NBA: 80s/90s vs Now

You’re letting the previous season of NBA basketball cloud your judgment. Yes, this particular year was pretty much a glorified preamble to the Finals. But the same cannot necessarily be said prior to this year.

Say all you want about the teams in the 80’s and their chances for contention. The fact is that a grand total of TWO teams made it out of the West in the 1980’s, and the Lakers did it 8 times. In the East, Detroit made it to the Finals in '89, and Phillly made it once or twice, and then it’s all Boston. If more teams were in contention, then more teams would have made it to the Finals.

Also, I can’t speak on the rest of the league, but there is certainly legitimate tension between Warriors and Cavs players. Are they willing to throw down and brawl on the court in the middle of the Finals? No, but I don’t think the unwillingness of players to get into fights is a detriment to the league.

Tough playoff battles for the Bulls? They won the Conference Finals in 1991 4-0, and they won in the CF the next year 4-1. They won in '93 4-2, and in '96 they swept the Magic in 4. In '97 they won 4-1. It wasn’t until his last trip to the Conference Finals that Jordan played in a Game 7 in either the Conference Finals OR the NBA Finals. Think about that for a minute. For all the nostalgic reminiscences about Jordan or the 1980’s NBA, the fact is that Jordan only played in ONE Game 7 in any Finals, and the 1980’s NBA was basically the Lakers, the Celtics, and a random Finals appearance by the Rockets or the 76ers.

So, to what riveting playoff matchups do you refer? The last 13 Finals have gone to Game 7 four times. In the previous 25 Finals, there were only 3 Game 7’s.

Yeah, nostalgia is definitely clouding your judgment. But I get it, I tend to be the same way about the 1980’s 49ers.

First, I have no problem with the guys making their own choices, and I know you don’t either (at least on a “personal” level - i.e. you don’t personally hate Kevin Durant for signing with GSW).

I do think it’s worth pointing out that GSW could assemble this collection thanks (in part) to a few semi-fluky factors: a sudden explosion in the salary cap that may never be duplicated, Curry still being on a very cheap contract thanks to his early-career injury issues (he signed a 4 year, $44 million deal back in 2013 thanks to looming questions over his ankles - for reference, Timofey Mozgov got a 4-year $64 million deal to play 20 minutes per game, averaging 7 points and 5 rebounds) with their other guys already on very reasonable deals, which allowed them to sign Durant this past offseason at his market value without skyrocketing too far the luxury tax (yet). I understand the hand-wringing over Durant-to-GSW and what it means for competitive balance, but just remember that the perfect-storm which allowed one of the league’s best players to join the super-core in place for GSW is going to be an extremely rare event.

If we are worried about it happening again, though, suppose that there was no individual player max; in that scenario, last summer teams like the Sixers, Kings, or maybe even the Celtics could have thrown, like, $50 million per year at KD and still been under the salary cap. Sure, some guys might turn their nose up at the money, but a bunch would take the money (if only for the status symbol of being the highest-paid player in the league). By capping player’s salaries at a fixed fraction of the roster, it’s possible to get 3 high-quality stars on the same team. Remove that, and you won’t often see three of the league’s 10 best players giving up that much cash to sign together.

Keep in mind, too, that the Warriors are essentially a homegrown team, aside from Durant. They drafted Curry, Green, Thompson, Harrison Barnes (who played on two Finals teams and one champion), and Patrick McCaw (who is quickly becoming a very solid rotation player).

They made smart moves and purposely positioned themselves to be able to go after Durant when he became available. The Warriors simply went about doing things the right way, and luck only became a factor because, in true Machiavellian style, they prepared against Fortune’s whimsical ways. They made the right moves when it counted, and now it’s paying off. ANY fucking team in the NBA could have done the same thing. How many teams passed on Curry? Shit, Draymond Green was one of the last picks in the draft, and he was the Warriors THIRD pick in that draft.

While the rest of the league was throwing stupid money at a born fucking loser like Dwight Howard, the Warriors resisted that temptation and held onto their pieces, and now it’s paying off big-time.

I fully acknowledge that the two overwhelmingly heavy favorites to make the Finals next year are the Warriors and the Cavs. But how is that any different from the 1980’s, in which it was all but a foregone conclusion that the Lakers would play Boston or Philly in the Finals?

First let’s talk long-term narratives that resonate with fans. When stars don’t routinely hop from team-to-team, you have continuity that adds a whole other dimension to the idea of competitive parity. I grew up 50 minutes from Chicago, so let’s look at my man Jordan. He failed. A LOT. You know, just like LeBron did at the beginning of his career. Just like Durant, and just like most other modern superstars not named Tim Duncan.

