Dear Tom,
I have to feel sorry for you when the only one who replies to your post is yourself.
I debated about giving it one more try to convince you that players of old can't be compared with modern players, because they played in different games with different rules.
So I'll play the fool once more by allowing myself to get trolled by you. You say the old players play "awful basketball", while older players say about the modern game that "It's not basketball." The two games are as different as night and day.
Before I start, have you ever wondered why, of the three major American sports, old basketball players and their game are often ridiculed for not being athletic, and their records scoffed at by some younger folks such as yourself?
Young baseball fans seldom disparage the careers of older teams and players. Teams like the old Yankees, and players like Willie Mays or Joe DiMaggio are still widely revered today.
Young football fans still respect the old teams and old players for what they did. Football began as a running game. Players tackled with their arms and hands. Few passes were thrown. The game changed to where players tackled with their shoulders, and there were a lot of shoulder separation injuries, which led to bigger shoulder pads. Players began passing more and tackling with their helmets, and all the concussion injuries led to the modern game of going back to tackling with arms, hands, and fingers. Yet through all the changes, each generation of young fans continued to respect the accomplishments of the teams and players that went before.
Basketball fans not so much. Basketball in its early days had difficulty drawing fans and selling tickets, especially in the NBA. The game had trouble being entertaining, and NBA franchises folded or came close to it. The early games were low scoring, and defense was allowed to be pretty rough, with few fouls and no free throws. Rules were changed to allow for easier ball handling and more scoring and restrict defenders from interfering with the offensive player. The game began to be dominated by taller and taller players, and little guys, no matter how quick or deceptive they were, were pushed out of the game. The long distance shot was the lowest percentage shot on the floor, but then the rules changed to make it worth 3 points, and the game changed again, as all players rushed to learn the shot, to where now it dominates the game.
I personally feel that the old-time Harlem Globetrotters were much more fun to watch than the NBA teams of that era, because the Trotters played with almost no rules, which gave them the freedom to show off their athleticism with no restrictions. They palmed the ball, they carried the ball, and they traveled with the ball, on almost every play. Their games resembled the modern NBA much more than the NBA of their era. They were fabulous dribblers. I remember attending Hank Luisetti's Examiner Basketball School, and together with maybe 25 other kids, chasing the Globetrotter's Leon Hillard dribbling all around the gym, and not one of us could get a hand on the ball. When I watch the NBA today, there are so many players who palm the ball, carry it, and walk with it on every play. In the old college game, players had to dribble by placing their hand only on top of the ball. Today's players are allowed to put their hand on the sides of the ball, and even on the bottom of the ball. Today's crossover dribble would have been a turnover in 1970. Kevin Durant's putting his hand under the ball as he dribbled and carrying it would have been a turnover in 1970. Today's Eurostep would have been a traveling violation in 1970. I watched a Warrior game recently where a guard took FOUR steps from the three-point line without a dribble to score a layup in the final seconds, and a traveling violation was not called.
The rules of the modern game severely restrict what defenses can do. Defenders can't use their hands, while dribbler can use his off hand to push or hit a defender on the drive, with no foul called. A defender can't stand between his man and the basket inside an arbitrary semicircle near the hoop. Old-time defense was man to man with an occasional double team. Zones were introduced for teams which did not have good man defenders. The modern game has Help Defense. This results in a player no longer being able to get in their best position to stay in front of their man, the crouch, but instead needing to stand up, so he can quickly leave his man to help out a teammate. More recently, we now have Help Defense even in zone defenses. So not only are players not learning to be good man on man defenders, but now they are not learning how to be good zone defenders as well.
Finally, when comparing the players of different generations, the modern players are injured much more frequently and with more severe injuries than the players of old. Injuries cost Cal a probable nice run in the NCAA in 2016. Jaylen Brown is now out for the remainder of the NBA season with a torn ligament in his hand. Players today have put on too much bulk and muscle for the strength of their frames, and to make things worse, they try to play at 110% of their capability, and they get hurt all the time. John Havlicek of the old Celtics said he tried to play at 85% of his capability most of the game. Today, every team, college or pro, always seems to have several players injured and unable to play on any given night. This isn't limited to basketball. Back when Willie Mays was playing baseball, players played every day. There was no disabled list, while today, MLB has several disabled lists for injured players, depending on how long a player is predicted to take to recover. In the 1960s, basketball fans were assured that when they bought a ticket to a game, that they would see all their favorite players just about every game. Not so today.
SFCB
PS: Your idea of a fantasy game between the modern players against the old-timers would be unplayable, and all the fans would leave during the first half. If you played the game by today's rules, with today's referees, the old timers would be called for a lot of turnovers and a ton of fouls. If you played the game with the old rules, and the old-time players, the modern players would be called for a ton of turnovers and a lot of fouls.
SFCityBear
