KingoftheCove wrote:I get what you're saying.
The rules have changed for sure.
Heck, in the 40s and even to the mid 50s, there were full on fisticuffs.........often!
But the skill and size of today's players, compared to those players in the 60s.............not even close really.
But it's silly to compare eras.
Still, can you imagine Durant playing in the 60s? He'd have better ball handling skills than almost anyone, at 7 ft!
Who could guard him? Heck, who can guard him now I suppose!
just having discussions like we are now is part of why I love sports so much!
So when I imagine Durant playing in the 60's I also imagine him having been born in the 40's and having been coached and trained and reffed the same way as the greats back then...West, Baylor, Oscar(!), Pettit, and Durant would have been great within the confines of the game back then.
To me, most greats would likely be great in other eras as well, so I can't imagine how much more amazing Baylor, oscar, et al would have been today with the year round opportunities today's stars get...like AAU intensity, privarte prep schools recruiting and tutoring...I know you get the point.
But I can't picture the James Worthy of The Show Time Lakers swooping in on Big Bill Russel for open-lane dunks!
I often hear that it was easier for a team like the Celts of the 60's win so many titles, reason being an 8 team league. I understand that, but consider the concentration of high level stars...the worst teams had massive talents like Walt Bellamy, Nate Thurmond, Dave Bing, the regular season was brutal, often train travel, room mates on the road, adhesive tape for sprains if there even was a trainer.
The Celts then had to beat teams with Chamberlain and Greer and 2 or 3 other big stars, Oscar and Twyman, Lucas and other stars, just to get to the finals and beat West and Baylor and Goodrich and others...and they won 8 in a row, 9 out of 10 (or 10 out of 11?), having lost in Russell's second year when he was out with an injury, or they would possibly have won 10 or 11 in a row,
Many who did not see much of that era assume the C's had the biggest stars, but in fact they never had the leading scorer, many years not even a top 10 scorer, but they had that D, the rebounding desire, the ability to mentally out last opponents, and Red, who basically invented the fast break, and the sixth man concept. And he smoked cigars!
Raise those same guys in modern times, they'd be the same types playing with today's skill set.
To me, over the last decade or two or more, the Spurs remind me most of those Celtic teams, and the Walton/Hollins/Lucas/Steele era Blazers do too.