DISCLAIMER - LONG POST - RESPOND ONLY IF YOU READ IT, AND RESPOND WITH BACKED-UP STATEMENTS (if you just liked the 90's better, that's just fine, but that's not what this thread is about).
*Modern/Today's NBA referring to Year 2000 to present*
Fanatics love to to look at the 80's and 90's as the best and most competitive era's in the history of basketball. It was the defenses and the physicality, and this era is viewed as soft and players get a free lane to the rim whenever they want it.
This is a call to reflect on what we're actually witnessing.
Is this modern era of basketball actually the most competitive era? As well as the most difficult to play in? And is it also the way basketball was meant to be played thus is it more impressive to win it all in this era than previous era's?
All stats for discussion come from basketball-reference.com so if anyone has any other sources or statistics for debate please bring them as I want to see what everyone's viewpoint is. Is it just looking back with rosy-tinted glasses or is there factual evidence to support history being better than today.
If we look at NBA League Average for these categories:
1. Free Throw Attempts
2. NBA Offensive Rating
3. Field Goal Percentage
4. Modern NBA Roster
5. Championship Teams
You'll see that all of these categories dispel a lot of the criticisms of "Today's NBA" and actual propel it to being much more competitive than previous era's, maybe worth calling this era, the "Golden Era of Basketball" where we have finally gotten the game of basketball where it needs to be: Lowest calls of all time, GREAT defensive execution, the long ball being executed beautifully, and Rosters filled with heavy talent in comparison to it's league wide era predecessors.
1. Free Throw Attempts - "You can breathe on a player today and get called for a foul"
Six of the last six NBA Seasons (this season included)... we have seen the LEAST AMOUNT of FTA's across the league in NBA HISTORY with the 2012-2013 season being the NBA season with the all time least amount of FTA's attempted in a regular season. In fact, if you date back to when Michael Jordan won an NBA Championship with the LEAST amount of Free Throw Attempts in the league... you'd have to jump all the way down to the 18th spot of least all-time trips to the line made. The 2000's on to today DOMINATE that category which dispels the myth that while physicality is down (as it should be because bodying somebody is not part of the game of basketball just like head shots are not part of the game of football), you don't see as many trips to the line compared to "back in the day" when sure, you got knocked down, but you KNEW the whistle was going to be blown, and you were getting your Free Throw's.
14 of the Top 15 NBA Season's with the Lowest Free Throw Attempts league-wide are from the 2000's til today. Nearly a decade and a half of the league's lowest FTA's ever attempted in the history of the NBA.
And not just Shooting Fouls... all Personal Fouls Per Game with 13 Modern NBA seasons being the lowest of all time out of the Top 15 NBA seasons
#2. Offensive Rating - "No handchecking, etc there's no defense in Today's NBA"
While handchecking has been removed from the Modern NBA game people tend to focus on this aspect of defense as opposed to the implementation of Zone defense and other team defense structures. Allen Iverson himself was quoted saying he loved the Man-to-Man NBA rule because he felt no one could stop him, and then the NBA implemented Zone and it made the game much harder for him.
Proof that while physicality was allowed in other era's of basketball and handchecking was the norm, the myth needs to be dispelled that these things actual made offense more "difficult".
When looking at the list of the All-Time Best Offensive Ratings the NBA has ever seen... ONLY 4 Modern NBA seasons crack that list (not even the 2015-2016 bananza 3pt season... that was 22nd). In fact that list of the greatest Offensive Rating seasons league-wide is dominated by the 80's and 90's seasons with the outlier being the #1 spot occupied by the 2008-2009 season.
#3. Field Goal Percentage - (this one piggyback's off of the Offensive Rating premise)
Again if handchecking and physicality were the reasons why defenses were so good in the 80's and 90's, maybe Offensive Rating is more of an outlier (though of course they go hand in hand). Because if I'm being body'd-up and beaten up all game and handchecked all the time, I shouldn't be able to produce such a high offensive rating across the entire league, let alone it should impact my FG%. Because just by taking away those things and adding Zone defense... it shouldn't have THAT big of an effect on offense as the rules in the 80's and 90's right?
THE LIST OF THE TOP 20 HIGHEST FG% IN LEAGUE HISTORY? ALL 20 FROM THE 70's/80's/90's. Not a single season from 2000 on make it into the Top 20.
Now you could say the implementation of the 3pt shot would be conducive to this... and it very well may be (but adding that shot and making that shot at a historical rate should inflate Offensive Rating of Modern NBA seasons) but you have to account also how inaccurate and inefficient that was shot back then as well given that 17 of the Top 20 highest 3pt% seasons of all time are occupied by Modern NBA seasons.
So apparently with defenses being more physical, being allowed to handcheck, and primarily playing man to man made it MUCH EASIER to score and score accurately as well as live at the Free Throw Line on a nightly basis. Meaning Today's NBA of lowest FTA's of all time, structured team defense and NO handchecking... makes offense quite a bit more difficult. All you had to be in the 80's and 90's was a great one-on-one player and the league rules played right into your hands.
#4. Modern NBA Roster - "The league is watered down" - (This is pure opinion)
Today... nearly every team has AT LEAST ONE if not more fringe All-Star players. Look no further than the 5th worst team in the league our Miami Heat, we have Hassan Whiteside. A franchise-building piece that should make the All-Star game. The 76ers have all sorts of potential All Star players if they deal them out to teams that will use them and if that franchise decides they want to start winning.
You could argue only the Nets (a total abomination of choices made on their part) and the Suns are the only teams in Today's NBA that don't have a quality center piece (or multiple).
In recent years we have finally caught up on talent across the entire NBA from when the expansions took place that REALLY watered down the league. Now other than when you play Phoenix or Brooklyn, you know you have a game on your hands. You now have quality players that you have to gameplan against on NEARLY EVERY SINGLE TEAM which is quite a difference from previous expansion-filled era's (all of this thread also coinciding with the Warriors 73-9 regular season being that much more historical and amazing).
#5. Championship Teams
Since 2000 we have seen the most parity of Championship teams in any 16 year span in NBA History (this year isn't over so I didn't count it). Gone are the days of the Celtics/Bulls/Lakers. The Warriors/Celtics/Lakers/Spurs/Heat/Cavaliers/Pistons/Mavericks have all won the NBA Finals giving us 8 different champions in essentially 16 years. Let alone we've seen franchises like the Pacers/Nets/76ers/Nets/Magic/Thunder all IN the NBA Finals.
The amount of competition is truly at it's highest without even discussing modern day diets, fitness regimens, and sports medicine. Defenses are playing better without hard fouls and handchecking than they ever were before, rosters are much more complete with talent, fouls both shooting and personal have been at all time low's across the league for nearly 15 years, offenses are more intelligent (eye test) and execution is more astounding. The amount of parity in the NBA Finals has never been more diverse.
People will feel what they feel, but what we're watching is probably basketball's BEST, most COMPETITIVE, era in it's history. And it's probably the way the game was meant to be played.
Opinions? Facts to support or contrast?? All is welcome! What do you think of the Modern NBA?
- Again if you're going to post, actually read the thread first -