Back to the original discussion:
I was on a flight back from a conference and watched a game from the 98 finals on ESPN classic. I was shocked at the relatively poor play. Maybe it was just one game, but the guys on the court in a finals really stunned me -- Carr, Hornacek, Jud Buechler and all the guys that MJ cobbled together...there were some really bad players.
There are some now, too, of course.
I would say the big difference is athleticism. For better or worse, guys are flying all over the place now, which I don't think was the case even ten years ago.
The other thing -- I think a lot of the statistical analysis is making its imprint on the game. You see a lot more baseline threes, for one thing, now, and that's something that always comes up as a great shot because of the way you can space the floor.