I agree that this needs to be considered, but I think it is part of the categories listed above. It makes grading someone's career a "curve."

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I would say that, even with more teams, the quality of basketball in the 80s and 90s (from Bird/Magic through at least Jordan) was as good as any era the game has seen. I don't think you can say that now.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

The Decision
the douchebaggery after the decision
the petulance in defeat
my life is still going to be great whether I win or lose while you couch jockeys will still be slobs

There is plenty of perfectly valid reasons to dislike Lebron as a player. The people who say otherwise have their heads in the sand.

Lebron is kind of like Isiah for me. I loved both of them early in their careers. Their actions as they got older, especially in defeat, soured me on both of them.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Without having seen a lot of ball in the 80s and 90s, I'd have to agree with you in theory. We can't absolute about this, but I do think having less teams overall meant better day to day competition. That probably didn't come out clear from my post, but that's what I was trying to suggest. Without creating teams like Toronto, Vancouver/Memphis, and New Orleans/Charlotte in the past 15 years or so, I wonder how much better the quality of play would have been today.

_________________
Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

I recently watched a rerun of the 83 Philly-L.A finals and one of the things that struck me was the pace of the game. It was faster guys did not milk the shot clock down to the last millisecond as they so often do today. For all the talk about today's superior athletes it is striking to me how slow the game is played. Back then if you were open you took the shot. Part of the reason was due to the fact that there were more scoring options and also because the ball was not dominated by the star players as it is today.

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This is true. I didn't think it would be a huge impact at the time but I think its clear that last expansion has damaged the overall quality of the game.

However, there have been other less obvious factors beyond expansion. The one that comes to my mind is the proliferation of early entry into the league. The NBA is simply not equipped for development, yet once you get out of the top 5 (and sometimes not even that far down) of the draft, the draftees are all young and undeveloped (physically, mentally and in terms of game). They usually have a skill, which keeps them in the league, but rarely develop SKILLS to become more than they are the day they are drafted.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I agree that the overall competition level has gone down, primarily due to expansion, but I think it's less than we think because the overall talent pool has increased due to more summer leagues, scouting, etc. The superstar talent is similar, but I just think the talent pool is larger.

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I was thinking about this in terms of the LeBron v. Michael debate. I think just about every other sport you can say today's athletes are bigger, stronger and faster. I don't think that is true in the NBA of today versus what existed 20-30 years ago. They aren't jumping higher. It doesn't seem like the movement up court is any quicker. I'm not even sure they are much stronger

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Agreed. I think that is where Bernstein gets it wrong. NBA athletes are similar in body type to the players of yesteryear. There are big players today but there were big players 20-30 years ago. The most athletically gifted center probably ever is still Wilt Chamberlain yet you rarely ever hear that. It should not be assumed as often it is that today's NBA athlete is superior or bigger than yesteryear's simply because it is today's athlete.

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Now imagine Jordan, Bird, Mchale and Antoine Carr doing the same

Camps has really been working out.

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I'd agree on early entry being an issue, but I gotta think opportunities to develop one's game/skills is not a problem nowadays. Leash just wrote about this here:



All throughout high school most NBA prospects go through AAU training/developing/etc. before they enter college. And during both college and the pros they're exposed to the all the training and amenities they need in order to work on their game. What I think is a somewhat recent problem is the fat contract. Guys get guaranteed money whether they work out or not, and only the mature take advantage of the development opportunities staring them right in the face. For every workout warrior like Kobe or KG, there are ten Tyrus Thomases who were drafted on "potential" that are just sitting around collecting checks with no motivation to work on their games.

_________________
Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

I'm not sure the AAU games actually help players develop. AAU coaches are more street pimp than educator and the games are designed to showcase talent.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Point taken. I just think development opportunities are plentiful for those who want to actually get better. Some players for a variety of reasons need to be nurtured more than others. Perhaps some teams have failed in that regard, but there has to be a degree of personal responsibility here.

_________________
Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY