Question for the "We done with the 90's" people

[LakerLegend]

You really think today's stars are looking as good as they do if they are playing in a physical game like this, with stricter dribbling rules?

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[tsherkin]

Yeah, I do. The Knicks played mean-mug BS basketball even by the standards of the time and would struggle badly to contain the type of perimeter shooting we see in the league today. And their offense was trash. They'd also get run out of the building. They are maybe the worst example you could have picked.

[KembaWalker]

I’ll vouch for the individual talents and skill sets of players from the 90s, especially the stars, but you need to approach it with the very real context that the overall strategy of these old games is extremely outdated and subpar. These old teams would get obliterated but it doesn’t mean they suck, they’re just a product of their time. The teams we enjoy watching tonight will be archaic garbage basketball to some kid in 2050.

[Bum Adebayo]

I mean, when you can carry and travel almost every time and the defender can't even breath near the opponent, what do you expect?

[Sealab2024]

I don't know why anybody would be "done with the 90's". We're about to have a series between Denver and Minnesota that's basically that 7 foot dude whos on my bowling team is also the best basketball player in the world and runs an infuriating system to play against through him VS a team of giants led by an athletic freak of a shooting guard with no regard for human life who also run a good system on offense but are absolutely elite as a team of physical one on one defenders.

That ish is straight out of the 90's. And I couldn't be looking forward to it more.

[SHAQ32]

Ewing and Oakley could develop into a 3 point shooters, if that was the strategy. Nobody is getting ran out of the building. Just stop it.

[Celts17Pride]

You really think today's stars are looking as good as they do if they are playing in a physical game like this, with stricter dribbling rules?

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In today's game that would be 20 flagrant fouls and 10 players tossed from the game by halftime.

[FreeBird23]

I’ll vouch for the individual talents and skill sets of players from the 90s, especially the stars, but you need to approach it with the very real context that the overall strategy of these old games is extremely outdated and subpar. These old teams would get obliterated but it doesn’t mean they suck, they’re just a product of their time. The teams we enjoy watching tonight will be archaic garbage basketball to some kid in 2050.

And these kids will be wrong just like today's kids

[Celts17Pride]

You really think today's stars are looking as good as they do if they are playing in a physical game like this, with stricter dribbling rules?

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James Harden would have to take up bowling. There would be no place for him in the NBA.

[tsherkin]

I’ll vouch for the individual talents and skill sets of players from the 90s, especially the stars, but you need to approach it with the very real context that the overall strategy of these old games is extremely outdated and subpar. These old teams would get obliterated but it doesn’t mean they suck, they’re just a product of their time. The teams we enjoy watching tonight will be archaic garbage basketball to some kid in 2050.

The Knicks in particular weren't a stunning offensive team even for the time, and Ewing broke down as a high-usage guy. The triangle was a pretty cohesive offensive system, but speaking to your point, for the time.

I loved watching them growing up, but they are proto-ball in many ways from a strategic standpoint. Also, a lot of what people who prefer that kind of game like is the aggressive (and mostly illegal, even then) physicality of those Knicks, which has nothing to do with skill at all.

[ryguy613]

You really think today's stars are looking as good as they do if they are playing in a physical game like this, with stricter dribbling rules?

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tired, boring, move on already.

[BernteB]

it's funny if you consider the fact, that lebron james came into the nba the season after jordan retired for good, but still his stats look like as if he was in his prime. so what does that tell us about today's nba, which supposedly is packed with super skilled and athletic next generation players, if someone, who is, age wise, basically 90ies 2.0, still looks as good as he does?

[tsherkin]

Ewing and Oakley could develop into a 3 point shooters, if that was the strategy. Nobody is getting ran out of the building. Just stop it.

lol. Oakley was crap on offense in his day, he'd be crap today. Ewing couldn't hack it in the playoffs and his shot wasn't that great, he just used it a lot. He'd find ways to be good, but he was also an awful playmaker and not a particularly wise choice as a focal offensive hub, especially in today's context. Great defender, solid rebounder, excellent player all-time. Not the guy you want as your primary offensive dude.

Could New York adapt and be less crap if you gave them a pile of time to adapt? Sure.

Would it be far easier for a team from now to go back then and roflstomp them? Absolutely, they'd lose their minds trying to guard a modern offense.

