Somehow, 3 is greater than 6. I guess. Going 3-3 in the finals, is better than going 6-0 because jordan, played on stacked teams. Cartwright, Stacey King, Luc Longley, Kerr, Paxson, Armstrong, Hodges, ..ron mother fucking harper!!
Win or lose, lbj is the greatest, cause if he cant, his teammates are garbage, and if he does, he did it in spite of them. The bulls fired their coach today, the hawks get swept, and we are still debating on how competent the east is?
I m out.
Win or lose, lbj is the greatest, cause if he cant, his teammates are garbage, and if he does, he did it in spite of them. The bulls fired their coach today, the hawks get swept, and we are still debating on how competent the east is?
I m out.
On
LoL you have it completely backwards...That would be today's NBA
Used to be so many studs/Superstars in the league.
Now, with Kobe on his way out, there's basically 2, in Lebron & Durant & even he (Durant) is questionable these days.
Lebron is capitalizing from weak competition...
LoL you have it completely backwards...That would be today's NBA
Used to be so many studs/Superstars in the league.
Now, with Kobe on his way out, there's basically 2, in Lebron & Durant & even he (Durant) is questionable these days.
Lebron is capitalizing from weak competition...
[ It'd be interesting to see how LeBron would do against old-school defenses that were allowed to play more physical. ]
Since 1990, the NBA has instituted a series of rules changes to increase the offensive player's flow and make physical play costly. First came increased penalties for flagrant fouls (1990) and fighting (1993), the implementation of the "five points" rule that called for automatic suspensions of players who amassed a certain number of flagrants (1993). Hand checking was eliminated in 1994. Using the forearm to defend players facing the basket went away in 1997.
In 1999, the league eliminated contact by a defender with his hands and forearms both in the backcourt and frontcourt, except on offensive players who caught the ball below the free throw line extended. Defenses were also prohibited from "re-routing" players off the ball. This freed up perimeter players who used screens to get open. Nor were defenders able any more to grab or impede offensive players setting screens. In 2001, the defensive three-second rule eliminated defenders camping out in the lane away from their offensive man to help.
The rules changes did what they were supposed to do -- open up the game. Scoring average has increased from an average 95.6 points per game in the 1997-98 season to this year's 100 per game. Overall field goal percentage has increased from 45.0 percent in '97-'98 to 45.9 percent this season. Three-point percentage has gone up, from .346 11 years ago to .367 this season. And fouls have gone down, from a league average of 1,837 fouls in 1997 to 1,726 this season. The statistical-based Basketball Prospectus wrote at the beginning of this season that the game's pace -- defined as possessions per game -- had increased from its nadir during the lockout season of 1999 (around 88 possessions per game) to around 91 per game in the 2007-08 season.
Free-flowing offense is now the norm, with players able to go almost unencumbered anywhere on the court. As such, the game's most dominant individual players and those that are just good at drawing contact have even more of a chance to get to the foul line. So stars like Dwight Howard (the league leader in free throw attempts this season with 849), Dwyane Wade (second, 771) and LeBron James (third, 762) can have an even more outsized impact on games.
"You can't even touch a guy now," says Charlotte coach Larry Brown. "The college game is much more physical than our game. I always tease Michael [Jordan], if he played today, he'd average 50."
Since 1990, the NBA has instituted a series of rules changes to increase the offensive player's flow and make physical play costly. First came increased penalties for flagrant fouls (1990) and fighting (1993), the implementation of the "five points" rule that called for automatic suspensions of players who amassed a certain number of flagrants (1993). Hand checking was eliminated in 1994. Using the forearm to defend players facing the basket went away in 1997.
In 1999, the league eliminated contact by a defender with his hands and forearms both in the backcourt and frontcourt, except on offensive players who caught the ball below the free throw line extended. Defenses were also prohibited from "re-routing" players off the ball. This freed up perimeter players who used screens to get open. Nor were defenders able any more to grab or impede offensive players setting screens. In 2001, the defensive three-second rule eliminated defenders camping out in the lane away from their offensive man to help.
The rules changes did what they were supposed to do -- open up the game. Scoring average has increased from an average 95.6 points per game in the 1997-98 season to this year's 100 per game. Overall field goal percentage has increased from 45.0 percent in '97-'98 to 45.9 percent this season. Three-point percentage has gone up, from .346 11 years ago to .367 this season. And fouls have gone down, from a league average of 1,837 fouls in 1997 to 1,726 this season. The statistical-based Basketball Prospectus wrote at the beginning of this season that the game's pace -- defined as possessions per game -- had increased from its nadir during the lockout season of 1999 (around 88 possessions per game) to around 91 per game in the 2007-08 season.
Free-flowing offense is now the norm, with players able to go almost unencumbered anywhere on the court. As such, the game's most dominant individual players and those that are just good at drawing contact have even more of a chance to get to the foul line. So stars like Dwight Howard (the league leader in free throw attempts this season with 849), Dwyane Wade (second, 771) and LeBron James (third, 762) can have an even more outsized impact on games.
"You can't even touch a guy now," says Charlotte coach Larry Brown. "The college game is much more physical than our game. I always tease Michael [Jordan], if he played today, he'd average 50."
There were a lot of high caliber players then but most of them were trapped on pretty average teams after the league expanded from 23 teams to 29 teams in the span of like 7 years. This being before the game went global made these teams pretty thin. Everyone remembers the Bulls but the Rockets team that won the title in '94 had Maxwell as their 2nd leading scorer. Reggie Miller Pacer teams made 5 conference finals in 9 years and their 2nd best player was probably Rik Smits for most of that run.
Ewing, Robinson, Olajuwan (until Drexler trade), Drexler, Barkley (until Suns trade), Miller all were pretty much the only all-star caliber players on their teams.
Other than the league getting more athletic and emphasizing D more, a big reason scoring dropped so much from the 80s to 90s was because of expansion so Halekulani's post has some merit.
Every era has its strength and weaknesses.
I understand what you're saying Pats.
My point emphasizes on Superstars, which equates to more competition.
And the competition in today's NBA (Superstars) is thin & Lebron James is benefitting immensely from it.
Most of us here know that 1 Superstar in basketball can make more difference than any other sport.
You simply let that player do his thing.
Magic Johnson, Jordan, Bird, Olajuwon, Ewing, Barkley, David Robinson, Shaq, Kobe, Malone, and others all had to deal with each other.
Lebron has pretty much only had to compete against Superstars Durant, and 2 guys basically on their way out, in Duncan & Kobe.
Many ppl confuse Superstars with Stars.
Superstars are the elite.
Example:
Dwight Howard = Star
Shaq = Superstar
Again, in no other sport compared to basketball does a Superstar instantly turn a team from garbage to a contender, and the fewer Superstars i have to worry about, like Lebron in this case, the better my chances...
My point emphasizes on Superstars, which equates to more competition.
And the competition in today's NBA (Superstars) is thin & Lebron James is benefitting immensely from it.
Most of us here know that 1 Superstar in basketball can make more difference than any other sport.
You simply let that player do his thing.
Magic Johnson, Jordan, Bird, Olajuwon, Ewing, Barkley, David Robinson, Shaq, Kobe, Malone, and others all had to deal with each other.
Lebron has pretty much only had to compete against Superstars Durant, and 2 guys basically on their way out, in Duncan & Kobe.
Many ppl confuse Superstars with Stars.
Superstars are the elite.
Example:
Dwight Howard = Star
Shaq = Superstar
Again, in no other sport compared to basketball does a Superstar instantly turn a team from garbage to a contender, and the fewer Superstars i have to worry about, like Lebron in this case, the better my chances...
