Anyone else just found the league better and more entertaining from 2008-2016?

ardee · Post #1 » by **ardee** » Wed May 18, 2022 7:37 am

Am I the only one?

Just felt like the storylines were better, top end talent was comparable if not better, and we had so many memorable games/moments: LA/Boston G7 2010, the Mavs' 2011 run and Dirk's first title, LeBron G6 vs Boston, 27 win streak, Heat/Spurs iconic games, Curry destroying the record books, 73 wins, the greatest comeback of all time... amongst many, many others. More or less every year out of those just wowed you.

Don't see so many iconic things happening from '17 onward. Off the top of my head the main ones I can think of are Kawhi's buzzer beater against the Sixers in terms of things that actually ended up being really consequential.

I could also just be a crusty old guy at this point who thinks it was better back in my day, but idk. For me, '08-'16 is the stretch I'll be telling my kids about. Since then, the league hasn't been the same.

Jaivl · Post #2 » by **Jaivl** » Wed May 18, 2022 7:40 am

In terms of story, Kobe/Garnett into LeBron/Duncan into LeBron/Curry was very compelling, yeah and OKC was good.

70sFan · Post #3 » by **70sFan** » Wed May 18, 2022 7:42 am

I mean, the league definitely was better because Duncan was there...

Jaivl · Post #4 » by **Jaivl** » Wed May 18, 2022 7:46 am

70sFan wrote:I mean, the league definitely was better because Duncan was there...

You surely mean "because the would-have-been greatest point guard of our generation wasn't robbed of his athleticism by injuries yet".

Not talking about Rose or Wall, obviously.

70sFan · Post #5 » by **70sFan** » Wed May 18, 2022 8:14 am

Outside of my love for the early 2010s Spurs, I think the league is as great as it has been. It's certainly in better place than during 2015-18 period in my opinion, when only two teams mattered (outside of OKC in 2016).

About iconic moments - 2021 Bucks run has plenty of them. This year playoffs are extremely good so far. I don't love the bubble season, but I don't think it's worse than 2017.

Every era has its good and bad moments. A lot of people view 1970s harshly, but it was extremely entertaining decade full of iconic moments and great seasons. People love 1980s, but some seasons back then were rough (1989 in particular).

I think you start looking at this period in nostalgic mood, which is fine. I will always love 2012-15 Spurs more than any other team.

TheGOATRises007 · Post #6 » by **TheGOATRises007** » Wed May 18, 2022 9:07 am

I find the league always entertaining personally.

The worst season to me as a fan was probably the 2007 season, but even that season had plenty of dramatic moments.

ardee · Post #7 » by **ardee** » Wed May 18, 2022 9:13 am

70sFan wrote:Outside of my love for the early 2010s Spurs, I think the league is as great as it has been. It's certainly in better place than during 2015-18 period in my opinion, when only two teams mattered (outside of OKC in 2016).

About iconic moments - 2021 Bucks run has plenty of them. This year playoffs are extremely good so far. I don't love the bubble season, but I don't think it's worse than 2017.

Every era has its good and bad moments. A lot of people view 1970s harshly, but it was extremely entertaining decade full of iconic moments and great seasons. People love 1980s, but some seasons back then were rough (1989 in particular).

I think you start looking at this period in nostalgic mood, which is fine. I will always love 2012-15 Spurs more than any other team.

Don't count 2017 and 2018 with 2015 and 2016.

The Spurs and Thunder were also monstrous teams in 2016 and the latter gave the Warriors hell in the Playoffs and those two also played IMO one of the greatest RS games of all time.

migya · Post #8 » by **migya** » Wed May 18, 2022 9:18 am

The 80s and 90s were most entertaining. They're all robots now.

70sFan · Post #9 » by **70sFan** » Wed May 18, 2022 9:33 am

migya wrote:The 80s and 90s were most entertaining. They're all robots now.

1970s was more entertaining to me 8-)

MyUniBroDavis · Post #10 » by **MyUniBroDavis** » Wed May 18, 2022 9:50 am

70sFan wrote:Outside of my love for the early 2010s Spurs, I think the league is as great as it has been. It's certainly in better place than during 2015-18 period in my opinion, when only two teams mattered (outside of OKC in 2016).

About iconic moments - 2021 Bucks run has plenty of them. This year playoffs are extremely good so far. I don't love the bubble season, but I don't think it's worse than 2017.

Every era has its good and bad moments. A lot of people view 1970s harshly, but it was extremely entertaining decade full of iconic moments and great seasons. People love 1980s, but some seasons back then were rough (1989 in particular).

I think you start looking at this period in nostalgic mood, which is fine. I will always love 2012-15 Spurs more than any other team.

I loved the bubble the last two years sucked my username has been irrelevant

CumberlandPosey · Post #11 » by **CumberlandPosey** » Wed May 18, 2022 1:01 pm

no.i dont have that feeling.ofc totally subjective but i am always very entertained by nba ball.cant think of a boring season at all.

colts18 · Post #12 » by **colts18** » Wed May 18, 2022 1:17 pm

The talent level in today's game is better than 2008-2016. However, I liked the style of play before the Warriors messed up the league with Pace and Space. There was a wide variety of styles of play. You had Big teams like the Grizzlies competing with the 3 point Warriors. That wouldn't happen today.

