Old School Players That Would Thrive in Today’s NBA
It’s often assumed that old school NBA wouldn’t cut it in today’s game, which is why it might surprise you that some of them would still have been stars.
As the years go by, retired NBA players seem to grow more and more irritated with advances to the game of basketball.
“I’m not worried about Daryl Morey. He’s one of those idiots who believes in analytics,” Charles Barkley said in February of 2015 in response to a Morey Tweet — as if analytics is some niche cohort of people who believe in debunked conspiracy theories.
Other NBA legends, like Oscar Robertson, have also been critical of the Golden State Warriors current dynasty.
This inspired a Reddit discussion amongst fans, debating if Robertson would have made it in today’s NBA.
The consensus on the Reddit page was that if Robertson grew up with modern basketball training methods, he’d still be able to thrive in today’s NBA. But the player he was in the 1960s would get destroyed if he played today.
Is this the case for all former NBA players? Would they all need modern training methods, or would some fit in seamlessly if a time machine could transport them to 2018?
In my opinion, a lot of these players would have been really good players in today’s NBA, even given advances to today’s game. Their old school skills would have translated to at least one side of the ball.
In order to restart the Reddit discussion about Robertson, I have put together a list of former players who I think would thrive in 2018 given their skill set and physical characteristics.
Bill Russell
Bill Russell has one of the most hotly debated NBA careers. Some regard him as the second greatest basketball player of all-time, while others think he was highly overrated.
In my opinion, Bill Russell’s intangibles would have made him an incredibly valuable player even today — particularly on the defensive end.
We don’t officially know how many shots Russell blocked because that’s not a stat that the NBA recorded until 1973, four years after he retired. However, there a number of reports that speculate that he would be the all-time leader in shots blocked if that had been tracked.
Of course, defense is more than just blocking shots. It’s about agility, timing, quickness and being at the right place at the right time — all areas in which Russell excelled. However, none of these were his best defensive attribute. That designation is reserved for his basketball IQ.
Russell had a plan for defending every opponent he faced, and his ego never played a part. Just listen to him describe how he would have guarded Shaquille O’Neal in an interview with Wilt Chamberlain and Ahmad Rashad. Unlike Chamberlain, Russell doesn’t boast about his athletic prowess or innate skills. Instead, he reveals his cunning instinct for the game of basketball as he describes how he would have maximized Shaq’s weakness while minimizing his strengths.
“I would make him have to run up and down the court all day. I figure if I weigh 240 and he weighs 300, and if he has to carry [his weight] up and down the court every time at a rapid rate, then fatigue will become apart of his play.”
His effort and intelligence would be incredibly valuable in today’s NBA, where defensive schemes seem to get more complicated by the day and increasingly rely on the center.
Where Russell would struggle in today’s game is on the offensive end, where he was never impressive. Even back in the ‘50s and ‘60s, he only shot 44% from the field, so there’s no way that he could have been a stretch 5 in today’s game.
However, the humility he showed when talking about defense would also help him on offense. Unlike other dominate rebounders and post defenders, Russell didn’t care if he got the ball, just as long as his team won the game. Therefore, he’d be satisfied with only scoring on lobs and offensive putbacks as long as it was best for his team.
“Pistol” Pete Maravich
Pistol Pete Maravich is a legend. He is famous for averaging an absurd 44.2 points per game during the three seasons he played at LSU (At the time, freshmen were not allowed to play on varsity college teams, so Maravich didn’t play during his freshman year). Some suggest that his average could be even higher if he had played using modern rules.
In fact, legendary college basketball coach Dale Brown went through Maravich’s old college game tape (Brown coached at LSU after Maravich graduated) and claimed that Maravich would have averaged an additional 13 points per game.
The same scoring uptick should be considered for his NBA career, where, he also scored from all over the court without the advantage of the three point line.
The NBA didn’t adopt a three-point line until the 1979–80, his last season in the league. That year, Maravich shot 66.7% from behind the arc, but only took 15. He missed significant time that year due to injury and at the end of the season he retired. But, for the majority of his career he shot from long range even though there wasn’t a three-point line, and still managed to average 31.1 points per game in 1976–77.
Today, Maravich would likely take 7–9 three-pointers per game because he was already making several shots a game from three point distance.
He’s an ideal player for many modern NBA offenses. In his day, he was one of the few shooting guards that could create scoring opportunities on their own, so he could fit in an isolation dominated offense like 2017–18 Cleveland Cavaliers run. At the same time, despite his propensity for hogging the ball, he was a great passer. In fact, a lot of his best highlights are quick passes to cutting big men. If he were put in a modern NBA offense that encourages ball movement like the Warriors, he would be even more electrifying.
Larry Nance, Sr.
In recent years, fans have watched in awe as Larry Nance Jr. dunks on his competition. They’ve probably even heard of his father, Larry Nance Sr.— winner of the NBA’s first dunk contest in 1984.
Nance, Sr. would have been well-equipped to play in the today’s NBA, especially since some of his deficiencies would be minimized. Even with his leaping ability and at 6’ 10” stature, Nance was a very poor rebounder. Unlike his broad-shouldered son, Nance Sr. was always fairly skinny and barely weighed 200 pounds for most of his career.
Today, the NBA is much less physical, which would allow him to be much better on the boards.
Nance never had a problem scoring. Over his 13-year NBA career, he averaged 17.1 points per game. But he could be stifled by more physical players who were allowed to physically hold him back when he tried to go around them. Now that hand checking is no longer allowed, that would likely happen less in today’s game.
He was also an excellent shot blocker. He is 17th all-time in shots blocked per game (18th if you include stats from the ABA). As an agile rim protector, he’d be ideal for modern NBA defense where a center is required to switch onto point guards and also protect the rim.
Larry Bird
Larry Bird is often criticized for his lack of athleticism by modern NBA fans. They talk about how he was too slow or couldn’t jump high enough to keep up with today’s NBA player. However, he made up for his poor athleticism with a hyper-competitive drive, incredible court vision and the ability to score efficiently from anywhere on the court.
At 6 foot 9 inches, he has good size for a small forward and could’ve played small ball power forward today. But his most translatable skill to the modern NBA would be his 3 point shooting.
Over the course of his career, Bird was a 37.8% three-point shooter. Like most players in the 1980s, it took him a few years to develop an effective 3 point shot.
Skilled 3 point shooters were rare back then because it was the first time most NBA players were playing with a three-point line. Bird struggled from behind the arch early in his career, but it was wasn’t a significant part of his game at that time. Over his first five seasons, Bird averaged 1.1 three-point attempts per game and made 30.8% of them.
In the 1984–85 season, he committed to taking threes more often. Over the rest of his career he shot 2.6 three-pointers per game, making nearly 40% of them. If he played in today’s NBA, he would have easily been able to adjust to the increased use of the three point shot, and likely would have taken closer to ten per game.
To put this in perspective, in 1985 the Utah Jazz’s Darrell Griffin led the league in 3 point attempts with 252 . This was an anomaly at the time, considering that Los Angeles Lakers’ Michael Cooper was 2nd in 1985 with 121 attempts. Compare that to today where less than halfway through the 2017–18 season, 7 players have already surpassed Griffin’s total.
It’s unfortunate that we can’t actually see how well these players would do in today’s NBA. Either way, I think that it’s fair to assume that Bill Russell, Pistol Pete, Larry Bird and Larry Nance would easily find a valuable role in today’s NBA — if not be stars. However, everyone is entitled to their opinion. If you feel differently, feel free to start a new NBA Reddit discussion about these players and other NBA legends.
Let the debates begin.
Statistics courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and Sports-Reference.com.
