I tell you what. You tune into ESPN classic and you'll get lucky sometimes and watch some old Pistons-Celtics/Bulls playoff games from the lat 80's and early 90's. Man, that was good basketball to watch back then. Hell, the Bulls/Knicks rivalry was awesome to watch also. That was intense basketball, man.
Today's game? 90% of it's pathetic to watch. You have guys 6'10" or taller launching threes and shooting only 70% from the free throw line. Almost nobody plays defense or hustles under the boards for loose balls. And on top of that, the NBA is trying to portray this squeaky clean image where you get thrown out of a game for just staring down an opponent. It's bullshit. Blame a lot of on David Stern and how he tries SO HARD to make pro basketball a family event. I undertstand that you have to market the sport a certain way in order to gain profits. But are you going to tell me that Stern likes how the NBA is now compared to it's glory days???
Stern can't have it both ways. He has to loosen up his policies a little in order for it to prosper the way it once did.
My favorite guys to watch nowadays who I think resemble the glory days of the NBA when it was fun to watch.....
Baron Davis, Carlos Boozer(who's an absolute monster), Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace(so multi talented), Kevin Garnett(the most unselfish player in the league), Dwight Howard, Marcus Camby, Tim Duncan, Jason Kidd, to name a few. I love players who love to play defense!