Do last season and this one feel like 2011 and 2012 in terms of the old guard being fully supplanted by the younger one?

ardee · Post #1 » by **ardee** » Fri Nov 4, 2022 8:14 pm

2011/2022 was basically a transitional year. Dirk/Curry won the title but it was clear that the next generation was taking over, with LeBron-Rose-Howard-Durant/Giannis-Morant-Jokic-Luka dominating the regular season. Kobe-Duncan-KG-Nash-Shaq/LeBron-Harden-Durant-CP3-Kawhi all had seasons either blighted with injury or stuck on poor teams.

Now in 2012/2023, it looks like the older generation has pretty much completely fallen off a cliff. All the players I mentioned above were in even worse situations, and LeBron-Durant/Giannis-Luka are dominating the league.

Stan · Post #2 » by **Stan** » Sat Nov 5, 2022 1:14 am

Not at all. The Heat absolutely dominated the coverage of the league back then, there's no team, not even Brooklyn, that matches that level today. Plus the majority of the NBA's elite back then were American, while today arguably the 3 best players in the league are foreign.

ardee · Post #3 » by **ardee** » Sat Nov 5, 2022 6:34 am

Stan wrote:Not at all. The Heat absolutely dominated the coverage of the league back then, there's no team, not even Brooklyn, that matches that level today. Plus the majority of the NBA's elite back then were American, while today arguably the 3 best players in the league are foreign.

I think I probably misworded the title: I meant primarily as the years that saw a definitive era change with the old guard being fully replaced.

Statlanta · Post #4 » by **Statlanta** » Sat Nov 5, 2022 3:34 pm

the lockout ruined many of the older players. Nothing like that this season.

clearlynotjesse · Post #5 » by **clearlynotjesse** » Sat Nov 5, 2022 4:02 pm

I think 2020 = 2011 and 2021 = 2012. The "LeBron/Giannis suck in the playoffs" to "LeBron/Giannis have dominant championship runs" parallels are too good. There's also Jokic/Nuggets and KD/Thunder getting their great runs stuffed by the eventual champions led by an older guy. 2020 also had Luka and Tatum establishing themselves and the younger generation has been rocking ever since. 2022 is the old heads stealing one last ring on their way out a la the 14 Spurs.

Cavsfansince84 · Post #6 » by **Cavsfansince84** » Sat Nov 5, 2022 7:53 pm

I was thinking about this about a week ago ie the older generation fully passing the torch this year. It feels like it has happened now. All the very best players are under 30 now except for maybe Steph. On top of guys like Harden/Kawhi being injured and likely declining. If GS falls off then I don't think any star over 30 will make a conf final.