NBA Message boards in the 80's

[GSWFan1994]

Here's what Marc Lee from San Diego wrote about Michael Jordan in January 1985:

Since San Diego basketball fans are now in the dark with respect to
goings-on in the NBA, could someone please tell me how in the world
Jordan is piling up such outrageous stats? All I've seen is box
scores and the occaisional slam-dunk highlight on ESPN, but I don't
even know, for instance, if he's playing point guard, shooting guard,
mostly around the basket, scoring on outside jumpers, or what. From
the few highlights I've seen, it seems he has carte blanche to go
wherever on the court he feels. But what's he got that makes him
special? I don't remember him having a particularly good outside
shot at UNC, and there are plenty of 6'6" players who can jump in
the NBA.

Marc Lee
Burroughs Corp
San Diego

Link

This was Jordan's rookie season IIRC.

Nobody replied.

[GSWFan1994]

Bruce was a historian and a scholar, and most of all, immensely enjoyed the game of basketball, back in June 1984:

Gosh, this was a good series. I had already decided that I couldn't be
too upset regardless of the outcome of game 7 (we've all seen a good
show), but the Celtics came through in a fitting cap to this memorable
series.

As I am sure you all know (but it's still worth noting), the Celtics
have now won 15 of the 16 Championship Series the have played in (the
St. Louis Hawks beat them in 1958) and 14 in a row. They have won it 15
of the last 28 years. They are 8-0 against the Lakers (one of those
before they moved to LA).

The Boston fans were the most hyped I have seen them (and they are always
hyped); the only event which came close to the buildup of this series since
I have been in town (7 years) was the 1978 one-game playoff between the Red
Sox and the Yankees.

Records that were broken in this series (lifted from the Boston Globe):

Highest team field goal percentage: Lakers, 51.5%.
Most steals by team: Celtics, 65.
Most individual steals: Larry Bird, 15.
Highest individual field goal percentage: James Worthy, 63.8%.
Most assists: Magic Johnson, 95.
Most turnovers: Magic Johnson, 31.
Most defensive rebounds: Larry Bird, 72.

(The last one surprises me the most, considering how much Bill Russell
dominated the boards in his day.)

I am really glad the Celtics won; it felt good all year, unlike last
year, in which there were contract squabbles, problems with the coach
(Bill Fitch), and much inconsistency on the court. The 76ers of this
year reminded me a lot of the Celtics last year. Last year ended with a
sweep by the Bucks; it, too, was a fitting end. But a change of
ownership and coaching staff (and some wild dealing by Red to keep
McHale from going to the Knicks as a free agent) completely turned
things around. The Celtics loved playing for KC and had fun all year,
which made them so enjoyable to watch.

This year, Cedric Maxwell can become a free agent; I hope we can sign
him. He is the longest-term member of the team. M.L. Carr may retire.
I have heard a lot of people talking of trading Ainge; I hope not--I'd
probably start him over Henderson, but I can't question KC now. Red will
officially retire as GM, but everyone expects he will remain close to the
club's decision-making process.

I'm also glad the Celtics won because of the pro-Laker hype by CBS,
mostly Brent Mussberger (sp?). Earlier in the playoffs, he said the
Laker bench was "capable of blowing out any team in the league except
maybe the Celtic starters." In the series, the Celtic bench got more
minutes and points than did the Lakers'. I'll always remember the
"one-game dynasty," when Kevin Loughery called this year's Lakers "maybe
the best team ever to take the court," and Pat Riley suggested James
Worthy for series MVP after game three.

Let's go for two!

Link

[Sgt Major]

Can't wait to get home from work to dive into this

[NoStatsGuy]

Why is the NBA so boring? Except for maybe Boston, Philadelphia, and LA, I
>> doubt whether most of the readers of this note can name 2 starters on any
>> other team. The interest in the NBA is minimal. Most of the people I know
>> (are they the wrong people?) have no idea who's in first, what the divisions
>> are, or even what the team nicknames are. Is that because we don't have a team
>> here in Columbus? or is prevalent throughout the country? So tell me...why
>> isn't the NBA making it?
>> ...bob garmise...at&t bell labs, columbus...
>
>I'll tell you why the NBA is so boring!
>
> 1. Zone defenses are not allowed --> detracts from defense
> 2. 3-to-make-2 free throws --> thwarts comebacks
> 3. Bad shot selection
> 4. One-on-one play
> 5. 3-point shots --> further encourages bad shot selection
> 6. 24-second clock --> encourages bad shot selection and one-on-one play
> 7. No necessity for coaching, therefore there is none -- it's sandlot bball
> 8. Refs don't call charging --> discourages good defense
> 9. Refs don't call traveling (better this year I've heard)
> --> allows for dunks from mid-court
> 10. 20-second timeouts --> to easy to get out of trap situations
> 11. too many playoff teams --> who cares about the regular season anymore

So, people back then complained about the lack of defense, 3-point shots, refs not calling travels and the RS not mattering anymore.

