[The Detroit News] Sheed: Working on my D-Wade flop

If they were good at shooting, why they were shooting about 1/3 of today's 3pts, and making about 2% less. The game at 80s were full of fast break and everyone can buy a basket. Face it, MJ was a very strong and tall guard in 80s, not any more.

 

Plus zone certainly downplays your best player, although roles will benefit from it.

 

Michael Jordan was the most unpredictable guard I have ever seen play. (Hakeem was the most unpredictable big.) When you watched him, until he was slowed to the point that he lived on the fadeaway, you could never predict his next move. His size and strength were only a small part of what made him great. If you really believe that today's guards have it harder, you are a fool.

Not that it proves much, but the average player today is about 1/4" shorter today than he was in the late 80's.

http://www.nba.com/news/survey_2004.html

 

Wade does get every call.He barely gets touched and he flys or gets a foul call.Its sickening and pisses me off.

 

Well, today's players average 10lbs more than late 80s, that's what's significant, much stronger. 80's league had more Bradley sticks inside, with zone, defensive 3s and mobile shooting bigman all around the league, the front line is getting shorter, quicker and more explosive.

Top swingman however, are getting much longer, Isiah Thomas 6-1 gave MJ most trouble, Gary Payton 6-4 was once DPOY. Today, you have Bowen 6-7 and Artest 6-7 as defensive specialists, and almost every team has one of that type.

 

Same old story. The league has been about special treatment (or at least the perception of special treatment) for its stars for virtually my entire life.

 

Because the three point line was about 1 to 2 feet farther out than it is today. They moved the line closer in, so you have more guys taking threes. Plus it has erased the mid range game, every one wants threes. To think that was done to increase scoring. . .

Please I get tired of this same old story of how much more athletic and better the nba is. I promis you if the 80's celtics, lakers or Bulls were playing today, they would dominate. Jordan was averaging 20 a game when he was 40, stockton was still averaging close to 14 and 8 when he was 40. Thats against todays "top flight" athleticism. Imagine what they would do when they were 25 or even 30. I will agree there is a greater emphasis on athleticism, hoping that it can be molded into basketball skill, but the kendrick perkins, and darius miles dont always work out. The players of the 80's were more skilled, and much better basketball players, plus great athletes. That will beat a great athlete any day of the week.

 

You do understand that mid-range = inside the 3pt line. Now what happens on a fast break when you have everyone on the floor that can hit a 15ft jumper. You do not pull the ball back out and setup in half court. You pass/swing it to the open player and he shoots. Basically imagine current PHX ball, but majority of the teams played that way.

Granted I think more players these days are better ballhandlers, but doing AND1 crossovers don't put the ball into the basket until recently (FTs)

 

Untrue, the 3 point line was only changed from 94-96, and then it was reverted back to the old length because players like Glen Rice and Reggie Miller were hitting 50%+. You can't say that's the reason for today's generation shooting lots of 3's.

 

Wow, don't take ignorance for granted, league did shorten the 3pt line for
2 years 94-96, not any more.

 

Why is it so hard to understand there's no defense in 80's?
PHX is the best offensive team, with tons of sharp 3pts shooters never seen before, and their FT% were one of the best ever. yet they were averaging about 107 points. The entire league of 87 average 110. It's like saying 80s average offense team were better in offense than today's PHX. Sure, they were teams like Pistons that played tough defense, but overall, there's crappy defense by today's standard. Did you ever hear "no layup" rule? It's invented in late 80s by Riley, and now every team uses it. That alone says a lot.

 

Yeah I was wrong on the three point line, i thought they had still kept it shorter than first. Now what about the rest of my post. I guess you just ignore, what you don’t like to hear.

Yeah that no layup rule is going stong today, I mean I watched a game last night, and there were absolutly no layups and lots of hard fouls anytime someone thought of taking it to the paint. Oh wait, no, that was in the 80's and early 90's before there were wide spread rule changes to cut down on rough play. So that alone say jack squat. Todays nba is no where near as tough as the 80's and early 90's. Pull out any series between the lakers and the Celtics. They beat the living crap our of each other, and still managed to score over 110 a night. Then again they had players that knew how to play the game. You had a sf/pf type player that averaged over 6 assists a game. One teams starting point guard was over 6' 8". If that does not satisfy you, pull out a bulls pistons matchup, and watch them rough eachother up.

Then again, maybe there is some ignorance in my world, I am arguing with a poster that has half their post count in one thread.

 

great players know how the league works... great players know the tendencies of the refs..

if tmac attacks the rim relentlessly like wade does, chances r tmac gonna get 10 fts a game.