Do u consider the athletes today bigger strong faster than the players from the 50's

[You Cant Ban Me]

do you think mikan and them boys with better training could of competed athletically wise with the NBA players from today or do you believe the players now are superior athletically?

[STATUTORY]

athletes today are better because they are selected from a much larger talent pool

[Kblaze8855]

Well once you consider training as you did...you are kinda asking if evolution changes human potential a lot in 50 years. To that id say....no.

All thats left to consider is the rate that the best athletes found their way to the NBA. That im sure was lower because of there being so much less money and motivation to do so.

In the 50s the Harlem globetrotters would offer as much money as the NBA. Guys were staying in the streets hustling for more money than the NBA paid.

In the end id say....the athletes would be worse...because less of the best of them were groomed/motivated to play ball from an early stage.

Plus you go back far enough and they had unwritten rules on how many black players a team would keep. Guys like Cleo Hill(who as it happens died yesterday) got blackballed out after a few racist players on the Hawks didnt like that he was getting so much shine.

Lot of factors.

Long story short....50s humans = current humans given equal nutrition and upbringing.

But 50s athletes were not as elite a group as they are today because so many who would play now...didnt play then.

[Jameerthefear]

athletes today are better because they are selected from a much larger talent pool
this.
it's really this simple.

[kennethgriffin]

http://awesome-body.info/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/mr-universe-1950.jpg




the average body builder today

http://bodybuildingmantra.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/big-muscles3.jpg


1950's 100 meter world record = 10.2 seconds by bobby morrow




now every single person who competes in the olympics is under 10 seconds

usain bolt 9.58 world record*





1950's high jump world record = walt davis 6 feet 11 inches


current world record = Javier Sotomayor 8 feet and 1/2 inches

[TheMarkMadsen]

yes because athletes today begin training at a young age, dedicating more time from the get go to becoming a professional athlete.. investing more money into training knowing that the end result is much more rewarding..

back in the 50's players regularly had other jobs besides playing in the nba because the nba didn't pay the bills.. they weren't dedicating their lives to the sport from a young age because there was no reason to at that time.. today that is the exact opposite, people are training to become professional athletes by the time they hit grade school..

[Jameerthefear]

try to get as many posts in as possible before Laz completely ruins this thread with his lying essays that no one reads

[3ball]

.
http://i.imgur.com/WO4hOoz.gif


Navigation Efficiency - how did Iverson get from the 3-point line, all the way to the rim in one dribble?

He did it using what I like to call "navigation efficiency", which is taking the maximum number of steps, with the least number of dribbles - this is something players in the 60's were not allowed to do because the ref would call a travel or carry...

In the GIF above of Iverson, he takes 1 dribble and 3 steps - this is standard footwork in the modern eras (post-1980)... but if Iverson had to take an extra dribble here, he would not have generated nearly as much momentum, and the play would not have been as athletic.

In the 60's, to abide by the strict dribbling rules at the time, every player would take an extra dribble in the GIF above (oscar might take several extra dribbles)... This is huge - because when you DON'T take that extra dribble - when you AREN'T slowed down by having to dribble, you are RUNNING, so you can generate better momentum leading up to and on the takeoff.

But when you have to take an extra dribble, it slows you down and you lose momentum and explosion going up for the shot - this is the case with ALL dribbling moves, not just the one above.

This is THE reason why players in the 60's appear less athletic - they simply weren't allowed to do the same moves today's players are allowed to do - if you aren't allowed to do the same moves, how can you make equally athletic plays?... the less stringent travelling and carrying rules that began in the 80's allowed players to be navigation-efficient and that efficiency allows them to gain better momentum leading up to and on the takeoff.

here's another one - jordan does the standard 1-dribble-3-step footwork - if jordan had to take an extra dribble here, he would not have generated the tremendous momentum he did to finish the play as explosively as he did... As you can see here, Jordan gets to RUN when he doesn't have to dribble, which generates more momentum and explosiveness than if was slowed down by having to take extra dribble(s).


http://i.imgur.com/hN7i1IJ.gif

[jstern]

This is the most realistic answer you can get https://www.ted.com/talks/david_epstein_are_athletes_really_getting_faster_b etter_stronger?language=en

[3ball]

current world record = Javier Sotomayor 8 feet and 1/2 inches



He's held that record for 30 years - so by your logic, athletes from 30 years ago > today

but of course, that makes no sense - humans don't materially evolve physically in just 30 years - if they did, they would've needed to move the rim up to 11 feet by now.

but they haven't moved the rim up and won't in our lifetimes or the next.. for all we know, if basketball was invented in 2000 B.C, maybe the rim would STILL be at 10 feet today.

humans take thousands of years to evolve... not just 25 or 30... :facepalm

[Psileas]

Barring technology and medicine, 1950's=2010's. Now, over the course of millenia, not only isn't there any significant improvement in terms of genetics in modern humans' athleticism and physicality, it has even been argued the opposite:

http://phys.org/news/2009-10-modern-men-wimps.html

Regardless, although this isn't a fair battle, since we're basically comparing different species, I think it's pretty undeniable that, at least as far as strength goes, Homo Sapiens don't hold a candle to the Neanderthals.

[DonDadda59]

Well once you consider training as you did...you are kinda asking if evolution changes human potential a lot in 50 years. To that id say....no.

All thats left to consider is the rate that the best athletes found their way to the NBA. That im sure was lower because of there being so much less money and motivation to do so.

In the 50s the Harlem globetrotters would offer as much money as the NBA. Guys were staying in the streets hustling for more money than the NBA paid.



Yup. Wilt got paid almost double as a Globetrotter what he made on the Warriors his first few seasons. Bob Cousy chose to teach Drivers' Ed rather than play in the NBA when he was drafted #3 overall by the Tri-City Blackhawks. Guys like Pee Wee Kirkland figured slinging rocks paid better than an NBA contract.

The NBA back then was a joke of a Bush League and many Black basketball players were convinced there was an unofficial quota of 4 minority players per team. The pay, conditions, talent pool were a complete and utter joke. It really wasn't until the ABA merger that the league really started getting its act together.

Pretty remarkable to think that from the late 70s through the early 90s, the NBA went from being on the verge of collapse and getting barely any press coverage to being a global phenomenon. Only about a 15+ year span or so between the merger and the Barcelona Olympics/the first Dream Team. Night and day difference.

[plowking]

They are better. Bigger, faster, stronger, etc... all of that.

Not due to human evolution, but simply incentive. You tell someone they can make $100 million dollars from an early age, and there is more incentive to strive for that career. Not to mention the people making money off that guy; owners and the league have an even bigger reason to push people towards their product to play.

Then you have evolution of the game, which is very real. Basketball was still young in the 50's, with lots of room for improvement. In terms of strength coaches working out which muscles are best to work on, coaches working out different strategies and even still, some general skills can be improved on. Basketball still hasn't peaked, but it is most definitely the best it has ever been.

[Fallen Angel]

Performance Enhancing Drugs

[And1AllDay]

Watch the TED Talks video posted...

[SyRyanYang]

larger talent pool
start early and more dedicated (more incentives)
PEDs
better training and nutrition (minor improvement compare to the first three)


oh and inb4 CavFTW tell you how Wilt had 30 inch biceps without using any drugs.

[Alamо]

Basketball in the 50s was a bunch of short white guys. There was a mysterious jump in athleticism once they brought the blacks into the NBA.


And by mysterious I mean very obvious. These are just the facts.