We Done With This 90’s Hating

[Hair Jordan]

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

[Pelon chingon]

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

[theforumblue]

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!!!!

[MrGoat]

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

[Hair Jordan]

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!!!!

[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.

[Nuntius]

I wish we were done with these threads.

[Hair Jordan]

I wish we were done with these threads.

[FuShengTHEGreat]

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

The early 00s (99-00 to 02-03) was THE worst era of basketball since the merger. The worst draft in nba history happened in 2000 as well.

The East was epically awful during this span. The top 2 players in the East during that span imho (Iverson and Kidd) were both inefficient shooters with no reliable 3pt range whatsoever. There wasn't a single PF or Center in the East

Anybody that came out the East during this span was fodder for the West. The real Finals were already decided in the West

The worst true fact about that era?? The 02 Nets made the Finals not having someone good enough to even average at least 15ppg in the regular season. My HS city championship team had someone good enough to score at least 15ppg.....lol.

When else has that ever happened? No one could ever make a Finals today being led by someone who can't score at least 15ppg. Or even make the playoffs.

[sp6r=underrated]

I'm an old. Look at what year I joined this site and recognized I could drink legally before that date. One thing I've noticed about basketball is that generational conflicts are much deeper. The same thing said in 2024 about 2004 players was said in 2004 about 1984 players.

[Special_Puppy]

I'm an old. Look at what year I joined this site and recognized I could drink legally before that date. One thing I've noticed about basketball is that generational conflicts are much deeper. The same thing said in 2024 about 2004 players was said in 2004 about 1984 players.

Why do you think generational conflicts are much deeper in the NBA than other sports? I honestly never even hear American football fans discussing players before 2000 that much.

[GreatWhiteStiff]

Honestly it'll be funny to see generation Alpha **** on the current era players and then these same guys trashing 90s ball being up in their feelings about it.

[Lalouie]

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

they weren't born yet is why

[Special_Puppy]

People always say that the the time they grew up with was the best time. I heard people who are in their early to mid 20s talk about the early 2010s being the best era of basketball. People hating on the 90s is also just an overcorrection for old heads hating on the current game

[BlzMwt]

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.

[TheGeneral99]

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.

[Yoshun]

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

The early 00s (99-00 to 02-03) was THE worst era of basketball since the merger. The worst draft in nba history happened in 2000 as well.

The East was epically awful during this span. The top 2 players in the East during that span imho (Iverson and Kidd) were both inefficient shooters with no reliable 3pt range whatsoever. There wasn't a single PF or Center in the East

Anybody that came out the East during this span was fodder for the West. The real Finals were already decided in the West

The worst true fact about that era?? The 02 Nets made the Finals not having someone good enough to even average at least 15ppg in the regular season. My HS city championship team had someone good enough to score at least 15ppg.....lol.

When else has that ever happened? No one could ever make a Finals today being led by someone who can't score at least 15ppg. Or even make the playoffs.

Is 15ppg the mark?

[TheGeneral99]

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

The early 00s (99-00 to 02-03) was THE worst era of basketball since the merger. The worst draft in nba history happened in 2000 as well.

The East was epically awful during this span. The top 2 players in the East during that span imho (Iverson and Kidd) were both inefficient shooters with no reliable 3pt range whatsoever. There wasn't a single PF or Center in the East

Anybody that came out the East during this span was fodder for the West. The real Finals were already decided in the West

The worst true fact about that era?? The 02 Nets made the Finals not having someone good enough to even average at least 15ppg in the regular season. My HS city championship team had someone good enough to score at least 15ppg.....lol.

When else has that ever happened? No one could ever make a Finals today being led by someone who can't score at least 15ppg. Or even make the playoffs.

Yep, the East was really really bad while the West was stacked.

In the West you had the powerhouse Lakers with Kobe and Kobe, the Kings with Vlade, Bibby, Peja etc., the Mavericks with Dirk, Nash and Finley, the Blazers with Sheed, Damon, Pippen etc., the Spurs with Duncan and Robinson, the Jazz with Stockton and Malone etc. Each of those rosters had multiple superstars/all-stars and deep rosters.

Meanwhile in the West you had the Sixers with AI, the Raptors with VC, the Nets with Kidd, the Celtics with Pierce etc. You didn't really have teams with multiple superstars/all-star caliber players together.

Look at the 2002 standings for instance:

No team in the East won over 50 games except for the Nets who won 52 and the Pistons who won 50.

Meanwhile in the West the Kings won 61, the Lakers won 58, the Spurs won 58, the Mavs won 57, the Wolves won 50, and the Blazers won 49.

5th in the West would have been 2nd in the East.

[RB34]

There are a lot of social media fans out there these days who don’t watch games. They boxscore watch and think they know everything. Can’t expect much.

[sp6r=underrated]

I'm an old. Look at what year I joined this site and recognized I could drink legally before that date. One thing I've noticed about basketball is that generational conflicts are much deeper. The same thing said in 2024 about 2004 players was said in 2004 about 1984 players.

Why do you think generational conflicts are much deeper in the NBA than other sports? I honestly never even hear American football fans discussing players before 2000 that much.

There's an old joke "brazil is the country of the future and always will be" that I think about when this subject comes up. Basketball fans are individual fans as much as teams fans. When a star NFL player switches teams very few fans follow them. One of my IRL friends Steve went to Foxboro games before Bledsode. When Brady left he hoped for him to do well in TB but he still focused on the Pats even though they were rebuilding.

In the NBA fans follow star players from team to team. When Lebron left for Miami, Miami all of a sudden had a ton of national fans. Even during the last few year where they've made finals those fans didn't return. They were never Heat fans. They were Lebron fans. when Jordan retired Chicago's national following disappeared. They were never Bulls fans. They were Jordan fans.

In sports where almost everyone is team fans (NFL/MLB) the generational conflict is way less because younger fans have some identification with the stars from previous generations who played for their team. Older fans develop a love for their younger players due to their emotional ties with the team.

So in basketball you have a lot older fans who aren't really invested in the current players and younger fans who have no relationship to the older players.

And that's a recipe for generational conflict. Pure spitballing but I think that is a factor