New generation of superstars..

[Axl Rose]

uggh wade took his team to the finals got a ring/finals mvp

lebron/dwight made the finals but didnt win

 

[AE23]

I don't get it....Durant, DRose, Love, Westbrook and them are more 'hungry' than Lebron, Wade, Paul, Howard?

Idk...but of all those guys I metioned only Wade's got a ring

 

[AE23]

I will say this. The two generations are pretty obvious.

And I do like the new school cos my guy is one of them.

 

[houheffna]

I will say this. The two generations are pretty obvious.

And I do like the new school cos my guy is one of them.

Then maybe you can help me differentiate between these two generations...what year is the dividing line?

 

[thechosenone]

It's just a feeling I have that the new generation is more dedicated to the game and taking things more serious than the previous generation. I am not saying that the previous generation was lacking of talent or sth. In terms of talent they are OK. It's just that they firstly want to have fun and secondly to play basketball. And it's about the respect they show to the game. Could you imagine Jordan doing this?

 

[thechosenone]

Then maybe you can help me differentiate between these two generations...what year is the dividing line?

I can help you.
New generation is 1-5 years pro
Previous generation is 6-10 years pro

And of course I am talking about the majority not about every single player. There are always exceptions.

 

[houheffna]

It's just a feeling I have that the new generation is more dedicated to the game and taking things more serious than the previous generation. I am not saying that the previous generation was lacking of talent or sth. In terms of talent they are OK. It's just that they firstly want to have fun and secondly to play basketball. And it's about the respect they show to the game. Could you imagine Jordan doing this?

This is the antithesis of your statement...you pretty much proved my point with this...

Why did Lebron flop? What was the ultimate goal of his flopping? Or anyone flopping for that matter? Don't hate the player, hate the game...

 

[thechosenone]

No it's not the flop..As much as I hate flopping it's part of the game.
It's the eye blink. The way he shows everyone that he cheated. That's the lack of respect for the game.

 

[Frank Breakfast Styleham]

So right on that.

I heard Bill Simmons say recently that the NBA has NEVER had this deep of a star pool in the league and couldn't disagree with him more.

For years I've been saying the talent level is as low as it's been since the 60's.

I'll say it again - if Wilt played today he would either replicate what he did in the early 60's or do even more.

Dwight Howard is ALL by himself.

Who would stop a 23 year old Wilt if he played today - Kaman? Brook Lopez and his broken foot? Chuck Hayes (a 6-7"...6-8" center whose played in THIS generation).

When the Dream Team generation got old and left, that left a void in the game the league may never fully recover from.

It's still fun to watch here and there but I'm alarmed at how many games I see where it doesn't feel like I'm watching an NBA game - it feels like I'm watching the stereotypical college game.

Just essentially a group of superb athletes and leapers but who don't have the rest of the package to go with it.

Last night I actually turned away from the NBA to watch Baylor-Tennessee WOMENS baasketball and enjoyed that more than anything that was on.

For the most part, the NBA is a different breed than what we were used to in the previous generation.

That's when the NBA was the NBA.

Now the league is as good as season 6 of Night Court.

After the worst basketball superstars generation of all time (LBJ,Wade,Bosh,Howard,Carmelo etc) we have the new generation full of skills,passion and respect for the game. (Durant,Rose,Love,Westbrook,Irving etc)

Anyone else is hoping for better basketball days?

Maybe the basketball can become again as it was the good old days. With superstars who don't care only for money and fame, with great passion for the game, super competitiveness and mutual respect for each other. Who see the game as a team game and would die for their teammates and not only for their stats and their big contracts.

That is the generation of superstars that the game deserves after Jordan,Kobe,Malone,Hakeem,Stockton,Dirk and so many other players who gave their souls to the game.

All this shiny shit was just a bad period of players who got fame and money winning nothing.

 

[AE23]

Then maybe you can help me differentiate between these two generations...what year is the dividing line?

what. year Idk but this is how I see it.

You got Kobe, Tim, KG, Nash, Dirk, Ray Allen, Paul Pirce, Jason Kidd, Terryall the old guys, Ginobli, Parker..

Then you got the current class. Lebron, Wade, Paul, Howard, Deron Williams, Melo, though Id put Stoudamire in the previous class.. the guys I see the new school getting into it wit.

The new school, guys like DRose, Durant, Love, Westbrook, Blake Griifin, and it'll grow.

No it's not the flop..As much as I hate flopping it's part of the game.
It's the eye blink. The way he shows everyone that he cheated. That's the lack of respect for the game.

Ofcourse the new class isn't gonna come into the NBA like they own the place. I'm not sure if I remember LBJ or Wade or Howard doin it either...

