The NBA Thread (79 Viewers)
- Thread starter Giovinco20
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You know I am. Sarcasm all ze way.
He's trying the NBA had more parity in the 80s and 90s than it does this decade, which is ludicrous considering those 2 teams won 8 of 9 titles from 80-88.
Take a look at the rosters of the 76ers, Hawks, Bucks, Rockets, Trail Blazers back then. Insane. And I know that I'm missing a few squads from that era.
Oh, I place those two teams, especially the 80s Lakers over even the mid-90s Bulls. They were super teams beyond anything the league has seen since. But that's my point, they were a country mile above everyone else, even though other teams had stars. Those two teams had entire starting line-ups of HOFers. Or very close.
Going to the 90s. All those teams like the Knicks, Cavs, Heat, Pacers, etc were 1 star teams, most of them only had 1 HOFer. The Bulls had 3.
The NBA has never had parity. It's a myth that it was any better in the past. The teams with the biggest stars have always had an easy time attracting other stars and forming dynasties.
The difference is basketball was incredible to watch in the 80s with all that skill and intelligence on the court, and that fast-paced transition offence. The 90s shat all over basketball with the rise of iso in the face of all the physicality that the Pistons made so popular, so you had guys like Barkley, Mourning, Malone, Ewing, etc, with the iso game. The pace slowed, scoring dropped, and hero all became the new norm. The Bulls were the one saving grace of that era because of the triangle and the way they played
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And now it has turned to pretty lame crap again with the rise of the three point barrage. And to be quite honest, it was the Heat and Lebron that really got the ball swinging in that direction. Pace is skyrocketing again, as is scoring, transition offence is up, but it's not finishing at the rim and incredibly intelligent, skilful play and passing like in the 80s. It's this lame 3-point shooting contest, mixed with iso drives after the big men are pulled out of the paint.
Going to the 90s. All those teams like the Knicks, Cavs, Heat, Pacers, etc were 1 star teams, most of them only had 1 HOFer. The Bulls had 3.
The NBA has never had parity. It's a myth that it was any better in the past. The teams with the biggest stars have always had an easy time attracting other stars and forming dynasties.
The difference is basketball was incredible to watch in the 80s with all that skill and intelligence on the court, and that fast-paced transition offence. The 90s shat all over basketball with the rise of iso in the face of all the physicality that the Pistons made so popular, so you had guys like Barkley, Mourning, Malone, Ewing, etc, with the iso game. The pace slowed, scoring dropped, and hero all became the new norm. The Bulls were the one saving grace of that era because of the triangle and the way they played
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And now it has turned to pretty lame crap again with the rise of the three point barrage. And to be quite honest, it was the Heat and Lebron that really got the ball swinging in that direction. Pace is skyrocketing again, as is scoring, transition offence is up, but it's not finishing at the rim and incredibly intelligent, skilful play and passing like in the 80s. It's this lame 3-point shooting contest, mixed with iso drives after the big men are pulled out of the paint.
agreed, the 80s are the greatest era of basketball. the Lakers, Celtics, Sixers, Pistons, Rockets etc. made for some historic moments and series. but to me the 90s are 2nd best, the number of HOFs and all time greats that played through these 2 decades is astonishing, and i definitely disagree with PI that the 90s were a great Bulls team + a lot of teams with only one star on it. there were more great teams than only the Bulls
Orlando had Shaq. Let's not act like Penny Hardaway was some kind of big star. Nor the Payton-Kemp thing in Seattle. Nor Barkley and his decent supporting cast in Phoenix.
Houston had no one but Hakeem until Drexler joined, but both were on the clear downturn when that happened.
The one team I will give you is Utah. They had Malone and Stockton. But all the same, that's not a match for the Jordan-Pippen-Rodman combo they were up against.
These teams had 1 HOFer for the most part. The Bulls had 3. It doesn't mean Jordan wasn't an insane player, the best of all-time... what it means is he also played on a loaded team in the years they won.
Your changing the goalposts as to what constitutes a star player back then compared to now.
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And then the Lakers and Celtics with 5 all-star to star level players.
The one and done thing has really done a lot of damage to the basketball intelligence levels imo.
Houston had no one but Hakeem until Drexler joined, but both were on the clear downturn when that happened.
The one team I will give you is Utah. They had Malone and Stockton. But all the same, that's not a match for the Jordan-Pippen-Rodman combo they were up against.
These teams had 1 HOFer for the most part. The Bulls had 3. It doesn't mean Jordan wasn't an insane player, the best of all-time... what it means is he also played on a loaded team in the years they won.
Your changing the goalposts as to what constitutes a star player back then compared to now.
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And then the Lakers and Celtics with 5 all-star to star level players.
The one and done thing has really done a lot of damage to the basketball intelligence levels imo.
I remember back then in the 80's, when watching a regular season game on CBS was must see television, regardless of who it was that was playing. It was every bit as thrilling as watching the playoffs. And goddamn, those playoffs. I live on the east coast, so we saw as many Celtics playoff games as we did Laker games, but those Celtics -Bucks series in the early to mid-80's were fucking classic. I think that @acmilan is probably too young to remember. Milwaukee used to play in a place called "The Mecca" and it looked like the fans in the front row were actually sitting on the court. Jack Sikma, who was their center, used to hang out at the perimeter and wait for passes from Sidney Moncrief and hit 3-pointers, and it would just piss off Mike Gorman and Tommy Heinsohn to no end 
My god, do I miss those days of basketball. That is the era that made me fall in love with it. Dude, every fucking team had a superstar on it. Even poor Michael Cage was an all-star caliber player, the poor bastard
My god, do I miss those days of basketball. That is the era that made me fall in love with it. Dude, every fucking team had a superstar on it. Even poor Michael Cage was an all-star caliber player, the poor bastard
Bulls had Rodman for only 3 years of the 2nd 3peat, for the 1st they had Horace Grant. was he a star/allstar/superstar or whatever you want to call it? Rodman was great, one of the all time great rebounders and defenders, and one of my favorites, but for all the good he brings, hes not a player to get you points or any offense really (5ppg for the Bulls). the offensive load on that Bulls team was all on Michael and Scottie, with Kukocs help from the bench, and they did amazing job really.
