We Done With This 90’s Hating

[ropjhk]

It was clearly the golden age of the nba along with the early 2000s.

From a fan/entertainment perspective I think the 90's was a golden age. Basketball fans had more fun in the 90's. Certainly more fun than today. Not all of that has to do with the on court product.

How do you possibly measure that?

That may apply to you but you cannot just broadly claim that with any certainty.

That's fair.

Ratings would be one way to measure it. It's not perfect but it's something. Popularity isn't the same as measuring fan enjoyment but they should be correlated. The 90's was the golden era of NBA TV ratings.

From a cultural perspective I think most lived it would agree that the 90's was also a golden age for superstar fan appeal. NBA superstars back then weren't plagued by the hate and toxicity you see online today. NBA superstars had a more wide ranging appeal back then.

The hoopla and fanaticism that surrounded the first Dream Team was never again matched.

My personal experience is that casual fans had more fun following the NBA back then in a way that brought people together to watch the games while today a casual fan might just simply consume highlight reels on their phone and the communities have moved online (which in my opinion is less fun).

[jkvonny]

Blame the boomers. They got so whiny about millennials and zoomers that there was bound to be serious pushback

While us GenXers just sits back, watch and laughs at all of them bickering at each other

[jkvonny]

Mark Eaton played into the 90s and he was a mechanic before he was a professional basketball player.

MJ PLAYED AGAINST MECHANICS!!!!!! BIRD!!! MAGIC!!! THEY PLAYED AGAINST MECHANICS!!!!

Don't forget Karl Malone! The black redneck who loves to go camping, hunting , truck driving, horseback riding and fishing during the offseason and retirement. Good ole country boy.

MJ played against hunters/fishermen and truckers/cowboys, lumberjacks!

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/karl-malone-on-horseback--178595941442780963/

[Wallace_Wallace]

I thought one of the first real spark was when everybody and their moms in the 80s/90s said that can beat the 2016 Warriors when no one is even talking about them. Now their generation is getting push backs and it’s disrespectful?
I get it, I do appreciate the way they paved the way for future generations. However, if they can’t handle the same disrespectful comments being thrown at them, maybe they shouldn’t start the whole “back then my team would have whipped whoever today”.

[floppymoose]

It was clearly the golden age of the nba along with the early 2000s.

From a fan/entertainment perspective I think the 90's was a golden age. Basketball fans had more fun in the 90's. Certainly more fun than today. Not all of that has to do with the on court product.

90's through about 2001 was the worst era that I witnessed. All the iso ball, the lack of passing.... all caused by dumb illegal defense rules that were designed to boost scoring, but had the opposite effect because the league had no idea how basketball works.

There were some amazing players. From player quality viewpoint there were definitely things to see and appreciate. But I watched college ball instead back then and there was a reason for that. It was a better product.

Once the defense rules changed and it became more of a team game defensively, that setoff a series of changes that resulted in team-based offensive approaches, with lots of passing and shooting skill.

Teams that have tried to be very star focused on offense (like the Harden Rockets) have a hard time winning a championship in this environment, which I think is a good thing.

[Hair Jordan]

It had more to do with the 1980s and 1990s players/analysts lashing out at the current generation and acting like players from this era wouldn't even be that good if they played back then, which is just utterly ridiculous. These guys are acting like the league back in the 1980s and 1990s was like full-contact NFL, and some of the current stars would be shut down, which is honestly far from the truth.

Now you are getting push back the other way because while the 1980s and 1990s produced some great basketball and legends, you cannot reasonably argue that the level of basketball was better.

I think players/analysts need to give respect to the older generations for what they did to evolve the game, and older players/analysts need to acknowledge that the current generation of players are just better overall.

I think it’s wrong to assume that the modern era in every sport is better simply because it’s the most current. I grew up in the 80’s. I loved football back then. WR’s got clobbered if they went over the middle and QB’s who stayed in the pocket too long or scrambled too often would get wrecked. It was much more physical than the modern game. Some teams were pass happy (Dolphins) while others were run happy (Giants, Redskins). Some teams were all about the offense (49es) and others focused on defense (Bears). It was a great mix of differing strategies and it was physical. A lot of the physicality has been legislated out of the game for health reasons (CTE). The point of my rant is this: You can’t tell me the modern NFL game is better. It’s not. QB’s can’t be touched, WR’s can’t be touched. It’s a pass happy league. Nobody runs anymore etc. The NBA is the same. All offense, no defense, the rules have been prostituted to appeal to the casual fans (no traveling, carrying, palming calls). It was a better game in the 80’s and 90’s, not because I’m romanticizing the past. It was better because teams played to their strengths (Lakers - fast break, Celts - low post, Pistons - defense, Nuggets - run and gun, Bulls - one man show) vs every team doing the same thing like they do nowadays (spam 3’s). Is anybody with me on this or am I Don Quixote going it alone?

[Hair Jordan]

I thought one of the first real spark was when everybody and their moms in the 80s/90s can beat the 2016 Warriors when no one is even talking about them. Now their generation is getting push backs and it’s disrespectful?
I get it, I do appreciate the way they paved the way for future generations. However, if they can’t handle the same disrespectful comments being thrown at them, maybe they shouldn’t start the whole “back then my team would have whipped whoever today”.

