Is Talent in the nba lacking?

[SHAQATTACK]

I always thought as the NBA expanded to more teams the talent level dropped , with the really great players scattered thin amoung the teams.

Maybe untrue ,  just seems that old teams from the 60-80 s the players were exceptional and many on the same team

[guava_wrench]

the discrepancy between the upper-echelon and the next tier of talent is glaring. and the upper-echelon is extremely lonely. anyone disputing this is not being honest with themselves.

if we had paul pierce in his late 20's right now we'd be the 2 seed in the east regardless of who else was on the team. the league is horribly pitiful currently.

sadly the Celtics are partly to blame for this too.

I do agree with this. While there were certainly powerhouse teams in earlier eras, the era of the super teams like the Heat, Spurs and Cavs is a major problem for the competitiveness of the NBA. Each teaming wanting to have 2 or 3 superstars, means they are not spread out among different teams. This has become really bad in the east where the series for the most part haven't even been competitive. The first round should not be the only entertaining round of the playoffs (although injuries haven't helped)

What is ironic is I remember 10 years ago hearing people on here complaining that the best teams didn't have as many HOF caliber players as the best teams in the 90s and that was a sign of a lack of depth. Well, here it is. This is old fashioned consolidate the best players on a few teams basketball. And people still want to complain that the league now doesn't compare to the supposed good old days.

[guava_wrench]

Regarding the claim that if we had Paul Pierce now we would be the second seed -- do you remember how pathetic the East was back in Pierce's prime? The Nets were getting to the finals with some sad teams.

[dannyboy35]

I think there's no bird, Jordan or magic . Guys at the very top aren't quite as amazing but overall the talent level is vastly improved. Watch games from the 80's and you see guards playing 2-3 feet off their man right at the 3 point line. Defense , ball handling I think our the most vastly improved skills. The big man game on the other hand is so much worse and almost non existent in comparison.
   But for the older generation whining that the play was much more physical, they are correct, but hand checking on the perimeter equals- " I can't stay in front of you with my feet." It's an admission of not being able to guard a guy. It's one rule in very happy has been instituted.
    Think of what is often considered the heyday of the nba. Let's take 1986. 23 teams in the league. Now we have 30. If we took the worst 7 teams wiped them out and redistributed them, imagine the super squads. It would be incredible.
   Lastly, and maybe this should be in another thread, but the worst part of the nba has nothing to do with the players. Rivalries are not even allowed. Hockey players can repeatedly punch each other in the face and nobody bats an eye. In the Nba if a player just gets in a guy's face he gets a tech. If this happens in the first quarter now he has to check his emotions for 3 qtrs. It's ruined the game.Nba brass ( in my opinion) is so afraid of big black guys going crazy). They act like King Kong could get loose on the stadium all because of one stupid incident( pacers fiasco) . I'm a white guy saying it's based in racism.

[2short]

Let's see:
Perimeter defensive rules changed to benefit offense
League expansion watered down teams, to this day the nba hasn't gotten back to the same level (someday I'm sure)
Add in poor officiating that seems to benefit certain teams.  Obviously add in Jordan/Lebron calls.

I'd love to see a good team from the 80's (pick one) but let's say the Bucks play against current teams with current rules/refs.  Moncrief, Lanier, pierce, bridgeman, sikma, Johnson, Buckner.

Granted that list is off the top of my head so not sure if all played together but they were as I remember below Boston and philly in playoffs.  Brian Winter was a sharp shooter that also played.  Cmon Sikma would be a beast in today's nba, an old bob Lanier same.   As older fans we don't compare and don't think too much about it.  As soon as "Jordan rules" started the nba simply is a weaker product.

[LooseCannon]

Talent trumps size.  Plodding big men who clog the middle are dinosaurs now because the talent has made smallball a preferable alternative to dumb oxen with overactive pituitary glands.

[mr. dee]

Today's league is catering towards team-oriented basketball rather then individual talents. We see many teams today without top-tier superstars. Even the one with superstars emphasis ball movements. Gone are the 1 on 1 iso's which was popularized by Jordan.

[GreenWarrior]

every era of the NBA had it's problems but don't anyone tell me this era is better because of this n' that. this era of the NBA is probably the worst, this is the era of encouraging the chuckers, encouraging the bad shot takers.

as good as steph is, he takes horrible shots. and everybody now wants to be the warriors without actually having a steph curry. 

[Celtics4ever]

The players are coming into the game less skilled with the one and done stuff.   I think the talent is still there, guys just do not always come in knowing how to shoot or play.

[dannyboy35]

It would be completely unfair to players but as a selfish fan I'd love to see guys have to be two years removed from high school instead of 1. I lost interest in college hoops from the plummeting of talent because of guys leaving early.

[pearljammer10]

Too many teams. The talent is spead out too thin over too many teams and waters down the competitive nature aside from 4 maybe 5 teams who are at the top.

[HomerSapien]

I think there is definitely some selective memory going on here. If anyone wants a refresher on the other side of the coin during this era, take a look at the 1986 - 91 drafts. The lack of talent entering the league during that stretch was appalling (David Robinson aside).

[Surferdad]

Too many teams. The talent is spead out too thin over too many teams and waters down the competitive nature aside from 4 maybe 5 teams who are at the top.

I never understood this argument.  It implies that there is a set limit to the talent available and that limit will never get bigger as the league expands.  Why should that be the case?  If anything, scouting is much more extensive now than even 20 years ago.  For example, it is commonplace for teams to have ongoing euro-scouting today, that wasn't the case in the past.  Africa and Asia are also new sources of talent.  For Europe alone, you add 300 million people so there has to be more talent available today.

[straightouttabahstun]

While the refs giving calls to superstars, lack of decent perimeter defense, and lack of overall defense sucks, I am enjoying the fact that ball movement is being encouraged again. It makes the game fun to watch. I liked bball in the early 2000's as a little kid and then got really bored with it around 03/04 and really didn't watch it regularly (of course I enjoyed the 08 and '10 runs, but that  was me casually paying attention to the Celtics rather than the league) again until the 2014-2015 season. I noticed ball movement and teamwork became way more involved in overall offensive schemes on a lot of these teams rather than that horrible iso work that became so common in the early/mid 2000's. So in some regards, it has gotten a little better.

[wdleehi]

I still think the player development has been the biggest problems for years. 



It used to be done in college, but with so many top player known to be one and done, the college game has shifted away from developing these guys to simplifying the game to a point where they can just play and try to win in one year. 


They come to the NBA, and there is not a lot of time for that type of training.  Especially for the big man. 



I am completely for the idea of an older age of NBA rookies.   Force them to get some job training before they enter this work force.   Whether it is college, over seas or (I think this should happen) the NBA developmental league.  Why not allow guys to go there and make them eligible to be drafted a few years later.