European League v. Historic NBA

[penbeast0]

This is for those of you who know European basketball.

How far back do you have to go in NBA history before Euroleague basketball teams from 2015 to the present would be above .500 if competing in the NBA (assume the Euroleague teams use the rules and refereeing of the NBA teams of that era)?

I understand that many of the top European players have been poached by the NBA; I also understand that weight work, nutrition, coaching, etc. have seen great advances.

[falcolombardi]

i think the use of 3 point shots and the spacing + poor nba teams experience against full zones (this only applies to early 2000's ruleset when zone was first allowed) may let them bridge the talent gap against, lets say, 90's or early 2000's teams to make it evenish

does that mean they are better ? no, the talent in nba would still be a lot stronger, but those advantages would close the talent gap

for actual talent level i think you would have to go to the 60's or early 70's ? maybe

edit:

[prolific passer]

Let me just put a few teams out there:
1960s
C: Wilt
PF: Pettit
SF: Baylor
SG: West
PG: Robertson
C: Russell
PF: Lucas
SF: Hondo
SG: Sam Jones
PG: Wilkens

70s
C: Kareem
PF: Hayes
SF: Dr. J
SG: Earl Monroe
PG: Frazier
C: Cowens
PF: Lucas
SF: Barry
SG: Maravich
PG: Archibald

80s:
C: Moses Malone
PF: McHale
SF: Bird
SG:Gervin
PG: Magic
C: Parish
PF: Terry Cummings
SF: Nique
SG: Moncrief
PG: Isiah Thomas

90s:
C: Hakeem
PF: Malone
SF: Pippen
SG: Jordan
PG: Stockton
C: Robinson
PF: Barkley
SF: Grant Hill
SG: Drexler
PG: Payton

00s:
C: Shaq
PF: Duncan
SF: Garnett
SG: Kobe
PG: Kidd
C: Ben Wallace
PF: Webber
SF: McGrady
SG: Iverson
PG: Parker

That's all I got for now.

[penbeast0]

Average NBA team, not all-star v. all-star.

From my opinion, the 60s were stronger than the 70 and probably than the early 80s. Not more good players, but concentrated on much fewer teams.

[THE J0KER]

I guess ABA League from the '70s is the most correct answer. ABA League has and produced much quality but the problem with that league once one star becomes a superstar he leaves ABA League and joins NBA. Right now Europe is the place that produces Giannis, Jokic, Doncic, Gobert, Vucevic, Porzingis, 2xBogdanovic... etc... but at their prime they not playing in Europe but in NBA.

[Fundamentals21]

Well why can't European teams produce .500+ in any era? Assuming you have the best talent come out, I am fairly certain they can compete. There's some misperception because the top Euro guys in NBA were Drazen, but with the right development programs you can have the same result, no?

Now if you're saying it's impossible because Dirk open things up, you might be right from that perception. However, there's no actual evidence European teams from back then aren't like they are now.

[durantbird]

I guess ABA League from the '70s is the most correct answer. ABA League has and produced much quality but the problem with that league once one star becomes a superstar he leaves ABA League and joins NBA. Right now Europe is the place that produces Giannis, Jokic, Doncic, Gobert, Vucevic, Porzingis, 2xBogdanovic... etc... but at their prime they not playing in Europe but in NBA.

Yes but except Bogdan, Bojan and Luka non of them played on a major team in Europe, they left at an early stage.

The Euroleague finals of 2018 for example where Luka won MVP featured in terms of NBA future/past players Luka, Campazzo, Gustavo Ayon, Anthony Randolph, Rudy Fernandez, Trey Thompkins and Jeffery Taylor for Real Madrid (while one of their stars Sergio Llull never played NBA but surely fits). For Fener it was Melli, Guduric, Wanamaker, Vesely, Jason Thompson and James Nunnally. Expect of Luka those players didn't have great success in the NBA, but were complementary pieces at best (maybe with some exceptions like Rudy/Campazzo?), although they were super teams in Europe.

[penbeast0]

I don't watch enough to be an expert but I would say their best chance would be the 80s (and of course the ABA, the 50s and earlier). The NBA was still weakened by expansion relative to the 60s and the 3 point shot was legal.

The 70s are a possiblity, it's the weakest era in NBA history since reasonably full integration, but with no 3 point shot, a significant part of the strength of European basketball development is removed.

In the 60s, I don't think they have the big men to compete with Wilt, Russell, Thurmond, Bellamy, Beaty, Reed, etc. (in a league that generally had around 9 teams, that's half with a guy that would be better than the best Euroleague big) and I don't think their superior ability to make the long 2 is enough to make up that deficit. It was an era where great bigs ruled.