Old School vs. New School: How To Rank Greatness

It seems as if this week is the week in which former NBA players decided to defend their eras and their players. You had Stephen Jackson who was on the 2006-2007 Warriors that beat the top seeded Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs as an eighth seed. Then, you have NBA legend Oscar Robertson saying this. You have Isaiah Thomas saying this, too. So, this week was the week in which former NBA players, some all-time greats, told us how they really feel.

People are putting Stephen Curry in the category with all-time great point guards already. Former players are complaining. He’s having fun with the whole thing, though. This is not anything new. In many sports, when a generation of players retire and the new generation of players reach their primes, the old generation tends to complain. They want to hold on to their spot. They feel the need to remind the fans that were either very young or not born at the time of their primes of how good they were. Some take it to the extreme and don’t just say they were good back in the day, but that they are good now after retirement. This is not an NBA dynamic. This isn’t just a player dynamic either. This is a dynamic in all of sports.

You guys ever argue with an older person about sports? You already know how it goes, (unless you are an older person reading this, don’t stop reading though). The first thing you are going to hear about is how good the players back in their day were. Stats not even something that is brought up. You are probably going to bring up stats before them. All they would talk about is impact and what they saw with their own eyes. This is something that is very important. I personally feel that statistics hold too much weight in the sports world today because statistics could be deceptive sometimes. However, they’re going to use feelings, memories, and “vibes” to discredit the current players of your generation. The next qualifier that older fans are quick to bring up are rule changes. For the NFL, it got softer. For the NBA, it got softer. For the MLB, the game was much better back in the day because guys were better; more home runs. “But, they were on steroids. That’s why.” “Steroids don’t make you make contact with ball, trust me I’ve been watching the game since you were a baby.” On and on and on, you guys know how it is. Legitimate facts and claims might be brought up. This is a fundamental aspect of every good argument/debate. Both sides must bring up legitimate facts that both parties can agree on in order to argue about what they don’t agree on. Rule changes do change the way sports are played making the games different. However, if both sides were to be honest, there’s just a generation gap. You will never fully understand how great the former players were despite how many YouTube videos you saw of them because you weren’t alive or old enough when these players were playing. The older person may never fully understand how great this generation of players are despite rule changes because they’re so used to seeing a certain style of play, seeing how great their generation of players were, or stubborn. It’s different when you experience greatness at the time when they were great because you understand the impact. However, anybody can over or underestimate people.

Now to Stephen Curry.

He’s on pace to break several offensive records this year and he has his team on pace to win the most games in NBA history. The team that they might surpass for the most wins in NBA history is the NBA champion 1995-1996 Bulls. This is a win total that many people didn’t think would be passed for a long time. Some teams have won 67 games, but nobody has even reached 70 since the Bulls set the mark at 72 wins 20 years ago. In other words, Stephen Curry and the Warriors are having a historic season.

How do you discredit a person’s greatness when the numbers show you how great they are? You discredit everything else surrounding them. Their team was really good, he or she was just along for the ride. Or in Stephen Curry’s case, the league isn’t as good anymore and the rules changed so its easier to play the game. THEY COULDN’T PLAY IN OUR DAY! Numbers do lie sometimes. It feels like every year, a different quarterback throws for the most yards in a season. Out of the top 15 seasons for most passing yards, 12 of those seasons were had in the last 5 years. A statistic like that will show you why having the most passing yards in a season is probably not the best indicator for how good a quarterback is historically. The increase in passing yards are directly correlated with the rule changes in the NFL that make it easier for offensive players to produce.

