RealGM

just seems that its taken over actual skill allot of times..

theres players u see in college that are pretty skilled players but because therye not great athletes you realize theyre chancees of sucess in the nba are slim..

years ago everyone on the court had some sort of skill and could put the ball in the basket, nowadays you have players who have no actual basketball skill to speak of and are in the nba just because they are long athletic and fast..

has it swayed to far in the direction that power and athleticability over skill?

Not really, athletic guys with no skill suck just as bad in the NBA.

See Harold Miner/James White clones, and to a lesser extent Stromile Swift types.

If anything the NBA has gotten weaker. Too many ticky tack fouls and floppers have invaded the league.

yes on athleticism and no on power

no touching on the perimeter
the quick guy can blow pass his defender and take it to the basket

big men are in the disadvantage now
you look at Yao and Dwight
they get push on the back all the time yet no foul call for them
but when they touch one of those guard it's foul on them

I don't think it's lop-sided. Both have been present.

Apparently, the more athletic you are, the more potential you have. He can be the absolute dumbest and least skilled player, but hey, he's pretty gosh darn athletic.

Darius Miles
Gerald Green
Stromile Swift
Tyrus Thomas (jury still out)

Anyone else I'm missing?

OhMyBosh wrote:Anyone else I'm missing?

yeah, half the league

u mean Nba's gone more Cheeseburgers / Soda nowadays than Vegtables / Fish (OMEGA 3)

Not really, it's not as physical as it once was, as seen in the pansy fouls being called.

Well not necessarily but I get what you mean.

Duncan and Kobe are 2 best players in the leauge and they're not really athletic (not anymore atleast).

But they're the two most fundamentally sound player in the NBA. You need either fundamentals, or athleticism to survive in this league, and the more of both you have, the easier it'll be (depending on your will to succeed and work on your game, of course).

If an athletic player is better than a skilled player I don't see the problem. . .

Do you want Gerald Green or Richie Frahm?

They're both probably equal in skill, but one is better.

tyrus thomas...

Taiwan Killa wrote:Well not necessarily but I get what you mean.

Duncan and Kobe are 2 best players in the leauge and they're not really athletic (not anymore atleast).

Since when can Kobe be described as "not really athletic". Sure he is skilled as all hell but his first step, his ability to finish in traffic, his elavation on his jump shot, and his lateral quickness and explosiveness on D are all based heavily on athleticism. He is an elite NBA athlete.

thEthIEf wrote:tyrus thomas...

Eh, Tyrus is a good defender, not just because of his athleticism. Sure it helps, but his instincts make it work.

Not really. Just watching games in the 80s/90s now shows me that fundamentals are as good now as they've ever been. What I do think thoush is that coaches have better learned how to exploit athletic mismatches than they have in the past. At the end of the day however, you atheltism will allow players to beat even good defense at times.

OhMyBosh wrote:Apparently, the more athletic you are, the more potential you have. He can be the absolute dumbest and least skilled player, but hey, he's pretty gosh darn athletic.

Darius Miles
Gerald Green
Stromile Swift
Tyrus Thomas (jury still out)

Anyone else I'm missing?

Great point

and fundamentals and team play suffer badly as a result.

But that just, unfortunately, mirrors what too many fans want. As in other aspects of our increasingly decadent society, they love the flash and trash at the expense of something more substantive. We are becoming the WWF society, and the NBA is not immune to the corruption.

writerman wrote:and fundamentals and team play suffer badly as a result.

But that just, unfortunately, mirrors what too many fans want. As in other aspects of our increasingly decadent society, they love the flash and trash at the expense of something more substantive. We are becoming the WWF society, and the NBA is not immune to the corruption.

Just as Yao Ming has replaced Wilt, so has Quentin Tarintino replaced Rus Meyer and meth has replaced crack (which replaced heroine). Yes the past was idyllic and the future bleak... lets burn women we don't like and call them witches.