I just want hand checking back. It's too easy for the guards these days.
Me too. Sick of how easy it is for guards to score.
Do you remember how it was in the 90s? Slow, musclebound guards wrestling much more skilled players into mediocrity. Teams dumping the ball into the post and standing around for 10 seconds while the big pounded his way into the block and took a shot. Horrible. In a hand check era Kyrie is an ordinary player because every Mark Jackson clone can just hold him.
I guess you missed my previous post in this thread where I said I enjoyed the 90's style of play better.
It was more about defense and post play, and I find that more enjoyable. It's just an opinion, no different than yours.
No different, but I don't agree with it.
The early/mid 90s basketball was atrocious. It was a wrestling match on the court and a free-throw fest at the line which resulted in a slow, ponderous game. I like defense and I like post play too, but I like skill even more. The NBA allowed Detroit to substitute size over skill when they started winning NBA Championships. Chicago and other teams followed suit.
On court the game devolved into outright thuggery, which is different than defense. Guys with skill just got pummeled on the court which resulted in The Malice at the Palace and other fights. It wasn't good that playoff series (Knicks/Heat, 1997) were decided upon suspensions and not the play on the court. There's a reason that the last great basketbrawl was led by an Isiah Thomas-coached team in which 'Melo was suspended 15 games. The NBA had had enough. Ratings were down and the fans were leaving.
Now is today's game perfect? I don't think so. I'd like to see the NBA 3 point line consistent at 23' 9" or even just 24'. I kind of miss a bit of the hand checking. But I don't miss the days of tossing it into the post and mugging the guy. I like to see mismatches like 6'7" Jaylen Brown posting up smaller SGs without fear of him being slammed to the floor by a 6'9", 250 pound enforcer. I like seeing the fluidity of the game again. I loved watching IT drive the lane without being chucked into the 4th row.
The problem with the game today - to me - is largely due to these super-teams. Going into the season it seems you can count on one hand the number of teams that are going to compete for the NBA Championship each season. NBA free agency is driven by the rich getting richer and forcing the poor to get poorer. Now Ainge has shown ways to make the poor get rich again so it's not totally hopeless. I would appreciate a bit more parity in the league but I'll be the first to admit I have no good ideas on how to accomplish that task.