Lebron/Kobe fanboys say that the post-Jordan era is so advanced and the players are so much better and harder to score against. They say Jordans era is weak, and almost none of the players from that era would do well in the post-Jordan era If this is true, then players from the weak and soft Jordan era should have found it much harder to score under the new rules of the tough, advanced, and athletically superior post-Jordan era. Lets see what actually happened. 98-99 season - the last season before removal of hand checking. league average was 91 ppg 99-00 season (handchecking removed) - 97.5 ppg league average 00-01 season new rules that further decreased amount of contact allowed by a defender 01-02 season - addition of defensive 3 seconds rules to weaken defenses more. 04-05 season - New rules were introduced to curtail hand-checking, clarify blocking fouls and call defensive three seconds to open up the game 2013-14 season - 101 ppg league average compared to 91 ppg in 1998-99 (the first season after MJ retired from the Bulls, and the last season of handchecking) Now lets see how individual players stats were affected by these rule changes. Lebron/Kobe etc fanboys claim that Jordan played an era of bums and weak competition. So if the players of Jordans era are so weak, they should have a decrease in production going up against the advanced era that came after Jordan - or so Lebron/Kobe fanboys claim Prime Gary Payton, 1995-1998 1) 19.3 pts + 7.5 ast (Age 27) - won DPOY, led 1996 Sonics to the Finals where they won 2 games against the 72-10 Bulls. 2) 21.8 pts + 7.1 ast (Age 28) 3) 19.2 pts + 8.3 ast (Age 29) a past prime Payton for 4 years post 98-99 rule changes had 1) 24.2 pts + 8.9 sat (age 31 - 99-00 season - first season without handchecking) 2) 23.1 pts + 8.1 ast (age 32) 3) 22.1 pts + 9.0 ast (age 33) 4) 20.4 pts + 8.3 ast (age 34) NBA players primes end at about age 30, yet Payton even at age 31-34 put up better assist and scoring numbers than he did from age 27 to age 29. How is that possible if the post-Jordan era is supposed to be more advanced? Payton had FOUR straight seasons of averaging 20+ pts a game after the post-Jordan rule change in 99-00, but he NEVER had back to back seasons of 20+ during the so-called weak 90s. Paytons scoring from age 31-33 (after the post-Jordan rule changes) was higher than his three best scoring totals that he put up at age 26, 28, and 30 (during Jordans era of defense). No one can even try and attempt to say that a 34 year old Payton losing in the first round with the Bucks can be better than 1996 Payton, who won DPOY and led Seattle to the Finals and 2 wins over the 72-10 Chicago Bulls, while simultaneously doing the best defensive performance on Jordan in an NBA Finals series. Gary Payton isnt even a physical specimen. He was only 6-3, 180 lbs, but his production actually increased against the athletic, advanced, more skilled players of the post-Jordan era compared to his numbers in Jordans weak/soft era. Now, Lebron/Kobe fanboys are going to say oh this is only one example. So lets look at some more. 2) Allen Iverson in 98-99, WON the scoring title with only 26.8 ppg Iverson the next year in 99-00 (after rule changes) had 28.4 ppg, but did NOT win the scoring title - definition of inflated numbers and weak defense. 3) Shaq 2nd season - 29.3 pts 3rd season - 29.3 pts 4th season - 26.6 pts 5th season - 26.2 pts 6th season - 28.3 pts 7th season - 26.3 pts (98-99 - last season of handchecking) - From his 2nd and 3rd season to his 7th season, Shaqs ppg decreased by a whole 3 pts. His production decreased almost every single year heading into the post-Jordan era After removal of 98-99 handcheck rules 8th season - 29.7 pts (1999-00). Immediately after the post-Jordan rule changes, Shaq surpassed the BEST scoring total that he put up FIVE years earlier even after his numbers decreased all but one year since then. DEFINITION of inflated. Heres some more interesting numbers. Shaq went 1-8 in the playoffs against Stockton/Malones Jazz 0-4 against Jordan/Pippen/Rodman Bulls (he only beat the 95 bulls 4-2 with a Jordan who only played 17 reg season games and who hadnt obtained Dennis Rodman) and had an 0-4 record against prime Hakeems Rockets in the playoffs. Shaq didnt win anything against any of the weak competition of Jordans era until 1999 when Hakeem was 36 years old. But against the advanced/superior competition of the post-Jordan era he ended up getting a 3peat and 3 finals MVPs. And its not like Shaq didnt have a good team in the MJ era - after he missed 28 games in the 95/96 season, the Magic still had a 60-22 record. 4) Chris Webber in his first 6 seasons never reached 22 ppg for a full season 2nd year - 20.1 pts 3rd year - 23.7 pts (but he only played 15 games due to injury) 4th year - 20.1 pts 5th year - 21.9 pts 6th year - 20.0 pts (98-99 season) Then after the post-Jordan rule changes... 7th year - 24.5 pts after the removal of handchecking (1999-00). 8th year - 27 pts 9th year - 24.5 pts 10th year - 23 pts After NEVER averaging 22 pts for a full season in 6 years against the weak Jordan era defenses, Webber averaged 23+ for four straight seasons in the advanced/more skilled post-Jordan era of defense. 5) In his first 5 seasons, Grant Hill never reached 21.5 pts a game. 3rd season - 21.4 pts 4th season - 21.1 pts 5th season - 21.1 pts (98-99 season) Suddenly, after the removal of hand checking in 99-00 6th season - he magically averaged 25.8 pts. Almost a 5 point increase. Unfortunately Grant Hill had serious injuries plaguing him for the rest of his career after this season Found this in comments lol for anyone who believes the current NBA is better than the 70s-90s
Posted on: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 21:18:55 +0000
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