JJ Redick speaks the Truth - 80/90s NBA vs Today

[Jables]

JJ Redick on his podcast a few years ago while being the oldhead vet - "There's more guys concerned with getting a pregame fit on Instagram than they are worrying about the win and loss of a basketball game."

JJ Redick right now having recently retired - "Modern players are all gods of basketball, and I would definitely not be called soft a few decades ago just because I was useless in the clutch and can't guard anyone."

JJ Redick 15 years from now - "Players right now absolutely suck, couldn't hang in my day."

[Eric Bieniemy]

Players today are definitely better at dribbling and shooting threes, but, overall, guys of 35 years ago were less spoiled/more humble and were collectively better in the post and midrange.

On defense, team defense is much more complex today, but defenders were allowed to touch offensive players much more in days of yesteryear.

Who was better? The nineties was an ugly brand of basketball, fellas. Today's brand is just vanilla. The eighties was the most exciting.

The sheer volume of skilled (dribbling and shooting) guys has never been higher than today, but these same guys are often clueless with their backs to the basket and in the midrange.

This is a nuanced argument, and anyone painting with a broad brush is just sensationalizing.

[Miami_Lux]

Celtics can’t believe someone else is getting free throws in their building. Totally unfair.

[Miami_Lux]

i

[Lockdown504090]

Lmao evolutions takes thousands of years every where but in the NBA I guess. It is sad how little young people know about life before them and how little respect they have for it.

Once again there are literally studies out there showing that strength and athleticism is actually declining due to lower testosterone but keep telling yourself lies.

nearly every world record was set in the last 15 years.

I would love to see those studies lol. Seems like a post straight from QAnon.

the low t thing is accurate, but probably not for the nba

[thelead]

I agree that, as an aggregate, modern players are better.... except for dribbling. I'm sure players would adapt but I would love to see what today's players would do if refs called travels and carries like they did in the 80's. Most of Kyrie's and Harden's bag would be gone. Anyone trying a euro-step would be in for a rude awakening as well.

[OdomFan]

JJ Redick on Get Up calling out Old timers narrative on today's players.

Watch on YouTube

Summary:
JJ was annoyed about NBA players today being inferior to the nostalgic standard set by the media about 80 and 90's players/NBA.

Although the segment is mostly about players complaining, JJ did mention many arguments made by the current media, many of whom covered 80s and 90s NBA.


I totally agree with JJ. Only in the NBA, no other sport where 80 and 90s will always be better than current generation, like evolution doesn't matter.

For example. Drop any of these athletes in their respective sport in the 80s or 90s and everyone will think their Gods.
Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Usain Bolt, Patrick Mahomes, Tyson Fury, George St. Pierre, Connor McGregor, Kumaru Usman, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, List goes on.

But if you do the same for the NBA, with Lebron, Durant, Harden, Steph, Kyrie, etc, for some reason they can't play in the 80s or 90s.

Lmao evolutions takes thousands of years every where but in the NBA I guess. It is sad how little young people know about life before them and how little respect they have for it.

Once again there are literally studies out there showing that strength and athleticism is actually declining due to lower testosterone but keep telling yourself lies.

It doesn't take a scientist to see how much more advance athletes are today, with access to modern science etc.
We're not talking about evolution of species, which does take a long time, and is the only valid point of your post.

So these studies pertains to the top athletes we have today right? Not just your average joes correct?

There are no lies here, like I said ONLY in the NBA where 80 and 90s will always be better. You don't really hear that non sense with other sports. Keep living in that nostalgia though, its not a bad place to be, that era of ball was amazing.

Well thats because the way the NBA was played back than was more versatile, there for more entertaining to them (myself included) compared to how everything is revolved around 3's now days, but anyway you should also take into account that it doesn't take a scientist to see that the old style from previous decades still works. So it can really go either way. Just look at how effective a good number of the talent that were drafted in the late 90s still were in the later half of their careers going up against the modern talent at that time. Tim Duncan could still ball.

Kevin Garnett, Michael Jordan when he came back showed he could still do it at that time. The list goes on and on. So it's not out ofi the question that they and their actual team would be able to defeat a modern team at their best if they could jump through time to 2022 or some other point down the line that these conversations happen yet again.

and yes it does happen in other sports. Let's not forget George Foreman came back and won a championship at 45 years old against someone half his age. Sports evolve over time, but greatness remains the same.

[uberhikari]

This is what basketball used to be like in the 80s and 90s.

Watch on YouTube

People who valorize the toughness of the 80s and 90s are clowns. There is absolutely no place in basketball for trash like this. And if you think this is "real" basketball, then maybe you should be watching the UFC.

