Post by Jimbo Collins on Jun 26, 2010 12:55:46 GMT -5
This is a story I wrote in 2005 for a newspaper I worked for at the time. The stats and research was all current up until 2005 and not much has changed since then...
I remember watching basketball (NBA in particular) as a boy in the 80’s. It was very common for teams to score upwards of 120 points in a game, and LOSE that game. I see many games today with final scores like 76-73. People say today’s game and athletes are better than they were back then and that defense is much better now, but I have to disagree.
Many discussions have lingered into the late hours of the night between my younger friends and me about which era was better. My friends say the defense in today’s game is the reason why the scores are so low. I say that defense isn’t near as great as some people would like to think.
I am of the opinion that the athletes my have better athletic abilities now, but that is due in large part to advanced technology. You put together a team of today’s stars against a team from the 80’s and I am sure the 80’s team would win a solid majority of the games.
The point I am leading up to is this…The stars of today care more about dunking and no-look passes than they do about making shots. It is evident when you look at the shooting statistics. Then we go back to that whole “the defense is better now” bologna. Look at the free throw shooting for example. You have guys who make millions of dollars per year that cannot stand 15 feet from the basket with no one defending him and make over 70% of his shots. Robert Parrish was 7’1” tall and made 72.1% of his free throws over his career. Kareem Abdul Jabbar who was 7’2” tall also made 72.1% of his foul shots. Today’s two most dominate big men would have to be considered Shaquille O’neal and Tim Duncan. O’neal has shot 58.9 % from the line for his career and Duncan only 68.9%. These free throws are not affected by defense and is always one of my factors to point out.
Shooters don’t have the touch they used to. Even this years leading scorer (Kobe Bryant) only hits 45% of his shots for his career. In comparison, Danny Ainge who never led his own team in scoring and was notorious for never meeting a shot he didn’t like, shot 48% from the field over his career.
Yes, today’s players are stronger and faster for the most part. Teamwork and being able to shoot are two of the basketball animals that are becoming extinct. I won’t even get into the greatest players of all time argument. I will leave that for another story, but give me players like Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Isaiah Thomas, Michael Jordan, James Worthy, Jabbar, and Bill Russell. You take the players like Bryant, Duncan, Shaq, Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett, Jason Kidd, and Tracy McGrady. I would be surprised if your team would win 1 out of 10 games.
After all is said and done, isn’t winning the ultimate goal in any sport? Why has the shooting and fundamentals deteriorated so badly over the past decade or so? I go back to an old saying I heard after my team lost a little league game. My coach told us that it didn’t matter if we won or lost, but what mattered was how we played the game. I told my grandfather that and he told me something he had heard before. He said, “If it matters not who wins or loses, then why keep score?”
It doesn’t matter how pretty your dunk was, or how many people saw you spin and shoot the ball without even looking at the rim. What matters is winning, and to win in basketball you must be able to put the ball through the basket.
I remember watching basketball (NBA in particular) as a boy in the 80’s. It was very common for teams to score upwards of 120 points in a game, and LOSE that game. I see many games today with final scores like 76-73. People say today’s game and athletes are better than they were back then and that defense is much better now, but I have to disagree.
Many discussions have lingered into the late hours of the night between my younger friends and me about which era was better. My friends say the defense in today’s game is the reason why the scores are so low. I say that defense isn’t near as great as some people would like to think.
I am of the opinion that the athletes my have better athletic abilities now, but that is due in large part to advanced technology. You put together a team of today’s stars against a team from the 80’s and I am sure the 80’s team would win a solid majority of the games.
The point I am leading up to is this…The stars of today care more about dunking and no-look passes than they do about making shots. It is evident when you look at the shooting statistics. Then we go back to that whole “the defense is better now” bologna. Look at the free throw shooting for example. You have guys who make millions of dollars per year that cannot stand 15 feet from the basket with no one defending him and make over 70% of his shots. Robert Parrish was 7’1” tall and made 72.1% of his free throws over his career. Kareem Abdul Jabbar who was 7’2” tall also made 72.1% of his foul shots. Today’s two most dominate big men would have to be considered Shaquille O’neal and Tim Duncan. O’neal has shot 58.9 % from the line for his career and Duncan only 68.9%. These free throws are not affected by defense and is always one of my factors to point out.
Shooters don’t have the touch they used to. Even this years leading scorer (Kobe Bryant) only hits 45% of his shots for his career. In comparison, Danny Ainge who never led his own team in scoring and was notorious for never meeting a shot he didn’t like, shot 48% from the field over his career.
Yes, today’s players are stronger and faster for the most part. Teamwork and being able to shoot are two of the basketball animals that are becoming extinct. I won’t even get into the greatest players of all time argument. I will leave that for another story, but give me players like Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Isaiah Thomas, Michael Jordan, James Worthy, Jabbar, and Bill Russell. You take the players like Bryant, Duncan, Shaq, Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett, Jason Kidd, and Tracy McGrady. I would be surprised if your team would win 1 out of 10 games.
After all is said and done, isn’t winning the ultimate goal in any sport? Why has the shooting and fundamentals deteriorated so badly over the past decade or so? I go back to an old saying I heard after my team lost a little league game. My coach told us that it didn’t matter if we won or lost, but what mattered was how we played the game. I told my grandfather that and he told me something he had heard before. He said, “If it matters not who wins or loses, then why keep score?”
It doesn’t matter how pretty your dunk was, or how many people saw you spin and shoot the ball without even looking at the rim. What matters is winning, and to win in basketball you must be able to put the ball through the basket.
