Not sure who "started it" either, but Magic predates MJ and carried a lot. Players today would out shoot 80s and 90s players on a whole, but the hand checking and physicality would be a big adjustment for today's stars. Imagine Jordan with no hand checking, lol. 50ppg
It certainly does make it a hell of a lot more difficult to guard. Those that complain about today's defenses never had to play against today's ball handling (and what's allowed).
The lack of hand checking would have indeed given MJ and an easier time. That said, if we give MJ all of the modern experience, the level of athleticism he’d encounter might fully compensate for the hand check benefit. It’s an army of freaks out there today.
There's a lot of talent, no doubt, but MJ was in his own tier of freak and I'm not sure the game has evolved physically that much in the last 20 years. Could he have adapted to today's 3pt heavy game? With his talent and his drive, I'd guess yes.
Again, it's hard to measure players of different eras. Sports science, training, and medicine are way better than they were 30 years ago. Put MJ into today's regimes and he would exceed the MJ of the '80s. Of course, if we're honest, he also benefited greatly from the Jordan Rules. He could slap the sh*te out of you and not get called. You'd be fired if you had the temerity to foul him out of a game.
It’s not easy to say, but I think we underestimate the progression of athleticism. This will have to slow down soon, as we must be reaching an asymptote, but I think there’s definitely some distance between the 1992 dream team and the folks today. Clearly Jordan would still be a badass today. I think Wilt Chamberlain would also be a badass, but he wouldn’t be outrunning guards anymore! PS An awesome article on this topic: Somebody Get Katie Ledecky A Time Machine
There's truth to all that. My guess is there are a few drivers here: - Increased population and participation: This would be two-fold. More people trying equates to higher chances of "freaks" finding your sport. Two, more pop/players also means earlier, more intense competition - further improving skills through competition, more time in the gam, longer seasons, more coaches, etc .. - Modern sports science. We just know how to eat, train, recover, and heal better. So the freaks are stronger and maximizing their speed. They're also less likely to fall out due to injury. In our fantasy discussion here, you'd have to have MJ playing rec, travel, AAU, school ball 11 months a year since age 8 - add 20pounds of muscle in him, and improve his speed and vertical slightly. Oh, he would probably be a better shooter, too. Regardless, I just like the game back then more.
Oh yeah it is a complex set of factors. And certainly none of this is to say the game is better today. We’re about the same age, I think, and I have a reverence for the MJ days as well. This is actually one reason I’m glad the 92’ dream team can’t play against our modern Olympic squads. I’d be a bit frightened at the possible outcome.
Please. Michael Jordan. Magic Johnson. Larry Bird. Charles Barkley. Patrick Ewing. David Robinson. Karl Malone. Clyde Drexler. John Stockton. Scottie Pippen. The Dream Team would still bring home the gold. The narrowest margin of victory was 32 points. Coach Dailey never even called a timeout.
The last two statements are objectives facts (I’m trusting you on the timeout one), but I think we can all agree that the international basketball scene wasn’t exactly in top form back then, so I’m not sure how useful these stats are. Those dude were all out legends and their combined Star power may never be matched. That said, if Magic had to go up against LeBron, someone similar to his own side, I think he’d be surprised to find a guy with the athleticism of Drexler combined with the strength of David Robinson. Durant, Westbrook, Curry, Harden, etc. would all be doing things that didn’t really happen in basketball back then. Not that this means the modern groups would definitely win, but I don’t think we can use the hall of fame status of the past players to show they wouldn’t. The basic argument is given here: Kobe's right: The Dream Team would lose | CNN
A Wilt or Shaq type player will dominant in any era due to size and physicality. Kareem was a gifted student of the game, excellent shooter, passer, defender and even rebounder when young. Kareem was also a good free throw shooter, so would not need to worry about today’s Hack a Shaq defensive strategies.
A healthy Anthony Davis would seem to be head and shoulders above any other American big man, unless one or more of the foreign big men have become American citizens.