[Tottery]

I wouldn't say this generation is better or that the 80's/90's were better. I think the rules are just different. I'd love to be able to see James play in that Era or Jordan in this one.

[dribble1614]

mad dog russo totally gave it to draymond green. i'm not sure about not making the roster, but if he was on that team he would certainly find himself waving a towel at the end of the bench mostly.

Yeah, one of the all-time great defenders wouldn't be able to get minutes. Okay buddy

yea buddy, none of those 80’s teams would want his 2 point no skill offensive scrub arse anywhere near the court.

[dribble1614]

mad dog russo totally gave it to draymond green. i'm not sure about not making the roster, but if he was on that team he would certainly find himself waving a towel at the end of the bench mostly.

Why do you think Green was such a late pick? He was a good defender in Michigan, but everybody knew he had a suspect jumpshot, no post game, and could barely dribble. West and the Warriors front office get credit because they figured out there was a role for him with jumpshooters in today's game, but anywhere else they would have tried to force him into just being a rim running PF and he would have struggled to stay in a rotation.

correct, hence the argument that he would ride the bench at best and be an 8th or 9th man on any other team in todays league, never mind one of the all time dynasties in the 86 celtics who were too stacked to play such a limited and useless scorer.

draymond green is only capable of playing on/with one team (player) - the curry led warriors. put him anywhere else and he gets exposed as a scrub.

[MemphisX]

Players today are definitely better at dribbling and shooting threes, but, overall, guys of 35 years ago were less spoiled/more humble and were collectively better in the post and midrange.

On defense, team defense is much more complex today, but defenders were allowed to touch offensive players much more in days of yesteryear.

Who was better? The nineties was an ugly brand of basketball, fellas. Today's brand is just vanilla. The eighties was the most exciting.

The sheer volume of skilled (dribbling and shooting) guys has never been higher than today, but these same guys are often clueless with their backs to the basket and in the midrange.

This is a nuanced argument, and anyone painting with a broad brush is just sensationalizing.

When people say this, what they really mean is the Lakers vs Celtics NBA Finals was exciting because you were not watching Cleveland vs Denver on a Tuesday during the regular season. So they are comparing the NBA Finals from the 80s, to the 100s of games they consume right now.

[wojoaderge]

Players today are definitely better at dribbling and shooting threes, but, overall, guys of 35 years ago were less spoiled/more humble and were collectively better in the post and midrange.

On defense, team defense is much more complex today, but defenders were allowed to touch offensive players much more in days of yesteryear.

Who was better? The nineties was an ugly brand of basketball, fellas. Today's brand is just vanilla. The eighties was the most exciting.

The sheer volume of skilled (dribbling and shooting) guys has never been higher than today, but these same guys are often clueless with their backs to the basket and in the midrange.

This is a nuanced argument, and anyone painting with a broad brush is just sensationalizing.

I agree with pretty much all of this

[twyzted]

Hes right.

Genetics, training advancements, globalisation, population growth, analytics etc etc have resulted in much deeper, much better players.

He’s also right about nobody else in football, baseball, etc., talking about how the ‘80s and ‘90s were better. It’s only in basketball to this degree. And there’s a reason for that—a certain player who played in both decades no matter what always had to be the greatest and the columnists and broadcasters are part of a group who supports and feeds into this. And before anybody says anything about my age, I’m 45 and watched Jordan growing up.

I agree with you about the cult of Jordan in the NBA. But it goes against old-timers too. He never had this airtight case against Kareem or Russell.

He was just marketing god, for reasons I still don't understand, and I am middle aged like you.

Or maybe he just was that good at basketball…
Imagine if we could use the internet to watch games/clips of him instead of just listening to what espn tells us?

Ohh Pele **** on modern footballers all the time and older footballers also **** on younger footballers.

Crazy how two middle aged men havent realised that this is just how people are, everything was tougher when they were young.

[sp6r=underrated]

He’s also right about nobody else in football, baseball, etc., talking about how the ‘80s and ‘90s were better. It’s only in basketball to this degree. And there’s a reason for that—a certain player who played in both decades no matter what always had to be the greatest and the columnists and broadcasters are part of a group who supports and feeds into this. And before anybody says anything about my age, I’m 45 and watched Jordan growing up.

I agree with you about the cult of Jordan in the NBA. But it goes against old-timers too. He never had this airtight case against Kareem or Russell.

He was just marketing god, for reasons I still don't understand, and I am middle aged like you.

Or maybe he just was that good at basketball…
Imagine if we could use the internet to watch games/clips of him instead of just listening to what espn tells us?

