Gilbert Arenas and Lou Williams with shots fired on 90's and 70's eras

[23-_6-_23]

LeBron has been beaten by:

2007 Spurs
2009 Magic
2008-2010 Celtics
2011 Mavericks
2014 Spurs
Warriors

None of those teams were full of Monstars.

They were veteran teams based on skill.

Like whats your point? It's a team game. Lebron played his ass off in all of those besides 2011.

[thebigbird]

LOL @ Leborn in the pre-3pt era, with bigs clogging the paint.

LOL at the thought Lebron wouldn't dominate any era of basketball ever.

He wouldn't. Lebron couldnt' even dominate the Western Conference of his era, or internaitonal competition. In the 70's, Lebron would have been knocked down 30 tiems a game driving to the hoop. Don't get me wrong, he would still be great, but the whole 15 titles thing speaks to how delusion the current generation is. Despite the talent increase, there's been a serious drop in mental toughness in sports. Guys back then were from a different generation

The 70s/80s/90s weren't more physical than the NBA today. That's a myth based off youtube videos that recycle the same handful of clips. It's a meme at this point. Jordan drove the lane all the time and very often wasn't touched. A guy 2 inches taller and 50+ pounds heavier would've had no trouble with the physicality. If anything he would've been even better because he would've been able to be more physical himself.

[r0drig0lac]

the funniest part about it is finding people here agreeing to what they said.

[life_saver]

Always love seeing these threads. Basketball talent is better today. Its absolutely ridiculous that some people think otherwise.

Literally no other industry thinks to themselves they were better in the pre-analytical era

only nostalgia merchants will think that it was better in 80's when compared to now

[OdomFan]

The Bulls went against this guy, you telling me they shuddering at Curry?

Yeah, the Bulls went against that guy and lost when he was only 22 years old.

Then a year later those Bulls swept that guy at 23 years old and those Magic.

[Roscoe Sheed]

Pippen would be a top 5 defender in today's game without question. This is silly. But it's Arenas after all. Rodman would still clean up the boards.

Rodman would be borderline unplayable on offense, nobody would guard him.

He was very athletic- would be good on screen and roll and offensive rebounding

[RakimAbdulJabar]

Rodman would be borderline unplayable on offense, nobody would guard him.

So? No one guarded him back then either and he still found a way to make himself more than effective.

Joakim Noah (the Bulls version) is a guy teams didn't need to guard out on the perimeter, often felt like the Bulls were playing 4 on 5 on offense yet with his passing, offensive rebounds and defense he was a huge factor in their success, there's more to basketball than just being able to shoot. Did Ben Wallace need to be guarded? Guys like Rodman, Noah, Wallace etc have a place in the league and are extremely valuable because they can focus on doing the things a lot of guys don't want to

Noah is 7 feet tall and can finish at the rim if you just let him roll down the lane, I don't think Rodman rolling to the rim at 6'7 and trying to finish over guys as one of the pillars of your offense is a good idea. The difference between then and now is that the rebounding guys who don't have a lot of offensive skill are heavily involved in the pick and roll with the guard to keep them a threat on offense, and even then they get played off the court (Gobert, Capela). His biggest advantage would be his switchability on defense, but the offense would be a major problem, more so today than when he was playing in the triangle because his role on offense would be different, he'd now have to finish at the rim or make reads and hit the corner on passes.

Why are we assuming Rodman would need to be the guy put into pick and rolls? You see just as many bigs that can shoot setting the screens and looking for pick and pop plays in fact you probably see that more these days than bigs rolling to the basket, so he depending on the roster he wouldn't need to be the guy setting up those plays

We're talking about arguably the greatest rebounder of all time and he wasn't doing it against little guys, the quality of big men and toughness in the paint was well above what we see now. You didn't need to run any plays for him then and wouldn't need to run any plays for him now, so no one said having him roll to the basket would be one of the pillars of an offense.

I also think people are underestimating Rodmans abilities, it wasn't that he was useless on offense, he made a conscious decision not to shoot or look for his offense but he could finish just fine when he wanted to, especially as a Piston, but people seem to remember the Bulls version of Rodman. He was sneaky enough to get into good position and most of all he was constantly working to get on the offensive glass, you don't see it from many guys these days and I personally feel he'd be just as successful today as he had a nose for the ball

He was fast and ran the break filling the lane when guys wouldn't run to the 3 point line, if he caught it on the block he was constantly looking for cutters and could deliver the pass, if his guy turned away for a moment he'd find his way under the basket and more often than not be in play for the rebound.

[SkyBill40]

Reading some of the posts in here has me like..

[OdomFan]

Yeah, LeBron struggled in the 2011 finals. That's a 6 game sample size in a 1,437 game career. Definitely makes sense to draw conclusions on 6 games instead of the other 1,431.

Uh it's the Finals. That means a hell of a lot more than any other game or series. Especially considering that's the year he ran his mouth about "Not 1, not 2, not 3, etc". You gotta bring it when you run your mouth like that but he couldn't against those guys so yeah. Pippen/Rodman would challenge him too.

Yes, it's the Finals. Challenging 2011 Finals LeBron isn't much of an accomplishment. He didn't bring it that year, and then he brought it 7 straight years in the Finals at one of the highest levels ever.

