Stars That Embodied The Worst Aspects Of Their Eras

[KyletheDingbat]

Every era has strengths and weaknesses, and I'm interested in which stars you think embodied the worst aspects of such eras. For example, many would say that with his uber-efficient but floppy style and aloof attitude (and hipster beard), James Harden embodies a lot of the worst qualities of the modern era.

50's
60-71
72-79
80-89
90-98
99-07
08-present

Who do you nominate and why?

[HornetJail]

Iverson was tailor-made to make your 99-07 era

[Notanoob]

Iverson was the first person I thought of for this- Iso-heavy wing player on a garbage team with poor efficiency. Chucker.

The 70's era dude would probably have to be a coke head, a guy who switched between the NBA and ABA, or some combination.

[magicmerl]

Wasn't Iverson really a relic of the Jordan era? Everybody thought the way to be 'the man' was to be a high volume chucker, ala Jordan. The bit they were missing was the unreal efficiency Jordan did it on, because that was never that made it onto the highlight reels.

[RightToCensor]

Stay mad son.

Lebron has been flailing his arms long before Harden.

Durant and Wade are the same too.

[E-Balla]

50's - Bob Cousy. Run run run run.
60-71 - Wilt Chamberlain. Points points points.
72-79 - Pistol Pete. All flash no substance.
80-89 - Dantley. Post up offense with no defense.
90-98 -
99-07 - Iverson
08-present - Harden and Durant

[penbeast0]

60s -- Nate Thurmond. Everyone wanted the next Wilt so they used one of the worst offensive big men outside of Ben Wallace enough for him to average around 20ppg . . . on a career .420 from the field . . . as a dominant center.

70s -- David Thompson. Annointed to the Hall of Fame before he ever played then blew it all on Coke. HM Charlie Scott blowing off his team 2/3 of the way through the season (while leading the ABA in scoring) and jumping leagues then being thoroughly mediocre the rest of his career.

80s -- Bernard King. The mercenary; would score 25ppg for you for a few years then move on for another contract. Alcohol issues. Injury issues. The 80s outside of the Celtics/Lakers in a nutshell. HM Chris Washburn. Just because he a worse score on his SAT than if he would have left the whole thing blank, then is mediocre but talented in college, drafted top 3, has 2 pro years of DNPs and drug issues averaging around 3ppg then never plays again.

90s -- Jordan. Yes, he was arguably the greatest player of all time but he was also a nasty, abusive jerk whose behavior toward teammates and women as well as his gambling issues were swept under the carpet so that corporate interests could market him as the unquestionably greatest basketball marketing phenom ever. In terms of play, was a poster boy of the iso heavy, one on one play that made 90s basketball often boring and difficult to watch until Phil Jackson brought in the triangle. On the other side, he made it cool for a true high scoring superstar to also be a superstar defender (unlike one of my personal favorites, George "defense is for those who can't score" Gervin).

00s -- Wade. Another great player, and one that I like a lot. But his offensive flopping and favoritism toward him by the referees (see also Jordan, Michael) and his part in the free agency process of grabbing three superstars instead of developing a talented team internally make him a poster boy for the issues of the current generation. If LeBron flopped like Wade with the "crab dribble" and now the Kevin Love new 3-some, he would be the poster boy for this but got to get a slam in on the flopping issue, but he's not nearly as bad as Wade in that regard.

[nonjokegetter]

90s -- Jordan. Yes, he was arguably the greatest player of all time but he was also a nasty, abusive jerk whose behavior toward teammates and women as well as his gambling issues were swept under the carpet so that corporate interests could market him as the unquestionably greatest basketball marketing phenom ever. In terms of play, was a poster boy of the iso heavy, one on one play that made 90s basketball often boring and difficult to watch until Phil Jackson brought in the triangle. On the other side, he made it cool for a true high scoring superstar to also be a superstar defender (unlike one of my personal favorites, George "defense is for those who can't score" Gervin).

What's weird about this isn't your criticism of Jordan as a player, it's that in this whole paragraph...you only have one sentence that's actually criticizing him as a player.

[GYK]

Idk why you have weird ending for era's.

As for the embodiment for the worst aspect of each era you first have to say the problem for each era.

50's - one hand dribbling. relatively small players(larger then your average person still). relatively unknown league. unfluided movements. Quota of black

60's - legendary stat lines that are hard to accept. movements are still not eye test approved, hard to say who translate to the modern game. FG% can't be the qualifier when relatively to league average it's high.

70's - split league. fighting. a perceived drug problem. which the last was weird to say, 75% such a round number to specify with no drug testing to know during that time..."Too Black: Race in The "Dark Ages" of the National Basketball Association, great read.

80's - many thin players? not muched wrong with the 80's.

90's - same although you could complain that the 3 already is 20 years old and not rampant among players. though you can say that's the problem with this era.

00's - team building suffered the most. a lot of stars were left without help.

10's - while the 90's had the most complete players and teams, 10's are filled with specialist, the greatest specialist to date.

[penbeast0]

90s -- Jordan. Yes, he was arguably the greatest player of all time but he was also a nasty, abusive jerk whose behavior toward teammates and women as well as his gambling issues were swept under the carpet so that corporate interests could market him as the unquestionably greatest basketball marketing phenom ever. In terms of play, was a poster boy of the iso heavy, one on one play that made 90s basketball often boring and difficult to watch until Phil Jackson brought in the triangle. On the other side, he made it cool for a true high scoring superstar to also be a superstar defender (unlike one of my personal favorites, George "defense is for those who can't score" Gervin).

What's weird about this isn't your criticism of Jordan as a player, it's that in this whole paragraph...you only have one sentence that's actually criticizing him as a player.

Probably because I think the league had matured a lot from the 70s/80s and I didn't have nearly as many play style issues. The big issues was the "corporate" NBA and the attempt to manipulate the media and fans rather than play issues other than the "isolate 1 guy and have the others stand around" think and the (longstanding and never solved) referee issues of favoring stars and home teams. Maybe the ref(s?) taking money to fix games issue if that was the 90s but that was so quickly swept under the rug that it didn't seem to get much notice.

[RSCD3_]

Were there any stars who were racists in the 50's


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[ronnymac2]

50's — Whoever was a racist at the time.

60-71 — Wilt Chamberlain...the almighty $ hurt the basketball development of one of the most talented athletes ever.

72-79 — David Thompson...unrealized potential.

80-89 — Kiki (Ernie was his father) Vandeweghe...no defense all offense at the SF position.

90-98 — Shawn Kemp...too much too soon.

99-07 — Darius Miles...drafted out of high school based on length and run/jump ability.

08-present — Dwight Howard...Entitled and fake, thinks he should be the man on offense likes this is AAU.