80's vs 90's

[1987_Lakers]

I've been messing around on whatifsports and i made a team from the 80's and 90's.

80's
C - 82-83 Moses Malone
PF - 86-87 Kevin McHale
SF - 85-86 Larry Bird
SG - 87-88 Michael Jordan
PG - 86-87 Magic Johnson
BENCH
84-85 Isiah Thomas
88-89 Clyde Drexler
80-81 Julius Erving
85-86 Dominique Wilkins
79-80 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
88-89 Hakeem Olajuwon
87-88 Charles Barkley

90's
C - 93-94 Hakeem Olajuwon
PF - 90-91 Karl Malone
SF - 93-94 Scottie Pippen
SG - 90-91 Michael Jordan
PG - 90-91 John Stockton
BENCH
95-96 Gary Payton
91-92 Clyde Drexler
92-93 Charles Barkley
93-94 David Robinson
91-92 Reggie Miller
96-97 Grant Hill
98-99 Shaquille O'Neal

So far i've simulated these two teams against each other 4 times. And all 4 times the 80's won.

Who do you guys think would win?

[BrianScalabrine]

The 90s is the 2nd most overrated era after the 00s, so I vote for the 80s.

[L.Kizzle]

All but three players from your '90 list played in the '80s so that should tell you which era was better and who'd win.

[ConanRulesNBC]

The 90s is the 2nd most overrated era after the 00s, so I vote for the 80s.

How was the '90s overrated?

[1987_Lakers]

How was the '90s overrated?

I can see why people think the 90's were overrated. The early 90's were good but the mid 90's - late 90's were really watterd down.

[ConanRulesNBC]

Late '90s maybe... but the early/mid '90s were great.

[Manute for Ever!]

Late '90s maybe... but the early/mid '90s were great.

The '90's were cool until Vancouver and Toronto came in (no intention dis', Raps and Griz fans). You know how it is when the bring in expansion teams....

[1987_Lakers]

Late '90s maybe... but the early/mid '90s were great.

It was actually the mid 90's where the NBA started to sink. MJ wasn't in the NBA in 93-94 & 94-95 then when MJ came back in 95-96 the NBA added 2 new teams to the NBA which lowerd competition a bit.

[LBJ 4 MVP]

Well are you going to sim a series or not?

[crisoner]

80's.....no contest.

[1987_Lakers]

Sorry, the departure of one player can't bring the level of the play down for the entire league, even if it is Michael Jordan. The fact is, the mid 90s is the greatest era for the center position in NBA history, so I don't understand how it can be classified as weak.

And since when does more teams mean a weaker league? Does that mean that the mid 40s was the strongest era ever because it was the era with the fewest teams in the league?

Well, you have more players spread out. Instead of having 3 great players on a team you know might have 2. Just look at the 80's. You had a bunch of great players on one team. As the NBA expanded competition got worse.

[ConanRulesNBC]

lol... I know. I mean you still had very good Rockets, Magic, Knicks, Jazz, Sonics and Bulls teams. How many players that were on the Grizzlies and Raptors could have gone to other teams and all of a sudden make them contenders? It didn't cause the NBA to be weaker at all. In fact... I think the 72-10 Bulls actually lost to the Raptors.

The '90s were awesome.

Oh and I'm going with the '90s.

Prime Jordan who played team basketball paired up with Pippen, Hakeem, Stockton and Malone with Shaq off the bench? Bird and Magic were great but '90s Jordan would have beaten '80s Jordan in a team game, Kareem was passed his prime and going up against Shaq and a prime Hakeem would have been hard. Also that bench for the '90s team is just absolutely sick.

[bladefd]

I wouldn't put McHale over Charles Barkley/MosesMalone for the 80s. IMO, Hakeem could have played PF too. He was versatile enough to defend both PFs and Cs in his prime. I personally think McHale was slightly overrated on both ends of the court.

For the 90's, you can also do Shaq for C and Hakeem for PF instead of Karl Malone. Malone was a beast but I think a Shaq/Hakeem duo would be basically unstoppable front-court for the 90s.

[1987_Lakers]

lol... I know. I mean you still had very good Rockets, Magic, Knicks, Jazz, Sonics and Bulls teams. How many players that were on the Grizzlies and Raptors could have gone to other teams and all of a sudden make them contenders? It didn't cause the NBA to be weaker at all. In fact... I think the 72-10 Bulls actually lost to the Raptors.

The '90s were awesome.

Oh and I'm going with the '90s.

Prime Jordan who played team basketball paired up with Pippen, Hakeem, Stockton and Malone with Shaq off the bench? Bird and Magic were great but '90s Jordan would have beaten '80s Jordan in a team game, Kareem was passed his prime and going up against Shaq and a prime Hakeem would have been hard. Also that bench for the '90s team is just absolutely sick.

Well you do have MJ and Hakeem for the 80's. And you say Shaq coming off the bench. Well how about Isiah Thomas, Hakeem, MVP '81 Julius Erving and MVP '82 Moses Malone coming off the bench. And this is 1980 Kareem... we are talking about the NBA MVP for that year. Reggie Miller, Gary Payton, and Grant Hill wouldn't even make the roster for the 80's squad if they played in that decade. No doubt the bench is better for the 80's squad.

[1987_Lakers]

Okay, will you please tell me what players the 1995-96 Raptors and the 1995-96 Grizzlies took from the other teams in the league to lower the standard of the entire league? The best players the Raptors took from other teams in the NBA were Doug Christie, Tracy Murray and Oliver Miller; and the best players Grizzlies took from other teams were Greg Anthony, Blue Edwards, Benoit Benjamin and a 34 year-old Byron Scott. Not a single one compares to Gerald Wallace that Bobcats got when they entered the league.

So apparently, according to you, the fact that a handful of mediocre players such as these got transferred to two expansion teams somehow made the league less competitive because the players became spread out. Wow.

Seriously the NBA was watterd down in 1996 when u compare it to the mid 1980's. Just look at the Cavs for '96. They made the playoffs with a starting 5 of Terrell Brandon / Michael Cage / Danny Ferry / Chris Mills / Bobby Phills.

It wasn't just 2 teams that were added in '96 that watterd down the NBA. In 1988-89 the NBA added 2 teams and another 2 teams in 1989-90. And 2 more in 1995-96. 6 teams were added in the NBA in a span of 8 years. That weakens competition.