He still would. NBA is glorified AAU at this point. It’s been going steadily downhill in toughness since X
Which NBA era wins...
- Thread starter CySmurf
- Start date
Loved watching the NBA with the silent Gen and the baby boomers. Lost interest and have never gotten it back.
After MJ, LeBron and Joker, Hakeem would be a serious consideration for my #4 pick out of all these guys.
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boomers vs gen x and ill give the boomers the edge based on toughness alone
Boomers are the biggest cry baby generation ever and y'all think they're tough? Jordan was playing against the local mailman with how much the league expanded during his time.
If you want more scoring for Boomer team, replace Chalz with Alex English. He scored more points than any other player during the '80s. (I assume he got at least some boost from Nuggets/Doug Moe offensive style).
He wasn't a good 3pt shooter, so maybe not a spread-the-floor addition, as discussed earlier.
He wasn't a good 3pt shooter, so maybe not a spread-the-floor addition, as discussed earlier.
Era debates are always hard, and I feel like they tend to devolve into stupid arguments. But I'll get into it anyway.
Obviously rules and play style have changed a lot over the course of the NBA. I do think people overrate the physicality of the 80s and 90s (you can't just reference the Bad Boy Pistons and ignore every other team), and I think the three-point era naturally leads to less physicality from better spacing and less low-efficiency post offense.
But people also forget that there have been rule changes that have allowed greater variety in defenses. Before 2001, help defense was extremely limited and defenders had to mostly stay attached to their guys, regardless of whether their guy was able to shoot at all.
Jordan himself advocated against allowing zone defenses and said that his career would have looked a lot different if he had had to play against zones.
www.si.com
With defensive style rules relaxed in 2001, defenses nowadays have a ton of different ways to play against pick-and-rolls that weren't possible or were much more limited before the rule change. It means that defenses are more complex (even if they are less physical) and playoff series often become more of a chess match of scheme adjustments rather than just a question of whose guys are better one-on-one players.
hoopshype.com
Because of all of that, I think my answer is basically if these teams are playing with pre-2001 rules, I'm going with the Boomers. If they're playing with rules after 2001, and if we replace Harden with Kawhi, I'll go with the Millennials. I also think the Millennials also have the most complementary team on offense while the others have a lot more redundancy (I would love to see Steph play with Jokic and Lebron, for instance).
Obviously rules and play style have changed a lot over the course of the NBA. I do think people overrate the physicality of the 80s and 90s (you can't just reference the Bad Boy Pistons and ignore every other team), and I think the three-point era naturally leads to less physicality from better spacing and less low-efficiency post offense.
But people also forget that there have been rule changes that have allowed greater variety in defenses. Before 2001, help defense was extremely limited and defenders had to mostly stay attached to their guys, regardless of whether their guy was able to shoot at all.
Jordan himself advocated against allowing zone defenses and said that his career would have looked a lot different if he had had to play against zones.
Would Michael Jordan Have Been As Good In An NBA Era With Zone Defense?
NBA heads love few things more than a good cross-generational argument: Could Oscar Robertson average a triple-double in today's NBA? Would Wilt Chamberlain st
www.si.com
With defensive style rules relaxed in 2001, defenses nowadays have a ton of different ways to play against pick-and-rolls that weren't possible or were much more limited before the rule change. It means that defenses are more complex (even if they are less physical) and playoff series often become more of a chess match of scheme adjustments rather than just a question of whose guys are better one-on-one players.
How NBA defense has changed over time
The NBA, like virtually all sports, revolves around offense. As the game has shifted toward a skill-based, pace-and-space, three-point-heavy era, we’ve seen countless articles about how putting the…
hoopshype.com
Because of all of that, I think my answer is basically if these teams are playing with pre-2001 rules, I'm going with the Boomers. If they're playing with rules after 2001, and if we replace Harden with Kawhi, I'll go with the Millennials. I also think the Millennials also have the most complementary team on offense while the others have a lot more redundancy (I would love to see Steph play with Jokic and Lebron, for instance).
This answer is always the real one.
The best players of any era were optimized for the ruleset (both the written and unwritten versions of it) and scheme (or collectively the "meta" in modern parlance) of a particular era.
Bruising guards who could dominate one-on-one on both offense and defense but couldn't shoot from the outside defined the game in the 1990s because of its rules. Those guys would be schemed around and/or foul out if they had to play against the quicker, more skilled guards of today.
Same time... take those modern nimble guards and put 'em back then... they'd get mauled.
For anyone who likes these kinds of cross-era discussions, I think it's worthwhile to go back and watch a full game to see if your memory or impression holds up, or if it's mainly based on a subset of plays or games that lead to incorrect generalizations.
I've been watching some pieces of the 1991 Bulls-Lakers Finals Game 1 (first game that showed up when I searched for full games of the Jordan Bulls). There are definitely things that weren't surprising (great shot making from Jordan and Worthy), but also things that were (how many possessions started with a back-to-the-basket post-up and how many light fouls were called).
All-in-all, I have a hard time watching clips of the game that aren't the highlights and thinking that it is incredibly superior to today's game. Certainly someone can have a preference for then, but many of the aspects of the NBA that people generalize and complain about today also existed then, just perhaps in somewhat different forms (i.e. a below average shooter launching an ill-advised three today vs. a backup center putting up a bad post shot back then).
