76ers: The late 90s was so deficient in Talent..

[DMC]

In my lifetime I cannot recall a longer period of not a ing thing as we've seen post Lebron. Nothing, not a ing thing. Sure we have good players, good defenders, good good blah blah blah but all this hype over Jabari, over Simmons, over Davis, over Embiid, over KAT... they are all good players, but when are we going to get another "best in the NBA in his 2nd year in the league" folks who doesn't get that way because the league just sinks to their level?

This NBA sucks where raw talent is concerned.

[DMC]

Look at the top 10 lists that are coming out recently, the usually consist of some of the following players:

Draymond Green
Paul George
Kwahi Leonard
Steph Curry
Lebron James
James Harden
Kevin Durant
Chris Paul
Blake Griffin
Westbrook


Now look into 1996, exactly twenty years ago. That top 10 would have some combination of

Jordan
Hakeem
Malone
Pippen
Robinson
Ewing
Shaq
Anfernee Hardaway
Grant Hill
Stockton
Payton
Kemp
Barkley
Reggie Miller


You tell me which group is better.

Other than Lebron and Kawhi (for his defense) I don't know if these rest of those guys would even make an NBA squad back then.

[Sean Cagney]

Amazing how the OP is always obsessed with an era that is nearly 30 years old now.

......

[midnightpulp]

Apa is still on his "modern athletes are the Avengers" shtick, I see.

I think the 90's was actually the more athletic era, since players were probably more juiced then than they are now (the scandals in baseball surely placed a microscope over the other major sports, as well. You also can't get away with rampant PED use in today's social media age). That said, the 90's style of basketball was harder to watch due to the iso-heavy, smashmouth style employed back then, but that had more to do with how the game was called than with any deficiency in talent.

That said, I'm not a big flag waver of the "modern" NBA right now. Pace-and-Space was great, the high point of basketball in this decade, and I'll champion that style. But we aren't in pace-and-space any longer. It's Wardellball now, and that is just as atrocious to watch as 90's grind-fests. Penetration and post play has become a lost art in favor of spamming pick-and-rolls and chucking 3's off secondary action. It's shallow as basektball, but fits the limited skillsets of AAU molded players.

For as much as analytics has helped the game, it's hurt it when the numbers revealed just how powerful good 3 point shooting is, which has forced teams to basically play outside/in, with the "in" being hitting the roll man off a pick-and-roll. Aside from Westbrook and Lebron, you don't see players break down defenses anymore and generate the offense off drive-kick-and-swing (that was pace-and-space). It's all manufactured off the spacing the 3 point threat creates, and it's boring as to watch. Ex. Curry basically walks in all of his layups since the defense has to over commit to him during a pick-and-roll, and since GS has a squadron of 3 point threats, you can't cheat off your man to help.

Wardellball is a very binary strategy. Pick-and-roll/chuck 3's. And the league has followed.

[140]

Apa is still on his "modern athletes are the Avengers" shtick, I see.

I think the 90's was actually the more athletic era, since players were probably more juiced then than they are now (the scandals in baseball surely placed a microscope over the other major sports, as well. You also can't get away with rampant PED use in today's social media age). That said, the 90's style of basketball was harder to watch due to the iso-heavy, smashmouth style employed back then, but that had more to do with how the game was called than with any deficiency in talent.

That said, I'm not a big flag waver of the "modern" NBA right now. Pace-and-Space was great, the high point of basketball in this decade, and I'll champion that style. But we aren't in pace-and-space any longer. It's Wardellball now, and that is just as atrocious to watch as 90's grind-fests. Penetration and post play has become a lost art in favor of spamming pick-and-rolls and chucking 3's off secondary action. It's shallow as basektball, but fits the limited skillsets of AAU molded players.

For as much as analytics has helped the game, it's hurt it when the numbers revealed just how powerful good 3 point shooting is, which has forced teams to basically play outside/in, with the "in" being hitting the roll man off a pick-and-roll. Aside from Westbrook and Lebron, you don't see players break down defenses anymore and generate the offense off drive-kick-and-swing (that was pace-and-space). It's all manufactured off the spacing the 3 point threat creates, and it's boring as to watch. Ex. Curry basically walks in all of his layups since the defense has to over commit to him during a pick-and-roll, and since GS has a squadron of 3 point threats, you can't cheat off your man to help.

Wardellball is a very binary strategy. Pick-and-roll/chuck 3's. And the league has followed.

midst with the goods tbh

[Chinook]

Apa is still on his "modern athletes are the Avengers" shtick, I see.

I think the 90's was actually the more athletic era, since players were probably more juiced then than they are now (the scandals in baseball surely placed a microscope over the other major sports, as well. You also can't get away with rampant PED use in today's social media age). That said, the 90's style of basketball was harder to watch due to the iso-heavy, smashmouth style employed back then, but that had more to do with how the game was called than with any deficiency in talent.

That said, I'm not a big flag waver of the "modern" NBA right now. Pace-and-Space was great, the high point of basketball in this decade, and I'll champion that style. But we aren't in pace-and-space any longer. It's Wardellball now, and that is just as atrocious to watch as 90's grind-fests. Penetration and post play has become a lost art in favor of spamming pick-and-rolls and chucking 3's off secondary action. It's shallow as basektball, but fits the limited skillsets of AAU molded players.

For as much as analytics has helped the game, it's hurt it when the numbers revealed just how powerful good 3 point shooting is, which has forced teams to basically play outside/in, with the "in" being hitting the roll man off a pick-and-roll. Aside from Westbrook and Lebron, you don't see players break down defenses anymore and generate the offense off drive-kick-and-swing (that was pace-and-space). It's all manufactured off the spacing the 3 point threat creates, and it's boring as to watch. Ex. Curry basically walks in all of his layups since the defense has to over commit to him during a pick-and-roll, and since GS has a squadron of 3 point threats, you can't cheat off your man to help.

Wardellball is a very binary strategy. Pick-and-roll/chuck 3's. And the league has followed.

Yep. You need to balance out the point difference between threes and twos -- 50 percent is just too high. Or you can make shots in the paint worth three points as well. Sure, you're killing the mid-range game. But post-oriented teams would make a comeback in a hurry.

[Spurtacular]

They allowed a 33-35 year old to dominate the league.

I dobt think its been stated enough but mid 90s to late 90s was so deficient in talent...not as bad as the 70s..but still ridiculosuly bad.

I'm pretty sure you know jack sh** about the 70's, tbh.

[dbestpro]

I feel so sorry for all of you who never got to see the Iceman or Dr J play live.

[Clipper Nation]

I say shave the extra point off what is currently the three-pointer and just make it worth two. That shot is just too overpowered right now at the expense of the rest of the game.