where have all of the players gone?

[scotsman13]

the more i see of todays nba player the more that i see that the skills that mad the nba great in the 80's and even 90's is gone.

look at it this way, if you dont think about kevin johnsons injury problems is there a point guard in todays nba that you would take over him? i cant think of one. that isnt even talking about others like thomas, stockton, and magic.

how about centers? today we have shaq? but in the early 90's we had the dream, ewing, david robinson, zo, perish, heck even rik schimts is about even with yoa ming.

small forwards. pippen, worthy, bird, chris mullin, the human highlight film, and sean elliot vs. peja and marion.

shooting guard. michael jordan, mich richmond, and clyde vs. kobe and tmac.

heck power forward is the only spot where it is even close in terms of talent. barkley, mchale, larry johnson, malone and rodman vs duncan, garrnet, dirk, brand and webber.

there are still some star players in the nba today but on the whole it is it is no where as deep or in a lot of cases as good. would you take yoa over zo or robinson? how about pippen over peja?

 

[Chris_Sanders]

The last 10 years for the NBA has definitely been a down swing...but it had to be. Like you said, the twenty years prior to that turned out some of the greatest players ever seen. All the NBA did the last ten years is try to find "The Next (jordan, dream, malone, pippen, ect...)"

This is a direct result of the NBA marketing players and not teams. I don't think of the Cardinals as "Anquan Boldin", but I certainly think of the Lakers as "Kobe".

Fortunately the guys that are getting killed in the Olympics are still young enough and talented enough to put their own stamps on the game...if they have the desire.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Early entry into the NBA has killed the development of talent. College coaches do not have the same level of authority with their most talented players because players will just bolt.

It used to be that players really developed skills on the college level. Only very unusual player could make the jump.

The best HS players are now prima donnas by the time they hit their sophomore year abd have become virtually uncoachable.

But, as is always the case, the free market corrects itself. Better prepared European players will now take the jobs of those less prepared phenoms.

The best thing the NBA could do for itself is develop a real developmental league--one where teams retain rights to their players while developing their skills. I would love to see players entering the "big league" at 22 or 23 rather than 19.

This could help that National (Olympic) team as well. The best young players in the developmental league could be "loaned" to the National Team for a year at a time, or more. They could use the experience to face better opposition and get some good coaching.

Of course, the National Team needs to have a full-time, top notch coaching staff. It would be an ideal place for someone like Coach K to move up to. You still get young hungry players, you teach, get a fairly short (mostly exhibition season) and you don't have to recruit. Your off-time is spent doing intensive scouting.