1990s NBA teams vs Current teams.

labelplant

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The appeal of a stretch 4 is for spacing purposes. A big that can shoot 3s brings the big guarding him out of the paint. In the older era where illegal defense was a violation, teams could achieve the same thing by just parking their big on the 3pt line - whether he could shoot or not was irrelevant. If the guy guarding your big at the 3 left his man the refs would blow the whistle.

Of course, this was magnified by the fact there was no prerotating on defense allowed in the NBA. So if someone did double, the big with the ball knew exactly where it came from. Add in the faster pace and this is why you see such dominant numbers from the All Timers of that era. Why would you even care so much about a 3pt shooting big when you can get any potential help out of the paint and let your Barkleys and Hakeems go 1vs1 anyway? When they are shooting in the 58-60%+ range its probably a better bet.

ok that makes perfect sense, good post.
 

Danny Up

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For the most part 90's teams were devoid of talent period. They'd get cooked by most teams today 3 Pt specialist or not.
 

notPsychosiz

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Patrick Ewing in today's league would be eating like Shaq. bbq chicken allday. nobody stopping him.
And ppl sleeping on David Robinson like Tim Duncan just woke up that good, nobody taught him nothing... :stopitslime:

But to be honest the knicks had a squad... they could make the east playoffs easy with that squad.
Ewing, Starks, Rivers, Oakley... Anthony Mason. They wouldn't beat the cavs or whatever, but they could possibly get out of the 1st round of the playoffs. 50/50 shot. You guys are acting like they'd get washed.
 

AAKing23

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I don't like making these comparisions between eras because the players of those respective eras were each brought up during a different time period than the other. Each era had different influences that impacted how the game was played. I do think the 90's NBA could adapt just as today's NBA could to the 90's era. But each would have their struggles.
 

labelplant

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The weirdest part is that, unless I'm way off, I'd guess that most of the users on this site are in their 20s and therefore were most likely not watching basketball in the 90s with a critical eye.

For example, I'm 26 and grew up loving the NBA. But it's probably only been in the last 5 years that I've formed opinions about basketball that are worth a damn (in before someone says they still aren't).
Yes this is a great point. I've gone back and watched a lot of games but it's not the same not seeing them live and I've seen many full playoff series and even reg season games from every season since 84 but it's still not enough of a sample size and my knowledge of the strategies and Xs and Os of that era isn't nearly as wide
 

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Dantoni influenced stan though. Rashard next to dwight was logical cux dwight was so good on defense. Dantonj made teams comfortavle using a sf as a fulltime 4 though

They both copied me though

I was killing on nba live 03 and i used to play rashard lewis at the 4

:wow:

Calvin booth
rashard lewis
brent barry
ray allen
skip murray

I started that 5 and used to KILL

Id bring jerome james and ridnour off the bench and act a fool

That Sonics squad was killer in NBA live 03
 

Broke Wave

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I think that the NBA now may be overall more
Talented due to advancements technologically and due to teams building on the past, but overall the great teams of the past like Birds Celts... Magic Kareem Lakers, Bulls Kobe Shaq Lakers and those repeat Rockets would still obviously damage the league. Kobe and Shaqs lakers were not great behind the arc but is it concieveable that they wouldnt crush this years Warriors? @Malta

In total I think you are correct, the game must evolve and there is growth on the past. I just have a hard time believing the Rockets would crush Birds celtics like in any way. Or the hawks.
 

mbewane

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Atlanta would beat the 60 win Knicks is the point :yeshrug:


The current teams are built to take advantage of the 3 point line, there's literally nothing that would prevent them from doing that in any era that has the 3 line. Like @Gil Scott-Heroin pointed out, the core of the game is the same, the difference is teams today have realized 3>2.

