Is This The Worst Talent Pool In NBA History

[DonDadda59]

... Or at least since the pre-merger 70s?

I was thinking about it the past few games. There's a lot of teams that are made up exclusively of role players, especially in the East.

Boston- No marquee players. A guy coming off the bench is arguably their star.

Milwaukee- Bunch of scrappy defenders but no one even close to all star level.

Brooklyn- faded former stars.

Hawks- Do you consider Korver, Millsap stars? :confusedshrug:

It's no wonder the NBA, which traditionally relies on star power for marketing, decided to go with their 'new hero ball' campaign. Good luck convincing people to tune in to watch Kyle Korver battle Brook Lopez or a faded Paul Pierce clown DeMar DeRozan.

No wonder way past prime former star players are still doing work. Can you point to another point in NBA History where the talent pool was so thin? :confusedshrug:

[TripleA]

Mid 2000s were the worst

[G0ATbe]

Weakest the Easts been since the 90s. easts been terribly weak since the bird led Celtics era ended. This is nothing new.

[TripleA]

... Or at least since the pre-merger 70s?

I was thinking about it the past few games. There's a lot of teams that are made up exclusively of role players, especially in the East.

Boston- No marquee players. A guy coming off the bench is arguably their star.

Milwaukee- Bunch of scrappy defenders but no one even close to all star level.

Brooklyn- faded former stars.

Hawks- Do you consider Korver, Millsap stars? :confusedshrug:

It's no wonder the NBA, which traditionally relies on star power for marketing, decided to go with their 'new hero ball' campaign. Good luck convincing people to tune in to watch Kyle Korver battle Brook Lopez or a faded Paul Pierce clown DeMar DeRozan.

No wonder way past prime former star players are still doing work. Can you point to another point in NBA History where the talent pool was so thin? :confusedshrug:


The average player player in the early to mid 2000s were all a bunch of austin rivers. look at the drafts 2000 to 2007 god awful.

[Bosnian Sajo]

Steph Curry
Anthony Davis
Lebron James
Kevin Durant
Russell Westbrook
Kawhi Leonard
Paul George
Klay Thompson
John Wall
Kyrie Irving
Kevin Love
Al Horford
Jimmy Butler
Chris Bosh
Al Jefferson
James Harden
Dwight Howard
Blake Griffin
Chris Paul
Damien Lillard
Lamarcus Aldridge
Marc Gasol
Zach Randolph
Tim Duncan (old man killing it)
Monta Ellis
Kobe Bryant
Demarcus Cousins

And that is just counting the best of the best, I still consider a lot of other guys I didn't mention as stars (Noah, Gasol, Millsap, etc.)

[christian1923]

Mid 2000s were the worst
Wuuuuuut

Kobe
Shaq
Wade
Kg
Nash
Dirk
Duncan
LBJ
Melo
Iverson
Tmac
Vince carter
Jason Kidd
Billups


Just to name a few

[TripleA]

Wuuuuuut

Kobe
Shaq
Wade
Kg
Nash
Dirk
Duncan
LBJ
Melo
Iverson
Tmac
Vince carter
Jason Kidd
Billups


Just to name a few

Nice Chauncey billups top 5 point guard back then:confusedshrug:

[DonDadda59]

Mid 2000s were the worst

Really? Thought that was a very good time for talent that was spread out throughout the league. Not the best, but definitely not as thin as it is now.

I think the NBA right now is going through a transition period where established stars are on their way out (even though guys like Duncan, Pierce don't seem to want to leave) and that's being coupled with some rampant injuries to current stars. Also doesn't help with certain teams hoarding all the talent in some cases.

So now you have playoff teams with no marquee/star talent. Teams made up of literally all role players. I don't think I can point to any point in NBA History besides another transition period in the 70s during/before the merger where the league was so starved for star power.

[DonDadda59]

Steph Curry
Anthony Davis
Lebron James
Kevin Durant
Russell Westbrook
Kawhi Leonard
Paul George
Klay Thompson
John Wall
Kyrie Irving
Kevin Love
Al Horford
Jimmy Butler
Chris Bosh
Al Jefferson
James Harden
Dwight Howard
Blake Griffin
Chris Paul
Damien Lillard
Lamarcus Aldridge
Marc Gasol
Zach Randolph
Tim Duncan (old man killing it)
Monta Ellis
Kobe Bryant
Demarcus Cousins

And that is just counting the best of the best, I still consider a lot of other guys I didn't mention as stars (Noah, Gasol, Millsap, etc.)

