I can make a team today to beat the 1992 Dream Team

[SJ76]

Son, I been smoking since before you were alive...I use top shelf bongs.

90s weed vs today's weed? Haha. It's NOT even close

 

[DorianRo]

No team today could beat that '92 team. Since that team had Peak Jordan

 

[msgkings322]

No team today could beat that '92 team. Since that team had Peak Jordan

Who?

 

[SJ76]

Who?

Peak Jordan


Gamble until 4am in Atlantic City and then drop 40 on the knicks the next day in the playoffs

 

[SJ76]

While Marv Albert is beating hookers in his hotel room

 

[Wamu]

Jordan and Barkley alone would be classic. All up in their grill

Don't forget about Bird. He was known throughout his career for being 1 of the best trash talkers in the game.

 

[Wamu]

Who?

Eddie Jordan?

 

[Wamu]

While Marv Albert is beating hookers in his hotel room

Doesn't he bite them as well?

 

[tlance]

A rim protector in today's game and a rim protector back then, are not the same. Something tells me that guys like MJ, Pippen and Barkley wouldn't exactly be deterred by the sight of Kevin Durant as the last line of defense.

They'd likely take turns putting him on posters.

Davis, on the other hand, might make them think twice.

Why?

KD is every bit as long as the elite centers from the 90s, but he is quicker, faster, more agile and he jumps higher.

Yes, he isn't as strong, but I think you are way underselling KD's abilities compared to 90s rim protectors.

Also, keep in mind that in the 90s there were a lot more contested shot attempts in the paint and defenses were far less spread out, so there were more opportunities for blocks.

 

[DirtDirtDirt]

While the "back in my day" guys may definitely suffer from nostalgia bias (players tend to get better in our minds the farther we get from their actual playing days), the "everything is better today" guys suffer from recency bias.

The thing that the "everything is better today" guys tend to forget however, is that the "back in my day" guys have actually seen both sets of players play their entire careers. The "everything is better today" guys haven't.

As I said in my previous post...todays guys don't get blown out by any means, but the Original Dream Team wins a 7 game series in 6, imo.

Really well said, and totally fair

Ive seen both eras' myself, so dont completely dis-agree, its the fans that have the "No Contest" mentality that suffer too much from the "Back in My day" bias

 

[bksballer89]

Really well said, and totally fair

Ive seen both eras' myself, so dont completely dis-agree, its the fans that have the "No Contest" mentality that suffer too much from the "Back in My day" bias

Yep that's what I hate. The no contest BS is annoying

 

[DirtDirtDirt]

Yep that's what I hate. The no contest BS is annoying

Just to toss out a 5 of Durant/Lebron/Curry/Anthony Davis and say, dunno, Greek Freak or Westbrook maybe

Thats not getting steamrolled by any era ever

 

[Hornsstampede2.0]

Today's players win fairly comfortably.

Nostalgia is just a way to paint a pretty picture over the more bleaker realities of the past.

It usually is harmless, but if we get too caught up in nostalgia, we can ignore good things in the present.

In sports it is particularly annoying. Baseball is by far and away the guiltiest of all.

Players get faster, stronger, and more talented over time.

I can say with 100% certainty that the NBA best players of the year 2034 will be better than the players of 2018 assuming the same progressions and popularity.

 

[pittpnthrs]

Didnt read all of the posts, but the 90's Dream Team would win the high majority of the games. They would brutalize the other team down low. There's no answer for Robinson, Ewing, Malone, and Barkley.

 

[thunderc]

Didnt read all of the posts, but the 90's Dream Team would win the high majority of the games. They would brutalize the other team down low. There's no answer for Robinson, Ewing, Malone, and Barkley.

Agreed, honestky it’s an era of real tough guys versus the fake tough guys we have now.

 

[pittpnthrs]

Agreed, honestky it’s an era of real tough guys versus the fake tough guys we have now.

Its just that nobody knows how to play down in the blocks anymore. Embid is the best center i've seen in years and he dominates teams of today. As good as Embid is, he's nowhere near as good as Ewing and Robinson. Barkley was only 6' 4' but he led the league in rebounding one year when that meant something. If I had to choose between players shooting 30 some percent from three point range or players shooting much higher percentages around the basket, i'll take the higher percentages.

 

[flyerhawk]

We've had similar conversations in the past.

First off, which rules are we playing? If we are playing modern rules, then the modern team wins comfortably. The post-up has gone the way of the dodo bird because zone defenses make it far less reliable a scoring attack. The same with isolations. The NBA did this INTENTIONALLY. So those post-ups are just about a one on one in the paint. Once the ball goes down to the base, the defense can collapse. The reduced value of the short range post-up made the 3 point more valuable. So all those post-up guys would really struggle defending all these perimeter guys who are money with an open look. Hard to imagine the older guys being able to stay in those games, save a remarkably bad shooting night by everyone.

Now if you are talking 90s rules, things are a bit different. The modern guys would struggle with those post-up guys on their own. Modern day rim protectors are much more mobile but lighter. They would struggle with the back-up to the hoop. The 90s game was more about individual ability. Which brings up the other differentiator.

Conditioning. There is NO QUESTION that modern players are in better shape than those early 90s players. I read somewhere the Lebron James spends something like 1.5 million a year on his conditioning. Out of his own pocket. While that is extreme, the players ALL focus on conditioning far more than players did in the 90s. Part of that is technology has advanced. And part of that is the talent pool has expanded dramatically. The number of non-USA players in the league today is night and day compared to the early 90s.

 

[msgkings322]

Its just that nobody knows how to play down in the blocks anymore. Embid is the best center i've seen in years and he dominates teams of today. As good as Embid is, he's nowhere near as good as Ewing and Robinson. Barkley was only 6' 4' but he led the league in rebounding one year when that meant something. If I had to choose between players shooting 30 some percent from three point range or players shooting much higher percentages around the basket, i'll take the higher percentages.

But with the guys on the team like Curry, Durant, Thompson it's 40% from 3 which is a whole nother thing. Read the thread there's solid takes on both sides. Kind of comes down to which defensive rules are allowed

 

[flyerhawk]

If I had to choose between players shooting 30 some percent from three point range or players shooting much higher percentages around the basket, i'll take the higher percentages.

And yet the best team in the league, perhaps the greatest team of all time, completely disagrees with you.

 

[pittpnthrs]

If we are playing modern rules, then the modern team wins comfortably. The post-up has gone the way of the dodo bird because zone defenses make it far less reliable a scoring attack.

Again, tell that to Joel Embid.