Just for fun: if you could see any player from past eras play in today's NBA, who would you want to see?

[Used 2 B Hu]

Jerry West. He could hit buckets from anywhere on the court.

Read an interesting eulogy on West recently. Dude grew up poor/hard and his dad beat the hell out of him. All those titles the Lakers lost to the Celtics, West played great and made tons of shots, but they still lost. It wasn't until he stopped shooting and started passing the ball that they finally beat the Celtics. He would beat himself up pretty badly for the losses, but even when they won, he felt bad because he didn't make as many shots and he felt like he wasn't contributing. Appears he was a deeply unhappy man despite all the titles he was a part of as player or executive.

 

[rmilia1]

The MJ can't shoot from range is a pretty funny take. It wasn't a big part of the game when he played but he had several years that he shot a good percentage and his mid-range game was great. He would adapt fine. He was doubled quite a bit then and the defensive rules were tougher. I don't know if he would average 50, but he would be far more Michael Jordan than DeMar DeRozan in toady's NBA.

I mean it was way easier to play MJs style in the 80s and 90s than it would be now

Yes the game was more physical but you could also legit clear out an entire side of the floor and let a guy ostensibly go 1v1 and there was nothing the other team could do to stop it and you couldn't really even prevent him from catching the ball to begin with since you couldn't double off the ball so once he caught it you could just clear it out

That's just not the case now

I think he'd really really struggle to adapt personally.

I'm sure he'd eventually be good. ( i mean a more athletic DeMar DeRozan isn't a slight as DD is very good ) but the people who think you could drop him into today's league and he's excel are taking a pretty huge leap of faith bad mostly on their romanticized memories of MJ and not reality

 

[logic]

I mean it was way easier to play MJs style in the 80s and 90s than it would be now

Yes the game was more physical but you could also legit clear out an entire side of the floor and let a guy ostensibly go 1v1 and there was nothing the other team could do to stop it and you couldn't really even prevent him from catching the ball to begin with since you couldn't double off the ball so once he caught it you could just clear it out

That's just not the case now

I think he'd really really struggle to adapt personally.

I'm sure he'd eventually be good. ( i mean a more athletic DeMar DeRozan isn't a slight as DD is very good ) but the people who think you could drop him into today's league and he's excel are taking a pretty huge leap of faith bad mostly on their romanticized memories of MJ and not reality

You're absolutely kidding, right? I still see whole sides of the floor cleared out regularly. You also see the middle far more wide open than it ever was in Jordan's day with everyone camped at the 3 point line. Jordan would have a field day getting to the rim. And you are going to double him before he has the ball? I assume his team still has 4 other players, so you are just leaving one guy uncovered? Jordan would adapt readily to today's NBA and be the dominant force that he was.

 

[tlance]

I mean it was way easier to play MJs style in the 80s and 90s than it would be now

Yes the game was more physical but you could also legit clear out an entire side of the floor and let a guy ostensibly go 1v1 and there was nothing the other team could do to stop it and you couldn't really even prevent him from catching the ball to begin with since you couldn't double off the ball so once he caught it you could just clear it out

That's just not the case now

I think he'd really really struggle to adapt personally.

I'm sure he'd eventually be good. ( i mean a more athletic DeMar DeRozan isn't a slight as DD is very good ) but the people who think you could drop him into today's league and he's excel are taking a pretty huge leap of faith bad mostly on their romanticized memories of MJ and not reality

You had me agreeing until the second half of your post.

Compare him to a better version of SGA and you would have a better point.

But totally agree on the romanticization of MJ.

 

[shopson67]

Hardly. They’d be out on the perimeter stretching things.

Not defensively

 

[Shanemansj13]

MJ would still be unstoppable but he is not averaging 40 or 50. That is a joke. harden and luka averaged around 35 and 10 assists so yeah sure I could see 35 for his prime. The league is much more athletic and some teams have 3 or 4 athletic guys with a huge wingspan to defend. You rarely saw that back then. The amount of athletic bigs is ridiculous now, it wouldn’t be nearly as easy as in his day. I could buy Harden in his prime scoring wise

 

[rmilia1]

You had me agreeing until the second half of your post.

Compare him to a better version of SGA and you would have a better point.

But totally agree on the romanticization of MJ.