 

[Frank Breakfast Styleham]

And more to the point - have you guys seen Baylor's Brittany Griner!?

I'm telling you right now - if Corey Benjamin and Earl Boykins could make it to the NBA, Brittany Griner could play in the NBA.

Not be a huge star but if she got 30 minutes in a game against a team like Toronto or New Orleans, she could score 15 points and grab 8 boards in her sleep.

She's that good.

 

[houheffna]

And more to the point - have you guys seen Baylor's Brittany Griner!?

I'm telling you right now - if Corey Benjamin and Earl Boykins could make it to the NBA, Brittany Griner could play in the NBA.

Not be a huge star but if she got 30 minutes in a game against a team like Toronto or New Orleans, she could score 15 points and grab 8 boards in her sleep.

She's that good.

Please stop with this...you have been talking this for years...no that chick could not play in the NBA. Asik would score 50 on her!

 

[Frank Breakfast Styleham]

Hou...

Please stop with this...you have been talking this for years...no that chick could not play in the NBA. Asik would score 50 on her!

 

[Frank Breakfast Styleham]

People told Muggsy Bogues and Earl Boykins they couldn't make it to the NBA, you get that right?

Again, I'm not saying Griner would be an All-Star by any stretch of the imagination.

But in the same way that even Jeremy Lin, the 13th guy on the Knicks bench, lit it up when given the opportunity, there's no doubt in my mind Brittany Griner could silence the critics against a team like the Hornets or Bobcats.

I don't think she could do it against the Bulls or the more elite teams and it would fizzle out eventually but again Houston, if Tim Kempton and Dragon Tarlac could make the NBA, Brittany Griner could at the very least make a roster and on occasion, have a good showing against certain teams with the good faith of the coach having confidence in her abilities.

Please stop with this...you have been talking this for years...no that chick could not play in the NBA. Asik would score 50 on her!

 

[houheffna]

So right on that.

I heard Bill Simmons say recently that the NBA has NEVER had this deep of a star pool in the league and couldn't disagree with him more.

For years I've been saying the talent level is as low as it's been since the 60's.

I'll say it again - if Wilt played today he would either replicate what he did in the early 60's or do even more.

Dwight Howard is ALL by himself.

Who would stop a 23 year old Wilt if he played today - Kaman? Brook Lopez and his broken foot? Chuck Hayes (a 6-7"...6-8" center whose played in THIS generation).

When the Dream Team generation got old and left, that left a void in the game the league may never fully recover from.

It's still fun to watch here and there but I'm alarmed at how many games I see where it doesn't feel like I'm watching an NBA game - it feels like I'm watching the stereotypical college game.

Just essentially a group of superb athletes and leapers but who don't have the rest of the package to go with it.

Last night I actually turned away from the NBA to watch Baylor-Tennessee WOMENS baasketball and enjoyed that more than anything that was on.

For the most part, the NBA is a different breed than what we were used to in the previous generation.

That's when the NBA was the NBA.

Now the league is as good as season 6 of Night Court.

Pining for the good ol' days...when Scott Skiles was the best player on the Magic. The depth of perimeter star play in the league surpasses anytime in the league's history. There have never been players like Lebron James and Kevin Durant before. You can't name a player that compares to them. Yes, there is a lack of skilled big men, but I don't think Wilt Chamberlain could score 50ppg in today's game, that is a bit too much don't you think?

The game has evolved, the players today are bigger and stronger. NO player from a previous era comes in and averages 50ppg in today's game...don't think so.

 

[Frank Breakfast Styleham]

That's patently absurd.

1. Scott Skiles had Shaq. What are you talking about? Even Skiles, in that generation set the NBA record for assists so he's not exactly Luke Ridnour.

If everyone's so much better and guards have evolved so much why aren't they breaking Scott Skiles' record? Why aren't we turning on Sports Center and seeing Darren Collison getting a standing ovation as he walked to the bench after recording his 36th dime?

Yeah, they didn't have Shaq till 92, but why did you conveniently use a team that was in their early expansion years to try and do a magic trick (get it...MAGIC trick...you see what I did there...?) and make it sound like every single team in the league was in that same boat talent wise?

Of course an expansion team is going to take a few years.

(And that team did have Terry Catledge too by the way).

2. What do you mean by "depth of perimeter star play" being superior than anytime in NBA history? We may be thinking of two different things.

Where I'm coming from is, in the previous generation, there were true superstars.

There were SO many great players - look at who got left off the Dream Team - Isiah Thomas, Dominique Wilkins, Shaquille O'Neal...those are the guys who DIDN'T make it!

