Is it the NBA or the Players or Both?

Ahh, I see what you are saying.
Valid point.
I still remember much of the mediocre play back then still had hustle and the thought of mediocrity simply came to fruition because the game was a slower, half court based, defensive game. Now it is an offensive game, so when a game DOESN'T go into the 100's, it is thought of as poor, but might not really be the case.

And to the flipside, since we like scoring now, those are the clips of old that go up and there isn't much of great defensive play videos, because people want scoring. Many people don't view defensive games as quality games.

I still think its more of a combination of everything, because I do believe players are less engaged due to some aforementioned explanations based on Money and Social media. The money differentiation is huge too. Why risk diving for a ball and possibly ending your career?
What is better? a rookie contract and then nothing else, or a role players contract because you don't take risks? I think the money has changed the degree to which a player is inclined to go that extra mile. Now its about giving it a "best effort".
Ive been trying to hunt for a stat on how many loss balls are dove for in a season to try to do some sort of comparison, but it just seems like players back in the day would do ANYTHING to get at the ball. Today they are far and few between.

 

Lets put it this way.
Do you think there are more two way players in the league now compared to then?
The Same?
Or Less?

Seems to me EVERYONE was a two way player or a defensive specialist. Very few elite scorers that didn't play D. The Greyhound might be one of them that I recall that was pretty much a scorer only who had athleticism to play D but didn't.
Maybe Kiki was another., but they were few in my memory.

 

Depends on what you mean by "played D." James Worthy wasn't a great defender. Dominique Wilkins wasn't a great defender. Chris Mullin wasn't a great defender. Reggie Theus wasn't. Neither was Reggie Miller! I could list quite a few more offensive stars who were indifferent or poor defenders.

I think the NBA definitely has at least as many two-way players today, if not more. I think more of a premium is placed on length and athleticism on the defensive end today than in the past. Defensive schemes are more involved and sophisticated, by and large, and demand more of players.

It may appear that there's less defense these days due to all the scoring, but almost all of that is due to the "pace and space" revolution. Pace creates more possessions and thus more scoring, for the same defensive effort, and the move towards more efficient scoring (at the rim and from three-point range) has also helped pump scoring up. Neither of these things are related to players being worse defenders as a whole, it's just the evolution of the game.

 

Okay. You almost got me. Now find me something that shows Dives/hustle players are more frequent in today's game than in the past, and I will concede that it is simply evolution of the game that creates such a mirage.

 

Hey, man, I'm not trying to convert you. I just don't agree with you.

 

I don't know what the training regimes were like in prior eras, but now, it sounds like they go hard at practice and also weight train etc...that might be fine for a bench player, but sometimes it looks like they are out there conserving their energy and trying not to get hurt rather than really going after it.

I think the 3pt shot has changed the game as well. Back in the 80s and early 90s, much fewer 3s were taken, teams were trying to get to the hoop or get the ball in the post to a skilled big man. Now offenses are centered around the 3pt shot. I think the nba really fell in love with it in the mid 90s when they experimented with moving the 3pt shot in. 3pt attempts really spiked and haven't looked back.

 

You guys are just complainers. Poor teenage boys used to be short and thin. Poor teenage girls used to look like they were already pregnant. Now with free school lunches, teens are husky-boned. To be handsome, a guy used to be slim with wavy hair, but now he's supposed to be fat with a shaved head, and wearing shorts in the cold. A good lunch has ruined basketball, a game of quickness, not strength.

 

lol.