For NBA fans that are 35 or older!

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Re: For NBA fans that are 35 or older! 

Post#41 » by bisme37 » Mon Sep 13, 2021 4:40 pm

I don't know how OP expects us 35 year old senior citizens to remember this stuff in between all of our incontinence and dementia.
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Re: For NBA fans that are 35 or older! 

Post#42 » by HEAT33 » Mon Sep 13, 2021 4:50 pm

Yeah I liked the competitive nature of the old guys. Before nobody cared if you make the finals if you don’t win it.
Now we are praising people when they come second.

In 15-20 years they will be no score and say they are all winners and everyone gets a ring
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Re: For NBA fans that are 35 or older! 

Post#43 » by Joshyjess » Mon Sep 13, 2021 4:54 pm

In my 50's. Started watching in 79.
I miss watching the best players in the league playing AGAINST each other.
I miss watching the incredible team rivalries - (Boston / LA for example)
I miss the loyalty that most players had for their teams (you could pretty much watch the same players year after year, with little change)
I miss hand-checking.
I miss knowing what is a foul and what isn't a foul (how many steps are allowed today???)

Things I can't stand in today's game
foul baiting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Few things can kill the enjoyment of a game faster than this crap.
flopping (even when guys from my own team do it - yeah, I'm looking at you Smart) and getting rewarded for it.
Politics and social issues overshadowing the game (if I want politics I'll turn to a news station - I just want to watch basketball without being bombarded by political or social agendas).
players taking games off
Players (not owners) deciding to form Super Teams
Teams tanking (and then calling it by a dumb little name like "the Process" to justify it)
Not knowing what is and what isn't a fould (how many steps are allowed today???)
Selective foul calling - for example, when a team gets called for a free throw lane violation, yet every time a free throw is shot half the guys are in the lane before the ball leaves the shooter's hand

I'm not one of those old geezers who thinks everything back in the day was better. There is so much about today's game that I absolutely love, and so much that is better than it was before. But there are definitely some things that I miss.
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Re: For NBA fans that are 35 or older! 

Post#44 » by KnIcKsYaNkSmEtS1127 » Mon Sep 13, 2021 5:28 pm

35 and I miss legit nicknames. At some point nicknames became your initials instead of a characteristic trait. Seemed like this died out with Iverson/Paul Pierce era.

Also playing defense. Hard fouls not leading to ejections.

But most of all, my team hating the other team. The Knicks hated the Bulls, Pacers and Heat. And those teams hated us. Now everyone is buddy buddy and on each other’s podcasts. It’s hard to build a rivalry when our star player is BFF with the other teams star player.
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Re: For NBA fans that are 35 or older! 

Post#45 » by LakersLegacy » Mon Sep 13, 2021 7:32 pm

When watching the NBA was like listening to Jazz music. Reacting to the defense a lot more. Post and midrange and not flopping. Winning instead of whining
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Re: For NBA fans that are 35 or older! 

Post#46 » by Warriorfan » Mon Sep 13, 2021 7:40 pm

Joined this board 20yrs ago 40 yrs a Warriors fan I really enjoy the game now

I miss players staying in college ball longer. Players developed their all around game better.
Medical and training advancements make them bigger and stronger but I liked knowing the names of the college players.
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Re: For NBA fans that are 35 or older! 

Post#47 » by patman66 » Mon Sep 13, 2021 7:45 pm

Joshyjess wrote:In my 50's. Started watching in 79.
I miss watching the best players in the league playing AGAINST each other.
I miss watching the incredible team rivalries - (Boston / LA for example)
I miss the loyalty that most players had for their teams (you could pretty much watch the same players year after year, with little change)
I miss hand-checking.
I miss knowing what is a foul and what isn't a foul (how many steps are allowed today???)

Things I can't stand in today's game
foul baiting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Few things can kill the enjoyment of a game faster than this crap.
flopping (even when guys from my own team do it - yeah, I'm looking at you Smart) and getting rewarded for it.
Politics and social issues overshadowing the game (if I want politics I'll turn to a news station - I just want to watch basketball without being bombarded by political or social agendas).
players taking games off
Players (not owners) deciding to form Super Teams
Teams tanking (and then calling it by a dumb little name like "the Process" to justify it)
Not knowing what is and what isn't a fould (how many steps are allowed today???)
Selective foul calling - for example, when a team gets called for a free throw lane violation, yet every time a free throw is shot half the guys are in the lane before the ball leaves the shooter's hand

I'm not one of those old geezers who thinks everything back in the day was better. There is so much about today's game that I absolutely love, and so much that is better than it was before. But there are definitely some things that I miss.


