[Link to full quote from latest Boardroom episode](https://streamable.com/nq3udr)
[Link to full episode](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVTK9bo_8hU)
I would suggest watching the full 1min30 clip for more context.
KD says that most of what people associate with physicality in the 80s and 90s comes from being looser on flagrant fouls, says a lot that would be suspensions or fines now were just given technicals. Overall he seems to think that physicality on defense wasn’t that different and is critical of some aspects.
by doubleplatnofeatures
30 Comments
I dunno. I find 90’s basketball more entertaining than today’s basketball. More hard fouls, more fights, more entertainment.
Players in 80s and 90s can only play defense when they are fouling. Defense in that era is soft because they gave MJ a special rule that any type of defense against him will be called a foul.
KD would know. The strong side shading that he received in the OKC playoffs was all time. Teams just couldn’t do that pre zone defense.
Any achievement made before the illegal defense rules got dropped counts as half of today’s achievements
If KD says he watched those games i know for a fact he watched those games and he ain’t talking out of his ass.
He’s 100% accurate. League pass uploaded all the 90’s finals series’ and it wasn’t what these old heads lie n say it was. The 93 finals style of play was pretty close stylistically to todays game. They just shot more midrange jumpers as opposed to threes
again it depends on the era, early 80s til the late the nba was not that rough especially in the West, and teams were putting up big poionts. Late 80s to the late 90s it was, because people just started iso’ing and backing people down, superstars started to age, the bad boys era was mixed in their. it was boring as hell and the games were like 95-88 most of the time
wasn’t help defense against the rules
I think it was clearly more physical in the 80s, but that’s not the entire picture. The spacing in today’s game has a tangible effect on defense. The average distance a player has to run in any given halfcourt set today is way more than in the 80s and 90s. That’s the main reason why there’s more wear and tear on players in today’s game and more injuries imo. And not just the distance, the sudden stops and starts, lateral movement, and quick twitch motions are way more than in the past.
I don’t think some of these centers of the past who played high minutes would be able to do so in today’s game. Wilt ain’t playing the entire game if he has to constantly switch and run out to the three point line to defend a Lopez or a Jokic.
Same takeaway I get watching old games. The average play was not any more physical. Not too dissimilar to the nfl. People call it soft but there’s probably like one play per game that is called differently.
How would the paint be clear if most teams played multiple non shooters?
Love hearing KD speak.
Ppl just need to watch some of the old games, it really isn’t hard
Defenses were not advanced at all, KD would dominate that era
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I believe him. I genuinely don’t know if there’s many people who have played or watched this sport more than KD.
The no zone preachers here seem to forget that defensive 3 seconds wasn’t a thing back then
Rewatched a few of the Pistons games against the Bulls in the playoffs and Vinnie The Microwave Johnson is an absolute stud, but the pin downs he’d come off of to get separation were pretty soft.
It wasn’t like Jordan was in his face with a hand on his jersey non stop.
As someone who has watched the nba for almost five decades, imo the physical reputation of the late 80s and 90s was due to a small number of dirty players and teams. The pistons and knicks probably accounted for 90% of the physical reputation that cranky old people like to crow about.
The one thing that you don’t see nearly as much now that you did then is payback. Hard foul exchanges were common and came with a message.
I really think Shaq had a big role in the change.Every”enforcer” in the league woke up,barely able to move the night after playing Lakers era Shaq,so many times. The fouls were almost all called his way,cuz he was WAY FASTER!He”broke” that approach.Along with backboards.
I’ve thought this before too, so I’m happy someone more knowledgeable than me agrees lol
He’s right, so much of the narrative of that era was formed by the Pistons making it a strategy to cheap-shot Bird and then Jordan, and then later by the Knicks/Heat rock fights where Pat Riley realized his best strategy was uglying up the game.
You had to be within arms length of your man always off the ball. You’d have to guard Shaq at the 3 point line if he stood there. That means the paint is wide open because even the shittiest shooters space the floor
You could also hand check. I think a lot of players would struggle against that
He’s 100% right.
KD giving Chuck another reason to hate him. lol
Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo is definitely going to have a rational discussion about this
yea obviously the top guys like Mike would dominate any era but the game was so much worse back then. Illegal defense and the expansion era starving the league for talent makes 90s games a bore to watch. The league is just so much deeper and more talented now.
Knicks fan my whole life.
I personally watched the Knicks, Heat, Pacers and Bulls commit war crimes on each other in the paint every playoffs for a decade plus.
It only superficially resembled “basketball”.
Y’all don’t want that shit back. You really don’t.
😂😂😂 you can hear KD shivering in his lil bitch slippers, so happy he never had to play against the defenders of those days
He woulda been eaten alive, devoured….flayed live on court. He wouldna lasted 6 years in the league back then
Dude woulda fallen down a path of mental psychosis, spiraling forever downward into a maelstrom of paranoia and inferiority…jumping in fright at the sound of any spherical object bouncing on the ground, or clanking off a rim-like structure
He woulda wasted away his days in a boarded up shack, seeing ghosts and ancestors of times long past…perptually reminding him of the talent that evaporated from his body, and bullying him into a state of depression and failure
Dude’s so lucky he’s playing in the game nowadays
JJ has been talking about this too