NBA Myths Busted: Players Are Wayyyy Bigger Than They Used To Be

[Professor Emeritus]

Players were definitely swoler in the late 90s early 00s.

Nah, you're just doing that cherry-picking shyt again where you only remember the guys that fit the image.

 

[SnugglesDaBear]

Nah, you're just doing that cherry-picking shyt again where you only remember the guys that fit the image.

Breh, I know you're going by the numbers but I'm honestly going by the eye test. I'd also like to see a breakdown by position b/c I'm mainly talking about the forward/center positions. Look at grandmama, Zo, Malone...they look like NFL defensive ends. I have examples for days.

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Breh, I know you're going by the numbers but I'm honestly going by the eye test. I'd also like to see a breakdown by position b/c I'm mainly talking about the forward/center positions. Look at grandmama, Zo, Malone...they look like NFL defensive ends. I have examples for days.

Breh, I already gave you the EXACT breakdown by position, look at the charts. Average weight of center and power forward both peaked around 2012. It dropped a little since then but is still at least as high now as it was in the late 90s/early 00s, and considering the greater attention to mobility and injury reduction I'd bet anything the late 90s weight is higher % fat than today's is.


And I gave you 17 examples of skinny-ass players from the late 90s/early 00s and could easily triple that. You just keep showing Malone over and over lol.

 

[The Amerikkkan Idol]

Except what we actually showed is that players have gotten substantially bigger in body mass and muscle, and that they've gotten taller on the perimeter. No one was arguing that bigs had gotten taller since the 1970s/80s so that part of your argument was a complete strawman, the only time we talk about shorter bigs is when we're talking about the 50s.







Except that's not what I said. I said they were skinny, unathletic, unskilled white centers who were largely 6'9" and under. Of course they weren't gonna do jack shyt against any taller player with body mass and talent.







3-4 times already I showed you what a dumb misreading of my statement this was. I only have to say you're fukking lost now.

An unathletic and unskilled white guy who runs 6'9" 205lbs is not comparable to massively skilled 6'11" 285lb Jokic on any planet. Your claim did not "make a point", it didn't even make sense. It's like arguing that Glass Joe can't be that bad because hey, Tyson Fury is a champ!







No, that's completely fukking ignorant and misses the point I've made 100 times which is that you CAN'T claim a few guys picked out a tiny talent pool are going to be the equal of a bigger group.

They were a motley collection of undersized unathletic white guys BECAUSE 90% of the people allowed to play basketball at any level came from a small pool of white guys. If the global population had been 3x larger in the 1950s, and everyone played basketball, and it was a global sport, and all the black people who wanted to play got their chance, THEN you would have had at least a chance of getting similar talent in that era. As it was, the talent wasn't even close.


Just answer this question. Do you think the bball talent in Idaho is as good as the bball talent in California? Ever, in any year? Yes or no? And why not?

Once you realize the answer to that question, you're realize why the talent developed in the 1950s was never going to touch the size, athleticism, or skill of the talent developed in the 2010s, REGARDLESS of what kind of training they got or system they played in. There just wasn't enough talent to choose from cause the talent pool was too fukking small.

You're wrong.

Humans haven't evolved that quickly in 50 years.

That's not how it works. That happens over thousands and thousands of years

The players have basically been around the same size for 50 years

The differences are all external like rules and sports medicine.

Just saying people are more "skilled" ignore that skilled means different things in different era.

There were a lot of "skilled" players in the '80s and '90s who couldn't get on the floor because they weren't tough enough to handle the rigors of the game at that time.

 

[Professor Emeritus]

You're wrong.

Humans haven't evolved that quickly in 50 years.

That's not how it works. That happens over thousands and thousands of years

No one said jack shyt about evolution. You're not reading.

Answer my question. If you take the All-Star team from Montana, and the All-Star team from California, do they look the same? Do they have the same size, the same athleticism? Yes or no?

