chefo wrote:I think a lot of people who think that the competition was worse lack some context.
Many of the great basketball minds today were around in the 1980s and 90s. They weren't any dumber back then. The best strategists in the game always optimized their play style to the rules. A lot of ball movement and fluid offense? I can think of several teams that practiced that style in the late 1980s, early 1990s. You don't hear much about them, apart from the Lakers who had transcendent talent, because the teams with the best bigs (Pfs and Cs) usually beat them up come playoff time.
People who have never game-planned for hand-checking cannot possibly understand how it was used by the best coaches. The job of the guard was to always have a forearm on your hip or lower back and guide you into the shot-blocking big, of which most good team had one or more. Jacking up 3s in that context off the dribble was almost impossible, no matter how good your handles were, not with the likes of Scottie or Derek Harper draped all over you since mid-court. The reason why guys who could create separation and fire off a mid-range in that age were so important because if you couldn't, there was a Dream, Deke, Zo, Ewing, or the Admiral waiting for you underneath. All of these guys were absolute monsters defensively, think prime Duncan or better, which is obvious when you look at their combined steal and block numbers. There were also a ton of shot-blocking PFs like Nance, Hot Rod, Kemp and probably others I'm forgetting.
Anyways, that's the defense the best teams on D played and only a superstar wing or a very skilled big could wreck it consistently. It was way easier for your team to throw it on the block to your HOF big and let him make something of it than try to constantly get by wings who could mug you all the way to the hoop when the times got tough in the playoffs.
To the people saying that Jordan was only guarded by smaller guards, I think you have the cause and effect backwards. Young MJ (up to first three-peat) was one of the few players that could kill said defensive scheme because there was absolutely nobody his size or bigger that could stay with him. Once he drove, he could get your elite defensive bigs in foul trouble, which wrecked your entire gameplan.
Until Iverson, I had not seen a player that quick with the ball in his hands. The only guys who had a prayer of staying with him were smaller guys like the Glove and Dumars. That's not a knock on the era's athleticism, that's just how insanely quick prime Jordan was. That would be true in any era. Just imagine a 6'6, quicker, just as aggressive Westbrook, who on top of it all was a great two-legged jumper and was near automatic from 18 feet. That's why guys who played back in the day always comment that Jordan would crush the league today. He could get almost anywhere on the court he wanted, and that's with with the old rules... imagine if people couldn't touch him.
To the people who say no zones back then, I've got news for you. The best defensive team in 90s like Seattle, NY, Miami and earlier Detroit and Cleveland were zoning very often, and especially come playoff time. As for analytics, people misunderstand the casual fan having access to them and professional teams having them. By the early nineties at the latest, I remember that players and offenses were already being thoroughly scouted for and counters ready. The difference was that back then, players could get in the shooter's space without being penalized, now they can't.
So when people talk about the number of 3s, I think that is directly correlated:
1.) The league making it waaay easier to drive now than 20 years ago
2.) Defenders not being allowed to get in people's grill because nowadays any drive by the shooter would be penalized on the spot as a blocking foul
So, with some context--Jordan (and his entire generation) played against half-a-dozen HOF-level bigs that anchored tough defenses suited to their talents. The reason why even back in the day Jordan was so lauded was because he was the only wing that could overcome the trees consistently.
I'd say that they were dumber...because everyone is going to get smarter and understand more with more experience. That's just life.
Um, the Lakers and Celtics dominated the 80s, and they were both known for shooting, ball movement, and fluid offense. In the 90s, you had Jordan and the triangle offense, and Hakeem...an unconventional big who could handle the ball and create from the perimeter, and was surrounded by players that could shoot and pass. The teams running offense through the traditional low post big men, without providing them with shooting/spacing were the ones that would lose.
You also point out how teams played zones (when in reality, the illegal defense rules meant that a defender could not leave an offensive player to provide help, essentially allowing a great 1 on 1 player to go 1 on 1), but then ignore how plenty of hand checking does go uncalled today, and that hand checking itself was not some magic defensive maneuver and that it's impact is so hugely overstated today. And that advances in defensive schemes have more than made up for the softer hand checking rules.
And your point about Jordan being an athletic freak among perimeter players is the point...he wouldn't be leaving guys like Jimmy Butler, Kawhi Leonard, and Andre Iguodala in the dust routinely, because they're great athletes themselves. There was a lack of guys like that in the 80s and 90s.
And saying Jordan is quicker than Westbrook is overrating Jordan's athleticism btw, which is hard to do, since he was one of the greatest athletes of all time, but you did it.
As for someone else saying that I said Jordan would struggle to score today...I never said that. I do think defenses are tougher today for sure, but Jordan would adjust and still be amazing. Maybe not QUITE so otherworldly as he was in the 80s and 90s though.
