Early 2000's was actually a bad time for the NBA. That was the post-Jordan era. The class of 2003 was a godsend.
Great video! But I have a feeling it was made by a Houston fan. So much Francis/Yao footage considering Houston's record in those years. Also Yao wasn't really an "early 2000's" star. Should have included more Reggie Miller, Mutombo & Rasheed
Reggie Miller an early 2000's star? Yea right. He played in the same era as Michael Jordan and Clyde Drexler basically. Did you not watch him terrorize the Knicks in the early 90's? Reggie was already on the latter stages of his career in the early 2000's. Dikembe Mutumbo was a 90's star all the way grouped with the golden era for Centers. Shaq, Olajuwon, Mrs. Robinson. Chewing, Alonzo Mourining, Deke etc.
Only Lerbron has that attitude because he's a prima donna and cares more about what people think of his "legacy" than anything else. He bought into the the whole ESPN/ring hype himself, how dare the "Chosen One" not have rings.
Reggie led the Pacers to the NBA finals in 2000. Took the Lakers to 6 games. Yes, he was on the downside of his career, but still a star at the time. Mutombo won DPOY in 2001 and was considered one of the biggest deadline stars that year when he went to Philly (which made it to the finals).
Zombie is supposed to be Walker, at least that's who I think it is. Wow I have no idea who John Wallace is. I just youtubed him and found no NBA highlights, not one. I wanna say bust, but apparently he's only a 19th pick. I think he was busy practicing :grin:
Other than the Rockets, the early 2000's Kings were my favorite team to watch. It's a travesty they didn't get to play in the finals. Biggest case of a team being screwed over ever during the Lakers series.
It seems like every past era will inevitably be swooned over by the next era's fans. First it was the 80's that was missed, then it was the 90's that was missed, now it's the "heart" of the early millennium that is being missed, and in the throes of the 2003 class era we're hating on the very 2003 class that we'll probably be reminiscing about ten years from now. How about we just enjoy the basketball we have NOW and accept that it will always be changing over time. Nothing "ruined" anything.
This was back when super friends didn't exist. Almost every team had their own superstar. Taken form one of the comments "before durant, there was t-mac before russell, there steve "franchise"/starbury before d-rose, there was allen "the answer" iverson before d12, there was shaq before blake griffin, there was kg before lbj, there was vinsanity before d-wade, there was afro/#8 kobe"
This. I'm enjoying the NBA as much now as I did then, maybe more with the intro of zone defenses to discourage the horrible iso-ball that was being played then and the influx of great point guards. Things change. Still a great game.