Politics don't bother me at all, I grew up with Ali, Russell and Jim Brown. If anything I put the onus on today's athletes that are more afraid of losing a losing an endorsement than the struggle/concerns of thier own people.

One think I can never understand is why black athletes never got together and just go to the historical black colleges and make that the dominant football and basketball conferences and pump all that money into thier own betterment. Instead the create millions of income for colleges that spit them out after eligibility is used up or if they get injured and can no longer play.
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Re: For NBA fans that are 35 or older! 

Post#48 » by Doctor MJ » Mon Sep 13, 2021 7:55 pm

EliteSmarts wrote:You can tell me your age and when you started to watch the NBA so people can understand your perspective better.

Tell me what you miss about the OLD NBA

Tell me what you like that has changed & evolved in the new NBA

I always like to hear from OG perspectives


I'm in my 40s. The era I was first cognizant of in the NBA was the Bird/Magic era, mid-80s.

What do I miss? Honestly, I'm not nostalgiac for the league as a whole back then. The Bird/Magic rivalry was better than anything that's come since in terms of having two ultra-high-BBIQ guys creating beautiful team basketball playing in the finals repeatedly, but that was essentially a fluke, rather than anything to do with the era in question.

Changed & evolved? In general we're just seeing more and better strategic thought putting into each and every aspect of the game. Guys don't get to rest without going to the bench any more, and I consider that a good thing in any team sport.

Obviously, key to these changes are the use of data and analytics, and once again there I don't see any reason to be nostalgiac for the past. In theory you might think that this approach of analysis would degrade holistic understanding of the game, but in reality previous "rules" about the game have largely proven to just be old wives tales. Anybody saying "You can't win the title by doing X" has been proven wrong over and over again.

I will say I have some sympathy for big fans of post play, because that was an intricate chess match that you could really dive into in great depth and those skills are not getting lost probably forever. But the problem with post play is that it always left a bunch of other guys standing around doing nothing. It was one thing when coaches actually thought that was the most effective way to play, but if it's not the most effective way, and it makes it so that 70-80% of the players aren't actually being well used, to me that's something we just have to let go.

There's a hard truth in general that as strategy evolves, sometimes aesthetic get optimized out of a sport. When that happens, it's a reason to have a specific love for a past era, but you have to understand that things changed for a reason. Probably my favorite historical era is the ABA era. Just love everything about the style with which they played. But while that style was more strategically sound than the NBA back then (which the NBA would never have believed), it's not realistic to think you could just bring back ABA style and think it would compete with the modern game. Same with the '80s, '90s, and '00s.

(Caveat: For pre-3-point-shot leagues, there you have a fundamentally different schism. While spacing would have improved regardless of the 3 in the long-term, today's approach to the game is only optimal if there's actually a 3-point line.
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Re: For NBA fans that are 35 or older! 

Post#49 » by Doctor MJ » Mon Sep 13, 2021 8:02 pm

Dr Aki wrote:Not 35, but nearly 35

I miss motion offences. I miss the Triangle, Flex, Princeton, offences that result in the most pure basketball play - the backdoor cut for an open layup. Offences that don't require a player that dribble the air out of the basketball for 20 seconds.

I hate that defences aren't allowed any physicality outside of the post, that has flow on effects on requiring a switching perimeter defence. I hate offences that call for non-stop picks and having the defence switch until you get a 1v1 mismatch you can exploit, all for a 30ft step back jumper. I hate that analytics have resulted in Moreyball copycats.

But most of all, I hate not seeing any variety of basketball styles.


I gave the AND1, but to me the two best offensive players last year (Jokic, Curry) led motion offenses of different sub-types, and I think teams that are blindly trying to follow ball-dominant heliocentrism are chasing something that's clearly sub-optimal compared to what else is out there.

So I don't think we're actually seeing everyone play offense the same way, despite the fact that certain things are too valuable to not do (like shooting 3's) and certain things are too limiting to be competitive with short of having an extreme outlier talent (interior volume scoring).
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Re: For NBA fans that are 35 or older! 

Post#50 » by The Laker Kid » Mon Sep 13, 2021 8:06 pm

EliteSmarts wrote:You can tell me your age and when you started to watch the NBA so people can understand your perspective better.

Tell me what you miss about the OLD NBA

Tell me what you like that has changed & evolved in the new NBA

I always like to hear from OG perspectives



Started watching around 87 during the Celtics-Lakers rivalry. Stopped watching for a decade because we didn't have TV in the islands where I moved for school. Moved to America in 97 (LA), went to an appliances store and they were showing Lakers vs Jazz. Got hooked and started watching again. Been watching ever since.

