Was the league weak in the 90s/how much did expansion weaken the league?

[DonaldSanders]

I would imagine poaching a bunch of 12th men in an expansion draft probably had less of an effect on competitiveness compared to, hypothetically of course, a situation where franchise star players were colluding in their primes to leave their teams to be 2nd or 3rd options together

Well, now we know LeBron lives completely rent free in your head I think there's a support group for people with LeBron Derangement Syndrome (LDS) around here in case you want help.

Literally almost every thread you start is some sort of an attempt to discredit Jordan. So careful with casting stones.

[Roger Murdock]

I dont think it was so much expansion as it was bad luck / low longevity for a lot of great players.

The best players at the start of the 1980s - Magic, Bird, Isiah, Moses, Kareem, Erving, Thompson, etc. were essentially irrelevant by like 92. HIV, Birds bad back, coke suspensions, and age caught up with everyone.

So then the insane 1984 class comes into the league with Jordan, Barkley, Stockton, Hakeem. The leagues loaded with talent. But the next 7-8 draft classes basically sucked. The best prospect was David Robinson and we had to wait for him to come to the league. Ewing was great but not an all timer perennial MVP contender type. Basically the only truly great players to join the league between 1985 and 1991 were Robinson and Malone. Bad luck for a lot of the super hyped guys around this time. Len Bias dies, Sampson cant stay healthy, Daugherty cant stay healthy,

The league was still getting carried by these old guys into the late 90s. It wasn't until Shaq that a true force of nature joined the league to rival someone like Jordan. The 92, 93, 96, and 97 draft classes were loaded but they were too young to compete for titles.

Basically short careers for the 1980s early stars + long talent drought in between 1985 and 91ish led to Jordan / Hakeem / Malone dominating the league for a long time.

Its way different from the early 00s. Dirk, Duncan, Kobe, Shaq, KG all had super long careers + the lesser stars hung on forever as well.

Sports medicine lengthening careers is a major driver of talent boom. LeBron, KD, Curry, Harden, etc have had some crazy long and impactful careers relative to others.

The 1985 draft was a really good draft. Not sure why you would include it in your prospect drought years.

Drafted in 1985:
Ewing
Karl Malone
Chris Mullin
Joe Dumars
Wayman Tisdale
Detlef Schrempf
Charles Oakley
AC Green
Manute Bol
Hot Rod Williams
Gerald Wilkins
Xavier McDaniel

plus more players who had good careers. 1985 is a strong draft class.

Yeah thats a great class, for some reason I thought most of those guys were split between 85 and 86. The rest were pretty unimpactful though.

[WillyJakkz]

I would imagine poaching a bunch of 12th men in an expansion draft probably had less of an effect on competitiveness compared to, hypothetically of course, a situation where franchise star players were colluding in their primes to leave their teams to be 2nd or 3rd options together

This is the usual case made about expansion but the bigger picture is always missing.

Less teams means those said teams don't exist to then draft the incoming players who would in turn go to a team that has a potential superstar to pair with.

Nowadays there's a huge influx of global talent that would make expansion great for the League as.it continues to open the door for more competition vs the 90s where the NBA was mostly dead set on USA players and an occasional foreign player.

[Taj FTW]

I would imagine poaching a bunch of 12th men in an expansion draft probably had less of an effect on competitiveness compared to, hypothetically of course, a situation where franchise star players were colluding in their primes to leave their teams to be 2nd or 3rd options together

Well, now we know LeBron lives completely rent free in your head I think there's a support group for people with LeBron Derangement Syndrome (LDS) around here in case you want help.

Literally almost every thread you start is some sort of an attempt to discredit Jordan. So careful with casting stones.

Nobody likes a liar

[DonaldSanders]

Nobody likes a liar

We know what you're doing dude, no need to pretend.