 

[KingJay]

Gotta consider in the past dudes measured with shoes off. 60s brehs were barefoot heights and most dudes didn’t have big hair either.

People talk about Bill Russell being small, breh measured 6’10” barefoot. In the 90s/00s they would’ve measured him at 6’11” easy with shows which is normal for a C, and the starting Cs in the NBA Finals this year were only 6’9”

Elgin Baylor would’ve been listed at 6’6” 230, that’s like Jimmy Butler size

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Gotta consider in the past dudes measured with shoes off. 60s brehs were barefoot heights and most dudes didn’t have big hair either.

People talk about Bill Russell being small, breh measured 6’10” barefoot. In the 90s/00s they would’ve measured him at 6’11” easy with shows which is normal for a C, and the starting Cs in the NBA Finals this year were only 6’9”

Elgin Baylor would’ve been listed at 6’6” 230, that’s like Jimmy Butler size

Russell was actually 6'9" or 6'9.5" barefoot, and weighed just 215lbs. So he's basically Dwight's height but with 50 less pounds on him, which is where the idea of "small" comes from. "A very skinny Dwight with even less offense but far greater leadership" would actually be a good Russell comp.

 

[Th3Birdman]

Yeah. He admitted years ago. I always thought it was weird cause he always acted covertly like he was black. But I remember we had a debate on some African history topic and he finally folded then exposing himself. Only so long a cac can pretend before their true nature emerges.

I'm going to need receipts for this.

I'm not gon outright say you lying, but you have proven time and again that you will twist what someone says (you're doing it to me right now in the other thread) and lie on their name, something I've seen with my own eyes.

Not to mention, you're a known Flat Earther so your credibility is completely shot, and your rep and banner don't lie.

 

[Greenhornet]

please dont compare dwight to bill russell

 

[The Devil's Advocate]

Breh, I already gave you the EXACT breakdown by position, look at the charts. Average weight of center and power forward both peaked around 2012. It dropped a little since then but is still at least as high now as it was in the late 90s/early 00s, and considering the greater attention to mobility and injury reduction I'd bet anything the late 90s weight is higher % fat than today's is.


And I gave you 17 examples of skinny-ass players from the late 90s/early 00s and could easily triple that. You just keep showing Malone over and over lol.

People always argue with numbers because they want to believe their eyes. Most people will think of the 15-20 tall/big all stars they know, forgetting the league has 450 some players every single year. 50 or so will leave and another 50 will be brand new. They aren't thinking about how tall is the 2nd or 3rd center on the Kings.

Numbers never lie. The science and gameplans got better.. Not the humans

 

[HandyWithTheSteel]

Breh, I know you're going by the numbers but I'm honestly going by the eye test. I'd also like to see a breakdown by position b/c I'm mainly talking about the forward/center positions. Look at grandmama, Zo, Malone...they look like NFL defensive ends. I have examples for days.

No you don’t have examples for days.

The average foward/center today is bigger and more athletic then the absolute best physical specimen that you could cherry pick from the ‘90s.

Larry Johnson is 6’6” 250 lbs. Blake Griffin is bigger than that.

 

[FaTaL]

Regardless the court needs to be wider

 

[The Amerikkkan Idol]

The Average Height of NBA Players from 1952-2022

Check the average height of NBA players by position and year. Find out why NBA players are getting smaller in recent years!

www.thehoopsgeek.com

So, as y'all see, the average NBA point guard has been about 6'2" since the early '60s

The average SG has been about 6'4" since about 1980

The average SF has been about 6'6" since the early '60s

The average PF has been about 6'8 since the '70s

The average C has been about 6'10 since the '60s

And before the size queens run up in here talking about weight.

The average PG has been around 190lbs since the early 2000s.

The average SG has been around 200lbs since the late '90s

The average SF has been between 210-220 since the mid '80s

The average PF has been between 220-240 since the early '80s

The average C has been between 240-250 since the early '90s.