A lot of the guys you named are injured and not even active right now. How many of those names are from the East and were significant contributors this past season? LeBron and Kyrie who are on the same team... and?

[FKAri]

Steph Curry
Anthony Davis
Lebron James
Kevin Durant
Russell Westbrook
Kawhi Leonard
Paul George
Klay Thompson
John Wall
Kyrie Irving
Kevin Love
Al Horford
Jimmy Butler
Chris Bosh
Al Jefferson
James Harden
Dwight Howard
Blake Griffin
Chris Paul
Damien Lillard
Lamarcus Aldridge
Marc Gasol
Zach Randolph
Tim Duncan (old man killing it)
Monta Ellis
Kobe Bryant
Demarcus Cousins

And that is just counting the best of the best, I still consider a lot of other guys I didn't mention as stars (Noah, Gasol, Millsap, etc.)

scrubs.

[TripleA]

A lot of the guys you named are injured and not even active right now. How many of those names are from the East and were significant contributors this past season? LeBron and Kyrie who are on the same team... and?

I think this seasons so bad because so many major players got injuries

[DonDadda59]

I think this seasons so bad because so many major players got injuries

Yeah, definitely. I've brought up injuries as a reason several times here. Some guy included Kobe in his list above. Dude played on one leg and couldn't shoot above 38% on a lottery team this season. He's clearly not a marquee player this year, just a name. Neither was Paul George or Bosh/Wade for huge stretches. Durant obviously.

The Eastern squads this season were mostly either made up of all role players or at the bottom, were glorified D-League squads (Knicks :facepalm ). All the stars are on one team in Cleveland. And even then, Love is done now.

[MiseryCityTexas]

Mid 2000s were the worst


Hell no. Arenas's Wizards, Lebron's OG Cavs, Dwight's Magic, Steve Nash's Suns, Shaq and Wade's Heat and Kobe/Gasol's Lakers would mop up the floor with Most of today's shitty teams, especially if they played against today's eastern conference teams.

[VIP2000]

I would say the early 00's were the worst, right after Jordan retired for the second time. There were superstars like AI, Kobe, KG Shaq, Duncan, T-Mac, Vince Carter, but most of them were surrounded with awful supporting casts. Heck, when Jordan came back for the Wizards, his supporting cast was God-awful. And that was the era where a lot of upcoming stars like Grant Hill, Penny, and McDyess got injuries where they were never the same after.

I mean, a Boston Celtics team featuring Paul Pierce, Antoine Walker, and a bunch of scrubs made the ECF at one point.

[DonDadda59]

I would say the early 00's were the worst, right after Jordan retired for the second time. There were superstars like AI, Kobe, KG Shaq, Duncan, T-Mac, Vince Carter, but most of them were surrounded with awful supporting casts. And that was the era where a lot of upcoming stars like Grant Hill, Penny, and McDyess got injuries where they were never the same after.

I mean, a Boston Celtics team featuring Paul Pierce, Antoine Walker, and a bunch of scrubs made the ECF at one point.

That was a pretty rough era, I'll give you that. But Boston had Pierce who was a bonafide star talent. Who does Boston have now anywhere remotely close to that level? I think the talent was spread out more too. Most teams that made the playoffs had at least one real franchise player.

[livinglegend]

OP, we know your agenda.
Nice try.

[Bosnian Sajo]

A lot of the guys you named are injured and not even active right now. How many of those names are from the East and were significant contributors this past season? LeBron and Kyrie who are on the same team... and?

4 injured guys, one of whom only just got injured in the playoffs.

I just realized I left Melo off that list :oldlol:

[blablabla]

I don't think so, yes the East is bad but the Celtics despite their very limited talent are well coached and so are the Hawks and the Bucks. The transition to a more team oriented game and the rising importance of advanced stats has given us, at least in my opinion, a better product to watch but the average fan might be put off by the lack of the true superstar 1 on 1 battles we've got to enjoy in the past. If you look back at the Eastern conference more than a decade ago you've had Allens Bucks, Iversons Sixers, McGradys Magic, Pierces Celtics, Carters Toronto average teams led by one superstar. There ain't really that many teams of that mold left in the modern NBA, maybe Melos Knicks but hes been injured this season, Davis and the Pelicans and Harden and the Rockets at least when Howard was injured.

