Is MJ Hating?

[La Frescobaldi]

Yes the NBA got softer each decade and became the NBE.

I was doing some research on the greatest defenses over the course of a season and I ran a search on Basketball-Reference for teams with a defensive rating lower than 95. The search returned eleven results, presumably the eleven best defenses ever by this metric. Of the eleven teams, two were Pop/Duncan-era Spurs teams, including the '99 championship team, and the other nine came from the mid-1970s.
Here is a link to the results.
The teams below are the other nine:
'74 Knicks
'74 Bullets
'74 Pistons
'74 Bucks
'74 Bulls
'75 Celtics
'75 Bulls
'75 Bullets
'76 Warriors
Is there an easy explanation for the reason that the 1973-74 season alone produced five historically great defenses? Was there a rule change I don't remember that affected the data or was expansion to blame? Was the league too unathletic as next-generation stars packed the ABA?

This was palming
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDRQ0FYhC0U
Players today would be getting 30 turnovers a game

The rule changes came in the '73-'74 season in the form of new stats.

The NBA awarded defense for the first time by officially recording steals and blocks. And of course, that immediately brought results that look to be outrageous but it's a natural thing for players to go after records. They all do it.
It was unfair to players within their careers. So Jabbar, who is an all-time blocks leader, like 3rd or 4th..... has a broken career because he was in his 4th year when they started counting. Jerry West had like 4 steals a game that season and he was an old old man in his last year.

from another thread:

Larry O'Brien, the commish of those days said it right on TV during a couple of games in 1974 that they waited to start counting blocks and steals until that season directly as a show of respect for Wilt Chamberlain. He said it would be totally unfair to the Legend - his word - to do it any other way.

The announcers said it a lot that year during tv games, right up to playoffs. Hope that helps with those early questions about why they started counting blocks in '74.

Great thread, G.O.A.T!!

[Dr.J4ever]

Ah nostalgia.

Believing your era was the best is quite normal. We partied harder than you back then. We had more sex and drugs than all of your experiences combined.

There's something about the time when you were peaking as a youth or when you started sowing your oats that makes you believe 20 years later that it was better than it really was.

In some instances it's true, and in many others it's not. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

I, for one enjoys the present game, and keep the memories of my youth with 76ers basketball and Julius Erving intact, and all these arguments either way can never ever be proven anyway so why argue?

[La Frescobaldi]

Ah nostalgia.

Believing your era was the best is quite normal. We partied harder than you back then. We had more sex and drugs than all of your experiences combined.

There's something about the time when you were peaking as a youth or when you started sowing your oats that makes you believe 20 years later that it was better than it really was.

In some instances it's true, and in many others it's not. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

I, for one enjoys the present game, and keep the memories of my youth with 76ers basketball and Julius Erving intact, and all these arguments either way can never ever be proven anyway so why argue?

actually that is true though. #1 AIDS changed everything

but also..........


Just to show the plunge the country took..........
"unlike the previous two incarnations of Woodstock, Woodstock '99 was marred by violence, rape, and fires, bringing the festival to an abrupt end."


The first 2 Cal Jams were earthquake level events.

Not only the enormous festivals.... but single acts were filling stadiums, not just halls or arenas but stadiums.

parties? '60s was incredible but '70s put all other decades in the shade with great ease. The country was free, so was love, and anything you caught was cured with a pill or a shot.
no comparison at all. aids changed literally everything

[3ball]

reading skills are a virtue.

very true - the rules state in black and white, that defenders in today's game cannot be in the paint unless they are within "armslength" of their man - so this would be 3 feet, since a man's arm is 3 feet long.. so today's players must be within 3 feet of their man to stay in the lane.

in previous eras, defenders could stay in the lane if their man was 3 feet outside the lane on either side of the paint - the paint is 16 feet wide, so defenders could literally be 19 feet away from their man, and still remain in the paint.

these are the facts... and this is why today's defenders must tippy-toe to ensure they stay out of the lane whenever they are out of 3-foot armslength reach.

otoh, defenders in previous eras never had to tippy-toe or worry about getting out of the paint like today's players do, because they could be 19 feet away from their man and still stay in the lane - no need to tippy-toe under those circumstances..
.