With a few spikes here and there, NBA players have basically been the same size FOR DECADES now.

There was a rapid evolution at the BEGINNING of the league between the 1940s and 1960s, as happens in all sports, but since the '70s/'80s, things have not changed that much.

The idea that guys like Magic, Bird, Jordan, Malone, Barkley, Kareem, Dr. J., etc. . . would just be overwhelmed by the MONSTROUS players of today is nonsense.

Hell, Wilt Chamberlain, who started his career in 1959, at a legit 7'2", 275lbs is still MUCH larger than the average NBA center today, who's only 6'10 and 246lbs.

 

[Professor Emeritus]

The Average Height of NBA Players from 1952-2022

Check the average height of NBA players by position and year. Find out why NBA players are getting smaller in recent years!

www.thehoopsgeek.com

So, as y'all see, the average NBA point guard has been about 6'2" since the early '60s

The average SG has been about 6'4" since about 1980

The average SF has been about 6'6" since the early '60s

The average PF has been about 6'8 since the '70s

The average C has been about 6'10 since the '60s

And before the size queens run up in here talking about weight.

The average PG has been around 190lbs since the early 2000s.

The average SG has been around 200lbs since the late '90s

The average SF has been between 210-220 since the mid '80s

The average PF has been between 220-240 since the early '80s

The average C has been between 240-250 since the early '90s.

With a few spikes here and there, NBA players have basically been the same size FOR DECADES now.

There was a rapid evolution at the BEGINNING of the league between the 1940s and 1960s, as happens in all sports, but since the '70s/'80s, things have not changed that much.

Yeah, that's just not reality. You're using "around" and then giving 10-20 pound ranges in order to fudge the numbers as much as you can. There's been an obvious progression:

And that doesn't even factor in the fact that the average player today is far more mobile than in the 1980s and 1990s, meaning on average there is much more muscle weight as opposed to fat weight.

The idea that guys like Magic, Bird, Jordan, Malone, Barkley, Kareem, Dr. J., etc. . . would just be overwhelmed by the MONSTROUS players of today is nonsense.

Hell, Wilt Chamberlain, who started his career in 1959, at a legit 7'2", 275lbs is still MUCH larger than the average NBA center today, who's only 6'10 and 246lbs.

Absolutely nobody ever said those players would be overwhelmed by "monstrous" players today.

But their size DID often overwhelm opponents of their own era. All people have said is that they'd have less of an advantage now than in their own era. The average NBA center today is FAR more equipped than the unathletic 6'9" white stiffs that dominated when Wilt came into the league.

 

[The Amerikkkan Idol]

Yeah, that's just not reality. You're using "around" and then giving 10-20 pound ranges in order to fudge the numbers as much as you can. There's been an obvious progression:

And that doesn't even factor in the fact that the average player today is far more mobile than in the 1980s and 1990s, meaning on average there is much more muscle weight as opposed to fat weight.








Absolutely nobody ever said those players would be overwhelmed by "monstrous" players today.

But their size DID often overwhelm opponents of their own era. All people have said is that they'd have less of an advantage now than in their own era. The average NBA center today is FAR more equipped than the unathletic 6'9" white stiffs that dominated when Wilt came into the league.

Genius, Wilt chamberlain's size would still make him 4 inches taller than the average NBA Center and 30 lbs heavier than the average NBA Center today.

As a guy who could bench 500 & run a 4.8 40-yd, and had a 42 inch vertical, he'd fukk Jokic fat ass up

Larry Bird is STILL 2 inches taller than the average SF

Those other dudes wouuld STILL be the same proportionate to players today.

You just come up with some subjective ass bullshyt talking about BMI

nikka, 6'7 is 6'7" 220lbs is 220lbs.


Aint no team ever said, "we're thinking about drafting a guy, but what is is body mass index?"

Teams are still looking at HEIGHT and WEIGHT like they always have.

These dudes are playing basketball and this nikka talking about BMI