Sounds familiar?

Thank you for this gem, jkvonny.

Yea this is truly a gem from the past.

but please tell me... how the F does zone defense, calling travels and charges make the game more exciting?

The guy even said not calling travels allows for crazy dunks. i dont get it.. times changed i guess haha

either way its very cool to check on the things people said back then

[Iwasawitness]

5. 3-point shots --> further encourages bad shot selection

If only he knew...

[Roscoe Sheed]

The internet was in its infancy. I’m very surprised people had message board communications about the nba in the 80s and also saved them. Great find!

[og15]

Pretty funny here.

Even 40 years ago, some folks were still complaining.

https://groups.google.com/g/net.sport.hoops/c/_i748SYWaf8

Alright, this is gold so allow me to post it as a quote for all to see. This is what people were complaining about in 1985:

Why is the NBA so boring? Except for maybe Boston, Philadelphia, and LA, I
>> doubt whether most of the readers of this note can name 2 starters on any
>> other team. The interest in the NBA is minimal. Most of the people I know
>> (are they the wrong people?) have no idea who's in first, what the divisions
>> are, or even what the team nicknames are. Is that because we don't have a team
>> here in Columbus? or is prevalent throughout the country? So tell me...why
>> isn't the NBA making it?
>> ...bob garmise...at&t bell labs, columbus...
>
>I'll tell you why the NBA is so boring!
>
> 1. Zone defenses are not allowed --> detracts from defense
> 2. 3-to-make-2 free throws --> thwarts comebacks
> 3. Bad shot selection
> 4. One-on-one play
> 5. 3-point shots --> further encourages bad shot selection
> 6. 24-second clock --> encourages bad shot selection and one-on-one play
> 7. No necessity for coaching, therefore there is none -- it's sandlot bball
> 8. Refs don't call charging --> discourages good defense
> 9. Refs don't call traveling (better this year I've heard)
> --> allows for dunks from mid-court
> 10. 20-second timeouts --> to easy to get out of trap situations
> 11. too many playoff teams --> who cares about the regular season anymore

So, people back then complained about the lack of defense, 3-point shots, refs not calling travels and the RS not mattering anymore.

Sounds familiar?

Thank you for this gem, jkvonny.

It's like how every generation says the new generation is lazy, and if you go back to papers from the 1800's, there's been the same thing, generation is lazy, no one wants to work, lol

We actually think what we are saying is new and novel, we don't realize that sometimes waning interest in things has little to do with the actual product being interesting or not interesting and more to do with things like personal preference, growth and change in what you like and don't like, priorities in life changing, etc.

It's actually pretty good to see, especially with sports, because what you thought was the golden era, tons of people watching a previous era thought was bad basketball, etc, etc

[Clyde Frazier]

I can't get enough of this!

Might as well get this group going. Does anybody know how the 16 playoff teams are going to be determined in the NBA? Is it going to be just the division leaders plus the next 6 teams in each conference? 16 is ridiculous.

How many of you are glad that the referees are on strike? Maybe the new ref's won't be so intimidated that they obligingly overlook the basic rules of the game like traveling. Consider the way Julius Erving travels on many, if not most, of his drives to the hoop.

What do the NBA fans out there think of the Seattle Sonics trade of James Donaldson, Greg Kelser, Mark Radford (since cut) and a #1 draft choice for Tom Chambers and Al Wood? A Seattle newspaper reported that a San Diego coach stated that San Diego should be arrested for theft because of this trade.

https://groups.google.com/g/net.sport.hoops/c/boVRYPjYYtI

[dhsilv2]

Pretty funny here.

Even 40 years ago, some folks were still complaining.

https://groups.google.com/g/net.sport.hoops/c/_i748SYWaf8

You could change a few names and post that here today and it would sound like a few dozen grumpy old posters instantly.

[Haldi]

Pretty funny here.