Phoenix had Kevin Johnson, very underrated player that should be a HOFer if not for some other off the field things. Payton, Kemp and Penny are definitely stars, or were for a short period of time. then you had Rodman-Robinson for a season in SAS, Drexler-Hakeem as mentioned already (+ Barkley too after 96, but they regressed after 97 and Clyde left) etc
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ive read about the early 80s Bucks teams and Sidney Moncrief one of the best defensive guards of all time, but never knew about that play. "The Mecca" if it pissed Tommy Heinsohn off it must have been a classic
but that Sixers team with Erving, Dawkins, Jones, Toney... and then they add Malone the following season incredible amount of great teams
Phoenix had Kevin Johnson, very underrated player that should be a HOFer if not for some other off the field things. Payton, Kemp and Penny are definitely stars, or were for a short period of time. then you had Rodman-Robinson for a season in SAS, Drexler-Hakeem as mentioned already (+ Barkley too after 96, but they regressed after 97 and Clyde left) etc
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I remember back then in the 80's, when watching a regular season game on CBS was must see television, regardless of who it was that was playing. It was every bit as thrilling as watching the playoffs. And goddamn, those playoffs. I live on the east coast, so we saw as many Celtics playoff games as we did Laker games, but those Celtics -Bucks series in the early to mid-80's were fucking classic. I think that @acmilan is probably too young to remember. Milwaukee used to play in a place called "The Mecca" and it looked like the fans in the front row were actually sitting on the court. Jack Sikma, who was their center, used to hang out at the perimeter and wait for passes from Sidney Moncrief and hit 3-pointers, and it would just piss off Mike Gorman and Tommy Heinsohn to no end
My god, do I miss those days of basketball. That is the era that made me fall in love with it. Dude, every fucking team had a superstar on it. Even poor Michael Cage was an all-star caliber player, the poor bastard
My god, do I miss those days of basketball. That is the era that made me fall in love with it. Dude, every fucking team had a superstar on it. Even poor Michael Cage was an all-star caliber player, the poor bastard
if it pissed Tommy Heinsohn off it must have been a classic but that Sixers team with Erving, Dawkins, Jones, Toney... and then they add Malone the following season
incredible amount of great teams
Bulls had Rodman for only 3 years of the 2nd 3peat, for the 1st they had Horace Grant. was he a star/allstar/superstar or whatever you want to call it? Rodman was great, one of the all time great rebounders and defenders, and one of my favorites, but for all the good he brings, hes not a player to get you points or any offense really (5ppg for the Bulls). the offensive load on that Bulls team was all on Michael and Scottie, with Kukocs help from the bench, and they did amazing job really.
Phoenix had Kevin Johnson, very underrated player that should be a HOFer if not for some other off the field things. Payton, Kemp and Penny are definitely stars, or were for a short period of time. then you had Rodman-Robinson for a season in SAS, Drexler-Hakeem as mentioned already (+ Barkley too after 96, but they regressed after 97 and Clyde left) etc
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ive read about the early 80s Bucks teams and Sidney Moncrief one of the best defensive guards of all time, but never knew about that play. "The Mecca" if it pissed Tommy Heinsohn off it must have been a classic
but that Sixers team with Erving, Dawkins, Jones, Toney... and then they add Malone the following season incredible amount of great teams
Phoenix had Kevin Johnson, very underrated player that should be a HOFer if not for some other off the field things. Payton, Kemp and Penny are definitely stars, or were for a short period of time. then you had Rodman-Robinson for a season in SAS, Drexler-Hakeem as mentioned already (+ Barkley too after 96, but they regressed after 97 and Clyde left) etc
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ive read about the early 80s Bucks teams and Sidney Moncrief one of the best defensive guards of all time, but never knew about that play. "The Mecca"
if it pissed Tommy Heinsohn off it must have been a classic but that Sixers team with Erving, Dawkins, Jones, Toney... and then they add Malone the following season
incredible amount of great teams
Funny to read these nostalgic posts while watching The Jump talk about the past like this briefly:
Horry full of shit With all due respect to Hakeem, african bro (was hugely popular there in my childhood), but if he and his team faced Bulls with Jordan, yikes for them.
Horry full of shit
With all due respect to Hakeem, african bro (was hugely popular there in my childhood), but if he and his team faced Bulls with Jordan, yikes for them.
ive read that today and couldnt believe he said that Hakeem is 20x better than Timmy.Those 2 are actually my favorite PF and center of all time, would have loved to see them play together as well as play each other on their primes. Would be incredible matchup.
Though i have to say, while the Bulls would have won in 94 with Jordan (most of their championship roster stayed and they added Kerr, Kukoc, Longley), but in 95 i have my doubts. Rockets added Drexler, Bulls lost Horace Grant. Their PFs and centers in 95 are just too soft to contain prime Hakeem, and Drexler added scoring from the wing so they are even better than the year before. Against 96 Bulls they would have standed no chance if they reached the final
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He was barely as good as Detlef Schrempf