Why isn't it much of an accomplishment again? Pretty sure Lebron was a great player in 2011 but those guys challenged him well just as Pippen and Rodman would do. That's all I'm saying here. If you're going to disagree with that then it truly says a lot. Lebron was also challenged quite well in other finals matchups throughout those next 7 years you mentioned.

[LakerLegend]

LeBron has been beaten by:

2007 Spurs
2009 Magic
2008-2010 Celtics
2011 Mavericks
2014 Spurs
Warriors

None of those teams were full of Monstars.

They were veteran teams based on skill.

Like whats your point? It's a team game. Lebron played his ass off in all of those besides 2011.

Whats my point? There's nothing separating those teams physically from most teams in the 70's and 80's, 90's.

Unless we're talking about Dwight and HGH.

[Roscoe Sheed]

LOL at the thought Lebron wouldn't dominate any era of basketball ever.

He wouldn't. Lebron couldnt' even dominate the Western Conference of his era, or internaitonal competition. In the 70's, Lebron would have been knocked down 30 tiems a game driving to the hoop. Don't get me wrong, he would still be great, but the whole 15 titles thing speaks to how delusion the current generation is. Despite the talent increase, there's been a serious drop in mental toughness in sports. Guys back then were from a different generation

The 70s/80s/90s weren't more physical than the NBA today. That's a myth based off youtube videos that recycle the same handful of clips. It's a meme at this point. Jordan drove the lane all the time and very often wasn't touched. A guy 2 inches taller and 50+ pounds heavier would've had no trouble with the physicality. If anything he would've been even better because he would've been able to be more physical himself.

It was MUCH more physical in the 70s and 80s- there were no flagrant fouls and you sometimes wouldn’t even be kicked out for punching somebody in the face! Kareem did that to happy Hairston and was merely called for a “punching” foul. Remember Kevin mchale clothes lining Rambis? He wasn’t even kicked out for that. Karl Malone nearly decapitated Isiah. What is this nonsense about today being more physical?

[Quattro]

With the amount of crying Lebron does to the refs today when guys aren't allowed to play defense, his head would explode after the abuse he would get playing in the 70's. There's no doubt players today are in far better physical shape than guys who played 40 years ago. As far as toughness goes though? That's debatable. Fighting was a regular occurrence back then. Not so sure guys today would be cut out to play in that type of league. Same with any other sport really. Watching the insanity of NFL football or NHL hockey in the 70's compared to today makes you wonder how those guys managed to play a full season.

[LakerLegend]

The Bulls went against and dominated teams with players like Oakley, Rich Mahorn, Shaq, Karl Malone, Barkley, Larry Johnson etc but they couldn't physically handle guys like Iguodala Marc Gasol Draymond etc.

[LakerLegend]

The Bulls couldn't physically handle this years Warriors and Raptors teams?

Laughable.

[LakerLegend]

Are people trying to tell us Fred Van Fleet and Lowry would light up the Bulls?

[thebigbird]

He wouldn't. Lebron couldnt' even dominate the Western Conference of his era, or internaitonal competition. In the 70's, Lebron would have been knocked down 30 tiems a game driving to the hoop. Don't get me wrong, he would still be great, but the whole 15 titles thing speaks to how delusion the current generation is. Despite the talent increase, there's been a serious drop in mental toughness in sports. Guys back then were from a different generation

The 70s/80s/90s weren't more physical than the NBA today. That's a myth based off youtube videos that recycle the same handful of clips. It's a meme at this point. Jordan drove the lane all the time and very often wasn't touched. A guy 2 inches taller and 50+ pounds heavier would've had no trouble with the physicality. If anything he would've been even better because he would've been able to be more physical himself.

It was MUCH more physical in the 70s and 80s- there were no flagrant fouls and you sometimes wouldn’t even be kicked out for punching somebody in the face! Kareem did that to happy Hairston and was merely called for a “punching” foul. Remember Kevin mchale clothes lining Rambis? He wasn’t even kicked out for that. Karl Malone nearly decapitated Isiah. What is this nonsense about today being more physical?

I see you have watched the youtube video.

[LakerLegend]

Pippen was the same size as Kawhi but more athletic, yet he would have a problem with todays players?

[Winsome Gerbil]

Why do people always spread the word when idiots choose to speak? I try to ignore them and bury their stupidity myself.

[thebigbird]

The Bulls went against and dominated teams with players like Oakley, Rich Mahorn, Shaq, Karl Malone, Barkley, Larry Johnson etc but they couldn't physically handle guys like Iguodala Marc Gasol Draymond etc.

Charles Oakley was 6'8 225 pounds. Rick Mahorn was 6'10 240 pounds. We've got stretch 4s bigger than that today. Hell, Kevin Love is 6'10 250.

[MrDollarBills]

LOL at the thought Lebron wouldn't dominate any era of basketball ever.

He wouldn't. Lebron couldnt' even dominate the Western Conference of his era, or internaitonal competition. In the 70's, Lebron would have been knocked down 30 tiems a game driving to the hoop. Don't get me wrong, he would still be great, but the whole 15 titles thing speaks to how delusion the current generation is. Despite the talent increase, there's been a serious drop in mental toughness in sports. Guys back then were from a different generation

The 70s/80s/90s weren't more physical than the NBA today.