Shaquille O’Neal: NBA soft when I played, softer now

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/08/21/shaquille-oneal-nba-soft-when-i-played-softer-now/




Shaquille O’Neal: NBA soft when I played, softer now
Dan Feldman Aug 21, 2015, 2:55 PM EDT




There’s no shortage of former players who claim the NBA was better/tougher/whatever back in their day.

Shaquille O’Neal puts a slightly different spin on it while dissing kids these days.


Shaq, via the Wall Street Journal:

It was actually kind of soft when I played, too. Before I played, that was the real NBA, and I’m sure the guys that played before me would say that’s the real NBA. But before I came in, with Mike playing against Detroit and the Bad Boys – that was the real NBA. I kind of played in the soft era, also. And then of course, with me being dominant, everybody crying about the rules, that just made it more so. But now it’s very soft.



Did the Pistons defend Michael Jordan toughly? Yes. Did Jordan need toughness to overcome that toughness? Of course.

I don’t want to demean the toughness of players in that generation. They were definitely tough.

But so were players in Shaq’s generation, and so are players now.

There’s no perfect way to measure toughness. There are fewer fights now, and if that’s all Shaq means, OK. But watch an average game from the 1980s and notice how loose the defense is. Defenders are much tougher with their man today. Just because the league has eliminated the grind that overwhelmed many games in the 1990s doesn’t mean the NBA is no longer tough.

I’ve never liked “back in my day arguments” that are based more on sentiment than reality. Shaq throwing his own generation under the bus doesn’t make it any better.



bob
MY NOTE:  The league was tougher back in the day.  Maybe it was tougher because the players were less athletic and so they made up for it with more contact.  Maybe it was tougher because the people back in those days were just "tough guys" as opposed to the pampered little shits that get molly-coddled by college boosters and agents now.  Maybe it was tougher because the rules were different, like hand-checking, that allowed for more contact and, therefore, more physicality.  Maybe it was tougher because there were only 2 refs and so a lot of stuff that gets called now didn't get called back then.  Maybe it was tougher because even the refs were tougher back then (can you imagine a player whining about the lack of a call with Earl Strom?  He'd call him a baby and laugh him right off the court and still be chuckling as he walked off the court at halftime).  Remember McHale clotheslining Rambis so he couldn't get a free layup?  Dave Cowens two-hand shivving Mike Newlin at full speed into the 3rd row because Newlin flopped on him twice (I was at that game, 2nd row, floor, dead center court in the folding card table seats.  I watched him race across the court and I saw the bottom of Newlin's sneakers as he flew into the crowd and I saw and heard Cowens turn around and scream at the ref who called those two offensive fouls on him, "NOW THAT'S A FOUL!" as Newlin was asking if anybody got the number of the bus that hit him).  How many games would those players be suspended for that?  In both of their cases, it was just a personal foul, in Cowens' case it was his 3rd, because of the two previous offensive fouls called on him because the ref fell for Newlin's flop both times, and so Cowens just went and sat down on the bench.  It took days to get past the bruises you accumulated every time you played Jerry Sloan.



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Bob that is awesome that you were at the Mike Newlin game and sitting close by!