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Let's look at the Atlanta Hawks franchise.
The 2009 Hawks won 50 something games and won a playoff round. The past few years, most observers felt the Hawks could win around 50 games, maybe win a playoff round or two, but never seriously contend for a championship. In this regard, they are very similar to the 80's Dominique Wilikins Hawks teams. Again, good teams that won a lot of games, but not good enough to get past the elite Eastern teams like Boston.
The 2009 Hawks essentially went 6 deep - the starting 5, plus arguably the best 6th man in the league in Jamal Crawford. Beyond that, trash. Nobody else on the team averaged 20 minutes, and the 7th and 8th men were fringe player Maurice Evans and washout Joe Smith. The entire bench (not counting Crawford) barely matched the scoring average of Joe Johnson (21.3 ppg).
Now let's look at the 1986-87 Hawks, who won 57 games and also lost in the second round.
Cliff Levingston was the 6th man. Not as good as Jamal Crawford, in fact, not even close. But look at the rest of the bench...Spud Webb, Jon Koncak, John Battle, Mike McGee...shit, Antoine Carr, a pretty good player who had a nice career, was the 10th or 11th guy on that team. Gus Williams, who averaged 20+ points in his prime, but granted was at the tail end of a very good career, couldn't even get off the pine.
There were 23 teams in the NBA in 1986. Fast forward that team to today, and Antoine Carr & Spudd Webb are likely starting for another team.
Im not arguing that the players from the mid 80's were more skilled than today (although in some facets of the game I would). I am arguing that expansion, among other factors (such as teams drafting largely for potential and high ceiling when it comes to Euros/underclassman and bypassing guys who would have been solid role players decades ago) has thinned out rosters and weakened the depth of most teams. Of course you still have a couple of deep teams scattered around the league, but it's not the norm. And it's my opinion that over expansion has hurt the NBA far more than MLB, and more than the NFL too, aside from the QB position.
The 2009 Hawks won 50 something games and won a playoff round. The past few years, most observers felt the Hawks could win around 50 games, maybe win a playoff round or two, but never seriously contend for a championship. In this regard, they are very similar to the 80's Dominique Wilikins Hawks teams. Again, good teams that won a lot of games, but not good enough to get past the elite Eastern teams like Boston.
The 2009 Hawks essentially went 6 deep - the starting 5, plus arguably the best 6th man in the league in Jamal Crawford. Beyond that, trash. Nobody else on the team averaged 20 minutes, and the 7th and 8th men were fringe player Maurice Evans and washout Joe Smith. The entire bench (not counting Crawford) barely matched the scoring average of Joe Johnson (21.3 ppg).
Now let's look at the 1986-87 Hawks, who won 57 games and also lost in the second round.
Cliff Levingston was the 6th man. Not as good as Jamal Crawford, in fact, not even close. But look at the rest of the bench...Spud Webb, Jon Koncak, John Battle, Mike McGee...shit, Antoine Carr, a pretty good player who had a nice career, was the 10th or 11th guy on that team. Gus Williams, who averaged 20+ points in his prime, but granted was at the tail end of a very good career, couldn't even get off the pine.
There were 23 teams in the NBA in 1986. Fast forward that team to today, and Antoine Carr & Spudd Webb are likely starting for another team.
Im not arguing that the players from the mid 80's were more skilled than today (although in some facets of the game I would). I am arguing that expansion, among other factors (such as teams drafting largely for potential and high ceiling when it comes to Euros/underclassman and bypassing guys who would have been solid role players decades ago) has thinned out rosters and weakened the depth of most teams. Of course you still have a couple of deep teams scattered around the league, but it's not the norm. And it's my opinion that over expansion has hurt the NBA far more than MLB, and more than the NFL too, aside from the QB position.
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