Does unearthing Old Footage do more Harm than Good for older eras?

[DCL]

you have to appreciate things only for that era, but that's it. you can't expect everything to be equal to modern times. the game has evolved.

most of the basketball in black and white were still in primitive "experimental" stage. something as basic as shooting a basketball -- there was no right or wrong way back then. if the ball went through the basket, it was the "right" way. but there was no emphasis on mechanics nor form. and that's because all the players simply made up their own styles. they didn't have basketball summer camps nor tv when they were growing up.

today is a bit different. we have a model of what works and what doesn't, and many things that we've figured out are being taught to grade school kids. those guys in the past didn't have that. so if they look funny or awkward to you, that's because they developed their own ways very differently and probably on their own. in black and white footage of the nba, almost everyone shot the ball differently. today, most shooters look roughly pretty similar with slight variations. but most of the releases of good shooters are pretty "textbook" and "fundamentally solid" looking, and that's because they've been taught all this things since day 1. the old-old guys had none of that knowledge when they were developing.

[90sgoat]

Watching video has made me appreciate the legends a lot more, because I don't think they would be these untouchable players, but because you can see what kind of player they would be today.

Bill Russel for example, I have no doubt would be DPOY and MVP candidate many years. Is he really different from Marc Gasol? Just better.

Jerry West is an absolute beast, great shooting touch, great bball IQ, nice handle and playmaking and I think he would be incredibly popular today with his smooth game and the rules tailor made for him. White guy dropping 30+ points, he would be the face of the league, even more than Bird.

Oscar was the first big do it all guard. He wasn't Lebron, he wasn't Magic, I think he was more like Dwayne Wade actually, with a great mid range game and he penetrated a lot. Also a 30-6-6 or more kind of player. But he would play shooting guard in the 90s. Combo point guard today.

Some players are underrated because of the rules of their era. Someone like Dennis Johnson of the Celtics would be a flashy guard today. Isaiah would be an absolute dominating force with these modern rules. Likely MVP. The Doc would be a fan favorite in all eras, a sort of Vince Carter without the injuries.

The things that are negative with the old stuff is the lack of standard fundamentals. Everyone seems to have their own shooting technique and this persisted until the mid 80s (see Magic). Today everyone shoots exactly like Ray Allen. The defense seems pretty bad, but it's also a fast game, you can understand how the game is played.

[DCL]

Today everyone shoots exactly like Ray Allen.

his form is like the perfection of the textbook shot, as we know today.

[3ball]

[COLOR="Red"]Examples of contested shots in transition:
[/COLOR]








Wilt's post game looked pretty underwhelming tbh. Guy looks stiff, immobile, and reckless in the way he goes about scoring.

I understand what you're saying, but when you look at footage from the 50's and 60's, pay attention mostly to the raw athleticism of guys like Wilt and Russell... The NBA was just invented in like 1948, and all the footwork that would come later hadn't been invented yet (and most of it was ILLEGAL, which is actually the primary reason guys didn't use it back then)... You MUST assume that if Wilt played today with that goat size, physique, strength, and nimbleness, that he would easily have the same footwork as today's bigs - i.e. al jefferson, shaq, etc...

Btw, if you want to compare Wilt to someone physically - look at Dwight howard - Wilt was bow-legged like Dwight, which gives you an impression of how athletic Wilt was - GUYS THAT BIG AREN'T BOW-LEGGED.. Dwight and Wilt were, and we know pre-injury Dwight was an all-time athlete.. Wilt was too, only he was much bigger than Dwight.

Btw, regarding the defense - the lane was SMALLER back then (it was tiny - the NBA increased the size of the paint several times later on to make the game easier) and there was no 3-point line - all 10 players congregated around the tiny paint area, which made shots more contested - players had to pull-up for more midrange jumpers because the paint was often too clogged for anyone to even CONSIDER OR ATTEMPT penetration - again, look at the footage and notice how all 10 player crowded the paint, which often prevented guys from even considering penetration..

Pace was faster, because there was no need to slow the game down and run offense to get good 3-point looks - remember, the reason you run offense is to get open looks... But guys were accustomed to taking contested 2-pointers as a standard, so less offense needed to be ran.. Guys could run-and-gun taking contested 2-pointer after contested 2-pointer without slowing the game down to run offense...

Also, the transition opportunities WERE STILL CONTESTED SHOTS - defenders didn't have to worry about transition 3's, so they ran to the PAINT in transition - when you look at footage all the way into the 90's (when 3-pointers still weren't used that much), transition layups were frequently still very contested because transition defenders sprinted directly to the painted area (see gifs above as examples - Elgin faces a congested paint in transition - this was the way 2-pointer basketball is played - there's no need to run offense to get open 3-point looks, so guys could run-and-gun and take contested 2-pointer after contested 2-pointer - the higher level of contest resulting from players willing to settle for contested 2's resulted in lower FG% back then).