Old vs. New

[Ripper 0]

Well, I disagree with Ripper. (obv) Hasn't the quality of pro sports done nothing but go up? Baseball, football, basketball, all of them? I'm not saying that Oscar Robertson and Wilt Chamberlain were scrubs, by any means, but I really can't fathom that the quality of NBA play was better in the 1950s than the 1990s.

 

 

I am saying it was a better NBA player. THe problem was the guards mostly dribbled with one hand, so there you had a issue thus me saying the guards would have problems, but the players were MUCH better conditioned.

 

People look at the suns run all day and other teams get tired and think it is amazing, but that tempo was the NORM back then. And they weren't flying to arenas. THey were coming in after long bus trips and playing in arenas that were hot and muggy unlike the nice air conditioned arenas now. And they would go out there and put up 130, 140 points a night running the entire time. Then you have every team can give you stories about how so and so could touch the top of the back board or had 40 and 50 inch vertical leaps, but since they weren't allowed to dunk, so we only got to see alot of high jumping layups. Then think there were no expensive gyms with gurus there to make guys jump higeher or run faster. These guys were natural athletes.

 

That 70 wins Bulls team couldn't beat one of those Laker teams that couldn't get by the Celtics. Wilt would average 70 points on them, they wouldn't see a rebound, Jerry West and Eglin Baylor would also be murdering the Bulls.

 

Michael Jordon is one of the greatest players of all time, but I won't say the best Bar none. I say he is probably the second greatest offensive threat ever behind Wilt, but I still say Magic Johnson is the greatest all around player to ever play the game.

 

Jordon, Magic and most of the Hall of famers from the 80's and 90's would be great in the 60's and 70's, but none of the 80s or 90s teams could see those teams from the earlier years because they played faster, stronger, and were better shooters and were in better condition and played a more fundamentally sound game.

 

 

And you can't blame Highschoolers coming into the league being the reason for a worse NBA. You can blame the NCAA. First, you have all these rules about how you can practice in college which wasn't the case back then. Coaches could spend hours on end year round helping players. Now because of NCAA rules, they can't do that anymore. People can hate to admit it all they want, but players coming out of Highschool are eventually turning into the best players because they get the best training without the stupid rules that limit their progress in the NBA.

 

Plus the NBA has pussified the rules so much that it is almost stupid to take a midrange jumper because they are going to give the defender a foul if you drive to the hoop, so players don't really work on it that much anymore. Its more weight lifting to bang in the middle and more ball handling/finishing at the basket because there is no point to the midrange game.