They all ended up champions, but there is a HUGE difference to how they got there. LeBron and Durant just teamed up with a few other top 10 players and constructed instant champions. Jordan let the hate grow and fester, continued his growth as a player and turned his long-time team of failures into a winning machine. That’s awesome to watch unfold over the course of a few years. It is something almost everyone can relate to. Struggle, struggle, struggle. Keep struggling some more, then you break through and get the reward.

That was awesome to watch. A true competitive triumph if there ever was one.

Even in the admittedly less-competitive 80’s, the Celtics/Lakers rivalry is a sports treasure, and there is nothing like it in the league today. The two best players of the decade having intertwined fates going back to college, each competing year-after-year without burning the house down and moving to greener pastures at the first sign of struggle? Priceless. Will we ever see anything like that again? Not the way things are looking, no. Not unless the Cavs up the ante and get ANOTHER superstar, concentrating the league’s talent even further.

They most definitely are, and I loved how the NBA looked last year and the year before. I would have LOVED to see Durant lose to them for two more years and then do what Jordan did in '91. Find a way to beat those motherfuckers. Instead we go from three great contenders in once conference to a single super-team set to rule the NBA for the near future.

Seriously… Join forces with the guys who beat you? When it could have gone your way the next year if you get better? Really? Where’s Charles Oakley when you need him to knock some sense into these kids?

Nostalgia just ain’t what it used to be.

I owe you some specifics, so here they are. Again going with my most-watched team - Da Bulls.

'91 - They took the league by surprise and kicked everyone’s ass.
'92 - New York 7 game series - very close, could have gone either way. Cleveland 6 game series, Finals 6 game series. Game 6 they mounted a huge 4th quarter comeback, and it could have easily gone to 7 games with Portland.
'93 - Another great Knicks series where the Bulls come back from 2 games down. NBA finals in 6 games, with game 7 being averted by a last-second John Paxton 3 point shot from a pass by Jordan. Jordan passed the ball in the last second!!!

'96 - Okay Bulls win, very competitive Western Confernece.
'97 - Easy path to finals for Bulls, very competitive NBA finals. 4 games decided by 5 points or less, all but one more-or-less going down to the final posesssion.
'98 - Pacers create huge problems for Bulls, Riveting NBA finals with all but one game decided by 5 points or less, all more or-less going down to the final possession. Again a very competitive Western Conference.

I think a lot of people forget how close so many of the games leading up to Jordan’s 6 championships were, and how easily they could have turned out differently.

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You’re really overstating what Jordan did. He was a basketball player, not a god.

It wasn’t until Jordan was surrounded by other star players like Rodman, Pippen, and Grant that he started winning titles. And none of the teams against which he played could have held the Warriors’ jockstrap.

These atheletes nowadays cannot fucking win. First, they’re criticized for playing for the money and not the love of the game. Then, they start taking less money in order to increase their chances at a championship, and they get slammed for that, too.

Like Jordan wouldn’t have gone where the money is in today’s NBA! The guy is a degenerate fucking gambling fiend. If Scottie Pippen hogged the fucking ball the way Westbrook does, AND the Bulls were going to try to get Jordan to take several million less in order to also be able to accommodate Pippen, Jordan would have jumped ship for another contender in a heartbeat.

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How so? Can you give an example of an overstatement I made?

Sure, but I’m speaking about my preference for the NBA of 80s/90’s vs today, not whether teams from one era would beat the other.

That’s why all of the speculation about the “what-if” scenarios is pointless. Whether it is through a combination of culture, NBA policies, pride, money or misplaced notions of team loyalty, the fact of the matter is that we are now entering a new era where you have five players on one team with all-NBA talent and two of the top 3 players in the league.

The league has always been made up of the best ball players of the era, and the quality of those players has always been on an upward trend. That doesn’t mean the league is more entertaining. I’m arguing that it is less entertaining, for reasons I’ve outlined above. Things were looking good last year, but now we see how dramatically the landscape changes when a top 3 player joins a 73-win team.

Old dudes in Jordan’s prime were talking about how he’d never be as good as Magic or Bird. That’s just a generational thing.

I’m not big on the GOAT stuff, but as a teenager in Jordan’s prime, I remember that most of the entertainment value was on whether or not he would lose.

One of the things that I believe made the league more interesting in the late 80s-90s was that the teams played varied yet successful styles. You might face a post up offense one game, a PnR offense the next, and a run and gun shooting team the next.

Sports in general seems to have evolved to a point where most teams play a similar version. Probably due to analytics.