I was thinking about the original Dream Team and the MJ/Pippen vs KB/LBJ thread got me thinking about when the greatest collection of NBA talent existed.

I know there were great players before and after that group, but it seems to me that the collective best was mid-to-late 80's to mid-to-late 90's...guards & big men were great and plenty. Thoughts?

Full Disclosure: I grew up a fan in the MJ era as a Spurs fan...Loved 90's basketball.

Late 90's for sure, IMO

I don't know for sure if the talent was better in that era, but the product was certainly a lot better.

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I don't know for sure if the talent was better in that era, but the product was certainly a lot better.

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agree. Maybe it was the last age without social media, internet know-it-alls, instant extremes of GOAT or WOAT, opinions anywhere you want them, and the age of side A and Side B now argue about it for 30 minutes sports coverage, but it feels like the mid-to-late 90's was just more enjoyable. The talent level across the board today is insane, but I don't have the same connection to watching NBA basketball as I did in the 90's.

Also, I miss the NBA on NBC theme song.

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Also, I miss the NBA on NBC theme song.

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This x 1000

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I don't know for sure if the talent was better in that era, but the product was certainly a lot better.

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Maybe that's because those players were your age or older and all that was shown on SportsCenter were the highlights.

People read the newspapers still and had a wide knowledge of all sports; now people are deep in knowledge on a narrow span, and everything is reheated until is it overdone and tasteless (Tebow, Favre, Miami Big 3 decision).


For me, all my "greatest' players are older than me.

Either now or the 80's. 90's are vastly overrated. The 90's were good because we got to watch the greatest player most of us have ever seen, but nobody could compete with the Bulls in the 90's and it made it boring IMO.

^Idiocy. If you think watching the greatest player of all-time perform at the peak of his abilities boring, than wow. I'd much rather watch MJ absolutely dominate superior competition in a way never seen before than watch a Spurs vs Pistons/Cavs Finals or any Finals from the 80's.

agree. Watching the best ever perform at a top level is unlinke anything else. It makes you proud to be alive during that era. And I wasn't a huge Jordan fan...but it didn't matter.

1980s were better than anything else

Best decade - 80s
Best year - 2011 (/Mavs fan /Prepyag bait)

Bird/ magic
Mid 80's. Mj was fun to watch also.

This crop is going to be good too.

Watched the 80's with dad.... 10's with my sons.. That's the best.

[This message has been edited by Bbdp (edited 8/7/2012 12:30a).]

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I don't know for sure if the talent was better in that era, but the product was certainly a lot better.

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agree. Maybe it was the last age without social media, internet know-it-alls, instant extremes of GOAT or WOAT, opinions anywhere you want them, and the age of side A and Side B now argue about it for 30 minutes sports coverage, but it feels like the mid-to-late 90's was just more enjoyable. The talent level across the board today is insane, but I don't have the same connection to watching NBA basketball as I did in the 90's.

Also, I miss the NBA on NBC theme song.

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Could not have said better. I was still fairly young during the bulls dynasty so that obviously contributed to how I viewed Jordan and other guys like gods. However, I'm sure older people did as well since social media wasn't ruining sports. And damn it, I want the nba on nbc. Now.

The 1980 NBA title game wasn't shown live (except to four West Coast cities). CBS preferred to show reruns of Dukes of Hazzard and Dallas instead. By the time Magic and Bird were done winning titles eight years later, the NBA was a global phenomenon. That should tell you which was the greatest decade.

Late 70s, early 80s imo.