draftnightsuit wrote:Kilroy wrote:In an era where athleticism means less and shooting ability means more, I think Larry Legend would be a top 5 player at worst today.
Athleticism means less? Players today are way more athletic than Bird’s era. Larry Bird was considered a top athlete in his era.
That is a myth. The top 70% of players in Bird's era were more athletic than the top 70% of players now but they could not shoot 3s and did not even know that they should be shooting 3s. But shooting 3s is not athleticism.
I will divide the bottom 30% into 2 groups; Centers and bench players. While today's forwards are bigger than the forwards in Bird's era the centers in Bird's era were bigger than current centers. 1970s centers were smaller but Bird played in the 1980s.there were a lot of 7 footers of the type that we say would get burned on switches in the modern era. You would figure that the legal zone would help the giant slow footed centers but the good 1980s defenses sagged to the point where they would have been calling illegal defense all the time if they were enforcing the official rules. Since those big slow footed centers never had to worry about the opposing center setting a pick at the 3 point line the whole story about those big slow centers not being able to switch onto a guard was irrelevant. Nobody could come off a pick and nail a 3 in Bird's era. There were picks for the mid range game but with the defenses sagged in there were always help defenders arround to help the big centers if they got stuck on a guard coming off of a pick.
The other 15% bench players were more like JJ Reddick types minus the 3 point range. Some guard with JJ Reddick athleticism can't play in the NBA today if they don't have 3 point range. In Bird’s era there were some slow guys in the league playing 10 minutes a game because they could hit deep 2s or were very clever.
Some people consider size to be athleticism. When I say athleticism I'm thinking more of quickness, agility, and moves. To me size is not athleticism. The Off guard being 6' 6" now instead of 6' 4" is not my idea of increased athleticism.
Is there a forward playing today as athletic as Dominque Wilkins?
The big revolution in the NBA since Birds era is in three points shooting and it is completely change the game. The game looks entirely different now . Do not mistake the legalization of traveling for athleticism . Everybody can run faster with a ball then they can dribble the ball. In Bird’s era you are not allowed to run with the ball without dribbling it.