Even 40 years ago, some folks were still complaining.

https://groups.google.com/g/net.sport.hoops/c/_i748SYWaf8

Alright, this is gold so allow me to post it as a quote for all to see. This is what people were complaining about in 1985:

Why is the NBA so boring? Except for maybe Boston, Philadelphia, and LA, I
>> doubt whether most of the readers of this note can name 2 starters on any
>> other team. The interest in the NBA is minimal. Most of the people I know
>> (are they the wrong people?) have no idea who's in first, what the divisions
>> are, or even what the team nicknames are. Is that because we don't have a team
>> here in Columbus? or is prevalent throughout the country? So tell me...why
>> isn't the NBA making it?
>> ...bob garmise...at&t bell labs, columbus...
>
>I'll tell you why the NBA is so boring!
>
> 1. Zone defenses are not allowed --> detracts from defense
> 2. 3-to-make-2 free throws --> thwarts comebacks
> 3. Bad shot selection
> 4. One-on-one play
> 5. 3-point shots --> further encourages bad shot selection
> 6. 24-second clock --> encourages bad shot selection and one-on-one play
> 7. No necessity for coaching, therefore there is none -- it's sandlot bball
> 8. Refs don't call charging --> discourages good defense
> 9. Refs don't call traveling (better this year I've heard)
> --> allows for dunks from mid-court
> 10. 20-second timeouts --> to easy to get out of trap situations
> 11. too many playoff teams --> who cares about the regular season anymore

So, people back then complained about the lack of defense, 3-point shots, refs not calling travels and the RS not mattering anymore.

Sounds familiar?

Thank you for this gem, jkvonny.

Inb4 “oh but its so much worse now” lol

[KembaWalker]

There’s lots of old interesting Usenet content you can find. Stuff like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos recruiting programmers for their initial ventures. I recall Elon even posting about some old fighting video game strategies.


Mark Cuban will also frequently show up in the results recruiting or advertising his radio thing he did back then

[1993Playoffs]

This makes the people that are stuck in the 90s look foolish

People were literally complaining about the same stuff back then now.

[boomershadow]

Pretty funny here.

Even 40 years ago, some folks were still complaining.

https://groups.google.com/g/net.sport.hoops/c/_i748SYWaf8

Dude complaining about 3 point shots. I winder if he is still alive to see what the game has become.

[ItsDanger]

"The best books... are those that tell you what you know already.”

[Nuntius]

So, people back then complained about the lack of defense, 3-point shots, refs not calling travels and the RS not mattering anymore.

Sounds familiar?

I think he's complaining that someone has the audacity to actually take a 3 point shot which is obviously such a low IQ play
But yeah otherwise quite familiar I guess

Yep, you're right. He thinks it was too many even back then

[Hair Jordan]

Fake

[Capn'O]

Schrempf For Greg Kite. Yikes.

I would be interested in hearing more about this Bias fellow

Tim Larison tried to warn us about tanking back in August 1985...

I don't think the NBA fixed the lottery so that the Knicks would
get the number one pick. I think word of this would have leaked
out and some teams would have screamed bloody murder. I hope
the NBA has more integrity than to pull a stunt like that.

My complaint is with the whole idea of a draft lottery. As I
understand it, the NBA put in the lottery because the previous
year Houston deliberately tried to lose some games at the end
of the year in order to improve their draft position (and get
a shot at Ralph Sampson). The lottery supposedly would eliminate
this problem because the last seven teams draft position would
be determined solely by chance, not by the team's record.

So what happened? Last season teams like Seattle (in not playing
Jack Sikma) deliberately tailed off
at the end of the year in order to get in the lottery. The problem
of teams sandbagging at the end of the year to improve their
draft position got worse, not better. If you were a general manager
of an NBA team, would you prefer your team to make the last slot
in the playoffs, only to be eliminated quickly by the Lakers or
Celtics, or would you rather have a shot at Patrick Ewing?

I think the NBA should trash the lottery and go back to the old
"worst record picks first" draft order. The Golden States of the
league have enough problems without having to be discriminated
against in the draft, too.

Link

The more things change...

[Capn'O]

Tree Rollins bit Danny Ainge?

Edit: There's video!

Watch on YouTube

[SNPA]

Maybe not as impressive as the OP, here are the GB on June 1, 2002

https://web.archive.org/web/20020601193258/http://realgm.com/boards/viewforum.php?forum=6&38791

Too bad we can't click on these threads, and realgm's current database starts from 2008.

Also props to Ostertag for donating a kidney to his dying sister. He played four more seasons after that.

2002*

[TheGeneral99]

This is funny from 1984:

The all-star game (like most all-star games) was not played as a real basketball game. I understand that there is really nothing on the line but I can't see why the game has to be ten times less competitive than pickup games at local playgrounds.
It seemed that the East was constantly setting up Dr. J for spectacular 1 on 1 moves to the hoop. Perhaps that is the purpose of the contest. If so, I wish it were advertised as the "All Hot Dog Game".

People have been complaining about the competitiveness of the all-star game 40 years ago...nothing has changed.

Also adds to the people romanticizing the games in the past like they were ultra-competitive...but really they were not.