I've been watching some pieces of the 1991 Bulls-Lakers Finals Game 1 (first game that showed up when I searched for full games of the Jordan Bulls). There are definitely things that weren't surprising (great shot making from Jordan and Worthy), but also things that were (how many possessions started with a back-to-the-basket post-up and how many light fouls were called).
All-in-all, I have a hard time watching clips of the game that aren't the highlights and thinking that it is incredibly superior to today's game. Certainly someone can have a preference for then, but many of the aspects of the NBA that people generalize and complain about today also existed then, just perhaps in somewhat different forms (i.e. a below average shooter launching an ill-advised three today vs. a backup center putting up a bad post shot back then).
I may have to take a trip to the doctor since I have been thinking about Jordan, Magic and Bird on the same team for the last four hours...
Era debates are always hard, and I feel like they tend to devolve into stupid arguments. But I'll get into it anyway.
Obviously rules and play style have changed a lot over the course of the NBA. I do think people overrate the physicality of the 80s and 90s (you can't just reference the Bad Boy Pistons and ignore every other team), and I think the three-point era naturally leads to less physicality from better spacing and less low-efficiency post offense.
But people also forget that there have been rule changes that have allowed greater variety in defenses. Before 2001, help defense was extremely limited and defenders had to mostly stay attached to their guys, regardless of whether their guy was able to shoot at all.
Jordan himself advocated against allowing zone defenses and said that his career would have looked a lot different if he had had to play against zones.
Would Michael Jordan Have Been As Good In An NBA Era With Zone Defense?
NBA heads love few things more than a good cross-generational argument: Could Oscar Robertson average a triple-double in today's NBA? Would Wilt Chamberlain st
With defensive style rules relaxed in 2001, defenses nowadays have a ton of different ways to play against pick-and-rolls that weren't possible or were much more limited before the rule change. It means that defenses are more complex (even if they are less physical) and playoff series often become more of a chess match of scheme adjustments rather than just a question of whose guys are better one-on-one players.
How NBA defense has changed over time
The NBA, like virtually all sports, revolves around offense. As the game has shifted toward a skill-based, pace-and-space, three-point-heavy era, we’ve seen countless articles about how putting the…
Because of all of that, I think my answer is basically if these teams are playing with pre-2001 rules, I'm going with the Boomers. If they're playing with rules after 2001, and if we replace Harden with Kawhi, I'll go with the Millennials. I also think the Millennials also have the most complementary team on offense while the others have a lot more redundancy (I would love to see Steph play with Jokic and Lebron, for instance).
By the same token, if you drop today's players into the Boomer's rule set you would have those players turning the ball over left and right with carrying, double dribble and traveling calls. Those have been loose for decades in the NBA but have gotten ridiculous during the last ten years or so. Sure they could adapt but there is no question that it is an advantage today for the offensive player when he can fake out the defender by taking extra steps or palming the ball on his "hesi".
In addition many of the boomer's FT shooting averages would go up since today's players can't stay out of the lane or outside the arc until the FT shot is released. Many boomers getting second chances on missed FTs.
Foul hunting has been around for a long time but it has gotten out of hand lately. I think many stars of today who are more concerned with drawing contact rather than getting a good shot would have a bit of culture shock.
I would have to go back and look at old game footage but I think it is ridiculous today how picks are set wrapping up players who are trying to get around screens forcing the switch or two hand chucking them so they are pushed a couple of feet further from the basket when they are trying to catch up to their man. I watched a couple of the Indiana/Cleveland games and I'm not sure I have seen a Cavalier big set a clean screen yet.
Watching this Warriors v. Wolves game and seriously laughing my ass off at anyone who thinks these teams wouldn't get absolutely destroyed by the best teams from the 80s and 90s.
This needs to be made into a poll.
Anyway, my answer is the Boomers. Don’t EVER bet against Jordan. Ever.
Anyway, my answer is the Boomers. Don’t EVER bet against Jordan. Ever.
This is really tough.
Given that athletes consistently get better over time (faster, quicker, stronger, taller, more muscular, better trained, better diets, etc, etc, etc...), I'd have to go with today's kids...which kills me to say.
However, I'd much rather watch the boomer rivalries (hatred).
Give me the Magic Johnson's, James Worthy's, Kareem's, Kurt Rambis', Michael Cooper's, Byron Scott's, etc, etc, etc, vs the Pistons, Celtics greats.
I'll refrain from naming the latter's endless list of stars, but damn, rivalry WARS.
Current roster of Lakers?
Have no idea, beyond LJ.
Given that athletes consistently get better over time (faster, quicker, stronger, taller, more muscular, better trained, better diets, etc, etc, etc...), I'd have to go with today's kids...which kills me to say.
However, I'd much rather watch the boomer rivalries (hatred).
Give me the Magic Johnson's, James Worthy's, Kareem's, Kurt Rambis', Michael Cooper's, Byron Scott's, etc, etc, etc, vs the Pistons, Celtics greats.
I'll refrain from naming the latter's endless list of stars, but damn, rivalry WARS.
Current roster of Lakers?
Have no idea, beyond LJ.
If you don't know ANYONE else on the Lakers it sounds like you stopped watching the NBA. Especially since they were involved in one of the biggest trades of all time like 3 months ago.
So makes your entire point moot. Rivalries are still very much a thing. Old heads didn't invent and die with them
