Is This The Worst Talent Pool In NBA History

[DonDadda59]

... Or at least since the pre-merger 70s?

I was thinking about it the past few games. There's a lot of teams that are made up exclusively of role players, especially in the East.

Boston- No marquee players. A guy coming off the bench is arguably their star.

Milwaukee- Bunch of scrappy defenders but no one even close to all star level.

Brooklyn- faded former stars.

Hawks- Do you consider Korver, Millsap stars?

It's no wonder the NBA, which traditionally relies on star power for marketing, decided to go with their 'new hero ball' campaign. Good luck convincing people to tune in to watch Kyle Korver battle Brook Lopez or a faded Paul Pierce clown DeMar DeRozan.

No wonder way past prime former star players are still doing work. Can you point to another point in NBA History where the talent pool was so thin?

[TripleA]

Mid 2000s were the worst

[G0ATbe]

Weakest the Easts been since the 90s. easts been terribly weak since the bird led Celtics era ended. This is nothing new.

[TripleA]

... Or at least since the pre-merger 70s?

I was thinking about it the past few games. There's a lot of teams that are made up exclusively of role players, especially in the East.

Boston- No marquee players. A guy coming off the bench is arguably their star.

Milwaukee- Bunch of scrappy defenders but no one even close to all star level.

Brooklyn- faded former stars.

Hawks- Do you consider Korver, Millsap stars?

It's no wonder the NBA, which traditionally relies on star power for marketing, decided to go with their 'new hero ball' campaign. Good luck convincing people to tune in to watch Kyle Korver battle Brook Lopez or a faded Paul Pierce clown DeMar DeRozan.

No wonder way past prime former star players are still doing work. Can you point to another point in NBA History where the talent pool was so thin?

The average player player in the early to mid 2000s were all a bunch of austin rivers. look at the drafts 2000 to 2007 god awful.

[Bosnian Sajo]

Steph Curry
Anthony Davis
Lebron James
Kevin Durant
Russell Westbrook
Kawhi Leonard
Paul George
Klay Thompson
John Wall
Kyrie Irving
Kevin Love
Al Horford
Jimmy Butler
Chris Bosh
Al Jefferson
James Harden
Dwight Howard
Blake Griffin
Chris Paul
Damien Lillard
Lamarcus Aldridge
Marc Gasol
Zach Randolph
Tim Duncan (old man killing it)
Monta Ellis
Kobe Bryant
Demarcus Cousins

And that is just counting the best of the best, I still consider a lot of other guys I didn't mention as stars (Noah, Gasol, Millsap, etc.)

[christian1923]

Mid 2000s were the worst

Wuuuuuut

Kobe
Shaq
Wade
Kg
Nash
Dirk
Duncan
LBJ
Melo
Iverson
Tmac
Vince carter
Jason Kidd
Billups


Just to name a few

[TripleA]

Wuuuuuut

Kobe
Shaq
Wade
Kg
Nash
Dirk
Duncan
LBJ
Melo
Iverson
Tmac
Vince carter
Jason Kidd
Billups


Just to name a few

Nice Chauncey billups top 5 point guard back then

[DonDadda59]

Mid 2000s were the worst

Really? Thought that was a very good time for talent that was spread out throughout the league. Not the best, but definitely not as thin as it is now.

I think the NBA right now is going through a transition period where established stars are on their way out (even though guys like Duncan, Pierce don't seem to want to leave) and that's being coupled with some rampant injuries to current stars. Also doesn't help with certain teams hoarding all the talent in some cases.

So now you have playoff teams with no marquee/star talent. Teams made up of literally all role players. I don't think I can point to any point in NBA History besides another transition period in the 70s during/before the merger where the league was so starved for star power.

[DonDadda59]

Steph Curry
Anthony Davis
Lebron James
Kevin Durant
Russell Westbrook
Kawhi Leonard
Paul George
Klay Thompson
John Wall
Kyrie Irving
Kevin Love
Al Horford
Jimmy Butler
Chris Bosh
Al Jefferson
James Harden
Dwight Howard
Blake Griffin
Chris Paul
Damien Lillard
Lamarcus Aldridge
Marc Gasol
Zach Randolph
Tim Duncan (old man killing it)
Monta Ellis
Kobe Bryant
Demarcus Cousins

And that is just counting the best of the best, I still consider a lot of other guys I didn't mention as stars (Noah, Gasol, Millsap, etc.)

A lot of the guys you named are injured and not even active right now. How many of those names are from the East and were significant contributors this past season? LeBron and Kyrie who are on the same team... and?

[FKAri]

Steph Curry
Anthony Davis
Lebron James
Kevin Durant
Russell Westbrook
Kawhi Leonard
Paul George
Klay Thompson
John Wall
Kyrie Irving
Kevin Love
Al Horford
Jimmy Butler
Chris Bosh
Al Jefferson
James Harden
Dwight Howard
Blake Griffin
Chris Paul
Damien Lillard
Lamarcus Aldridge
Marc Gasol
Zach Randolph
Tim Duncan (old man killing it)
Monta Ellis
Kobe Bryant
Demarcus Cousins

And that is just counting the best of the best, I still consider a lot of other guys I didn't mention as stars (Noah, Gasol, Millsap, etc.)

scrubs.

[TripleA]

A lot of the guys you named are injured and not even active right now. How many of those names are from the East and were significant contributors this past season? LeBron and Kyrie who are on the same team... and?

I think this seasons so bad because so many major players got injuries

[DonDadda59]

I think this seasons so bad because so many major players got injuries

Yeah, definitely. I've brought up injuries as a reason several times here. Some guy included Kobe in his list above. Dude played on one leg and couldn't shoot above 38% on a lottery team this season. He's clearly not a marquee player this year, just a name. Neither was Paul George or Bosh/Wade for huge stretches. Durant obviously.

The Eastern squads this season were mostly either made up of all role players or at the bottom, were glorified D-League squads (Knicks ). All the stars are on one team in Cleveland. And even then, Love is done now.

[MiseryCityTexas]

Mid 2000s were the worst

Hell no. Arenas's Wizards, Lebron's OG Cavs, Dwight's Magic, Steve Nash's Suns, Shaq and Wade's Heat and Kobe/Gasol's Lakers would mop up the floor with Most of today's shitty teams, especially if they played against today's eastern conference teams.

[VIP2000]

I would say the early 00's were the worst, right after Jordan retired for the second time. There were superstars like AI, Kobe, KG Shaq, Duncan, T-Mac, Vince Carter, but most of them were surrounded with awful supporting casts. Heck, when Jordan came back for the Wizards, his supporting cast was God-awful. And that was the era where a lot of upcoming stars like Grant Hill, Penny, and McDyess got injuries where they were never the same after.

I mean, a Boston Celtics team featuring Paul Pierce, Antoine Walker, and a bunch of scrubs made the ECF at one point.

[DonDadda59]

I would say the early 00's were the worst, right after Jordan retired for the second time. There were superstars like AI, Kobe, KG Shaq, Duncan, T-Mac, Vince Carter, but most of them were surrounded with awful supporting casts. And that was the era where a lot of upcoming stars like Grant Hill, Penny, and McDyess got injuries where they were never the same after.

I mean, a Boston Celtics team featuring Paul Pierce, Antoine Walker, and a bunch of scrubs made the ECF at one point.

That was a pretty rough era, I'll give you that. But Boston had Pierce who was a bonafide star talent. Who does Boston have now anywhere remotely close to that level? I think the talent was spread out more too. Most teams that made the playoffs had at least one real franchise player.