Just using actual logic instead of the weird reverse-logic of "people were tougher and better for some unknown reason decades ago than they are now", it's self-evident that more worldwide interest in the league, higher salaries, more access to basketball at a younger age, increased competition due to all of this, smarter body and sports science, and smarter coaching and management would lead to better play.

"I see a lot of sloppy play with the ball" is likely not true in comparison with the '80s-'90s.

"Everyone spread out around the arc" - yes this is generally a good thing, because unlike morons in the '80s-'90s, coaches of today have often done some simple math and found that 3s > 2s. They've even done complex math and found that, say, a 33% chance of hitting a 3 is better than even a 49% of hitting a 2.

"No one inside" is not true.

"No one stopping penetration" is of course not true, but if it there is truth to it then it's due to better offensive play, perhaps more screens (don't know), less aggressive defense allowed, generally more complex tactical plays drawn up as well as athleticism to trigger penetration, and sometimes defenses "allowing" penetration in order to prevent 3s. Will get to this below.

"Not much post play" is true to an extent, partly because of rule changes, and partly because the types of shots generated from post play are often not efficient. There may be less incredible big men available at the moment, just due to variance (we're not living in an era where Shaq, Duncan, Hakeem, Robinson, and Ewing are all active)? I don't know.

Some teams such as the Spurs have gone against a lot of this, intentionally. They have focused on some more post play, zagging while the league is zigging. When they played the Rockets, their goal seemed to be to never allow open 3-pointers. If a Rocket could successfully penetrate, fine, the Spurs big men were waiting near the basket with their arms straight up in the air, refusing to foul and send them to the line.

Jordan dropping an NBA record that hasn't been broken since for points scored in a playoff game, in his second season after sitting most of it out because of a broken foot, is indeed far more impressive than LeBrons non-making the playoffs record.

Thanks for playing!

seems like Jordan slacked for the rest of his career

So , he did reach the playoff anyway ...

Ho wait now you are saying LeBron had more difficulty to make the playoff with a better team record because he faced tougher competition , so he should be excused for missing the playoff , but explaining Jordan lost in first rounds vs the celtics ( championship caliber) that does not count for explaining his lost.

Ok ...

If slacked is going for 6/6 and being considered the greatest ever I'd hate to think what you'd call LeBron 3/4 and being carried off the court for pussy pains

that scoring record though

At least LeBron can ignore his father without killing him

I guess he lacks the

Oh yeah LeBron had some teammate blowing out his mom's pussy on the reg and didn't put an end to it.

Cucked by a teammate while being a loser in the finals, after getting sonned in his first finals by a 35 year old journeyman.

Sounds like best ever material to me

MJ scoring a meaningless amount of points while losing pathetically in the first round seems pretty worthless tbh

Agree, now imagine the meaningless record of your team if you don't even reach the playoffs, twice....

But hey some think it is better to not reach the playoffs than lose in the first round of the playoffs vs the champions...

Am I right?

Did some tinkering with my model and improved the inputs and hypothetically if Cavs win this series AND LeBron plays well he'll move up to 6th all-time

If they win and he's carried he'll drop from 9th to 13th

If they lose he drops from 9th to either 16th or 17th depending on how Durant does

Big series for his legacy

Who do you think would win a 100m race between Carl Lewis and Usain Bolt in their primes?

How about a 100m freestyle between Mark Spitz and Michael Phelps?

Interesting how every sport with a timer consistently proves that athletes are getting better over time, yet people want to act like team sport athletes were somehow better back in the day.

plenty of track and field records have stood for 20-30 years or longer.

ill take peak tiger over any of the scrubs now on the pga tour. ill take peak bonds over any hitter currently in the mlb. and likewise with MJ.

He asked about the league being better, not the top players.

i didnt read all of his post. thats a stupid argument.

Canadians are truly the nut low NBA posters.

They balance it out with their HAWKEY knowledge

Well the did add Kevin ****ing Durant...

Would be funny tho if LeBron would reach out for westBrook to counter Durant if lebron lose this serie

Impressive.
Great points right there to help your side.

Dude. You have lebron and kobe as close. You are by far the most wrong poster itt.

Even gerb aj and woody dont go that far.

You dont get to critique smarter posters arguments.

CLE equity goes down if they get Westbrook

not close hey ?

i wonder when exactly ( year) you reach that conclusion of Lebron being much better than kobe

I am interested to know how far Lebron his over the top of Kobe as well, i am curious.


Anyway again,, i was speaking in the context of Barkley quote and the final arguments against Jordan about reaching more finals is more important than the actual results of it.
So quoting Kobe with a 5-2 record seemed adequate

You Just try to divert what i said and it is fine.
You style is easy since it is very hard to lose an arguments when you only criticize comments without putting forward your own arguments.
This way youre never being attacked and always on the offensive.
congratz

really how so ?
isnt he a good scorer?
tho i know it would be impossible anyway it would happen but still.

He's a loser. A stat stuffing loser