Another reason i think is the skewed talent distribution, just take a look at the Cavs who have 3 bonafide Superstars all playing on one team and the Heat who have Wade and Bosh who were leading bad teams to the playoffs all by themselves just a couple of years ago, plus a guy like Goran Dragic playing with them. Naturally this leads to teams who have the play without a true number one option even a Number 1 seed like the Hawks. Do I consider Korver and Millsap superstars? Korver no but he does bring have a incredibly valueable skillset in todays NBA, there's a reason why guys like Middleton and Parsons are able to get near max contracts. Millsap is a tough one but seeing how well rounded his game is and how smart he plays the answer is yes, especially if you consider someone like Griffin a star.
To put it short: I don't agree with you, the talent pool is huge, the game is changing, players are becoming more unselfish and there are lots of teams trying to rebuild slowly through the draft which leads to a more unbalanced top heave distribution of superstar talent

[DonDadda59]

OP, we know your agenda.
Nice try.

What agenda?

Name a more talent-starved era in NBA History.

Are you watching the Bulls game where they're playing a team made up of average role players? Did you watch Cleveland take on Boston, another team with no real stars to speak of? The Hawks were the top seed in the East and won 60 with Kyle Korver making the all star squad scoring 12 PPG :lol


4 injured guys, one of whom only just got injured in the playoffs.

I just realized I left Melo off that list

I'm actually surprised you didn't have Melo on your list considering you put old man Bean there :oldlol:

[ThickassGlasses]

It's less spread than it used to be, but there is by far more talent now than in even the early 2000's. I think pretty much every team had 1 star, with a few select teams having 2, made it seem more plentiful. Guys got tired of not winning by themselves against the few teams with multiple stars every year and formed the Super Teams.

Hopefully it stops soon but I don't see why or how it would.

[Hey Yo]

That was a pretty rough era, I'll give you that. But Boston had Pierce who was a bonafide star talent. Who does Boston have now anywhere remotely close to that level? I think the talent was spread out more too. Most teams that made the playoffs had at least one real franchise player.
Boston has committed themselves to acquiring as many draft picks as possible (mostly 2nd's) the last 3yrs or so. Trading away and acquiring like it's a board game. They haven't really been trying to land an above avg / somewhat build around UFA

Follow the league much?

[Indian guy]

Stupid post by someone who's clearly agenda-driven. How are the bottom 3 seeds in the weaker conference representative of the talent level of the entire league? You can do this with any NBA season.

[ZMonkey11]

It's not a talent starved league right now. You are using wrong terminology. If you are talking about a lack of parity. Players have more power than ever to go where they want, so this is just how it happens man.

But to say we are starved of talent... come on man. You are better than that.

[DonDadda59]

You can do this with any NBA season.

Do it then.

[Optimus Prime]

The Least is historically terrible.

The talent pool is amazing...in The Best.

:kobe:

[MiseryCityTexas]

I would say the early 00's were the worst, right after Jordan retired for the second time. There were superstars like AI, Kobe, KG Shaq, Duncan, T-Mac, Vince Carter, but most of them were surrounded with awful supporting casts. Heck, when Jordan came back for the Wizards, his supporting cast was God-awful. And that was the era where a lot of upcoming stars like Grant Hill, Penny, and McDyess got injuries where they were never the same after.

I mean, a Boston Celtics team featuring Paul Pierce, Antoine Walker, and a bunch of scrubs made the ECF at one point.


The Pierce Walker duo was underrated as hell though. That one team they had with Kenny Anderson running the point was a really good team.

[3ball]

Mid 2000s were the worst


Agreed, from 2002 to 2006, the NBA couldn't even beat Euroleague - literally - they lost to them repeatedly (7 times) on the biggest stage (world stage).

The USA's skills and brand of basketball was so far inferior at that time, that it more than offset their GOAT talent advantage.

There's only way to describe an NBA that can't beat Euroleague (http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=373182): the worst era of all time.

[Rose'sACL]

It's not a talent starved league right now. You are using wrong terminology. If you are talking about a lack of parity. Players have more power than ever to go where they want, so this is just how it happens man.

But to say we are starved of talent... come on man. You are better than that.
he is not better than that if you have read his posts.
i would also have a few teams with a lot of talent than a lot of teams with 1 star/superstar surrounded by average or shitty role players.
people bitch about some teams having a lot of talent compared to others but isn't that what makes finals good?

Celtics in 08,10 gave us good finals and then heat gave us 3 good finals. do you want east to go back to the time when nets and cavs made the finals from east in 00s?

