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Message: [QUOTE="hoophuskee, post: 4004245, member: 3535"] In regards to the 70's- IMO Bird and Magic brought back the NBA. I don't think it was thought of as being that popular (or declining popularity) before they came aboard. And Magic and Bird didn't come in until 79-80. Don't think those champions other than Alcindor/Jabbar had a prime top 10 type of super elite players after 72-73 until Bird and Magic came. Bill Walton should've been the next big multi-year superstar. The prime NBA potential multi-year superstar to lead NBA against Jabbar so we could get classic matchups year over year - but Walton got hurt at the time he started becoming super from the 1 prior year. Also- because the ABA also had some damn good talent and as a result took away from potential great NBA teams.. Two guys in particular - Julius Erving and Rick Barry.. Rick Barry at 22 years old was the lead player for the NBA -Golden State Warriors averaging over 35 per game and led his team in finals only to lose to the awesome 66-67 Sixers led by Wilt. After that Barry went to ABA. And as for DR J he was off-the-charts in the mid-70's in ABA. The in his 1st year in NBA he got his team to finals. The problem was his secondary player- George McGinnis fell apart in the playoffs for 2 straight years. [/QUOTE]