I don't think he's as quick as SGA otherwise that's fair

But quickness is a bigger deal than people think too

 

[rmilia1]

You're absolutely kidding, right? I still see whole sides of the floor cleared out regularly. You also see the middle far more wide open than it ever was in Jordan's day with everyone camped at the 3 point line. Jordan would have a field day getting to the rim. And you are going to double him before he has the ball? I assume his team still has 4 other players, so you are just leaving one guy uncovered? Jordan would adapt readily to today's NBA and be the dominant force that he was.

Not nearly at the level a MJs era

Dudes of the floor are cleared out now when the defense shows it to be

That's not the case in the 80s and 90s. Ds had no option rules wise

 

[Wamu]

Read an interesting eulogy on West recently. Dude grew up poor/hard and his dad beat the hell out of him. All those titles the Lakers lost to the Celtics, West played great and made tons of shots, but they still lost. It wasn't until he stopped shooting and started passing the ball that they finally beat the Celtics. He would beat himself up pretty badly for the losses, but even when they won, he felt bad because he didn't make as many shots and he felt like he wasn't contributing. Appears he was a deeply unhappy man despite all the titles he was a part of as player or executive.

I heard about him growing up poor. But West never beat Boston in the playoffs. His lone ring was against the Knicks in '72. He was 0-7 or 0-8 vs. the Celtics in the Finals.

 

[Used 2 B Hu]

I heard about him growing up poor. But West never beat Boston in the playoffs. His lone ring was against the Knicks in '72. He was 0-7 or 0-8 vs. the Celtics in the Finals.

Whoops, my bad

 

[trojanfan12]

Read an interesting eulogy on West recently. Dude grew up poor/hard and his dad beat the hell out of him. All those titles the Lakers lost to the Celtics, West played great and made tons of shots, but they still lost. It wasn't until he stopped shooting and started passing the ball that they finally beat the Celtics. He would beat himself up pretty badly for the losses, but even when they won, he felt bad because he didn't make as many shots and he felt like he wasn't contributing. Appears he was a deeply unhappy man despite all the titles he was a part of as player or executive.

Yeah, he actually slept with a shotgun and once told his Dad that if he beat his Mom again, he'd kill him.

I don't know as that he was deeply unhappy, but he did overcome a lot and it affected him.

A lot of the stuff in the NBA was he was incredibly competitive, a perfectionist and held himself to those standards.

Even as a GM with the Lakers, he used to watch games from the tunnel because he couldn't just sit and a watch a game.

 

[msgkings322]

Yeah, he actually slept with a shotgun and once told his Dad that if he beat his Mom again, he'd kill him.

I don't know as that he was deeply unhappy, but he did overcome a lot and it affected him.

A lot of the stuff in the NBA was he was incredibly competitive, a perfectionist and held himself to those standards.

Even as a GM with the Lakers, he used to watch games from the tunnel because he couldn't just sit and a watch a game.

@Used 2 B Hu ever watch that show Winning Time? You'd like it

 

[DrewScott]

Bernard King
Isaiah Thomas
John Havlicek

 

[thunderc]

@Used 2 B Hu ever watch that show Winning Time? You'd like it

A lot of the stuff Ive heard since about West was definitely shown well in that show.

 

[msgkings322]

A lot of the stuff Ive heard since about West was definitely shown well in that show.

It was fun for one season only though. The casting was incredible every actor really nailed their parts, felt just like I imagined them. Kinda bummed they messed around with facts and timelines though.

 

[broncosmitty]

MJ would still be unstoppable but he is not averaging 40 or 50. That is a joke. harden and luka averaged around 35 and 10 assists so yeah sure I could see 35 for his prime. The league is much more athletic and some teams have 3 or 4 athletic guys with a huge wingspan to defend. You rarely saw that back then. The amount of athletic bigs is ridiculous now, it wouldn’t be nearly as easy as in his day. I could buy Harden in his prime scoring wise

I could see MJ averaging 40 today, if his surrounding cast was bad enough.

He came close to 40 that one year before he had Pippen and company.

 

[broncosmitty]

@Used 2 B Hu ever watch that show Winning Time? You'd like it

Unlike Jerry.

Who I think hated them for even making it.

 

[antone112]

Oliver Miller
Legend has it, there was Carl’s Jr ad on the scoreboard when this picture was taken.

 

[Used 2 B Hu]

@Used 2 B Hu ever watch that show Winning Time? You'd like it

No, I'll have to check it out, thanks

 

[logic]

Oliver MillerView attachment 384988
Legend has it, there was Carl’s Jr ad on the scoreboard when this picture was taken.

The precursor to Zion