In previous eras, 20 ppg usually meant you were good.. Nowadays, it means nothing

[3ball]

Yes.

Spacing is better nowadays because the skill level is so much higher that more players are threats.

90% of threes are open according to NBA.com

So three-point shooting is like a free throw but from a lot further, which is an inferior skill to:

* more diverse, highly-contested 2-point shot-making
* iso repertoire from the post and mid-range
* pure scoring ability (natural instinct and moves required of no-spacing)
* superior passing instinct required of no-spacing environment

You really think today's predictable drive-and-kick passing pattern amongst wide open space is anywhere near the skill required to thread needles in a no-spacing environment?... Lol

Ultimately, the "ugly" basketball of previous eras was due to no-spacing, so great plays were harder to come by and required more skill.. Today's "great" plays require zero skill because the lanes are wide open and it's hands-off with no-impede... aka mickey mouse beginner format

[clipps]

20 ppg is still a significant threshold to cross and that number is still an incentive in contracts.

If Kyle Kuzma averaged 20 ppg Lakers fans would be over the moon.

There are a ton of young guys with potential that fans are wishing and hoping would average 20 ppg to legitimize them, and then you go up from there - 25 ppg is another level and so on.

That's because Laker fans are retarded as hell.

[Mr. Woke]

Another retarded thread from 3ball.

[3ball]

Another retarded thread from 3ball.

Today's beginner format (spaced-out, hands-off, no impede) breeds beginner skillsets (layups/threes)

[Mr. Woke]

Today's beginner format (spaced-out, hands-off, no impede) breeds beginner skillsets (layups/threes)

Modern NBA players are more skilled than players from previous eras.

[3ball]

Modern NBA players are more skilled than players from previous eras.

They're trash and soft af too

A double whammy

[tanibanana]

In 98, you can leave average players very wide open outside of 12-feet, and most likely they'll miss. But today most players can hit outside of 12-feet like its nothing. Well ofcourse there are anomalies like Simmons, Giannis, and the likes.

[Stanley Kobrick]

that means we have to adjust scottie as a 35pg scorer today.

[SATAN]

36 guys average 20 points today, versus 14 in 1998

And 98' was the modern game with a comparable amount of perimeter wings and modern play, including all-stars like:

Grant Hill
Penny
Kobe
Duncan
Garnett
Kidd
Drexler
Pippen
Garnett
Hakeem
David Robinson
Shaq
Payton
Kemp
MVP Jordan


So don't use the excuse that there wasn't sufficient talent because the aforementioned players probably represent MORE talent than today's game - heck, Mitch Richmond currently leads today's league in scoring (beal)

So today's game is simply softer than a grape - a spaced-out, hands-off beginner format.. that's why league offensive rating reached record highs in each of the last 5 seasons

How low are you going to go is the question. This may possibly be the most idiotic short sighted attention seeking boomer thread so far, but I'm sure there's worse to come.

[madmax]

that means we have to adjust scottie as a 35pg scorer today.

[TheGoatest]

Damn, that must mean that the 23 ppg on 55% shooting 1984-85 Orlando Woolridge must've been REALLY good then, and it would've been absolutely inexcusable for a "GOAT" not to make it past the first round with such a player.

[theaussieguy]

Lamello Ball is averaging 1.38 less PPG as a bench player in the NBA compared to being a starter in the NBL. Let that sink in.

[8Ball]

Proof from OP that today is higher skilled era.

Karl Malone wouldn't make All NBA 1st team in today's league.

Dame Lillard would be the MVP in 1998.

[Mr. Woke]

They're trash and soft af too

A double whammy

Players from past eras were trash and soft af.

[Kblaze8855]

The overall skill level is just higher.

It isn't just a few top end talents anymore.

It wasn’t top end talents then modern fans just don’t know any name that isn’t still said on tv.


Almost nobody here would know this guy if he knocked on their door....





Doesnt mean he wasn’t talented....or that he wouldn’t be considered talented even today. He was 6’3” dunking from the ft line and making 30 foot game winners. He shot 34-37 percent from 3 in 4 years he took a good number with literally zero built into the offense. He’d at least be a competent outside shooter now and one of the most explosive guards in the league....but have that old in between game to fall back on top.

He and many like him would transition fine and be some of the modern players people talk about the old days not having....the talented “other guys”. He was never a star in the nba. No all star games. He was one of the random forgotten good players but far from top end.

Plenty of high end role players and not quite stars could play even 40 years ago when he came in.

For every Lou Williams there was an Eddie Johnson:















Coming in for a quick 35-40 off the bench with all variety of 3, pull-ups, and floaters and shooting 92% from the line that year.

He came into the league 39 years ago but he played against Kobe.... Dirk. Vince Carter.

And there’s tons of guys like him. Hell he wasn’t even the only Eddie Johnson from then. Or the best. The best one was called “Fast” Eddie and made several all star games before getting life in prison in a story nobody cares about now.

There are waaaaaaaay more good players nobody knows now. They were there. But history only remembers the big names. Doesn’t mean the small names couldn’t play.