Let's just get one thing straight, like all sports, the game of basketball is constantly developing. The quality of play improves with every season.
The game used to be dominated by big men, who relied on their bruising interior offense. Height was absolutely the most vital component to victory.
In present day, the NBA is dominated by three point shooting, high-flying offense and excessive fouls, all of which are to the displeasure of numerous retired “legends.”
Various Hall of Famers have been outspoken about their opinions pertaining to the state of the NBA. The majority of these remarks are directed towards the league’s rising superstars, possibly out of fear of being overshadowed.
Their main point of argument consistently revolves around the absence of the “hand check” in today’s game. The demise of this rule, at the commencement of the 1999 season, has opened up the game for smaller players (mostly guards) and requires all players to move their feet in order to stay in front of the opposition.
I am well aware that the NBA is an offensively driven league. The brilliance at which points are scored has fueled the NBA’s rapidly increasing popularity. Additionally, it is no secret that this rule change makes it easier to draw fouls, and in turn, score. This very fact has lead former players such as Oscar Robertson and Walt Frazier to criticize, and furthermore disrespect current stars when they are compared to the “greats” of NBA history.
This is incredibly annoying for a lot of reasons. Primarily, the game of basketball is evolving! Players of today, across the board, are better than players of previous generations. There is simply no debating that. I am as certain about that as I am that Chipotle makes burrito bowls! Contemporary NBA players are far superior athletes than they used to be. They are cut from a different cloth, displaying incredible strength, speed, stamina, and leaping ability. This surplus of athleticism has sped up the game’s pace and has elevated the style of play above the rim while extending it beyond the three-point line.
In the 1960s and ‘70s, it was rare to see a player take off from the free-throw line, jump over another player, or dunk with the same ferocity that players do today. The NBA did not even implement the three-point line until 1979. Even then, players did not shoot outside shots with remotely the same prevalence or precision that they do now, in 2016.
Former defensive specialist, Walt Frazier, is convinced that if he had been given the opportunity to defend Stephen Curry (the best shooter ever), back in his prime (mid ‘70s), that he would be able to successfully force him off the perimeter and limit him to strictly two pointers.
That is absolutely ridiculous! Every single defender who has matched up with Curry knows that he is looking to shoot the three, and for some reason, even the best on-ball defenders have minimal success at doing so. Often times, Steph is not even looking at the basket when he shoots...
It is hard to believe that such unexplainable wizardry would be prevented by a simple hand check.
I am not trying to insult Clyde “The Glide.” He is an NBA champion and member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, as well as one of the greatest players of his era. But the truth remains the same, he would not stand a chance against the highly skilled guards of the present.
As intriguing as it is, there is no way to compare players from such different generations. It simply is not fair. Imagine Bill Russell trying to stop Shaquille O’Neal, or Elgin Baylor attempting to slow down Lebron James on the wing…that is a silly thought indeed.
Sure, the lack of the hand check rule does make it easier to score. However, this leveling of the playing field has lead to an increase in player conditioning and defensive intelligence. Players such as Frazier and Robertson were never exposed to the intense training regimen that is now considered commonplace among professional athletes. So instead of downplaying the greatness of players in the modern era by dealing in grouchy hypotheticals, they should embrace the game’s evolution, and their roles as pioneers of such a beautiful and beloved sport.
