donnieme wrote:A lot of era ignorance is sparked by the likes of Barkley, Reggie Miller, kenny smith on tv every night thinking old games still only exist on VHS tapes or some dusty film archive.
No, these guys weren't some gladiators getting their fingers torn open on every layup. The softening of the league actually strarted well within their era. Watch the full MJ 63 point game against the Celtics, you wouldn't see a worse instance of star officiating or even just a softer reffed playoff game. Then No, the Bad boy pistons weren't the norm for the average team.There's a reason they all cried to freeze Isiah from the olympics to spite him. Fans from back then would actually be bemused to find out they would one day be romanticised. No one else played that way because no one else had Isiah and Laimbeer. Also don't know how modern fans can claim to love Laimbeer then turn around and scream for Draymond Green to be kicked out of the league. Maked me wonder if teens in 2065 are going to be romanticising Draymond's green antics as an era for real men.
Superstar calls, relaxation of travelling rules and taunts was started by Stern himseld after MJ made him realise marketing star wings was more appealing to casuals than slow lumbering bigs attempting baby hooks all game. Then there are the techs, today is way stricter but people make it seem like players were allowed to spit on each other every other for jokes. Mutombo for example got a lot of techs and fines for his signature finger wag but when I go to the commetn section of these highlights there are people talking about how he would have gotten a tech in today's game. Like Bruh, he did get a teched and fined. Even MJ got teched on the legendary revenge finger wag at Mutombo.
It was Stern not Silver that started making the game more finesse and it came as early as the late 80s and 90s.
Yes the league has been pushing for a certain playstyle for a long time....just to make the game more relatable for fans (most under 7ft) and also less stoppages t make it more exciting to watch.
Old fans do generally look down on newer generations...that's always been the case.
But to be honest, this voice has been a lot louder for somewhat valid reasons due to the massive change in playstylr (less post physicality and laxing of fundamental rules I.e. travels and dribbling) in recent years.
But the league had to make the changes because if they didn't do anything thr NBA was dying.
Just wish everyone can appreciate all the eras without the need to knock down current or older generations