OT: Durant fined 25 grand for "menacing gesture"

[aceboon]

I think some of you old heads are confusing the harder fouls that were allowed back in the day as better defense being played, that is laughable. The defensive schemes used by coaches today are far more sophisticated than anything that was used in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, and this has been stated by people(mainly Pat Riley) who have been around the game to evaluate those eras.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I think some of you old heads are confusing the harder fouls that were allowed back in the day as better defense being played, that is laughable. The defensive schemes used by coaches today are far more sophisticated than anything that was used in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, and this has been stated by people(mainly Pat Riley) who have been around the game to evaluate those eras.

Also, I think it's strange - but everyone's entitled to an opinion - to say that you miss the days of Anthony Mason and Charles Oakley and that the NBA today is too boring. When you mention those guys you're referring to a specific point in time in which the NBA was deemed so unwatchable that the league went out of its way to increase offensive flow and watchability. I heard an interview with Pitino where he talked about this the other day. Go back and watch tape from the 70s. Those guys could run offense without getting tackled. Then the meathead era took hold for a minute, and now the game's back where it should be.

 

[sammydabiz]

Also, I think it's strange - but everyone's entitled to an opinion - to say that you miss the days of Anthony Mason and Charles Oakley and that the NBA today is too boring. When you mention those guys you're referring to a specific point in time in which the NBA was deemed so unwatchable that the league went out of its way to increase offensive flow and watchability. I heard an interview with Pitino where he talked about this the other day. Go back and watch tape from the 70s. Those guys could run offense without getting tackled. Then the meathead era took hold for a minute, and now the game's back where it should be.

You can't be serious right? The 1990's when Oakley, Mason, but more importantly Jordan, Hakeem, Malone, Ewing, Barkley, Robinson, etc all played in the 90s, the top decade in the NBA. The highest rated finals? 1998 (18.7)....actually 5 out of the 6 highest rated finals in NBA history came during the 90s. What are you talking about buddy?!?
When the decade started, the NBA was receiving about $56 million a year in national broadcasting rights. When those 10 years ended, that number had swollen to more than $620 million a year.
The NBA was deemed unwatchable during the time of Oakley & Mason?, are you just talking out of your or do you really not have a clue? And as far as you repping the 1970s, that was when the NBA was horrible, nobody watched it, hence why you hear people say Bird & Majic saved the NBA.

BigErn please do your homework next time, and save yourself from sounding uninformed

 

[champs99and04]

Have I ever bad mouthed any player of today? No
All I'm saying, is by way of rules changes, the game has become particularly soft, and has morphed into a "all star" game on a nightly basis. Which makes it boring...not the players. Although I would love to see how some would fare, back when it was a man's sport

Between, hearing a whistle being blown every 5 seconds for breathing on a player the wrong way....or the new trend of flopping if your touched (very similar to what you see on a soccer field) it's really becoming ridiculous. If u think I'm crazy, just google NBA + Soft......I'm far from the only one.

It's just beyond my comprehension how you can watch a Heat-Bulls or Grizzlies-Clippers game and come to this conclusion. If the NBA isn't your thing, that's fine, but your justification is beyond flawed. I'm in agreement with you that some of the foul calls err on the soft side, however I'm not sure how the elimination of handchecking can be viewed as anything but positive for the game. Movement is now less restricted and teams actually have to earn stops defensively rather than hacking the out of the oppositon. It makes for a better, more free-flowing game, and don't act as if flopping is something unique to the NBA - have you ever watched a Duke game? It seems like what you're really missing from the game are the "hard fouls" of the 80's and 90's, which is somewhat reasonable, but still an odd rationale to turn off on the game entirely. It's simply something that had to be done to ensure the safety of the games stars. Last thing: why do players have to hate each other to compete at a high level? Players from opposing teams are friends in college basketball, the NFL, MLB, and basically every other sport - don't mistake players befriending each other off the court with not wanting to rip each others throats out on the court. Do you think the Heat and Celtics like each other? KG, Rondo, and a bunch of other Celtics walked off the court after game seven last year without even shaking hands, so I'm not sure how you can say everybody is buddy buddy. And that's just one example - the Lakers-Clippers, Clippers-Grizzles, and Heat-Bulls are also instances of players disliking each other.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

If the defense was so great why was the scoring so much higher in the eras you mentioned?

http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_stats.html

Evolution. More great athletes today, harder to drive around or jump over them. The league is soft as marshmallow now, but the parity of athletic ability is higher.

 

[UCONNfan1]

I think it's a bit silly. Did he actually hit anyone? Or take out a knife and slit someone's throat? Seriously. And all the brouhaha in football over the end zone celebrations (penalties for "excessive celebration" are stupid too) - just seems a tad over the top. What's next - penalizing boxers for throwing a fake punch after knocking out their opponent?