[Orlando Sentinel] What happened to the Dwight Howard we once knew?

The league is watered down.

There shouldn't be franchises in Toronto, New Orleans, Charlotte, just to name a few.

Also whats hurt the game is nobody is staying in college.

It is having a very bad effect on the quality of the game.

I dont know how you fix that but it has contributed to the me-first mentality that we see too much of.

 

I don't blame Dwight. The rest of Orlando's team sucks.

 

Actually, this is one reason why I hate the Lakers so much. They simply think that the entire league is their farm system. The only superstar they developed since Magic Johnson is Kobe. That's two freaking decades! They just pluck the developed franchise players from other teams whenever they want.

BTW, those who say you don't blame Howard for bolting, how would you have felt if Hakeem left during those lean years after Sampson's demise and the cocaine debacle in the late 80s? It's easy to say about other teams' franchise players.

 

To think this whiney, self-absorbed puff piece may have actually worked....

 

Uhhhh. toronto has basically canada as their fanbase... Just because they suck, doesn't mean that they should be gone. I agree with the obcats and stuf because they continually are losing, money, putting forth a bad product and hardly anybody goes to games

 

Good info here. I do remember shortening the 3pt line, and then lengthening it again. And of course hand-checking has changed since then. And then zone D.

But isn't every era different? I used to be a real avid basketball fan and in addition to watching current games, I'd also watch ESPN classic games from the 70's and 80's. My friend's dad is Cliff Robinson from the 70's (a 19ppg and 9 rpg guy for the Laker, 76ers, Bullets etc.) and he says that the big men suck nowadays. I do think you're on to something with the rule differences. There were a lot of terrible stiffs in the 80's and 90's too who wouldn't be in the League nowadays because you don't NEED a 7 fter anymore.

I think there was a always a talent gap (post expansion) between the good teams and bad teams. It's just that nowadays, the good teams generally make so much more money than the bad teams that it's become an economic issue with competitive balance being a secondary goal. I'm pretty sure if all teams were profitable, the owners wouldn't give a damn about the talent divide.