Ohh Pele **** on modern footballers all the time and older footballers also **** on younger footballers.

Crazy how two middle aged men havent realised that this is just how people are, everything was tougher when they were young.

Old timers **** on young guys is a constant as is young guys feeling like genetics makes today's players by far the best ever.

I'm bemoaning the way a subset of the NBA places Jordan on a pedestal above Kareem or Lebron. He never had an airtight case over Kareem. He hasn't one over Lebron in years. Yet a subset of NBA marketing just worships the guy.

[old skool]

I think today's NBA has been greatly impacted by the addition of so many youngsters to NBA rosters. When Michael Jordan was a rookie, there were relatively few players under age 24 (for example) at the end of the NBA season. Back then it was a man's league. Teens and young men stayed in college until they grew up.

Today's NBA players often play against teenagers and 20-somethings that would otherwise be in college. Last year the Pistons had 8 players log over 1,000 regular season minutes. Three at age 20, one at age 22, and two at age 23. The Magic had 9 players log over 1,000 minutes, seven of which were 23 or younger. (Ages per Basketball Reference)

Today's NBA teams get to play a lot of games against players with underdeveloped bodies and underdeveloped fundamentals. Clearly there is a lot of talent and skill in the NBA but the game is demonstrably easier when many of the opponents would be college freshmen or sophomores.

[SomeBunghole]

JJ Redick at his peak was shooting 6-7 threes a game and hitting them at a crazy clip.

Even if you somehow had a time machine and could transport him back to 1983, you'd be insane to think any coach would let him shoot more than one a game. I'm not sure what the people supporting him in this tread think would be his role on an NBA team from any decade if he's not allowed to shoot threes.

[The Rebel]

JJ Redick on Get Up calling out Old timers narrative on today's players.

Watch on YouTube

Summary:
JJ was annoyed about NBA players today being inferior to the nostalgic standard set by the media about 80 and 90's players/NBA.

Although the segment is mostly about players complaining, JJ did mention many arguments made by the current media, many of whom covered 80s and 90s NBA.


I totally agree with JJ. Only in the NBA, no other sport where 80 and 90s will always be better than current generation, like evolution doesn't matter.

For example. Drop any of these athletes in their respective sport in the 80s or 90s and everyone will think their Gods.
Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Usain Bolt, Patrick Mahomes, Tyson Fury, George St. Pierre, Connor McGregor, Kumaru Usman, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, List goes on.

But if you do the same for the NBA, with Lebron, Durant, Harden, Steph, Kyrie, etc, for some reason they can't play in the 80s or 90s.

Lmao evolutions takes thousands of years every where but in the NBA I guess. It is sad how little young people know about life before them and how little respect they have for it.

Once again there are literally studies out there showing that strength and athleticism is actually declining due to lower testosterone but keep telling yourself lies.

nearly every world record was set in the last 15 years.

Those are mental blocks, just like noboycould run a 4 minute mile and suddenly everybody could.

[Roscoe Sheed]

JJ Reddick is a clown.

Why is he mouthing off like he's a HOF player?

He'd be a role player in any era he plays in.

I agree- but in fairness to him, the ESPN management is probably telling him to make such comments as 2 guys agreeing on everything is boring. However, I think it is so contrived that it isn't worth watching

[Pennebaker]

JJ Redick on Get Up calling out Old timers narrative on today's players.

Watch on YouTube

Summary:
JJ was annoyed about NBA players today being inferior to the nostalgic standard set by the media about 80 and 90's players/NBA.

Although the segment is mostly about players complaining, JJ did mention many arguments made by the current media, many of whom covered 80s and 90s NBA.


I totally agree with JJ. Only in the NBA, no other sport where 80 and 90s will always be better than current generation, like evolution doesn't matter.

For example. Drop any of these athletes in their respective sport in the 80s or 90s and everyone will think they Gods.
Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Usain Bolt, Patrick Mahomes, Tyson Fury, George St. Pierre, Connor McGregor, Kumaru Usman, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, List goes on.

But if you do the same for the NBA, with Lebron, Durant, Harden, Steph, Kyrie, etc, for some reason they can't play in the 80s or 90s.

The issue is that the 80's and 90's was the height of NBA popularity and when we talk about that era we're always also talking about Michael Jordan's legacy so the defensiveness people have over the 80's and 90's is really about defending MJ and, as we know, people will do that passionately until the cows come home and they will look for any reason to discredit anyone that challenges the real American hero Michael Jordan.

That's my take, at least. There is no other reason why so many people would be defensive about the 80s and 90s besides that.