What I miss about the old NBA: Physicality, NBA on NBC soundtrack, Seattle Sonics, true rivalry with lots of real fights.

What I like about the new NBA: I like how players are accessible now. You can go to Twitter and see Dame Lillard or Lebron James "tweet" and you can reply to them and sometimes they will reply to you! That's awesome. I like how today's gameplay is faster and more fluid.

What I hate about today's NBA: James Harden style of flopping and fishing for fouls. Players are buddy buddy.
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Re: For NBA fans that are 35 or older! 

Post#51 » by Doctor MJ » Mon Sep 13, 2021 8:07 pm

HEAT33 wrote: bait foul.


Good point. This is the bane of the modern NBA. Basically refereeing philosophy always was built on a rotten foundation and over time players have just gotten better and better at exploiting it. The NBA needs to fundamentally re-think it's approach to refereeing making the paramount priority to dis-incentive non-basketball play. It can be as simple as "If you know this guy baits and you suspect he wasn't actually fouled, swallow the whistle".

The complication of course is that their will be outrage when this results in missed calls and the NBA hasn't shown the backbone to stand up against it, but fundamentally, all that really matters is that we change the mindset of players to give us beautiful basketball instead of systematic gaming.
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Re: For NBA fans that are 35 or older! 

Post#52 » by Spud2nique » Mon Sep 13, 2021 8:11 pm

Different players not everyone trying to shoot 3’s, better defense, not swirling a mouthpiece in your mouth like a moron, not celebrating every play, overall just not being lil b… I digress.

I’m 46. Started watching in 1981, remember almost everything from 1987 on… players, teams, I have a photographic memory. After I’m gone people will say I was a quiet genius.
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Re: For NBA fans that are 35 or older! 

Post#53 » by Doctor MJ » Mon Sep 13, 2021 8:11 pm

KnIcKsYaNkSmEtS1127 wrote:35 and I miss legit nicknames. At some point nicknames became your initials instead of a characteristic trait. Seemed like this died out with Iverson/Paul Pierce era.


I miss this too. I tend to see it as something that's gradually been dying for a very long time and it's a shame.
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Re: For NBA fans that are 35 or older! 

Post#54 » by 12footrim » Mon Sep 13, 2021 8:16 pm

EliteSmarts wrote:You can tell me your age and when you started to watch the NBA so people can understand your perspective better.

Tell me what you miss about the OLD NBA

Tell me what you like that has changed & evolved in the new NBA

I always like to hear from OG perspectives


42 years old. 1989 when I was 10 is the first time I actually recall sitting down and watching NBA playoffs. I watched the Bulls lose to Pistons for the last time and then the Pistons beat the Blazers. I've watched every year since. Even my dad at the time would tell me Jordan was the greatest player ever. It was already sort of preordained. Prior to that I had watched some slam dunk contest with him and Wilkins on VHS at a friends house and had some basketball cards so I was already aware. When the Hornets started playing I could watch them a couple times a week on the local channel about 1990.

The thing the changed the most is obviously the 3 point shooting is so much better, the distance, the versatility of getting the shots off etc. I remember Jordan making 6 vs the Blazers in the finals and shrugging and you would have thought it was the most amazing thing ever accomplished at the time.

I think everything is just so much more sophisticated and players have to work so much harder just to guard out 25 feet when most every position a 3 point threat. Back in the 90's dudes just leaned on each other and would try to back the defender down, lots of low scoring slogs.
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Re: For NBA fans that are 35 or older! 

Post#55 » by HotelVitale » Mon Sep 13, 2021 8:25 pm

Joshyjess wrote:In my 50's. Started watching in 79.
I miss watching the best players in the league playing AGAINST each other.
I miss watching the incredible team rivalries - (Boston / LA for example)
I miss the loyalty that most players had for their teams (you could pretty much watch the same players year after year, with little change)
I miss hand-checking.
I miss knowing what is a foul and what isn't a foul (how many steps are allowed today???)

Things I can't stand in today's game
foul baiting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Few things can kill the enjoyment of a game faster than this crap.
flopping (even when guys from my own team do it - yeah, I'm looking at you Smart) and getting rewarded for it.
Politics and social issues overshadowing the game (if I want politics I'll turn to a news station - I just want to watch basketball without being bombarded by political or social agendas).
players taking games off
Players (not owners) deciding to form Super Teams
Teams tanking (and then calling it by a dumb little name like "the Process" to justify it)
Not knowing what is and what isn't a fould (how many steps are allowed today???)
Selective foul calling - for example, when a team gets called for a free throw lane violation, yet every time a free throw is shot half the guys are in the lane before the ball leaves the shooter's hand

I'm not one of those old geezers who thinks everything back in the day was better. There is so much about today's game that I absolutely love, and so much that is better than it was before. But there are definitely some things that I miss.


