly game from the fans perspective.
Even Kobe is making the claims and he is from the pseudo new generation of NBA players. http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/10325177/kobe-bryant-los-angeles-lakers-calls-nba-finesse
I agree, that Suns team would be a 4-5 team in the west today and would get bounced from the playoffs even earlier. In my opinion the league has better athletes and more players on the court can extend to the 3 point line, would love to see that Suns attempt to make a team like GSW run and gun lol.
Yeah, it is different. It's softer. Considering the rule changes - it's a fact, not opinion. Post play has been neutered by zone defense, defenders cant body-up or hand-check and you cant give a hard foul without being fined.
You got that right -- players are more athletic now; back in the day, a vast majority of the players had to use skill and smarts to be successful. John Stockton was not athletic... he was smart as hell and very skilled. I truly miss players like that as much as I hate the Jazz during that decade.
Kobe complaining about players being touched and drawing fouls. Lol. Maybe he doesn't like today's game because it requires teams to play like a you know, team. People hype their era of basketball/life because they grew up around it and refuse to acknowledge that BB has evolved. You mean to tell me that LeBron, Dwight, Noah, Hibbert, etc aren't capable of playing physical? F cking lol today's players are faster stronger and better prepared than before.
I dont get it. These former players from the 80's 90's and early 2000's pine for the old NBA and blast teams now and say thyre soft but what they fail to realize is that the rule changes and the inherent nature of the NBA now has changed and there is nothing they or the "soft" teams can do about it. I mean if a team went out to play like it was the 90's they would be fielding their whole bench by the 2nd quarter. I just dont see how they dont get this...its like they want to sound tough by reminiscing about the old days.
Also Defensive schemes have evolved and are better and more intricate than ever before....the average score of games has actually gone down since the "glory days"
I'm not one to glorify the 80s/90s just because those were the "old days", but the camaraderie and friendship players on opposing teams openly show each other on the court in today's NBA is a bit much for me. The high-five between Paul George and LeBron during a playoff game last year was the last straw. Ever since, I've noticed how players spend more time shaking hands, hugging and chatting after games are over. Sometimes it's like they do a handshake line. When it comes to physical play on the court, for the most part, I don't have a big problem with rule changes that have been made. What bugs me the most is flopping should be penalized enough to discourage players from doing it.
Chuck, if the NBA is so girly now, why not put on a jersey and get that ring you are so desperately missing?...
