The reason why current competition is irrefutably greater than Jordan's

[Mr. Woke]

The talent pool is deeper nowadays.

The modern NBA is tougher and more competitive than ever before.

[Mr. Woke]

More competitive? Maybe
More skilled/athletic, absolutely
However, easier rules? Hell yes

The fact that little by little, they have been making small rule changes to make scoring and putting numbers easier ( handchecking, defensive 3 seconds, shorter shot clock) to name a few. You just don't know how current players would react to brutal, physical, no rely on the 3, no super team league

The fact that in the 80s, 90s, the top dogs wanted to compete, prove dominance and take each others head off you have to consider a point when talking about competitive level. Today, the first team to assemble a big 3 or 4 wins the tittle 8/10. Everybody is friendly and try to make alliances and manipulate free agency and the same 4,5 teams at the top get all the big free agents and the bad teams stay bad and never get big free agents to make it more balanced.

Back then, almost all teams had a big 1,2 punch and it was competitive

Robinson/elliot
Kemp/payton
Jordan/pippen
Stockton/malone
Webber/howard
Penny/shaq
Garnett/Marbury
Ewing/starks
Sprewell/houston
Hakeem/drexler
Thomas/Dummars
Hakeem/Sampson
Julius/moses

There were no superteams with 3 franchise players in their prime together.

Superteams and dynasties have definitely existed throughout NBA history.

[HoopsNY]

Yep, so Lebron circa 2003-04 couldn't hang in 2021....oh wait.

[8Ball]

The talent pool is deeper nowadays.

The modern NBA is tougher and more competitive than ever before.

Yup.

Look how fast Dwight Howard became useless. Most of the players from the 90s would go that route, to the end of the bench since it was low skilled basketball.

Embiid / Jokic can play the game because they can score in triple threat (close range, mid range, long range). Most players in the 90s had none of that ability in triple threat.

[dankok8]

Ewing learned to play basketball in America is my point. He wasn't recruited from an overseas league or didn't come to the US to play college ball and then got drafted.

He came into the league via the standard HS -> college-> NBA path.

Your argument was about talent pool. Ewing is clearly from a talent pool outside of the US.

All International teams for this season

1st Team
Embiid
Jokic
Giannis
Murray
Doncic


2nd team
Gobert
Sabonis
Siakam
SGA
Simmons

3rd Team
Vucevic
Porzingis
Gallinari
Bogdnovic
Schroder

And look at all the guys that don't get in...

Adams
Horford
Gasol
Capela
Wiggins
The other Bogdanovic
Rubio
Ingles
Dragic
Ibaka
Valaciunas
Mills

Take 90% of these guys out of the league and replace them with G Leaguers... that is the NBA in the late 90s. You just can't argue with this.

It doesn't mean LeBron is better than Jordan. Or anyone is better than anyone else for that matter. It just means you can't draw too much from comparing stats, rings and accomplishments between eras because the competition was not the same.

Nice list but like we said the 90's also had plenty of really good internationals:

Hakeem
Ewing
Mutombo
Schrempf
Petro
Kukoc
Radja
Tabak
Danilovic
Divac
Sabonis
Smits

You're also clearly ignoring the fact that international basketball hadn't caught up to US basketball at the time. So many other guys who were stars in my home country and in European leagues like Curcic, Cvetkovic, and Dordevic couldn't even break into the rotation and earn minutes in the NBA. They came over but just weren't good enough. Nowadays almost every national team player for Serbia for instance could make the NBA not because the NBA is more international but because international players today are much better relative to US players than 30 years ago. At the time the best players in the world were mostly (like 95%) from the US.

[clipps]

The talent pool is deeper nowadays.

The modern NBA is tougher and more competitive than ever before.

Did your parents shake you when you were a baby?

[ralph_i_el]

In Jordan's era US basketball was on a way higher level than international. It's not like the best players didn't play in the NBA. The best players in the world were pretty much all American at that time. Plus you are forgetting a few really good international players too. Hakeem was Nigerian... Ewing was Jamaican. You had a lot of solid players like Divac, Kukoc, Drazen, Radja, Smits, Schrempf... So it's not like the 90's didn't have international players like you're implying.

That's true, but it doesn't change OP's point.

There are flat out more people on earth trying to become pro basketball players by a large amount now. This is a fact.

Also, when MJ was drafted there was an estimated 4.7 billion humans. Now it's around 7.4. The top people at almost any skill have more competition. There's like 90,000,000 more Americans now than in 1984.

[Mr. Woke]

Did your parents shake you when you were a baby?

Take off the nostalgia goggles.

[Manny98]

Yep basketball became a more global sport since back then

International players were very bad back in the day because basketball was still a new sport outside of the US

[AussieSteve]

You're also clearly ignoring the fact that international basketball hadn't caught up to US basketball at the time. So many other guys who were stars in my home country and in European leagues like Curcic, Cvetkovic, and Dordevic couldn't even break into the rotation and earn minutes in the NBA. They came over but just weren't good enough. Nowadays almost every national team player for Serbia for instance could make the NBA not because the NBA is more international but because international players today are much better relative to US players than 30 years ago. At the time the best players in the world were mostly (like 95%) from the US.

This is exactly my point. All the best players in the world were American. Now America contributes around 3/4 to 2/3 of the best players in the world. Because the rest of the world has gotten better and therefore increased the level of competition! Get it!?

The talent pool has expanded by around 1/4 to 1/3 compared to the late 90s.

Can you maybe name me the top 5 international players in the NBA during the bulls 2nd 3peat? Thanks.

[TheMan]

If you were to put a non USA team together, it would destroy whatever non USA 90s team there was.

Luca / Giannis / Jokic / Murray / Siakam. Imagine that team. Anything in the 80s or 90s rival that?

and they would still get their shit pushed in by the Dream Team...

[2much_knowledge]

Superteams and dynasties have definitely existed throughout NBA history.

Name me one superteam in the 90s that had 3 franchise players in their prime joining forces. Not teams built by drafting. Just one

[TheCorporation]

Great post OP, I couldn't agree more.

I always figured it was well known that the 90s was an extremely weak, watered-down era that was an embarrassing time for the NBA. Literal grocery baggers and auto mechanics were starting in all-star games and playing in the Finals.

Thank goodness we are blessed to watch the 2005+ era. Very high skilled and cream of the crop talent both U.S. and International.

+1

[dankok8]

This is exactly my point. All the best players in the world were American. Now America contributes around 3/4 to 2/3 of the best players in the world. Because the rest of the world has gotten better and therefore increased the level of competition! Get it!?

The talent pool has expanded by around 1/4 to 1/3 compared to the late 90s.

Can you maybe name me the top 5 international players in the NBA during the bulls 2nd 3peat? Thanks.

I don't think you understand what the term talent pool means. The rest of the world outside of the US still generated a lot of basketball players at that time. Places like Italy, Spain and Yugoslavia had pro-basketball leagues possibly before the US did. It's just that at that time the US had the most dominant basketball players. Kind of how Brazil dominated in soccer for decades at a time and were invincible. Does that mean the talent pool was reduced in soccer until 10 years ago? Of course not.

[Mr. Woke]

Name me one superteam in the 90s that had 3 franchise players in their prime joining forces. Not teams built by drafting. Just one

Super teams can be built through either the draft, free agency, trades, or a combo of the aforementioned things. They have always existed throughout NBA history.