Rashad Tucker

/thread

Ah yes, Leroy Loggins, that legendary big guy.

I think all the players you mentioned would make it today. Some of them might have even been in the NBA instead, as we live in a time now when the NBA has more teams and is more open minded about international players. Certainly Gaze should have been a consistent rotation player in the NBA.

Gaze in the NBA would be something in the mould of Joe Ingles, who has proven athleticism and speed aren't the be all and end all. And Gaze would still be a match up nightmare in today's NBL. Bradtke is every bit 6'10 and has uncommon strength and size, even for the NBL today. I'd expect him to still be among the best centers.

I also think in Vlahov you would've had a bulkier Mitch Creek.

I think the best-of-the-best of the NBL from yesteryear would still be around the mark in today's league. But I think our teams now are deeper and hold the standard a bit more across the starting 5 as well. Some of the role players probably wouldn't get a game today. But if you're going to talk the top 20 guys from the NBL until 2000, definitely the best of them would be among the best now.

Paul Rees

[Gaze cannot play defense, so he still would not be in the NBA.]

When did they start playing defense in the NBA?

I must've missed the memo.

They'd all be fine in the modern NBL.

James Crawford would dominate the bigs today on both ends.

Brett rainbow??? U kidding yourself.

Prob mike kelly, carfino and mark davis

I think the real question here is who defines greatness more, BJ Carter or Brendan Teys?

Okay, so Leroy as a SG/SF at 198cm shouldn't really be classed as a big, but 30 years ago I felt he was big for his position. Now, he would be an average height for a SG, small for a SF. But the question was whether he could have adapted to the current NBL (and even dominated)?

And Dwight and Grace I'd agree with.

One who I doubt would have made the step up would have been Phil Smyth.

Smyth was considered to be in the top 5 world point guards in his day

He would have handled the current crop of guards quite well

Did you see Smyth in his prime? So I am assuming you saw him play in the late 70's and early 80's IF you saw that Smyth then you would know better

Adnam gets solid minutes in the modern NBL. Smyth would get a gig just fine.

I think Paul Rees is a more interesting question given the lack of athleticism and height. But he was solid and used his experience well. Championships count for something!

As someone who has coached kids for about 30 years and have seen Smyth, Dwight, Grace, Crawford etc live and on TV it is my opinion most of those older stars could hang in there today. The athleticism of kids today, especially the bigger ones, is greater than 25 years ago. When kids see the feats of the champions they naturally try to emulate those athletic moves and skills. Todays kids are encouraged to 'show us what you got' and are far less conservative, generally speaking. In todays NBL you don't see the non athletic stoppers that were in the league 30 years ago. I reckon that's because others are too athletically gifted. The great athletes of each generation would survive playing against the next generation, but may not be as elite, in my opinion.

Phill Jones, my favourite lefty

Would any of the players in the squad of the 1988 Supercats make it today though?

Here's a name I bet everyone forgot about - Aaron Olson!

I bet he'd still be handy in today's game as a shooter off the bench. I remembered his retirement was so random (was in his late 20's or something)

I thought of AO as I posted Phil Jones lol Macdub.

I always said David Wear was like Daniel Kickert without the shooting ability.

Which with all due respect, pretty much leaves nothing.

Vlahov would play NBA if he was playing today. The man was fearless and an absolute BEAST down low.

The challenge would be for the previous players to "step down" a position.

Eg Loggins played SF/PF, Davis played PF, Brantley played centre, Vlahos played PF.

Each would be undersized. A good guide for some would be how well they adjusted playing for the Boomers. Bradtke played PF very well, Vlahos (from memory) battled well as an undersized PF at times.

"Vlahov would play NBA if he was playing today. The man was fearless and an absolute BEAST down low"

Agreed. I'd say Vlahov is one of the most, if not the most, underrated Australian player of all time. I dare say he was the most versatile player of the 90s Boomers yet when people talk of great Australian players, he's rarely mentioned.

Mock

Vlahov was scouted by NBA if I remember correctly, but overlooked as he was undersized for his position. Langley was drafted from same college as Vlahov. He did develop a 3 point shot though.

Longley

I don't mean to be talking Vlahov down. He played well above his size, and held his own against bigger opponents.

Things are always relative. Sport is more professional these days with a lot more science going into it. For SANFL fans of the 70's and 80's, gone are the days where you could pass a player a beer from the sidelines, and one game I saw Grenville Dietrich eat a meat pie someone gave him. Let's not forget Marshies tinnies on the plane to London, only to be outdone by Boonie a few years later. What about guys like Mark Jackson...

The ones who can't make it today are the ones who wouldn't be able to stay disciplined.

MACDUB it wasn't random more like an early retirement as Olson wanted to return to Canada.

Woodbury would still be awesome in today's NBL, especially with the three ball more valued than ever.

I might be getting mixed up with Vlahov but he stands at 200cms and Scott Fisher at 201cms, and James Crawford at 202cms, similar body types but I always thought they stuck to whomever they matched up on best ie Crawford would always get Davis yet also get Bradtke. If they were playing today with all the switching then it wouldn't really matter if any of those three were playing the 3/4/5 as there would be a feeling of a mismatch with them all. In saying that I'd back all 3 legends to still be very good in today's NBL. Fisher was such a sweet shooter, Crawford would still be elite and Vlahov has a will that can't be denied although I would love to see him teach today's player how to take a charge.

I'd be interested in seeing how Wayne McDaniel played in today's era, I remember him later in his career and he was still Hobart's most unstoppable player but I don't remember how he went about getting those points so much.