I hope more players choose teams trying to win rather than just money. 5-6 loaded teams > 15 average teams.

to answer OP, this is how talent starved the league is:
1. Westbrook(top 3 PG and top 10 player in the league in any era)
2. Durant(injured)
3. Anthony Davis(great young talent already a beast)
4. LeBron James (best SF of all time)
5. Steph Curry(Best shooter of all time easily)
6. Kawhi leonard (a good offensive player plus a beast on defense like pippen)
7. CP3(would be top 2 PG in any era)
8. Kyrie Irving(great scoring PG with filthy handles)
9. James Harden(great scoring SG with great playmaking skills)
10. Blake Griffin
11. Tim duncan(defensive anchor still putting up 17-10)
plus you have to factor in teams with loaded rosters in terms of role players like warriors and spurs. other than cavs, almost all good teams are built around good passing rather than ISO ball of early 2000s.

[DonDadda59]

do you want east to go back to the time when nets and cavs made the finals from east in 00s?

That was that new hero ball joint :oldlol:

Ironically enough, that was the only era I can think of comparable to this one in terms of a shallow talent pool. But you didn't have any teams running around in the playoffs without at least ONE star caliber player.



to answer OP, this is how talent starved the league is:
1. Westbrook(top 3 PG and top 10 player in the league in any era)
2. Durant(injured)
3. Anthony Davis(great young talent already a beast)
4. LeBron James (best SF of all time)
5. Steph Curry(Best shooter of all time easily)
6. Kawhi leonard (a good offensive player plus a beast on defense like pippen)
7. CP3(would be top 2 PG in any era)
8. Kyrie Irving(great scoring PG with filthy handles)
9. James Harden(great scoring SG with great playmaking skills)
10. Blake Griffin
11. Tim duncan(defensive anchor still putting up 17-10)
plus you have to factor in teams with loaded rosters in terms of role players like warriors and spurs. other than cavs, almost all good teams are built around good passing rather than ISO ball of early 2000s.

Seeing an alarming number of injured players, sidekicks, and ancient players. You just made the problem seem much worse than my OP. :confusedshrug:

[Indian guy]

If not for injuries, Indiana and Miami would've made the playoffs in place of Boston and BKN. We are looking at Paul George, Wade, Bosh and Dragic - 4 legit stars between those 2 teams. What would the OP's argument be then?

Let's take out the bottom 2 seeds from the weaker conference each season(replace them with the #9 and #10 teams) and gauge the entire league's talent based on those 2 teams? Yeah, that would definitely be a fair assessment :rolleyes:

And the East's #1 team featured 4 All Stars this season, and run the same system that won the NBA championship last year. Good players + terrific coaching can earn you an excellent record. Playoff success is a different story, of course. Spurs are a huge anomaly.

[DonDadda59]

If not for injuries

Stopped reading there. I live in reality. This ain't the land of make believe.

[kells333]

This is a direct result of too many teams trying the team ball approach instead of letting a player have thr green light and role players playing off of them. If you give the dipo's, wiggins, derozens etc an ai vc tmac green light youll see more talent start to shine

[MiseryCityTexas]

Whoever said the early 2000s being the weakest era of basketball had to have been smoking wet. That Indiana Pacers team that had Reggie Miller, Jalen Rose, Dale Davis, Mark Jackson, Antonio Davis, and Rik Smits would probably win the championship easily in today's shitty era of basketball.

[Indian guy]

Stopped reading there. I live in reality. This ain't the land of make believe.

Your whole argument is centered around judging the entire league's supposed lack of star power on a couple of teams at the bottom that wouldn't even have made the playoffs had 2 top players not been injured. This is not "make believe". Last time I checked, Paul George and Bosh do exist and will exist next season. And had they enjoyed a normal, healthy season, your entire argument would fall apart.

[DonDadda59]

And had they

Again, we're not writing fan fiction here. We're talking about reality.

If I had voodoo powers or a hot tub time machine and brought prime Wilt, Jordan, Bird, Kareem, etc into the league today then this thread wouldn't have been made.

If I accidentally killed a butterfly going back in time, maybe Ross Perot would've been elected president and then made himself Emperor for life Augustus Perot.

In the land of make believe, ANYTHING'S POSSIBLE!!!!

[MiseryCityTexas]

Another way you can tell how this era of NBA ball sucks is because Duncan's almost 40 yet is still better than most centers in the league today.:facepalm

[Indian guy]

Another way you can tell how this era of NBA ball sucks is because Duncan's almost 40 yet is still better than most centers in the league today.:facepalm

Sounds a lot like a certain guy by the name of Kareem. Boy those 80's sure sucked :rolleyes:

[Rose'sACL]

Sounds a lot like a certain guy by the name of Kareem. Boy those 80's sure sucked :rolleyes:
funny thing is that jordan won rings only after all the great teams of the 80s declined. Just watch how everyone ignores your post.

[Heavincent]

Notice how every team OP mentioned is from the East.