[Hair Jordan]

Lame. Lebron’s first game was in 2003. He was 3 years removed from being a 90’s guy. The majority of the players in the league that year were guys who played in the 90’s. 90’s era guys like Kobe, Duncan, KG, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce etc were busy winning rings during Lebron’s first 9 seasons in the league. Lebron is still playing and is putting up better numbers now than he did during his MVP prime which suggests the league is easier and not harder due to the pro offense/anti defense rule changes. People acting like IQ’s have gone up 50 points in the last 20 years It’s basketball for Christ's sake. You think athletic freaks like Jordan, Pippen and Rodman are getting run off of the floor by a 2024 team? Giannis is a one dimensional bully ball stiff who can’t shoot outside of 5 feet, can’t shoot FT, euro-travels on every other play and he just won a title a few years ago with Khris Middleton as his best teammate. You think that team is gonna win a title against Magic, Bird, Jordan, Shaq, Kobe or Duncan? GTFO

[DOT]

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[Ritzo]

We done wit da 90's!

[Showtime 80]

Ewing and Oakley could develop into a 3 point shooters, if that was the strategy. Nobody is getting ran out of the building. Just stop it.

lol. Oakley was crap on offense in his day, he'd be crap today. Ewing couldn't hack it in the playoffs and his shot wasn't that great, he just used it a lot. He'd find ways to be good, but he was also an awful playmaker and not a particularly wise choice as a focal offensive hub, especially in today's context. Great defender, solid rebounder, excellent player all-time. Not the guy you want as your primary offensive dude.

Could New York adapt and be less crap if you gave them a pile of time to adapt? Sure.

Would it be far easier for a team from now to go back then and roflstomp them? Absolutely, they'd lose their minds trying to guard a modern offense.

LOL you mean the “modern” soft divas who David Stern/Adam Silver have had to change a bunch of rules in the last 25 years to enhance offenses because the lack of fundamentals and BBIQ got so horrendous that they couldn’t deal with physical defenses

Please the modern offensive stars would want no part of the 90’s style game as it would expose them badly.

The modern game was altered to fit the small guards, soft twinges and Euros that were overwhelmed by the physicality of the 90’s game, nothing more nothing less.

I can tell you a certain thing, that generation and era produced the greatest rivalries in NBA’s history thanks in large part to the physical style of play. Today’s AAU buddy buddy dumb as a rock Chuck and Duck league is the sorriest incarceration in that department as everybody is trying to join each other’s teams at one time or another. Pathetic

[Ritzo]

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Magic Johnson was right, you can't go near MJ because it's an automatic foul lol.

[Haldi]

it's funny if you consider the fact, that lebron james came into the nba the season after jordan retired for good, but still his stats look like as if he was in his prime. so what does that tell us about today's nba, which supposedly is packed with super skilled and athletic next generation players, if someone, who is, age wise, basically 90ies 2.0, still looks as good as he does?

Probably should tell you that he’s way better than people even give him credit for lol.

And i don’t care at all about Lebron even though he’s the best player thats ever played this sport. I will for sure be 100% ok with saying the next best player ever is better than him when the time comes, and it will.

In what sport do systems and players NOT get much better through generations and generations. I would love to see one sport that this is not the case for…

[tsherkin]

LOL you mean the “modern” soft divas who David Stern/Adam Silver have had to change a bunch of rules in the last 25 years to enhance offenses because the lack of fundamentals and BBIQ got so horrendous that they couldn’t deal with physical defenses

Please the modern offensive stars would want no part of the 90’s style game as it would expose them badly.

Doubt that quite a lot. Their shooting and PnR game would crush a team like the Knicks.

Chicago would be a different story because even in their proto-form offense, they were quite good. Unadjusted for era, the Bulls would have been around an average offense in 2024, which is pretty remarkable.

But New York? Bleh. Particularly playoff New York from that era. They had a bunch of bruisers who didn't score well, and Ewing, who pulled a fade in the playoffs on the regular. And with the quality of shooting in a lot of teams today, they'd get roasted pretty badly because they'd have no conception of how to defend at range, or the much more complex PnR action in today's games. That's just how it goes.

You give them time to adapt and the defense would improve, of course. Riles was really smart and the team was dialed in for defensive effort, but they weren't a particularly good offense THEN. They would be screwed now.