my favorite is when people say that specifically about LeBron. Yes, the 6’9 270lb dude who was the best athlete on the floor and could play 5 positions couldn’t cut it in the 80s, got it.

There was more undersized guard back then then there are now lol

The one thing that always bothered me about this take is the idea that current players can’t also be physical back. So guys like Bron, Jimmy, Iguodala, Dwight, Gasol etc. who were already elite defenders in the 2010s are just not going to rely on their physicality on defense if they were in the 90s? That advantage works both ways.

I think it’s true for some players like chet

They would have to switch their style of play but with the athleticism in today’s game, they would do very well

This is a very good answer

I don’t know about the physicality but some of them absolutely wouldn’t survive without modern sport science and facilities

This is true for all eras. Players would do the best to adapt to what’s needed for each era.

Yeah I think this argument is stupid both ways. Regardless of era, the fact is that these guys were/are all elite athletes at the top of their game. If the old guys got teleported into the modern era, they would’ve developed a 3 ball and learned to play in a pace-and-space system. If the young guys got teleported back in time, they would’ve learned how to play through contact better.

Or that the reverse isn’t true. Maybe Bill Laimbeer would knock Curry on his ass, but he’d have to catch him first. In the meantime he’d be completely unplayable as he got killed on every single switch.

Modern styles of game play wouldn’t survive. But they players themselves would obviously adapt, which is what makes the take a useless one.

As per the movie Airplane this checks out.

I can’t stand when people say they don’t play defense in the NBA. They just don’t understand offensive evolution or what they’re watching. They also don’t see the plenty of great defenders and great defensive teams.

What’s god awful is that people usually follow this up by saying “college is where they play defense”

I also like when people say that they miss 90’s defense, and when they watch someone like Castle grab Brunson’s arm on defense, they lose their fucking minds. For better or for worse, the NBA has always allowed a little bit of reaching. The elite defensive teams today use similar strategies to the teams people are nostalgic about.

I remember back in the AND1 on EPSN days a WNBA player was talking shit out the NBA guys saying they need to work harder or have more heart like the AND1 guys. lol

If it didn’t, Why would the NBA make up a fake stat line by an African-American in the early 1960s

That’s not even a bad take; It’s just intentional denialism and, to be frank, stupidity. His 100 point game is a matter of record. There were witnesses, officials keeping score, photos afterward, etc. Anybody who claims otherwise should have their opinion on any and all NBA matters ignored forever.

I think it’s real. Just the same way bam got his 83. Real but very artificially inflated

Also there was an arena of witnesses

“But there was no recording!!”

Guess we have to write off like a hundred years of the MLB too then

He scores in the 70s four or five times with bad free throw shooting so the one time he shoots good from the free throw line very conceivable that he would get 100

I mean how else do you score 78 points being a bad free throw shooter? Complete dominance

We have no video, but there was a radio call recorded.

It’s the nba equivalent to moon landing deniers

I think that’s just people trying to be funny by recycling the same stupid jokes/tweets over and over again on social media

I was on that train until seeing Wemby and watching Bam’s game last year.

No lie, I have an uncle who, about 10 years ago now tell me that they play no defense in the NBA and that’s why it’s easy for guys like Curry to score. He went on to tell me that what he would do is pick Steph up at halfcourt and put a hand in his face. He said his release was low, so he would never be able to get a shot off. Yes, this is a real story.

Yeah it’s much more that the rules have changed to favor offense - being able to take an additional 1-2 steps without a travel call compared to ~15 years ago is a huge advantage in itself for guys with all-world athleticism… Not to mention that they can also now get away with crazy obvious pushes & elbows with their off arm, and constant uncalled illegal/moving screens

I really wonder if these people have ever compared recordings of some possessions now and some from say two or three decades ago.

The next old generation will continue this bad take. And the next one and the next one and so on.

He took 2 years at min.   So it’s a 6 year ~70 mill deal.  Which is reasonable for him. 

Yeah but when my team loses, it can only be possibly explained by a leaguewide reffing conspiracy!!!

Are you serious😭😭😭. 100 years and only one ref has been publicly persecuted. 

You think the entire ref governing body is just honest? 

the significant improvements in nutrition alone would boost the abilities in a ton of 80s and 90s stars. those dudes were smoking a pack and eating a bucket of fried food after games.

I think also largely people get away from time and context in these kinds of arguments when trying to bring a player forward through time. I’d agree that players are more skilled today but does Michael Jordan dropped into todays game with that much more talent around still look like the goat or just another super star?

It doesn’t happen often, but my favorite thing is when people say they miss David Stern. I immediately think that person is in middle school. Imagine this version of reddit during the 07 Western Conference Semis with Phoenix and San Antonio.

It’s funny as a meme conspiracy but anyone thinking the lottery is rigged is stupid. You can literally watch the lottery draw.

A lot of them ignore the rule changes in the past 3 decades and also offense is very different now

Pat Ewing talked bout this on inside the nba during thr finals — said he didn’t shoot 3s, but That he had a good jump shot and woulda trained to work it from the 3pt line

Depends on which players

Many would have to retool their skillsets. It’s hard to find a place in today’s league if you can’t dribble or space the floor. Teams would rather run undersized lineups that lose spacing and versatility

This is true simply because the talent pool now is much larger than it was back then.

Anyone who says this should just look at Castle’s turnovers in games where Fox was out.

Came here to say this

Thank you

Our offense runs so much better with him at the helm compared to Castle. Without Fox, we needed an all-time game from Wemby just to eek out a win in double OT against the Thunder

I only see the opposite of this being floated, that somehow today’s players couldn’t hang with players with outdated medical staff and training.

Is it a popular or well-known take?

Seriously. For years people complained that the NBA was only about shooting 3s and they finally get the antithesis of that and reject him. At this point I assume it’s just people ingesting games via clips (along with a certain giant fanbase controlling the narrative on this sub) but SGA consistently balls the fuck out when I watch an OKC game on any given night and it is always impressive to watch. But we’d rather be writing masters dissertations of how often he falls down per 100 possessions and how unwatchable it is.

How do you think he will fit next to Lillard, Scoot, etc.? It seems like a crowded backcourt.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401810313

This was such a fun game to watch. A ton of back and forth and Ja kept the Grizzlies in it

The Leading scorer on the 2026 March madness title winner wasn’t even a Top 5 pick in this year’s draft

i don’t think it’s a donkey, i think it’s Donkey from Shrek

The West remains more top-heavy. It’s fucking annoying winning 60+ games and having to settle for the second seed. And that has happened three times in the past ten years for us

Especially if they never improved

Yeah IDK.

Players who don’t shoot mid range shots with high efficiency just shouldn’t be taking a lot of mid range shots. But by having (relatively) inefficient mid range shooters score in the paint & behind the 3pt line, teams create soft spots in opposing defenses that high acuity mid range shooters can and do attack like crazy.

I agree that dribbling the snot out of the ball is garbage strategy, but this is true whether guys are going for ISO 3 or working the post. Either way, you end up throwing away the advantages of pace & space unless the guy doing it can work quickly or is extraordinarily efficient. And there are guys in the NBA who are great fast post players or who are inexplicably really efficient ISO 3 guys, but teams that allow guys to do either on garbage efficiency generally aren’t playoff teams.

For the most part, the pace & space of the modern NBA makes the game way more dynamic and interesting. While things have skewed towards more 3pt shooting, there are tons & tons of ways that 3pt shots are being generated and even more secondary & tertiary ways that modern offenses cash in on the spacing created by 3pt shooting.

The only perennial playoff team that actually tends to play a ton of basic bitch “stay in the 5-out to spam ISO attempts & 3s” is the Celtics. It works well in the regular season, is a roll of the dice in the playoffs. Live or die by 3pt variance.

Yep.

Yeah but what’s the point if you’re always injured

West teams would go over .500 and miss the playoffs while East teams would win less than .500 and still make the playoffs

You think there are “way more” KAT and wembanyamas?? Please show me the tons of examples of players with offensive profiles similar to KAT

Is not that. It’s that you have to have him top 2 as the lowest and you got to have a pretty good reason not to have him #1. You cannot dare to compare him to any other player than MJ.