Old heads complaining about obvious traveling/carrying violations or complaining about guys making $50 million a year who can’t be bothered to play 65 games or put up any kind of effort in the All Star game is wholly different than youngsters claiming Jordan didn’t have a left hand and would be Demar DeRozan today. Those are not the same thing. Not even the same sport. 90% of the toxicity and hate is coming from the youngsters.

[Calvin Klein]

Social media.

End it.

[Sealab2024]

Blame the boomers. They got so whiny about millennials and zoomers that there was bound to be serious pushback

While us GenXers just sits back, watch and laughs at all of them bickering at each other

This!!! Two generations completely wrapped up in themselves constantly arguing with each other over nonsense. Neither one having the first clue how to envision how the other lives day to day nor the self awareness to realize it.

It's honestly hilarious as a Gen Xer and we can generally be described as living in a perpetual state of "not being amused by all this".

[KembaWalker]

It’s funny cause I have the reputation here of an MJ stan/Bron hater but I actually think the best era of ball was like 2008-2014. I thought this was the time when there was the perfect intersection between analytics and old school ball, and the most varied and interesting team archetypes. If anything, that might be why I don’t really like him, because the Heatles kind of cheapened what was a really great era of on the court basketball by torpedoing the eastern conference.

Once Steph and Morey came in and made everything about the 3, the game became extremely less interesting to me, despite how much respect I have for Steph the individual, as someone who watched him basically since childhood being the same age living in the same place

[jkvonny]

Blame the boomers. They got so whiny about millennials and zoomers that there was bound to be serious pushback

While us GenXers just sits back, watch and laughs at all of them bickering at each other

This!!! Two generations completely wrapped up in themselves constantly arguing with each other over nonsense. Neither one having the first clue how to envision how the other lives day to day nor the self awareness to realize it.

It's honestly hilarious as a Gen Xer and we can generally be described as living in a perpetual state of "not being amused by all this".

Yup, true.
lol

[firedavidkahn]

Here's MJ getting "ben simmons'd"

Read on Twitter

[KrazyP]

Blame the boomers. They got so whiny about millennials and zoomers that there was bound to be serious pushback

Millenials and zoomers are the whiniest generations we have ever seen. Its not really their fault, its a reflection of what our social media driven society has become....headlines and hot takes.

[zero rings]

What’s up with this generation of youngsters absolutely hating on any and every generation that came before them? First it was calling 50’s and 60’s era players plumbers and fireman. Then they started trashing the 80’s. Now they’re “done with the ‘90’s” and trying to claim that Jordan has no left hand and would be DeMar DeRozan in the modern era. Don’t they realize that every modern player is another generations plumber? Don’t they realize that 30 years from now kids will watch lowlights of Lebron, Curry, Durant, Kyrie, Luka, Jokic etc and call them Uber drivers and baristas? They’ll get their comeuppance in 40 years when someone says Lebron or Curry wouldn’t make the G League. I hope I’m alive to see it

Nobody would even care to hate on the 90’s if you boomers weren’t so obnoxious.

[NbaAllDay]

I wish we were done with these threads.

We could be with a magic button. It is the same person posting them after all.

[zero rings]

It’s funny cause I have the reputation here of an MJ stan/Bron hater but I actually think the best era of ball was like 2008-2014. I thought this was the time when there was the perfect intersection between analytics and old school ball, and the most varied and interesting team archetypes. If anything, that might be why I don’t really like him, because the Heatles kind of cheapened what was a really great era of on the court basketball by torpedoing the eastern conference.

Once Steph and Morey came in and made everything about the 3, the game became extremely less interesting to me, despite how much respect I have for Steph the individual, as someone who watched him basically since childhood being the same age living in the same place

I would argue the game has been all about the 3 since 1980. It just took a few decades for players and coaches to realize it.

[Nuntius]

90% of the toxicity and hate is coming from the youngsters.

Really? I'm nearly 34 so I have no dog in this fight but that statement doesn't really jive with what I'm seeing in this forum. What I'm seeing in this forum is, well, threads like this one which is why I wished we were done with them

[picko]

The pushback was somewhat inevitably given the insistence that today's 'stars' are soft and not as good as the stars that GenX and the Baby Boomers grew up watching. And that includes the players from those eras regularly dumping on modern players.

The 1990s was simply not a great era for NBA basketball. It's position as the 'golden years' is solely due to Jordan and the Bulls but there is far too much footage of that era available to reasonably claim that the basketball itself was great. And it's an era (along with the early 2000s) that sits in stark contrast to what NBA basketball has traditionally been - fast paced and free flowing.

I grew up watching basketball throughout the 1990s. So I'll always have a soft spot for that era. But I've rewatched many games from that era some two decades later - even the classics - and they are often just dreadful to watch. I imagine that would be even more obvious to younger fans who didn't have an existing soft spot for that era.

Obviously there is a lot of very silly arguments being made at the moment - that's just the nature of online discourse - but if the end result is that we no longer place 90s basketball on a pedestal then it's probably for the best.

[bovice]

wwe wrestlers are more athletic and in shape than in the 90s but the product was better back then. wrestlers were more charismatic and relatable. there was a realness to it.

yes the players are more skilled now but at the end of the day it's about entertainment and the game as a whole was more entertaining back then

[donnieme]

Here's MJ getting "ben simmons'd"

Read on Twitter

He's the GOAT but it's true the era has a a crazy amount of exaggeration. This is the legenddary 6 threes game in the 92 finals. No one was even contesting them. Not even by gameplan standards.

Watch on YouTube