All of these now-retired early 2000s players talking about the rules were so much different "back in our era" to try and discredit today's players are either delusional, or just hoping nobody will notice that the nba hasn't allowed hand-checking since 2006. Curry was playing with the same rules in 2015 when he went ballistic as Paul Pierce, Kobe, and Tmac were in 2006.
Admittedly, this year things have gotten out of hand with the "freedom of movement" bull , but you haven't really been able to hand check guys on the perimeter since the 05-06 rule changes. It's no coincidence that immediately afterward you had got guys like Gilbert Arenas dropping 60 points, Kobe dropping 81, and Dwyane Wade and Dirk setting free throw attempt records in the playoffs. It's basically impossible to defend an elite nba player in space if you can't put your hands on him, and that's been the status quo in the nba for over 10 years now.
The nba is softer than ever now, with players like Harden and his rule manipulation antics, along this new "freedom of movement" rule making defense just an afterthought. But the it's been a soft league for a long time...at least on the perimeter.
Players and fans always on the new generation, it's common in all facets of life, but it's more rampant in the NBA due to the money and fame today..
I read an article a few months ago from 2000 where Charles Oakley and Karl Malone were criticizing the PFs of that day and the future of the position..Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Garnett, Chris Webber, etc
The league didn’t catch on to exploit the rule changes until the last few years.
The biggest changes actually happened after malice in the palace. The league knee jerked and put in rules that turned the league into a ymca pickup ball league.
That and the finals rating disaster that was the Spurs-Pistons Finals... Sad that nobody tuned in. That was some of the best pure defense and overall basketball you'll see, tbh
That was great basketball. I’d say one of the best finals in the last twenty years or so.
The nets, Knicks and cavs finals though were horrible. The Miami one wasn’t that great either.
I don’t think anyone is pretending, I just think that the majority doesn’t care. The NBA today is marketed as a players’ fan league. Their target market is uneducated young males who couldn’t tell you the first thing about advanced metrics of basketball. NBA’s primary focus is for people to pay attention on how many points Curry and Harden scored on a random Tuesday night and to make sure that there are close ups of the shoes they are wearing. The pre-2006 version of basketball that you’re referring to died a long time ago even before 2006. There’s not enough profitability in it. The past stars would foul out in the first quarter. Stern and Silver are marketing geniuses. They will always keep adjusting the game into what brings in the most money from its audience.
Actually the incentives are to suck ESPN\s and embrace the party line.Players and fans always on the new generation, it's common in all facets of life, but it's more rampant in the NBA due to the money and fame today..
I read an article a few months ago from 2000 where Charles Oakley and Karl Malone were criticizing the PFs of that day and the future of the position..Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Garnett, Chris Webber, etc
Are they marketing geniuses ? They decided to focus on stars. MSM will collapse and tbey won't be able to protect the saintly image of the stars.
It could easily be that basketball's popularity has very little to do with what they are doing.
No doubt Celts and Lakers in 10 (though game 7 was trash)
SPURS Pistons
And Spurs heat Volume one
Along with CavsState volume two
Only really good competive Finals that also had high level basketball on both ends.
But cavs State was more about shot making save for LeBron and his epic block.
Pistons/Spurs also wasn't marred by suspensions, or a 6 for 24...
Great series with Horry and his big 3 the most pivotal play and biggest final shot imo, even over Kyrie 's
There's got to be a balance. I definitely don't want the old NBA of Kevin McKale clotheslining Kurt Rambis, or the intentionally dirty guys like Laimbeer...
Agreed. That's why the late 90s/early 2000s was the best imo
And that just happens to correspond to when our favorite team was at its peak. What a coincidence!
Pretty much this except I wouldn’t call Silver a marketing genius. I think he’s simply adapted to the Kardashian/social media era in America (albeit he’s done a better job than the NFL or MLB has at adapting) where people are focused on the most superficial things imagineable. The average NBA fan now is the type of person who cheered for the Thunder in 2012 because he thought the meme about James Harden wanting to eat Torino’s pizza rolls was funny.
Stern OTOH i agree was a genius in how he used Bird/Magic to make the NBA as popular as it was in the 80s.
All this started with Jordan...he was getting the James Harden treatment back then too
From a pure basketball perspective spurs pistons finals was great execution by both teams. The defensive and offensive sets were ran perfectly from game 5 on and it was just great basketball.
Spurs heat in 13 was great as well but the spurs lost so too bad for me.
10 was ok as I think injuries (Perkins was more important than people give him credit for, esp vs the frontline of the lakers) took away a little from that series. Most of the warriors series were unwatchable from a pure basketball perspective, even in 15.
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