Michael Johnson and Jerry Everett from Newcastle. Both would fit in today particularly Michael with his 3 point shot

The league has gotten significantly better talent-wise over the past 3-5 years - you already see guys who were high-level players (Ogilvy a prime example) who have struggled to keep up. I also think the league dipped significantly from what it was in the 90s at its peak, and it's only been these past 3-5 years where it's regained that (or even arguably surpassed) both in quality of locals and imports. Having said that, good players are good players, and the difference in athleticism etc, if those guys growing up today they would probably be on par athletically in a lot of cases. Some guys would seamlessly step into today's game, and some guys would struggle. Vice versa is definitely true too, though.

The league has gotten significantly better talent-wise over the past 3-5 years

"There are still scrubs filling benches though."

That's always going to be the case though just based on the $$$ being offered to fill these spots - it was the same 'back in the day'. If some of the 80s/90s players who would probably be more on the rotation-player level these days are willing to play for peanuts to fill out benches, I agree they'd "make it". For some of them, they might make more than they used to anyway. :D

I think Andrew Gaze would average 30 if he was in the league today in his prime. His height, shooting and smarts still haven't been matched at his position in the league. He wouldn't dominate to the level he used to but I think he'd make most defenders look pretty useless.

Isaac

"There are still scrubs filling benches though“

That's at least partially due to the salary rules about lowest paid players.

I reckon almost any any starter from the 90s would get a gig now, but some play spot minutes only.

I reckon Jason Smith would get DPOY even in today's game - his defence was awesome, and he was more of a scorer than Damo

It's all adapt or perish type shiz.

You play the way you're required to in your era to ensure you can get a paying gig.

You can't really argue that the 80s was a bit more "unrefined" with generally guards expected to have guard skills, designated rebounders etc. Just because an 80s (or 90s big like Paul Rees) didn't display the skill set in their era doesn't automatically mean that if you transported them to the 10s that they wouldnt' be able to develop a jumpshot.

You ask any real coach at any level and they'll "hire" or "recruit" based on character traits rather than purely physical attributes (all other factors considered).

You want coachable guys because really, with enough time put in, skill can be acquired. Whereas doucheyness (much like say, Luke Martin) is a trait that follows you in every endeavour in life.

In that respect, champs of the bygone era, be it Smyth, Paul Rees, David Stiff, Matty Campbell - if they found a way to stick around 25-30 years ago, they'd probably do the same in this era as well.

Just because today's game is more refined doesn't automatically make it "better". These guys aren't borderline semi-pro or playing with very limited knowledge of sports science like the old guys, so of course, the expectation is that the physical standard should be better, it's called evolution.

I tip my hat off to the guys who transitioned the game from semi pro to the early 90s echelon.

In my hometown Sydney, the Damien Keoghs, the Daltons, the Uthoffs.

Guys that busted their arse off the court as well as on. Doing a ridiculous amount of promotion, some even holding non basketball related jobs off-season, etc. That's "professionalism" to me, not the silver spoon stuff of today's athlete that were hand picked from Under 12s onwards and thoroughly guided to "make it".

It's worth remembering that there are only 9 teams in the current NBL. There were 14 teams in each year during the early 90s, which fell to 11 by the end of the decade.

So you could fill 8 places on each team's roster today, with the 14 starting fives from the early 90s. Or you could swap out soem of those 90s starters for bench players in other teams, like McKay, Jason Smith, Bolden, Jensen and CJ Bruton.

Looking through the All NBL First Teams from the 1990s, I'd expect most of those players to get a starting spot today and to do well. Some of them have already been mentioned above. Others like Overton, D-Mac, Dozier and Copeland would hold down starting spots today. Players like Melmeth and Pepper, probably not so much. Dorge - maybe?

Re Ogilvy, he's playing ~9 minutes per game less than his first couple of seasons in the league. His scoring and rebounding averages have decreased accordingly. Ogilvy's returning 17.6 points and 8.8 rebounds per 40 minutes played, this season. To put that in context, Nick Kay's returning 17.6 points and 9.7 rebounds per 40 minutes played. Andrew Bogut's averaging 14.4 points and ~18 rebounds per 40 minutes.

It's worth remembering that there are only 9 teams in the current NBL. There were 14 teams in each year during the early 90s, which fell to 11 by the end of the decade.

So you could fill 8 places on each team's roster today, with the 14 starting fives from the early 90s. Or you could swap out soem of those 90s starters for bench players in other teams, like McKay, Jason Smith, Bolden, Jensen and CJ Bruton.

Looking through the All NBL First Teams from the 1990s, I'd expect most of those players to get a starting spot today and to do well. Some of them have already been mentioned above. Others like Overton, D-Mac, Dozier and Copeland would hold down starting spots today. Players like Melmeth and Pepper, probably not so much. Dorge - maybe?

Re Ogilvy, he's playing ~9 minutes per game less than his first couple of seasons in the league. His scoring and rebounding averages have decreased accordingly. Ogilvy's returning 17.6 points and 8.8 rebounds per 40 minutes played, this season. To put that in context, Nick Kay's returning 17.6 points and 9.7 rebounds per 40 minutes played. Andrew Bogut's averaging 14.4 points and ~18 rebounds per 40 minutes.

UseTaHoop, Davis wouldn't need to take a step down to small forward, he was 6'8! In this small ball era he would dominate the offensive glass. There'd be very few guys who would stop him from bullying his way to the basket - I'd say Vukona & Tate would make it tough for him, but that's about it.

It's interesting that in basketball we have a 'handpicked’ generation and have a very strong national team, whereas in soccer they have a ‘handpicked’ generation and are under-achieving big-time in world leagues.

The soccer Golden Generation succeeded BECAUSE they had to battle so hard, often as youngsters in adult leagues, which this generation hasn’t had to do as much.