However, the decrease in home runs over the years due to the fact that guys aren’t using steroids anymore (at least most guys). This decrease does not mean the players are worse now than they were back then. They just don’t cheat…as much. Are rules in the NBA different than they were back in the day? Yes. No hand checking. The definition of a flagrant foul has changed. However, the skill level of the competition is not the same as it was back in the day. Today’s NBA has more athletes. Today’s NBA athletes are better shooters and I know that Oscar Robertson doesn’t like that. OK, let’s be real. It was never OK to hit people in the face as they are shooting. In any era, that’s a foul. This is what you would have to do in order to stop Stephen Curry from making a three and even then it’s not promised that he is going to miss. I have literally seen Chris Paul have his hand on Stephen Curry’s chest as he’s shooting and he still made it and he turned around a looked at his coach Doc Rivers and basically told him that he had his hand on his chest so he tried his best. I think it was the same game that this happened. Shooting the basketball is shooting the basketball and I find it hard to believe that guys aren’t getting up in the best 3 point shooter in NBA history’s face to try and make him miss, despite what the legend Oscar Robertson says.

The generation gap is real. The generation gap in sports doesn’t just affect fans. It affects players, as well. When you have an NBA legend discrediting your career and accomplishments, it can hurt your career. It may not prevent you from winning rings, but it can prevent you from being thought of as highly as you would like to be at the end of your career because knowledgeable voices have influence. It can even prevent you from making halls of fame, ask Terrell Owens. I believe that in our society, we need to emphasize how influential generation gaps are in our perception of sports. Think about it, if Kobe didn’t start his career while Michael Jordan was playing and several years after like around now, maybe people wouldn’t be calling him this generation’s Michael Jordan, but the next Michael Jordan. Maybe Kobe played to close to Michael Jordan’s era so his impact was still fresh in the minds of NBA fans back in Kobe’s prime. Who know’s? Comparing players is fun is fun for fans and analysts. That’s part of what makes sports interesting. But, when well-respected former players start publicly discrediting current player’s accomplishments and the whole league, that might be a little too far. We, fans and players young and old, need to understand that we cannot completely and fairly judge a person’s career until after it’s done. Doing that might prevent us from recognizing that we are watching the best player in history, or fool us into thinking that we are watching the best player in history. While a player is playing, all we can do is speculate.

No Love: Disrespect for the NBA Coaching Position

2013 seemed to be a significant year for NBA coaches. There were 12 coaching changes in the summer of 2013 with most of the changes being coaches being fired or not resigned. That summer seemed to set the tone for coaches that we see today.

Earlier this year, Kevin McHale, the coach of the Houston Rockets was fired EARLY in the season. Not even a quarter of the season went by. They went to the Western Conference Finals last year and ran into a brick wall called the Golden State Warriors. However, they were off to a disappointing start this year. Then, David Blatt, the coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers gets fired. The Cavaliers went to the NBA Finals last year with a team full of key injuries and ran into a brick wall called the Golden State Warriors (you see a trend here?). He got fired right before the All-Star break and the team was first place in the East. The coaches of the two first place teams usually coach their respective conferences for the All-Star Game. The interim coach for Cavaliers coached the All-Star Game having only coached for 3 games this season. These are the types of things that are going on in the NBA.

Five coaches have been fired this year and we are at the “halfway mark” of the season which is right after the All-Star game despite the fact that more than half of the season has passed. I would say that coaches are on a short leash, but a guy like Lionel Hollins, who has been successful as a coach in the NBA before, only lasted 1 and 1/2 seasons with the Nets. That’s another level of short. I would say you would have to win quickly as a coach in the NBA, but David Blatt got fired while his team was at the top of the East. The only logical reason that I could think of that coaches jobs are constantly on the line like this is a lack of respect for coaches in the NBA.

