twolf
03-04-2006, 02:25 PM
I miss the past NBA eras. The era imparticular for me is from the mid-\'70s to mid-\'90s. In that 20 yr. time span you had some of the best all-time players, best all-time teams, and best rivalries.
In this time the Eastern Conference was the dominate conference. It was Philly in the late \'70s, Boston throughout the \'70s and \'80s, Pistons in the late \'80s, and Chicago in the \'90s. Also you can\'t forget about NY and LA (the only non-East team).
Now to the players. In the \'70s Dr. J was the origanal \"Skywalker\". He was the true prequel to Jordan. In the \'80s it was the heated Magic v. Bird rivalry. Even though Jordan was great in the mid to late \'80s he didn\'t become the greatest until the \'90s. The players that were probably the most overlooked b/c of Erving, Magic, Bird, and MJ were Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olijawan, Mark Price, Dominique Wilkens,Isiah Thomas, and David Robinson. This is not all the greats, but you get the idea.
The rivalries were just as hard core. The biggest rivalry going into the \'90s was the Pistons v. MJ and the Knicks v. the Bulls. Even though I hated the Pistons back then, I cannot deny how great they were. The best rivalry, though, was Boston v. LA Lakers. Those games were great to watch when Magic and Bird played.
College basketball was also great at this time. Through the \'80s and \'90s, look at the plaers that were in college. Duke had Johnny Dawkins, Tommy Amaker, Danny Ferry, Bobby Hurley, Steve Wojehowski, Christian Laettner, Shane Battier, and Grant Hill (among others). Then you turn to other teams and you saw Vince Carter, Jerry Stackhouse, Patrick Ewing, Akeem Olijawan, Rip Hamilton, Mateen Cleeves, Mike Price, Gary Payton, and many others.
Not mentioned in this post is all the great coaches. And the fact that David Stern (the best commissioner in sports) was hired in 1984.
Don\'t get me wrong. I love the NBA! I still love it as much as I did when I was 6. My fav. team won the championship last yr. and KG and Vince Carter are my fav. players. But the rivalries aren\'t as good and no player today can showup most of the players I named earlier. You hear that media, stop trying to make someone the next Jordan, Magic or Bird! Leave the past in the past!
All this made me wonder what others thought. What team was your fav. in the 20 year span from 1975 to 1995?
I am split between the Celtics and the Bulls. I am being a little biased, though, because I didn\'t like the Lakers or Pistons and my fav. all-time team is the Bulls. Also my fav. player growing up was Scottie Pippen.
In this time the Eastern Conference was the dominate conference. It was Philly in the late \'70s, Boston throughout the \'70s and \'80s, Pistons in the late \'80s, and Chicago in the \'90s. Also you can\'t forget about NY and LA (the only non-East team).
Now to the players. In the \'70s Dr. J was the origanal \"Skywalker\". He was the true prequel to Jordan. In the \'80s it was the heated Magic v. Bird rivalry. Even though Jordan was great in the mid to late \'80s he didn\'t become the greatest until the \'90s. The players that were probably the most overlooked b/c of Erving, Magic, Bird, and MJ were Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olijawan, Mark Price, Dominique Wilkens,Isiah Thomas, and David Robinson. This is not all the greats, but you get the idea.
The rivalries were just as hard core. The biggest rivalry going into the \'90s was the Pistons v. MJ and the Knicks v. the Bulls. Even though I hated the Pistons back then, I cannot deny how great they were. The best rivalry, though, was Boston v. LA Lakers. Those games were great to watch when Magic and Bird played.
College basketball was also great at this time. Through the \'80s and \'90s, look at the plaers that were in college. Duke had Johnny Dawkins, Tommy Amaker, Danny Ferry, Bobby Hurley, Steve Wojehowski, Christian Laettner, Shane Battier, and Grant Hill (among others). Then you turn to other teams and you saw Vince Carter, Jerry Stackhouse, Patrick Ewing, Akeem Olijawan, Rip Hamilton, Mateen Cleeves, Mike Price, Gary Payton, and many others.
Not mentioned in this post is all the great coaches. And the fact that David Stern (the best commissioner in sports) was hired in 1984.
Don\'t get me wrong. I love the NBA! I still love it as much as I did when I was 6. My fav. team won the championship last yr. and KG and Vince Carter are my fav. players. But the rivalries aren\'t as good and no player today can showup most of the players I named earlier. You hear that media, stop trying to make someone the next Jordan, Magic or Bird! Leave the past in the past!
All this made me wonder what others thought. What team was your fav. in the 20 year span from 1975 to 1995?
I am split between the Celtics and the Bulls. I am being a little biased, though, because I didn\'t like the Lakers or Pistons and my fav. all-time team is the Bulls. Also my fav. player growing up was Scottie Pippen.