Originally Posted by
Starter
Your final two statements are dead-on.
I'm a Knicks fan, so I find myself forced to defend them from a position of disadvantage. =) While fully admitting they had a deleterious effect on the whole with their physical brand of defense -- leading to figurative and sometimes literal slugfests with the Heat, which while inartistic were still high theater -- the overall level of play of the NBA stayed pretty high through most of the Ewing years, in large part due to Michael Jordan and the Bulls. Those Bulls teams were magnificent, and the playoffs were always tremendous.
Even after the Knicks screwed stuff up, you still had Vince Carter, Iverson and the Lakers keeping stuff exciting. I remember Bucks-Sixers in 2001 being a tremendous series -- Iverson spit blood inside his jersey so the refs couldn't see and make him come out! -- and I used to love the Nets-Celtics series back then.
All that said, I can't deny the Knicks eventually had a negative effect on the league, but the post-Jordan hangover (which includes his years on the Bullets) had just as much a negative effect, if not more. Not to mention, the league's always in better shape when the they have a good team in the New York market, and the Knicks happened to be much better when they were beating everyone up with Oakley and Mason.
I agree with most of your comment, but disagree with Iverson and Carter keeping things exciting. They were both extremely talented and exciting players to watch one-on-one. The problem, in my mind, is at that time their teams' (and others) offensive strategies consisted of trying to get good isolation plays for them and took out much of the passing that I enjoy in the game. I also agree with Matches that early entry has hurt the college game. The ACC in the 80s and even early 90s was just ridiculous when you compare its talent level to the present.
“Those two kids, they’re champions,” Krzyzewski said of his senior leaders. “They’re trying to teach the other kids how to become that, and it’s a long road to become that.”