Whenever I mention to many of friends how much I love the NBA, I get a lot of negative responses and feedback.
“The NBA sucks.” “They don’t play defense.” “It doesn’t matter.” “It’s boring.” “It’s not passionate as college basketball”
Whatever it is.
My belief: The NBA doesn’t suck, it has a number of great superstars, ratings are good and the playoffs each year usually rock. However, it’s not as good as the 1980s.
That’s true and my take is simply this:
The NBA today is held to an unrealistic expectation because of how great the 1980s were.
The NBA peaked dramatically in the 1980s. No league was better over the course of a decade than the NBA was that decade. The NFL was great in the 1970s and early 1980s.
MLB was awesome in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
But I’m not sure no league was better over the course of a decade than professional basketball was in the 1980s. So much happened over the course of the decade.
1. Magic Johnson vs. Larry Bird: Sorry boxing fans – Ali/Frazier is not even close to this rivalry. Ali-Frazier fought three times, only one of which was for a title. These two giants battled for a college title and three professional titles. This is the best individual rivalry of all-time. And for the record, other than the 1989-90 season, every single season that either involved a year in the decade or had a title series end in the decade starred either Magic, Larry or both.
2. Los Angeles was great and Boston was great – The two premier franchises in the league were damn good each season. You had not one but two dynasties in the 1980s. Detroit came VERY close to making it a third dynasty, but got tripped up by Boston and LA a few times. It’s very rare for multiple dynasties in one decade. The NBA in the 1980s did it.
3. “Fo…fo….fo” – For one season, the Philadelphia 76ers were the best team of all-time. If I had to pick one squad as the best ever, it’s the 76ers in that season.
4. Michael Jordan gets drafted – It took Jordan seven years to win a title, but it didn’t take him too long to make a dramatic impact in the game. Jordan was superb early on, most notably scoring over 60 points in the Boston Garden during the playoffs. Jordan was spectacular in the 1980s even without a ring. He could drop 50 on any given night.
5. Great teams – Along with the 76ers teams, the 1986 Boston Celtics might be the best ever. The 1985 and 1987 Los Angeles Lakers could be the best ever. Those Bad Boys teams were outstanding in the late 1980s. The NBA was incredibly deep in talent and teams. The 72-win Bulls would not have won 60 in 1986. Some of those teams that didn’t win titles (Milwaukee Bucks, Atlanta Hawks, Houston Rockets) would have won in the 1990s. And some did.
6. Patrick Ewing saves basketball in New York – The Knicks were awful until Ewing got there. I’m not a big Ewing fan, but the Knicks needed him in the worst way possible.
7. Styles of play – Los Angeles had “Showtime” and Bird was very unselfish in his play. Teams shared the ball, made the extra pass and played at a high tempo. Beautiful basketball all around.
8. In 1986, 20 Hall of Famers played in one season – That’s not too bad.
9. Rivalries – Magic vs. Bird. Los Angeles vs. Boston. Chicago vs. Detroit. Boston vs. Detroit. Boston vs. Philadelphia. Chicago vs. New York. Los Angeles – Detroit. I could go on and on. Right now in the NBA, there’s not a great rivalry. LeBron and Kobe have never met in the finals. The two closest rivalries in the NBA right now are Dallas-San Antonio and Cleveland-Orlando. Not good.
Those nine reasons are probably just the tip of the iceberg.
As of now, the NBA is pretty solid.
You have traditional powers thriving, such as Los Angeles and Boston. You have new “hot and young teams” like Denver, Orlando and Oklahoma City shining. There’s true parity in the NBA.
You have a high number amount of future Hall of Famers and other borderline stars.
The NBA, right now, is just fine.
But it’s not the 1980s. And because of that, many aren’t in favor of the NBA.
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