Dutchball97 · Post #13 » by **Dutchball97** » Wed May 18, 2022 1:40 pm

Changed per season for me. 2008 to 2010 wasn't super interesting as it was pretty much just Lakers vs Celtics with LeBron in the wings trying to carry scrubs. The 2011-2014 period was pretty great though imo. Sure the Heat cruised to the finals every year but the west was the most competitive it maybe ever was and even then we got the Heat losing in an amazing upset in 2011 with Dirk's cinderella run and to the 2014 Spurs with maybe the best team basketball ever. 2015 was probably my favorite year in the entire 08-16 stretch. LeBron on a new team so at least some intrigue in the east and the west was still full of amazing teams. 2016 was a pretty expected redo of the finals before that but it did give us a ton of great narratives like the best regular season record and the 3-1 chokes.

2017 and 2018 I just kind of try to forget. Least interested I've been in basketball since I started watching. Even though the quality of play was really good, the Warriors beating the Cavs in the finals was pretty much set in stone before one minute had even been played. Loved 2019 again though. LeBron sucks whenever he jumps to another team so that always results in a nice change up and even though the Warriors got back to the finals they did lose and KD left. 2020 was the Covid season, honestly happy we got any basketball at all but it's unfair to compare it to normal seasons. I've also really enjoyed last year and this one though.

So between the Cavs-Warriors rivalry getting stale and covid it isn't strange to look back fondly on the period before it but right now it's better than in many of the 08-16 years imo.

Statlanta · Post #14 » by **Statlanta** » Wed May 18, 2022 1:57 pm

2005-2014.

Pre-3pt spam. Post archaic offenses

No-more-rings · Post #15 » by **No-more-rings** » Wed May 18, 2022 2:20 pm

For me it definitely lost a lot of luster after like 2016 or 2017. The regular season is barely even worth watching these days.

Post #16 » by **penbeast0** » Wed May 18, 2022 2:34 pm

I find the 3 biggest problems with the modern game are:

(1) Covid -- players just seem to miss so many games, people playing 75+ games are the exception rather than the rule

(2) Tanking -- it's been a problem since at least the 70s, in 85 they tried to put in the lottery to curb it after Houston was blatantly tanking, now maybe a quarter of the teams in the league are actively tanking and it's accepted practice. I'd like to see the draft lottery odds reversed so the best non playoff team has the best chance (and the playin teams have some chance of the #1 so they don't tank the last game or two to insure drafting rather than low playoffs).

(3) Overreliance on the 3 point shot. Every team in the league shot over a 3rd of their shots from 3 last year and the leaders shot over 45%. It's too easy and to me, takes away some of the strategy and big man play.

https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/three-point-rate

MartinToVaught · Post #17 » by **MartinToVaught** » Wed May 18, 2022 2:36 pm

I liked 2003-2007 better. More variety in terms of style of play and personalities. It was wild to see the Going to Work Pistons and SSOL Suns coexisting in the same era. You still had some of that diversity going into the early 2010s but the growing overreliance on three-point spam was eroding it. The Grit n' Grind Grizzlies stand out as perhaps the last team that succeeded at a high level by zigging while the rest of the league zagged.

Those BS Celtics and Lakers trades in 2007-08 felt like the moment the NBA officially transitioned from a traditional sport to the current "player empowerment" spectacle where trade rumors and free agency are bigger than the actual games.

MartinToVaught · Post #18 » by **MartinToVaught** » Wed May 18, 2022 2:51 pm

penbeast0 wrote:(2) Tanking -- it's been a problem since at least the 70s, in 85 they tried to put in the lottery to curb it after Houston was blatantly tanking

There were three teams with worse records than the Rockets in 1983-84 and Houston got lucky with a coin flip to get the #1 pick. If they were tanking, they could have done a whole lot worse. Seems to me that the league just had a kneejerk overreaction to the same team getting consecutive #1 picks. Ironically, the Magic and Cavs have since done the same thing with the lottery, showing how pointless it all was.

KobesScarf · Post #19 » by **KobesScarf** » Wed May 18, 2022 2:58 pm

colts18 wrote:The talent level in today's game is better than 2008-2016. However, I liked the style of play before the Warriors messed up the league with Pace and Space. There was a wide variety of styles of play. You had Big teams like the Grizzlies competing with the 3 point Warriors. That wouldn't happen today.

The talent level is at an all time low

70sFan · Post #20 » by **70sFan** » Wed May 18, 2022 3:11 pm

KobesScarf wrote:
colts18 wrote:The talent level in today's game is better than 2008-2016. However, I liked the style of play before the Warriors messed up the league with Pace and Space. There was a wide variety of styles of play. You had Big teams like the Grizzlies competing with the 3 point Warriors. That wouldn't happen today.
The talent level is at an all time low

That's not true.