Most people that are old enough to remember, all say that the NBA in the late 80’s through the 90’s was the best. Many people are nostalgic for the old NBA where the rules weren’t “soft”, the players were “tougher” and played harder. Charles Oakley is from that era and is known as one of those rougher players so of course he isn’t a fan of the NBA today. Just after he left is when the NBA changed the rules allowing zone defenses and changed the enforcement not allowing hand-checking on the perimeter. Oakley was in Toronto for Charles Oakley bobblehead night Saturday and said he can barely watch the NBA these days.
via CBSSports.com:
“Who do I like watching? It’s hard to watch,” said Oakley, 51. “I don’t know, it’s just, it’s a different game. It’s some good games and a lot of bad games. More bad games than good games.”
“I don’t know what it is. They just roll you out there like a basketball. That’s why … you see the same teams in the finals or winning 55 games. Strong teams, strong-minded coach. Just the players, they don’t think it, they don’t know how to play together,” he said. “So that’s one of things I see the weakness is: Communication, the guys don’t love the game. They play the game, but they don’t play with their heart.”
While the NBA isn’t as tough as it used to be, the players have certainly upped their skill set. Tanking is definitely a problem but I wouldn’t say the vast majority of players “don’t play with their heart”. I see the passion in a lot of guys. Many of us may wish for the old NBA but I think some of our main memories of Michael Jordan and a couple of the rivalries make us forget it wasn’t all like that.
