I'm curious about just how clouded by nostalgia some of you are, I see people constantly saying the league was better way back when. I'll be the first to admit the big men were better, however some of you are completely oblivious to what is happening in the league and how things are evolving to the point a lot of those 90s teams as they were constructed would get washed today.
Case in point, I see so many of you pointing to the Hawks as a means of putting down the league, saying they won 60 games therefore the league must be bad. However in the 92-93 & 93-94 seasons, these rosters won -
60 wins
55 wins
63 wins
I know your rebuttal will be that Patrick, Payton & D-Rob were HOFers and that is correct, however these teams would get completely and utterly washed in a series by the Hawks, Warriors, Spurs, Rockets, Clippers, Cavs and so on. You know why? Because they made 193, 242 and 249 threes on the entire season. For comparisons sake, the worst 3 point shooting team in the league this year hit 406 and everyone says they can't shoot
. Teams would handle the Knicks, Sonics & Spurs just like they do the Grizz, shrink the floor, give up 2s and beat them with 3s on the other end, and the Grizz may as well be the Warriors with the shooting compared to these 90s teams. Against the 90s Jazz, Knicks, Cavs, Suns, Hornets, etc teams today would just pack the paint and dare them to win games from outside because they straight up and down couldn't do it. Even the mighty 91-93 Bulls..their highest total during that 3 year stretch was 244.
There has been a shift in the league, and alot of those 90s teams you all praise so much would not last long in the current NBA. I won't really address the seasons from 94-97, mainly because they had the short 3 point line and you started to see teams firing them shyts up with no regard. That said, you cannot beat the teams in the NBA today without ample 3 point shooting because they are all good at taking advantage of the zone principles thanks to Tom Thibodeau, they want you to take long 2s, they want you to dribble in and take that mid-range jumper rather than shooting the corner 3. You might say "Pat/D-Rob gonna go for 50!" yeah on 20-41 while his teammates would get 30, while opposing teams today hoist up 35 threes making 12 of them.
"But Malta, you the low post fan!"
Yes, and eventually this new style of play is going to lead to a devastating post player with a team built around him that can shoot. You could catch glimpses of how hard it is to stop with the 94-95 Rockets and Magic to a lesser extent, they were the first step in the evolutionary ladder that has brought on this style of play. Once the Rockets got rid of Thorpe and gave Horry the start at PF, they almost always had 4 floor spacers out there with Hakeem. I welcome all these 3s with open arms because I know that the evolution of the game will then call for someone who can get you 2 when you need it, and what better way to build a 3 point shooting team than with a big you can run offense through who will be going 1 on 1 with his defender because his 4 teammates are waiting for that open 3.
Basically watching yall constantly overrate the 90s is disgusting, you can't even give me a realistic argument how some of these teams would overcome the massive shooting disadvantage. No team that's making 3-4 threes a game is beating one that makes 10-12, period. You can talk about handchecking and how tough they were, but from a team standpoint the vast majority of squads today are straight up humiliating those from the 90s.
@Jplaya2023 please help me understand how your vaunted 90s teams would beat teams today, how would they get them out of the faux zone which is built around the purpose of limiting points in the paint, giving up long 2s and limiting corner 3s..which they didn't even shoot
.
word to @protocol
