Ive heard it said that 2003-2004 was the NBA at its low point. Thinking about it.....

[Kblaze8855]

I might agree.

Lot of odd shit went down. One of the less respected title teams(not that they deserve it). The MVP race had Jermain Oneal finish 3rd and Peja 4th. The "Dreamteam" lakers lost in uneventfull fashion.

But what really stood out to me...the player of the month winners.


One month aside for Peja and Kobe KG swept the west. The east?

Ready yourself...

Baron Davis(we were talking about him as MVP...I remember it well)
Jermaine Oneal
Michael Redd
Kenyon Martn
Lamar Odom

And finally?

Jamaal ****ing Magloire

Doesnt that just make you almost throw up in your mouth?

One day kids are gonna look at that season and ask what happened to the NBA.

The Pistons held like 7-8 teams in a row under 70 points. Kobe was scoring like 24 a game back and forth to court.

The biggest moment of the season was Fishers shot in the second round.

If its not the low point...is it at least the modern lowpoint?

Perhaps sitting aside the 99 half season which had its issues for obvious reasons.

[DuMa]

i remember the peja talk for him being the 'best player in the league' or best player on the kings. that was so much garbage

[Jacks3]

Best defensive year in history.

[NugzHeat3]

It was terrible ever since 1998 or so with 1999 and 2004 as its two lowest points.

It kept going downhill ever since Toronto and Vancouver got franchises, teams becoming slow, games were ugly defensive struggles and the early 90s drafts were kind of weak. Those mid 80s draftees were on the decline. Jordan just covered it up in the late 90s.

2001 had the potential to be great if Hill and Zo didn't go down. The West was great that year.

[RRR3]

Some other oddities:

*Stephon Marbury led the NBA in assists
*Tracy McGrady was the only player in the NBA to average more than 24.2 PPG and he only shot 42%. Peja and KG tied for 2nd in PPG. Weird year on offense for sure.
*Derek Fisher and Kyle Korver both shot 35.2 percent Korver shot 39.1 percent on threes, however.
*Eddie House shot 37.5 % from three, but 35.9% overall.
*Antoine Walker took 305 three pointers. He made 82 of them (26.9 percent)

[DMV2]

Hornets Baron Davis was playoff beast, though. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfVxMYsKwlg (a year earlier but he was still a beast in his final years as a Hornet)

[97 bulls]

Wasn't 04 the year the dreamteam really stunk it up in the olymmpics?

[NugzHeat3]

Wasn't 04 the year the dreamteam really stunk it up in the olymmpics?

Yeah it was.

To be fair though, that was a terribly built team. If the 2003 FIBA team wasn't broken apart for a variety of reasons, they would have mopped the floor with any of those international teams.

[inclinerator]

wasnt the league ppg leader 24 points or something? nvm 28

[ShaqAttack3234]

2004 was interesting, but disappointing.

We finally saw KG with a good cast, but I still wonder what would've happened if Cassell didn't get injured.

What would have happened if Malone had stayed healthy? He was very important to that Laker team.

And there were some other injuries to key stars(though 2003 was worse in that regard as far as the playoffs).

But I'm glad that I saw that 2004 Piston team, a really great team and the best defensive team that I've ever seen.

Some other oddities:

*Stephon Marbury led the NBA in assists

Well, for total assists, yeah, but per game, the top 3 were like this.

1.Jason Kidd- 9.2 (numbers would have probably been a bit better if not for the injuries late in the season)
2.Stephon Marbury- 8.9
3.Steve Nash- 8.8

That wasn't uncommon for Marbury, he was usually around 8-9 apg. And he actually was a good player back then. He wasn't always a joke. He led the Knicks to the playoffs and his cast really wasn't good. He was a flawed player with a questionable attitude, but not as bad as you'd think by reading what's written about him today.

*Tracy McGrady was the only player in the NBA to average more than 24.2 PPG and he only shot 42%. Peja and KG tied for 2nd in PPG. Weird year on offense for sure.

Yeah, that has always seemed strange to me. I remember the Peja for MVP talk too. But the scoring leaders make a little more sense when you consider that Kobe had the knee surgery, nagging injuries and legal issues, Shaq was declining and they both shared the ball with Gary Payton as well as Karl Malone(for a half season at least) and saw their shot attempts decrease.

Iverson did actually average 26.4 ppg himself, but only played in 48 games so he didn't qualify for the scoring title. So that takes out 3 players who were regularly at 25+ ppg.

Peja's scoring average makes a little more sense when you think about it as well. He had typically been a 20 ppg type scorer, but Chris Webber missed most of the season and Peja always seemed to put up bigger scoring numbers when Webber was out.

*Derek Fisher and Kyle Korver both shot 35.2 percent Korver shot 39.1 percent on threes, however.

Not too strange, for Fisher at least. Derek shot 34.6% in the 2000 season.

*Antoine Walker took 305 three pointers. He made 82 of them (26.9 percent)

You gotta remember that you're talking about Toine. He made just 73 out 285 in 2000 as well. That's 25.6%.

[iamgine]

Some positives:

- The year Lebron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony came out
- Garnett was MVP, Tim Duncan went second
- Ron Artest, first non big man DPOY winner since Gary Payton
- A team without true superstar won the title, proving that team ball works

[Smoke117]

It was terrible ever since 1998 or so with 1999 and 2004 as its two lowest points.

Pretty much. The early to mid 00's was just an incredibly weak era in the NBA in general. I would say 2001 was the weakest though and as you said it had a lot to do with injuries. I'm pretty positive the Sixers could have never got passed the heat in 2001 if Zo had been playing and healthy that season. The east was just atrocious, period. In the west, the Lakers were the only great team after the Blazers imploded. The Kings just weren't there yet and this was the Spurs era where they had no notable guards (besides Derek Anderson...yeah) and Robinson was aging quickly. I'll never understand why the 2001 Lakers are held in such high esteem when they pretty much had no competition. Yeah maybe one of these teams should have been able to take a game so it is impressive to not lose in your run to the finals, but it still wasn't against any teams of note. There was no Blazers of 2000 or Kings of 2002 to battle.

[RRR3]

Some Notable players with high PPG and their FG% from 2003-03:

Tracy McGrady 28 PPG 41.7 FG%
Paul Pierce 23 PPG 40.2 FG%
LeBron James 20.9 PPG 41.7 FG%
Vince Carter 22.5 PPG 41.7 FG%
Jermaine O'Neal (a PF/C remember) 20.1 PPG 43.4 FG%
Baron Davis 22.9 PPG 39.5 FG%
Jamal Crawford 17.3 PPG 38.6 FG%
Latrell Sprewell 16.8 PPG 40.9 FG%
Eddie Jones 17.3 PPG 40.9 FG%
Steve Francis 16.6 PPG 40.3 FG%
Chauncey Billups 16.9 PPG 39.4 FG%
Gilbert Arenas 19.6 PPG 39.2 FG%
Allen Iverson 26.4 PPG 38.7 FG%
Jason Kidd 15.5 PPG 38.4 FG%

[Jacks3]

All those guys probably shoot 4-5% higher in the weak 80's/early 90's.

[Legends66NBA7]

It indeed was a low point in 2004.

That's why after that season the NBA started changing the rules to open up the game.