Analytics plays a factor in this, as well. We are in a new era of NBA basketball. Math has invaded the game. General managers are looking for today’s coaches to take into account shot percentages when they are coaching offense. I don’t mean that the general managers want them to tell their players to take high percentage shots. I mean that LITERALLY want the coaches to coach players to take shots that go down at a higher percentage using the advanced statistics that are available to teams. For example, if your team makes threes at a higher rate than layups, today’s general managers are going to look for you to coach your team to jack up threes and turn down layups. This newer way of coaching with an emphasis on numbers and not just traditional offense has resulted in people looking away from older coaches despite having the numbers. Many older head coaches lament this new focus by general managers due to the fact that a coach might have the results and it still might not be good enough. This is why the Memphis Grizzlies fired their successful head coach Lionel Hollins and signed rookie, analytics focused Dave Joerger as head coach. Although, even his job isn’t all too safe. This why the Houston Rockets only score from behind the three point line and close to the basket, nothing in-between.

But, it’s more than that. You cannot tell me that coaches are having their teams at the top of the NBA, still getting fired, and there not be anything deeper going on here. Stan Van Gundy is one of the most well-respected coaches in the league and he just got his first job since getting fired by the Magic at the end of the Dwight era. It seems as if Gregg Popovich, Rick Carlisle, and Steve Kerr are the only head coaches that are untouchable in the NBA and I only say Steve Kerr because the Golden State Warriors might have the best season in NBA history. There is a lack of respect for the coaching position in the NBA.

Job security is important in all career fields. If a person constantly works with the pressure of one mistake costing them their job, they are probably not going to do their job well. In coaching, your job security is dependent on how other people do their jobs. It is supposed to (emphasis on supposed to) be that if the players play well, then you keep your job. However, when you look at head coaches like Scott Brooks from the Thunder, David Blatt from the Cavaliers, Tom Thibodeau from the Bulls, and others, then you see that may not be the case in the NBA. Even if your team isn’t doing well, you have to give a coach time to really implement what he wants to implement with a team. A coach has to get to know their team. One year is not enough to do this. Two years might not even be enough to do this. Look, I’m a Knicks fan and even though a lot of fans wanted him gone, and I’m not saying that they are wrong in saying that or that the Knicks are wring in their decision, I cannot be totally outraged if Derek Fisher didn’t get fired this year or even came back for another year…………… OK, that extra year might be pushing it, but my point is that teams have to allow coaches to work and work freely. In the previous eras, coaches were given time to work. If a coach has a bad year in the 1990’s, or even two, unless it’s historically they’re not going anywhere. They have time to develop an identity with their team and see if they are the right fit for a team. In addition to finding the right fit, giving the coach a few years gives the general manager time to figure out if an underachieving team is underachieving because of the players or the coach.

Who’s more important: the player or the coach? Really think about this. Gregg Popovich and the whole Spurs organization are what general managers want. They want the perfect coach, the perfect system, and players who take discounts. So, in an era where people have no patience in general, are general managers giving coaches no real time to prove themselves because they are in a rush to look for the next Pop. Or, are they blame deflecting on the coaches anytime a team doesn’t live up to the expectations of the public.

The NBA is a player’s league. If you don’t have good player’s, you cannot win no matter what system you run. Yet, organizations hold coaches accountable for a team not doing well. Part of the reason for this is that general managers choose the players so if they blame the players, they are really blaming themselves. Another reason is that general managers invest a lot of money in players so trading players, even if that may be best for the team, means that the general manager wasted their money by signing this player in the first place, so they rather stick with the player, hope that the team suddenly starts to play well, and fire the coach to look like you’re fixing the problem. These are people’s livelihoods that teams are playing with. You literally have guys like Doug Collins, Jeff Van Gundy, and maybe even Mark Jackson that do not want to coach in today’s NBA because of what they would have to deal with. They rather stick to being commentators. At the end of the day, from what I’ve noticed, these teams usually set their teams development back by firing coaches quickly so to the teams that fire coaches quickly…

The Stephen Curry Effect

Did you see some of the shots that this man was taking? He did whatever he wanted out on the court.

For those who are not in tune with popular culture in America, this is Stephen Curry. He is the greatest shooter of a basketball that the planet Earth has ever seen and I am not exaggerating as you can see from these highlights from a game earlier this season. There have been many great shooters in NBA history, but Stephen Curry stands out. His shooting prowess has caught the eyes of the sports world and really all of America as the NBA All-Star Voting results from last season showed.