[La Frescobaldi]

very true - the rules state in black and white, that defenders in today's game cannot be in the paint unless they are within "armslength" of their man - so this would be 3 feet, since a man's arm is 3 feet long.. so today's players must be within 3 feet of their man to stay in the lane.

in previous eras, defenders could stay in the lane if their man was 3 feet outside the lane on either side of the paint - the paint is 16 feet wide, so defenders could literally be 19 feet away from their man, and still remain in the paint.

these are the facts... and this is why today's defenders must tippy-toe to ensure they stay out of the lane whenever they are out of 3-foot armslength reach.

otoh, defenders in previous eras never had to tippy-toe or worry about getting out of the paint like today's players do, because they could be 19 feet away from their man and still stay in the lane - no need to tippy-toe under those circumstances..
.

egad. it's the broken record again.

[Dr.J4ever]

actually that is true though. #1 AIDS changed everything

but also..........


Just to show the plunge the country took..........
"unlike the previous two incarnations of Woodstock, Woodstock '99 was marred by violence, rape, and fires, bringing the festival to an abrupt end."


The first 2 Cal Jams were earthquake level events.

Not only the enormous festivals.... but single acts were filling stadiums, not just halls or arenas but stadiums.

parties? '60s was incredible but '70s put all other decades in the shade with great ease. The country was free, so was love, and anything you caught was cured with a pill or a shot.
no comparison at all. aids changed literally everything

The Goat era for parties and it's not even close.

[3ball]

Robert Parish, Bill Cartwright and Robert Horry talking old school vs. new (funny video):

http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/men-...uls-basketball

"I have to echo what Robert (Horry) and Bill (Cartwright) said. The game is soft. Because when we played, there wasn't any driving down the lane, and i see too much of that today - uncontested layups. When we played you might get one pass and then we laying wood on you after that."



Avery Johnson talking with Stephen A on First Take - they discuss in depth how the NBA changed the rules to allow more spacing and freedom of movement.. they also talk about how the NBA changed the rules to make the NBA softer for the casual fan's aesthetic appeal:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=144vX-NohOM

[Straight_Ballin]

Every old player thinks his competition and "era" was better than it really was.

Nope, but every young player likes to over hype his competition and era even though it's so much softer.

[plowking]

Robert Parish, Bill Cartwright and Robert Horry talking old school vs. new (funny video):

http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/men-...uls-basketball

"I have to echo what Robert (Horry) and Bill (Cartwright) said. The game is soft. Because when we played, there wasn't any driving down the lane, and i see too much of that today - uncontested layups. When we played you might get one pass and then we laying wood on you after that."



Avery Johnson talking with Stephen A on First Take - they discuss in depth how the NBA changed the rules to allow more spacing and freedom of movement.. they also talk about how the NBA changed the rules to make the NBA softer for the casual fan's aesthetic appeal:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=144vX-NohOM

Ah cool, more players who didn't play in both "brands" of basketball commenting how their era was harder and better.

Yet players who played in both saying otherwise. I wonder who to believe?

[JohnFreeman]

"I have to echo what Robert (Horry) and Bill (Cartwright) said. The game is soft. Because when we played, there wasn't any driving down the lane, and i see too much of that today - uncontested layups. When we played you might get one pass and then we laying wood on you after that."



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=144vX-NohOM

This just doesn't happen

[andgar923]

Ah cool, more players who didn't play in both "brands" of basketball commenting how their era was harder and better.

Yet players who played in both saying otherwise. I wonder who to believe?

I posted more players than you did, that played under both eras (some in 3 eras)and they've stated that past eras was better.



Not only that, the link you posted was a joke.

and some of the best defender of this era stated that MJ an OLD MJ way past his prime was tougher than Bron.... go figure