Again, the logical flaw is that you guys keep on comparing teams who played in totally different leagues. The Knicks were built for the 90s. These Hawks are built for now. Do you really think the Knicks would recruit guys like Mason or Oak if the 3 pt line was that much part of the game back then? :dead: Makes no sense. And how do we know the Hawks today would beat the 90s Knicks? The same Hawks team that struggled against...Brooklyn :shaq2: against Washington :aicmon: and got swept in the ECF just a couple weeks ago :deadrose:is suddenly mighty enough to beat a team that pushed the 92 Bulls of some guy called MJ to a Game 7 ? :mindblown:
 

FunkDoc1112

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Somebody mentioned the lack of dominant scorers as evidence of decreasing talent, but that's misleading. There aren't as many dominant scorers for two reasons: teams don't iso like they used to in the 90s. It's a more team-oriented style of basketball with a lot of movement. And the other reason is coaches have embraced rest more, Thibodeau being the exception. Less minuites = less opportunity to score. Back in the 90s, starters playing 37-40 minutes a game was the norm, with 36 minutes for an elite guy being the absolute minimum. The last player to average 40 MPG was Monta Ellis in 2011. Jimmy Butler lead the league this season at 38.7...which wouldn't have even been in the top 20 back in 1997, where 8 players alone averaged over 40.

So given that, the numbers these guys are putting up are impressive. Steph averaged 24/8 while only playing 33 minutes a game! Westbrook put up Oscar Robertson-type 28-7-9 in only 34! In the 90s, teams were more top heavy thanks to a decline in talent and expansion diluting everything, so the stars had to do more and play heavier minutes. If guys like Steph, Blake, Westbrook and so on were logging the same amount of minutes as guys in the past, they'd be putting up some wild stats and scoring numbers.
 

Jplaya2023

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In terms of positions for today's NBA compared to the 90s:

C: A lot weaker
PF: Draw
SF: Stronger
SG: Weaker
PG: A lot stronger

PF Draw = :mjlol:

SF Stronger = with bron i'll give it a slight edge

PG alot stronger = :camby: Now has more overall talent 90s had better quality at the top.
 

Jplaya2023

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Somebody mentioned the lack of dominant scorers as evidence of decreasing talent, but that's misleading. There aren't as many dominant scorers for two reasons: teams don't iso like they used to in the 90s. It's a more team-oriented style of basketball with a lot of movement. And the other reason is coaches have embraced rest more, Thibodeau being the exception. Less minuites = less opportunity to score. Back in the 90s, starters playing 37-40 minutes a game was the norm, with 36 minutes for an elite guy being the absolute minimum. The last player to average 40 MPG was Monta Ellis in 2011. Jimmy Butler lead the league this season at 38.7...which wouldn't have even been in the top 20 back in 1997, where 8 players alone averaged over 40.

So given that, the numbers these guys are putting up are impressive. Steph averaged 24/8 while only playing 33 minutes a game! Westbrook put up Oscar Robertson-type 28-7-9 in only 34! In the 90s, teams were more top heavy thanks to a decline in talent and expansion diluting everything, so the stars had to do more and play heavier minutes. If guys like Steph, Blake, Westbrook and so on were logging the same amount of minutes as guys in the past, they'd be putting up some wild stats and scoring numbers.

guys like barkley, jordan, stockton,drexler played more minutes in the 80s before this so called talent dilution took place.

Explain that...
 

FunkDoc1112

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guys like barkley, jordan, stockton,drexler played more minutes in the 80s before this so called talent dilution took place.

Explain that...
And guys like Jordan, Barkley, and Drexler all played on top heavy teams. If you look at the 80s lists for minutes per game, it's still pretty different from the 90s. Now, part of the reason guys play less is because Popovich has caused guys to embrace rest more than they ever have, but the other reason is because coaches can afford to do it.

:russ: @ you saying "so-called." Even cats DURING the 90s were pointing this out. Teams in the 80s were stacked but 6 new teams in 8 years meant a lot of guys being picked off from those rosters and being put in roles they probably weren't fit for on bad teams.
 

Jplaya2023

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And guys like Jordan, Barkley, and Drexler all played on top heavy teams. If you look at the 80s lists for minutes per game, it's still pretty different from the 90s. Now, part of the reason guys play less is because Popovich has caused guys to embrace rest more than they ever have, but the other reason is because coaches can afford to do it.

:russ: @ you saying "so-called." Even cats DURING the 90s were pointing this out. Teams in the 80s were stacked but 6 new teams in 8 years meant a lot of guys being picked off from those rosters and being put in roles they probably weren't fit for on bad teams.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_NBA_Expansion_Draft

these were the players selected in the expansion draft.

Out of this list, please tell me the best player and how good were they on their previous teams. These guys were benchwarmers for the most part. Rick Mahorn was probably the "best" player and he came off the piston bench. The pistons repeated after he left.
 
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