NBA players are better than ever, despite what the legends say

[VanWest82]

They are definitely more skilled with the ball. Previous generations were tougher, particularly mentally, and were better at many of the traditional, without-the-ball skills like screening and boxing out. It's a very different game.

[og15]

Too bad there aren't more Cavs fans on this forum, because LeBron career nicely spans the end of the hand check era up until now and just so happens to overlap the period where analytics got serious.

I tie those two things together because of how long it took to put shooters around James inspite of the analytical evidence that doing so would lead to crazy offensive efficiency even though he's never been much of a shooter himself.

To this day we still struggle to identify shooters who can also defend and big men who can move, so just wait for that.

Also ... Eric Snow is one of the only players I can think of that had his career harmed by the end of hand checking, but dude was slow, couldn't shoot, and near the end of his career.

The op is making an important point. Not sure why some people always feel the need to turn an argument inside out and take it as an insult to previous generations.

We can't know what Jordan would do in this era, but we do know what LeBron has done across generations and anyone thinking he's on a clear downwards slope but that the league is somehow propping him up needs to understand how much his understanding of the game and opponents has increased while the rules have been the same since his 2nd season.

This isn't fully accurate, we've had little adjustments here and there. People just think of the "big" rules such as hand checking being focused on more, zone, but that's not all that's changed. There have been a lot of "clarifications" as well as little additions that have changed things.

For example, clear path fouls have been updated or re-emphasized. Off ball fouls to make bad FT shooters shoot. Landing zone fouls. Freedom of movement. All these little things add up. They can't simply be thought of purely individually.

Realistically what the NBA was trying to do was go back to basketball more like the 80's, it's just that now everyone also shot three's and used analytics. They were trying to get rid of all the tactics or methods that coaches came up with to "muck up" the game. Of course someone is always going to try to push the envelope with rules on both ends.

You have illegal defense to promote spacing and teams make that into clear out a whole side of the floor and iso the star(s) half the game. That's always how professional sports will be though.

[JonFromVA]

Too bad there aren't more Cavs fans on this forum, because LeBron career nicely spans the end of the hand check era up until now and just so happens to overlap the period where analytics got serious.

I tie those two things together because of how long it took to put shooters around James inspite of the analytical evidence that doing so would lead to crazy offensive efficiency even though he's never been much of a shooter himself.

To this day we still struggle to identify shooters who can also defend and big men who can move, so just wait for that.

Also ... Eric Snow is one of the only players I can think of that had his career harmed by the end of hand checking, but dude was slow, couldn't shoot, and near the end of his career.

The op is making an important point. Not sure why some people always feel the need to turn an argument inside out and take it as an insult to previous generations.

We can't know what Jordan would do in this era, but we do know what LeBron has done across generations and anyone thinking he's on a clear downwards slope but that the league is somehow propping him up needs to understand how much his understanding of the game and opponents has increased while the rules have been the same since his 2nd season.

This isn't fully accurate, we've had little adjustments here and there. People just think of the "big" rules such as hand checking being focused on more, zone, but that's not all that's changed. There have been a lot of "clarifications" as well as little additions that have changed things.

For example, clear path fouls have been updated or re-emphasized. Off ball fouls to make bad FT shooters shoot. Landing zone fouls. Freedom of movement. All these little things add up. They can't simply be thought of purely individually.

Realistically what the NBA was trying to do was go back to basketball more like the 80's, it's just that now everyone also shot three's and used analytics. They were trying to get rid of all the tactics or methods that coaches came up with to "muck up" the game. Of course someone is always going to try to push the envelope with rules on both ends.

You have illegal defense to promote spacing and teams make that into clear out a whole side of the floor and iso the star(s) half the game. That's always how professional sports will be though.

Everything important was in place in 2004, including the requirement that defenders needed to stop using their hands so much and move their feet. Almost everyone adapted.

Even something like take fouls were not common historically until the European players started doing it in the NBA. No biggie to get rid of it. If teams started exploiting hack-a-whoever again they'd probably need to take steps to curb that further, but most players don't want to wreck the product unless there's no other option.

[MavsDirk41]

They are definitely more skilled with the ball. Previous generations were tougher, particularly mentally, and were better at many of the traditional, without-the-ball skills like screening and boxing out. It's a very different game.

You are spot on for tougher. How many years did Bird play with a bad back? Dude would lay on the ground by the bench during games when he wasnt on the court. Guy was the ultimate competitor.