It's not that there isn't great big man joining the NBA, they're just all injured.

[Derivative]

People say the NBA now last quality bigman, and that there hasn't been quality bigman joining the NBA since the 90s. But let's face it, we've seen some really high quality drafts coming in, but their career just never took off due to injuries. Let's see:

Greg Oden: Deemed the next David Robinson, only big man comparable to Shaq in terms of physical attributes and dominance. Received a overall score of 106 on NBAdraft net. And we've seen how good he is based on the very limited quality time he was on the court, and that was a shadow of what he could of been had he not been injured.

Anthony Davis: Deemed the Tim Duncan/Kevin Garnett hybrid. We've seen how good he is. received overall score of 101 on NBAdraft net. Asides from this season, he is now the top 1 in PER for all his age groups. 59/20. But his career has always been frustrated by minor injuries, these can add up, and we see now. Based on what we see he's on track to a very injury prone career.

Joel Embiid: Deemed the next Hakeem, possess the height, fluidity, and skills that we haven't seen from a bigman in a LONG time. Received overall score of 100 on NBAdraft net. Still haven't played a single game yet!

karl-Anthony Towns: Could be next.

[ZenMaster]

From a basketball point of view there is no reason not to cut the NBA regular season down to 50ish games.

[Akrazotile]

From a basketball point of view there is no reason not to cut the NBA regular season down to 50ish games.


The NBA won't do it unless fans start giving up their season tickets and demanding a lighter schedule. But most of the public completely lacks initiative so we'll just all continue to complain about it and it'll never actually happen.

[AngelEyes]

Towns is going to own this league very soon.

[90sgoat]

The injuries might be because the big men in the league all roid but play generally a more dynamic game than in the 90s. Added miles on the legs bring problems with ligaments when you are carrying more mass than your body is built to do naturally. Ligaments and connective tissue does not grow along with the muscles when you roid.

[FKAri]

The injuries might be because the big men in the league all roid but play generally a more dynamic game than in the 90s. Added miles on the legs bring problems with ligaments when you are carrying more mass than your body is built to do naturally. Ligaments and connective tissue does not grow along with the muscles when you roid.

roids were in full swing by the 90s across every major professional sport. But this excessive bulking in basketball bigs didn't happen till the turn of the century.

[90sgoat]

roids were in full swing by the 90s across every major professional sport. But this excessive bulking in basketball bigs didn't happen till the turn of the century.

Yes that's what I mean, but the modern game moves more than most inside-out 90s teams, so bigs run more.

[3ball]

there hasn't been quality bigman joining the NBA since the 90s.



Here's the top bigs from 1997 - today's top bigs are a joke by comparison:


Hakeem
Shaq
Robinson
Ewing
Alonzo
Sabonis
Karl Malone
Barkley
Webber
Kemp
Rik Smits
Vin Baker
Dino Radja
Derrick Coleman





People say the NBA lacks quality bigman


Post-ups will NEVER come back and be the staple of offenses now that teams have sufficient 3-point shooting personnel to make 3-pointers the staple instead..

Now that teams can drive-and-kick for 3-pointers (as opposed to 2-pointers), the drive-and-kick format has become more efficient than the post-up format.. This proves that the decline in post-ups is due to higher efficiency drive-and-kick made possible by 3-pointers, not defensive tactics.. In the absence of 3-pointers, no amount of defensive strategy could prevent post-ups from supplanting drive-and-kick..

Since post-ups, mid-range, off-ball and isolations were the only things left in the 80's without the 3-pointers needed to make drive-and-kick worthwhile, we can say with certainty that many of today's elite players would be lesser players back then - their 3-and-D skill sets exclude elite ability in any of the aforementioned areas..

This isn't a novel idea - it makes sense that many of today's players that excel in today's spaced-out format, WOULDN'T be good without the spacing - it's common knowledge that basketball harder without spacing.