Are you kidding me!? The last "Dream Teams" had Michael Redd and Carlos Boozer on it.

So you're telling me the 2012 Olympic Team could beat the 1992 Olympic Team? And you're the one calling for chicitysports to drug test me?

Michael Redd and Carlos Boozer at any point in their careers couldn't even sniff the All-Star team in the 90's, let alone the Dream Team. Get out of here!

3. I can't come up with anyone who compares with Lebron and Durant?

They're nice players but I think Michael Jordan compares rather well. I think that Magic Johnson compares well.

You're saying LeBron and Durant are better than anyone in NBA history? Pardon my language won't you please (and women, cover your children's ears) but that's balderdash! Hogwash! Poppycock!

This league is full of talent. I'm not denying that.

But if Wilt Chamberlain could get 55 rebounds against the greatest winner in the history of sports (and one of the top 5 defensive players of all-time) again, answer my question - who would stop him now? Robin Lopez? Chuck Hayes?

Get out of here!

The players are bigger and stronger and faster and more charismatic and we see them every night on 72 inch plasma HD screens from 19 different angles but that doesn't mean they're better than Michael and Magic and Bird.

Pining for the good ol' days...when Scott Skiles was the best player on the Magic. The depth of perimeter star play in the league surpasses anytime in the league's history. There have never been players like Lebron James and Kevin Durant before. You can't name a player that compares to them. Yes, there is a lack of skilled big men, but I don't think Wilt Chamberlain could score 50ppg in today's game, that is a bit too much don't you think?

The game has evolved, the players today are bigger and stronger. NO player from a previous era comes in and averages 50ppg in today's game...don't think so.

 

[Frank Breakfast Styleham]

Seriously. How can you say todays NBA has more stars?

If Michael Jordan walks into a taping of Oprah unannounced, he's getting a standing ovation and EVERYONE from sports fanatics to those who don't know anything about sports IMMEDIATELY knows who he is.

That's a superstar.

Charles Barkley walks in and everyone knows who HE is. Shaq passes that test.

But if Derrick Rose appears on Piers Morgan Live and Morgan doesn't say who he is and Rose is in street clothes, there will be all kinds of people who will have no idea who he is.

Tim Duncan won 4 rings. But no one knows who he is. And no one has ever wanted to watch him play.

There are good players today - don't get me wrong.

But MORE stars than the era that turned away Dominique Wilkins and Isiah Thomas and Shaq from a "Best of the Era" team in 1992?

When the most recent FIBA mega team had Chauncey Billups, Andre Iguodala and Tyson Chandler!?

This generation is BETTER than that huh? Really?

 

[Frank Breakfast Styleham]

With good centers being an endangered species, I'm telling you - if Duane Causwell played today in his youth, he would be Andrew Bynum.

And if Andrew Bynum played in 1992, he would be Duane Causwell.

 

[Diddy1122]

I will agree there seems to be a difference between the newer generation of stars emerging (KD, Rose, Westbrook, Love, Irving) than the established stars (Lebron, Wade, Howard, DWill, Melo) in terms of overall attitude. However, there's nothing to say that the newer stars humble & respectful nature will stay the same throughout their careers. Just look at Dwight Howard. He entered the league a God-fearing Christian who wore that on his sleeve like a badge of honor. Something happened during his time in the NBA that changed that or maybe he was putting on an act when he first came into the league.

But let's not delude ourselves here. The players we all loved & a good portion of us grew up cheering for (MJ, Bird, Magic, Hakeem, Malone, Ewing, etc.) all had just as many flaws as the players that seem be getting derided here. MJ had severe trust issues with his teammates, even when the Bulls were winning championships. Magic got his own coach fired much like Melo did. Malone threw more intentional elbows than I've ever seen in the NBA. While you wouldn't see all the dancing & joking on the sidelines during games, (which is the only issue I have with some of the current stars) there have only been a handful of truly great superstars, who were truly great human beings as well.

 

[CODE_BLUE56]

And more to the point - have you guys seen Baylor's Brittany Griner!?

I'm telling you right now - if Corey Benjamin and Earl Boykins could make it to the NBA, Brittany Griner could play in the NBA.

Not be a huge star but if she got 30 minutes in a game against a team like Toronto or New Orleans, she could score 15 points and grab 8 boards in her sleep.

She's that good.

no,she couldnt

the only reason she is even dominant in women's basketball is because she's so tall

she can barely dunk for a 6'8 person

if she was in the nba she'd probably be a 4/3 or 3/4 combo meaning she'd have to be on the wing, which would be horrendous against quick athletic and much stronger nba players

she wouldnt even make an nba roster much less score 15 points per game

please tell me you're trolling