14 yr old with more bounce than 95% of the league

[secund2nun]

what is much better? the players? the game? are the top 5 guys today better than the top 5 guys then? What about the top 10? pretty subjective sh*t man, at the end of the day I find that basketball from that era was just as entertaining then than it is now if not more so because they played a slightly different brand of ball that is less about style and more about substance

What I mean is that the players as a whole are much better.

There is nothing subjective of talent pool. It's proven and simple. The Olympics is a picture perfect representation of it because you compete against every Olympic athlete in history in many of the sports like track. Times are times.

Now entertainment is different. That's all opinion.

[secund2nun]

I agree to an extent on the bigger talent pool. But notice that it doesn't seem to translate to big men for some reason. Maybe in the 80s/90s. But not since.

As for Olympic records, keep in mind that some of that is better equipment and surfaces. You had Jim Ryun run 3:55 in high school on a cinder track. I can imagine the running shoes have a improved a bit since then along with the tracks. When Usain Bolt set his WR, that was on a very fast track.

Also, the science behind the training and nutrition and approach to the sport improves over time. So Ryun, for example, might have been running insane mileage in high school and college to accomplish what he did. But world class middle distance runners later on might have become more precise with their efforts, requiring less mileage but perhaps more intense and focused workouts (the goal is to run very fast over a mile or 800, not to run a marathon).

And you see how stats are being applied to basketball today. Now you can know all the tendencies of a player and use that to develop a strategy for defense. Or you can focus on having more efficient shot selection.

So you have to factor in that guys in Wilt's day simply didn't have all the advantages that you do know, with film on every game, advanced stats, decades more of history to see what worked well for others, and so on.

And the rules differed of course. As has been mentioned, you couldn't get away with the kind of dribbling you see now. Helps with the handles.

So I'm not sure that the best from the today are any more talented than the best from the 60s. I tend to doubt it. Lebron and Kobe are not inherently better than Oscar or Wilt. They just have more advantages. Put them in the same time period, and it equalizes out. Now the overall talent of the league I would agree is better today, given the larger pool to pick from.

Yeah the lack of big men is strange, My theory is that the game has been corrupted for whatever reason against true bigs because perimeter players are marketed for their "wow factor", so the bigs today grow up today ignoring the art of back to basket post play though there seems to be a recent resurgence of true big men.

The certain advantages of today do help, but I feel the lack of talent from back then is a far greater advantage than that. Jim Ryun's times would have improved today, but he still would had the record time today.

[IGOTGAME]

What I mean is that the players as a whole are much better.

There is nothing subjective of talent pool. It's proven and simple. The Olympics is a picture perfect representation of it because you compete against every Olympic athlete in history in many of the sports like track. Times are times.

Now entertainment is different. That's all opinion.

Something like track is very different than something like boxing or basketball.

[Le Shaqtus]

Something like track is very different than something like boxing or basketball.

Times aren't getting better in track, yes for some events like the 100-200 and 800 where the WR's were broken by Bolt and Rudisha respectively. The 1500 meter record by Hicham El Guerrouj and the 5k and 10k records by Kenenisa Bekele were set a while ago and no one is breaking those.

The progression of athletes between Track an Basketball are completely different, completely different sports.

[MavsSuperFan]

[Pointguard]

Wtf this kids 14? Looks so much older.

The other thing that gets me is that he moves like he's very accustomed to his body too (usually when growing they are adjusting to their temporary size). He moves like a 23 year old. This is really weird. When I coach that age group there isn't that big of difference in talent and skill levels.

He's going to grow at least 5 more inches but this isn't guaranteeing another Magic as he might become bulky and more like a forward, as he is already a pretty wide kid right now.