Please... you can't even touch a player now or its a foul. Try getting by a defender when they're allowed to hand-check, bump, face-guard. Also, I'm sure the 80's Celtics and early 90's Pistons knew nothing about help defense. I'm sure you think it all started with the mid 90's Knicks and continued with JVG and Poppovich. You think Jordan or Larry was ever guarded one-on-one? If that were the case, both players would probably be able to put up 50 ppg.
By saying they are more complex and better now, I'm not saying that they didn't exist back then. You weren't allowed to play any type of zone back then and the current help schemes are much faster and more effective. Jordan and Larry were guarded really physically, much more than someone like Lebron is today because of the scheme. I'm not arguing that. But the loss in physicality is made up for by the improvement in help and team defense. That is why hand checking was removed. Defenses were simply becoming too effective at slowing down offenses.
That's your opinion... not really based on anything. If defenses were so much better, why is there much more flopping? Why is it being used by these "Great" defenses as an admitted advanced tactic to gain an advantage. More flopping, less contact, less competitiveness between teams (ie - more competitive cutthroat rivalries in the 80's/90's)... I'm not buying that the league is harder offensively now due to better schemes. If anything, combo shooter/passers like Bird would have a field day with your matchup zones. They're effective against inconsistent mid-range shooters (like Lebron and Derrick Rose)
Looking at player's at their peek (regardless of how long their peek lasted): Fantasy O. Robertson Jordan Bird Olajuwon M. Malone Reality Stockton R. Miller Richmond Rodman Olajuwon
The great "offensive" players coming up also couldn't shoot very well, and scoring went down. That may have also had something to do with it. Again, if Jordan/Bird were putting up nearly 30ppg with the "physical, but non scheming" defense... you think they would have been slowed down by a zone where zero contact is allowed?
Jordan and Bird didn't need rule changes to become effective at what they did... they also didn't flop.
It's based on scouting. Players know the tendencies of their opponents. They know the specific areas where the other player wants to shoot from and where they're elite from. It's based on the simple evolution of defenses. Like when the teams realized that giving up baseline is much preferred to giving up the middle of the floor in the NBA which was sacrilege in the 80s. But whatever, if you think defenses are dumber now that's your opinion. I don't understand how 1 rivalry between teams makes defense on a whole better. These players are now constantly in the spotlight like never before. Players like Amar'e or David Lee are bashed for being good on one side of the floor.
Here's some good stuff by Zach Lowe on modern NBA defenses if you genuinely want to look at the other side of the coin - http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id...trategy-forcing-coaches-rethink-their-offense
Its all cyclical... even today. Teams have adapted to the new rules that emphasize minimal one-on-one contact, thus they have to implement schemes of help defense. The big man is virtually non-existant, along with the post-game. I honestly believe players nowadays can't shoot middle-distance jumpers with as much proficiency (and hence you get defenses designed to give guards wide open jump shots). 1 rivalry? Celtics-Knicks, Celtics-Lakers, Celtics-Pistons, Celtics-76ers, Celtics-Hawks, Celtics-Rockets, Bulls-Pistons, Bulls-Knicks, Bulls-Celtics, Bulls-Cavs, Knicks-76ers, Lakers-Blazers, Lakers-Suns, Lakers-Rockets, Rockets-Jazz... I can keep going, but all of the above rivalries had more intensity than what exists today. You can have all the scouting and metrics in the world... I still haven't seen a defense in today's game that could stop Magic/Larry/or Michael.
i fail to see how this has anything to do with the league in the 80s and 90s. It's really only an article about 2.9 seconds strategy and how MODERN offenses have had to adjust.
A combination of hand checking and man/zone hybrid would be the closest but that's why they're the greatest. They can't be stopped. Just like Durant and Lebron today. Also if I was creating an ideal team I would probably go with Lebron at the 4. Bird and Lebron and Magic would take turns guarding the PF if needed. so Magic, Jordan, Bird, Lebron, Wilt/Shaq/Kareem/Hakeem/Russell
...... the 2.9 second strategy is modern and offenses have had to adjust to the better help defense and rotations. If the older offenses worked, the offenses wouldn't have to adjust..... Here's some more stuff about how defense has evolved. Now the middle is extremely hard to get to in the NBA. http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/38653/how-the-starks-dunk-changed-nba-history Offenses and defenses just evolve with time. Counters on counters are created. There's nothing wrong with that. It doesn't mean that the 80's basketball sucked.
Very individualized examples. Not everybody runs a D'antoni type offense for obvious reasons. Likewise, Thibs/JVG's defense are often smoked by good jump shooting/3-point shooting teams. If you honestly don't think the great players of the 80's wouldn't be as great today... where they can bust zones with their excellent shooting, and excel with the soft/no-contact defense, I don't know what else would convince you. On the flip side, I see guys like Wade, Nash, Harden, Paul, and D. Rose all having their games affected by more physical play/contact/less ticky-tack foul calls/hard-nosed 80's-90's defense. Durant and Lebron would be great in any era... but they'd also face better competition night-in/night-out.
He isn't going to be that in a lineup with Magic. If you are going to make Magic your point then you are going to have to let him run the offense. If you are going to have LeBron be the point forward then you might as well take Magic out of the lineup and replace him with someone like Stockton who would give you better floor spacing with his shooting. Throw in that Jordan is going to have the ball a lot too and you are going to end up wasting Magic or LeBron or having a very upset player because he never sees the ball.
Dude, learn some reading comprehension. Earlier, I said Bird would be more effective in this era. Also Wade is an all time great who would be amazing in every era. Same with CP3 and D. Rose. Nash's high pick and roll would always work. Harden is the most debatable here since I absolutely hate his game and would despise him if he didn't play for the Rockets.
Define "couldn't do jack". Certainly it frustrated the Rockets, but they held their own against the Sonics every year except the 96 season where the Sonics just had a better team, and the Rockets had an aging one. On the flip side, the Sonics defense had trouble containing a guy like Barkley, who could take you down low in the paint, hit an open jumper, or grab offensive rebound after rebound while everybody was out of position.