You're probably 10 years older than me so not trying to say you're wrong, but to my eyes not much of this is new:
--fouls: there were significantly more fouls per field goal back in the day, half the game was standing around shooting FTs; back in the 80s teams would shoot around 30 FTs per game and last year the number was less than 22. Centers would just get the ball and swing their arms around and bait a foul all the time. I think we in the internet age just get to fixate on the literally like 5 guys who do that in the league (Trae, Harden, etc) by watching repeats of worst examples, and also I guess it is more annoying to watch Trae's tiny limbs do that rather than e.g. Bill Cartwright's swinging elbows.
--teams ABSOLUTELY tanked in the 80s and 90s, that was fully a thing. And some teams were terrible for decades at a time and were just blatantly trying to suck year after year. (Also there was also only one 'Process,' and it lasted 4 years start to finish--the Clippers missed the playoffs from '77 to '92 and were last or 2nd-to-last in their conference all those 15 years but 1)
--hand-checking makes little difference--players were never able to legally push off on anyone, literally placing a hand on someone makes little difference for slowing someone. (And players now absolutely still do push off and body each other, refs let a lot of it go.)
--politics: if you feel like the game is now saturated by political agendas, I think that might be you being really really sensitive about politics in general. It's something that rarely comes up--like 98% of games have nothing to do with it--and it's done once the game starts. And it's not really super radical for black athletes to take mainstream black stances here and there, that's just normal life.

The superteams thing is definitely a bigger deal than before, and star player movement as a whole seems like it's taken off way more. The game is also definitely less physical because players aren't all crowded together 15 feet around the hoop, and because the pn'r on a spread floor is the standard play rather than the post-up (which was THE play in the 80s) and the mid-ranger.
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Re: For NBA fans that are 35 or older! 

Post#56 » by The_Hater » Mon Sep 13, 2021 8:30 pm

There were more close playoff games in the lower scoring era, which I miss, but I still wouldn’t trade the way they’re playing the game today to return to the sloth-ball of the 1990’s.

Someone mentioned they miss players staying in college for 2-4 years and I couldn’t agree more. I rarely watch NCAA ball anymore because you don’t know who anyone is. And the guys who do stay 3-4 are usually 2nd round picks at best.
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Re: For NBA fans that are 35 or older! 

Post#57 » by Texas Chuck » Mon Sep 13, 2021 8:39 pm

47.
1980 give or take a year

I'm a old guy who has enjoyed every era of the NBA of the 40 years I've experience. No longing for the good old days here.

Things I miss: Converse Weapons, the NBA on NBC theme song, Dominique dunks, some of the older arenas
Things I like now: skill over athleticism, bigger point guards, player empowerment, commitment to social issues as a league
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Re: For NBA fans that are 35 or older! 

Post#58 » by Lenneth » Mon Sep 13, 2021 8:45 pm

I have watched NBA since 1992-1993 All Star game. I thought one chubby, bald player was playing a lot. Turned out that it was Barkely and Tim Hardaway.

I definitely would choose the current basketball over 90's basketball. I was a lot bigger basketball fan back then, but Rockets-Knicks final put me into sleep. I can live without Heat-Cavs 62-59 too. I prefer today's motion offense instead of slow-paced, "dumping to your best player and hoping for the best" offense.

I do hope they call the flagrant fouls bit less though. Nowadays, a bit of contact can be flagrant. And, I don't like how seemingly every single vets flock to super teams.
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Re: For NBA fans that are 35 or older! 

Post#59 » by Darthlukey » Mon Sep 13, 2021 10:04 pm

Chanel Bomber wrote:Superstar players being the recognizable symbol of a franchise and not looking for an easy way out early in their careers.

The rivalries that span over years.

The quality of the (authentic) jerseys.

I do love today's NBA and it does have its fair share of charismatic players but the NBA had more character in the 90s.

Sometimes I have articulating what you just said, particularly point 1!
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Re: For NBA fans that are 35 or older! 

Post#60 » by ZombieKilla » Mon Sep 13, 2021 10:18 pm

53.

THE big man era in the 90’s. Olajuwon. Robinson. Ewing. Shaq. Mourning. Mutombo. Even Smits.
Real power forwards like Otis Thorpe.

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