All basketball fans know that when a basketball star captivates the hearts of America, people tend to emulate them while they are playing basketball. Particularly, fans tend to emulate them. Particularly, young fans tend to emulate them. We all know someone who thought that they were Allen Iverson and we all know people who still think that they are Kobe Bryant (this may or may not be to the detriment of your team whether on a recreational court or during an organized game). Basically, NBA stars change the way that the sport of basketball is played here in America and internationally and if you don’t think that NBA stars change the way that basketball is played internationally, just look at Stephon Marbury. The emulation increases when the star wins an NBA championship and when the player’s stature is more closely related to that of somebody that doesn’t play in the NBA than somebody that does and Stephen Curry is 6’3”, 190 lbs, and won the NBA Championship last season.

But the Warriors won the championship though…

Despite Charles Barkley saying it in a very interesting way, many people who are well-respected in the professional and collegiate basketball community share the same opinion that Charles does about jump shooting teams. Many people feel that if you just shoot the basketball like crazy (especially from the 3 point line) that you cannot succeed in the NBA and many other levels of basketball. But the Warriors won the championship though…

No disrespect to the Golden State Warriors. They do more than just shoot the basketball. They are one of the most intelligent teams in the league and they play very underrated defense. However, you cannot deny the fact that their offense is concentrated primarily on the 3 point shot with the king of threes running the offense: Stephen Curry. So now when you consider the success that Stephen Curry has had, the fact that he makes it look effortless, and the fact that most guys are near his height so most guys aren’t too small to attempt Stephen Curry-esque shots, you realize that a lot of people are going to try and emulate him. It’s a given. But, not everybody can be Stephen Curry. You can’t shoot like him. If you’re reading this and you can, I will probably see you on Hoop Mixtape or Ball is Life pretty soon. So what kind of effect is Stephen Curry having on the NBA? Enter Mark Jackson…

It’s interesting that Mark Jackson is the one that is saying that because Mark Jackson is the reason that the Warriors are good. He was their coach for a few years and took them from a team with a below average record to a team with one of the best records in the West in a very short time span. An argument can be made that Steve Kerr took them to another level and Steve Kerr was the guy who replaced Mark Jackson, but at the time that he was fired, he was doing a very good job and the players loved him. So with all that love that exists between the coach and his former team, it’s surprising that he said that. However, two things have to be acknowledged. 1. Mark Jackson did not mean those comments maliciously and meant that Stephen Curry is indirectly and unintentionally hurting the game. 2. He may have a point.

Yes, this top ranked high school player is 7 feet and still opted to shoot the three after he broke the defender’s ankles although he kind of had the lane (or could make a lane at that height in high school). The fact that he was able to break his ankles at that height is impressive. If you have 7 footers looking for threes, you’re definitely going to have 6 footers pulling them like crazy. Is Stephen Curry to blame for this though?

The NBA is changing and Stephen Curry and the Warriors are the face of that change. The 3 point shot is the most dangerous shot in basketball. A series of 3 point shots can cut into a big lead in seconds. The Warriors have mastered this. Stephen Curry has become the best player in the league in the eyes of many. Everybody wants to be the best but, can you really blame the man for doing what he does best and what works for him. The incredible passing and floor leadership is very evident in the video in the beginning of this post. However, like Mark Jackson said, people don’t notice that though, they notice your biggest strength. Kids aren’t going to look to emulate Stephen Curry’s defense, footwork, or leadership too often. What is undeniable is that many people are going to try and get the 3 point shot to work for them like it does for him because of height comparisons.We cannot deny that Stephen Curry has effected the game dramatically and the basketball world will feel this effect for years to come.

But if you are going to shoot a lot of threes? Don’t do this.