picko wrote:The period from 1993-94 to 2004-05 is one of the weakest eras for the NBA. The league expanded too quickly - spreading talent too thinly - and then incoming talent wasn't sufficient to replace ageing or outgoing talent. The standard of basketball was sloppy and unappealing and that's why steps were taken to improve the quality of the spectacle.
But even if you changed all the rules back - and turned a blind eye to the physicality - the game today still wouldn't look like the 1990s. The talent pool is significantly deeper and we've had no meaningful expansion in two-decades. Rosters are deeper and skill-sets are more varied. There is just no comparing an American league (1990s) to an International league (2020s) from a quality standpoint.
We also overestimate the physicality part. It's based primarily around highlights rather than people watching entire games. When you watch entire games it quickly becomes apparent that defense wasn't typically great and for large amounts of the game it wasn't typically physical either. We weren't having games end in the 70 point range because of insane defense or physicality, it primarily reflected poor offensive strategy and a general lack of talent. It wasn't something to be lauded and we shouldn't put it on a pedestal.
I kind’ve agree with certain points in your post.
To me the greatest period in NBA history was 1984-1993 with just unmatched star power, great teams, best rivalries and a variety of play styles that could go to the offensive extreme like the Doug Moe Nuggets or defensive physical limits like the Bad Boy Pistons. The NCAA, the greatest developmental feeder system the NBA has ever had also saw its Golden Era during this exact time without coincidence.
People always harp on the expansion of 89 and 90 but really by 1993 the Heat and Hornets were playoff teams, the Magic had Shaq and the Wolves were a year away from getting Garnett so that expansion worked out wonders for the league.
The real problem for the NBA started in the mid 90’s with the unnecessary expansion to Toronto and Vancouver along with the incoming high school to pro phenomenon (later one and done college players). You had a whole generation of players coming into the league without a true mastery of the fundamental aspect of basketball and all its nuances thus focusing and athleticism and flash which did not translate well against physical defensive tactics that were still utilized and within the rules of the time.
The foreign born players just like the new American heavily influenced AAU players struggled big time against those physical defensive tactics because the necessary tools to combat them were not a priority for the Euros as they focused on a more finesse perimeter oriented game while the American players were leaning to a more isolation heavy highlight driven approach (the I wanna be like Mike phenomenon). This created horrendous league wide offenses from 1998 to 2005.
But this is were the league’s top people like Stern, Stu Jackson, Rob Thorn and Jerry Colangelo felt the need to step in and open up the game for the offensive stars as defensive minded teams like the Spurs, Pistons and Pacers were lapping the field from 2003-2005.
Steve Nash who was a bench player/fringe all star from the mid 90’s to early 2000’s talked in an interview with Bill Simmons how those rule changes super charged his career and forged the MDA style offense to become the blueprint for future offensive systems:
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As you can see rule changes have had a tremendous impact not only on the game play you see before you but also on development, team building and which players are getting drafted.
Forget the 90’s rules, go back to the 70’s rules with no 3 point line, physical defense with hand checking and strict dribbling rules what do you think would happen to the majority of the modern “manufactured heroes” and to hundreds of other jobs in the NBA filled by twiners and 3-D players? I guarantee you they would look a lot worse than those 70’s players did as the post game and mid range are at an all time low right now and the overall fundamentals of the American players have fallen off dramatically in the last 25 years thanks to AAU.
