Hair Jordan wrote:It’s not a myth. The league was full of men back then, most of whom played 4 years of college ball and were physically ready for the NBA unlike the high schoolers and one-and-done boys who pollute the modern NBA. Back in the day, players weren’t all buddy/buddy and looking to exchange jerseys after games or doing podcasts together. You had legit rivalries, real fights, hard fouls and beefs that last to this very day. It was real. However, here’s where people get confused: Nobody is claiming the ‘80s and 90’s was rock ‘em - sock ‘em robots for 48 minutes a night. It was more physical on average with hand checking, bruising PF’s and shot blocking bigs camped out under the basket. In addition, the floor was crammed inside the 3 point line because you didn’t have teams spamming fifty 3’s a game. You had finesse teams in the league as well. People who watch games from the ‘80s and ‘90s expecting to see a bloodbath on every possession are fooling themselves. The game has never been THAT physical but it was MORE physical than it is now.
Sadly because of hyperbole there are some who are basically claiming that and then we are having discussions about caricatures of different eras.
Same thing about this era, yes, on average there is more skill, but no, every team doesn't have a shooter at every position, or dynamic players everywhere. Or if you go on the negative side, the people acting like no one plays defense now, and it's a layup line and no one has ever been contested at the basket.
All the caricatures and hyperbole just cause for bad discussion.
