Old School vs. New School

The NBA of today is interesting. There is more social media that makes the superstars of today larger than life. Compared to the NBA of yesteryear, this new NBA is different. But is it a better product than the NBA of the past?

I often wonder what would happen if the players of today played in the same era as Magic Johnson’s Lakers, Larry Bird’s Celtics and Isaiah Thomas’ Pistons. Would these players adapt to the style or would they continue to play the way that they are playing now? I wonder how LeBron would react if he took a hard foul like Lakers forward Kurt Rambis took back in the day. The game was definitely more physical back then. In this day and age, there isn’t any hand-checking. Hand-checking would allow players to use their hands to nudge and guide players where they wanted them to go defensively. No hand-checking allows players like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade to go to the basket and use their speed to their advantage. Would Kobe just complain about the physicalness of the game or would he adjust? Would LeBron wolf to the officials or would he use the brawn he possesses to bully people into submission? That would be interesting to see.

Another difference in today’s game compared to yesteryear is the presence of specialists. Guys like Steve Novak, Steve Kerr and Kyle Korver are players who possess one skill: shooting the basketball. Back in the day, there weren’t any specialist. Even though players were less athletic back then, they were better all-around basketball players. But even more than that, the players back then thought the game and didn’t just play it. Bill Laimbeer could think, shoot and play defense. Vinnie “The Microwave” Johnson could play defense as well as score. More guys today just rely on athleticism or their certain skill to maintain their roster spot.

If I had a choice to watch old school or new school basketball, I would choose the old school. There was more scoring, more all-around basketball play and there was also the physical part of the game as well. You had to go hard or go home when you drove down the lane back then. Today’s game is geared more towards the offensive players, yet and still, teams struggle to score. What I wouldn’t give to see some of today’s players trying to hang in there in that type of atmosphere.

What are your thoughts sports fans? Do you like the new school basketball more than old school basketball? Let your voice be heard.

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Not This Year

The Lakers finally got off the snide Tuesday night with a thorough domination of the Utah Jazz. The Lakers looked more energized and they didn’t look like an old team. Shockingly, they played harder than a younger Jazz team playing their first game. All in Lakerland are saying that this could be the beginning of the team getting on a roll. But, I’m not so sold on that.

The Lakers ended the season very unimpressive last season as the Dallas Mavericks steamrolled the Lakers right out of the playoffs. Going into this season, many expected the Lakers to make a move to inject some new life and give them some hope to be a contender. What the Lakers got this season was more frustration followed up by signings that most question. The first move was the proposed trade of Chris Paul to Los Angeles. Well, like we all know, Lamar Odom was in that trade as well as Pau Gasol. The trade ended up not happening as NBA Commissioner David Stern nixed the deal. In the process of that deal getting scrapped, Lamar Odom got his feelings hurt and asked for a trade out of Tinseltown. The Lakers obliged and traded him to Dallas for the trade exception the Mavs got in the Tyson Chandler sign-and-trade to the Knicks. If I were the Lakers, I would have tried to persuade Odom to stay and be a part of the team. But, they didn’t and they let him go.

Most thought the next move would be for the Lakers to make a run at Dwight Howard. But, that deal never materialized and the Lakers ended up signing PFs Josh McRoberts and Troy Murphy. No offense to these two guys, but neither of them bring the skill level that Odom brought, let alone the scoring ability. So, this move is deemed by me as a downgrade.

The Lakers also failed to get some PG help this off-season. Sure, some say there was nothing out there, but I believe they needed someone to man the PG position. I like Derek Fisher and I believe that he still can play, but to be honest, his starting PG days are over and he would be the perfect backup PG for this team.

The last thing I want to look at from the Lakers perspective is they do not have any consistent offense off the bench. Backup PG Steve Blake had a good game off the bench the first game and Metta World Piece played well in Sacramento, but neither of these guys are dependable on the offensive end. And this means that more of the scoring load will fall on Kobe and Pau Gasol. And over a 66 game season that’s compressed and offers a lot of back-to-back games, that’s trouble for these older stars.

With all that I’ve mentioned, I think the Lakers are still going to be a thorn in some teams’ sides. C Andrew Bynum comes back from suspension in one more game and maybe his presence will help mold this team into a more defensive team. To be honest, this team may be better suited to hang its hat on defense more than offense based on the pieces that they have. Only time will tell but this team, as it stands, is not a contender. It should be interesting to see how they evolve this year.