I thought about this today even if I heard Stephen A. Smith say it a few times a year the last couple of years now. Why did the NBA eliminate "The Tough Guy"? By "Tough Guys" I mean the guys like Charles Oakley, Rick Mahorn, Bill Lambieer, and The Davis Boys(Antonio and Dale.) Even 2nd tier tough guys like Dennis Rodman, Bill Cartwright, Horace Grant, Anthony Mason and maybe even Ben Wallace have been eliminated. Even the guys that replaced these guys like Rasheed Wallace(especially his tenure with the Pistons), Dwight Howard and LaMarcus Aldridge, they were/are more finesse type of players.  Shoot if you a guard driving down the lane you would be scared of getting pummeled by the likes of Oakley, Lambieer, or Mahorn. Do Aldridge or Howard scare a guard coming driving down the lane? No.

Note: Yes I know Rasheed and Ben played together on the Pistons.

I just miss when when you had to be a "real man" to play down in the box. In my opinion the game is too soft and should revert back to the late 80's/early 90's style of play.

well said


the Spurs still have Tim Duncan... that's why they dominated last season.  I remember watching them play Dallas  and also LA Clippers and the Spurs killed them... it was like watching a 7th grade JV team try to play a Varsity Team comprised only of HS Seniors!

I think they play soft because some of the players don't like having their heads being hit by the ball. In other words, they're sensitive.

I think they play soft because some of the players don't like having their heads being hit by the ball. In other words, they're sensitive.
Well Bill Lambieer wasn't scared of getting hit by a basketball!

To answer this question, The Pistons/Pacers Brawl aka Malaice at the Palace was kinda symbolized the end of that era of tough guys! :\'(  I mean that was OUT OF CONTROL!! :o

To answer this question, The Pistons/Pacers Brawl aka Malaice at the Palace was kinda symbolized the end of that era of tough guys! :\'(  I mean that was OUT OF CONTROL!! :o
Well yeah maybe after Ben Wallace left the Pistons for the Bulls in the 2006-2007 season that kinda of ended that era if you will. Ben was never the same player after the 2006-2007 season though. He was traded to the Cavs in the middle of the 2007-2008 season I think and later on had injuries. That's odd that Ben was traded for Grant Hill at the peak of his career(Grant) in 2001 and Shaq later on in  his career though(2009.) Ben Wallace was a little known player with the Bullets and The Orlando Magic previous to getting traded to the Pistons.

I remember basketball getting a bad rap 10 years ago because of the Hip-Hop image of the league at that time. Every little thing people could pick on basketball they did unlike in the 90's with Jordan and now with Steph Curry its not cool to rip on the league. It was just a "cool thing" to rip on the league especially after the "Palace Brawl".

On a side note, I do wonder how badly the Indiana Pacers organization was effected after "The Palace Brawl" and how many years it sent the franchise back. They were thinking championship in the 2004-2005 but after the whole Palace Brawl happened it ended any championship hopes for that year and Reggie Miller retired after that season.  Players in the next few years like Ron Artest, Jermaine O'Neal, and Stephen Jackson were traded away and those trades the Pacers really didn't make out really well on.

On a side note it was nice to see Non-Hard Core Fans being interested in the NBA Finals this year between the Warriors and Cavs. The 2015 NBA were the highest rated NBA Finals(11.6 rating) since the Pistons-Lakers in 2004(11.5) even though NBA Playoff Ratings besides the NBA Finals weren't that good. I don't think the league will ever have the TV Ratings that they had in the 80's(Magic/Bird/Dominique/Isiah) and the 90's with Jordan, Malone, Hakeem, and Payton/Kemp. Maybe TV ratings from now on will fall between both before and when the Magic/Bird/Dominique/Isiah era was going on. Ratings were a little higher in the Jordan/Malone/Hakeem/Payton/Kemp era than they were in the Magic/Bird/Dominique/Isiah era. Maybe I should include Jordan in both era's but he wasn't must-see till the Bulls started winning championships in the 90's. Those Jordan/Dominique battles when the Bulls would play the Hawks were epic back in the mid to late 1980's. Both stars got up for those games against each other but it was a friendly rivalry between the two.

On a side note it was nice to see Non-Hard Core Fans being interested in the NBA Finals this year between the Warriors and Cavs. The 2015 NBA were the highest rated NBA Finals(11.6 rating) since the Pistons-Lakers in 2004(11.5) even though NBA Playoff Ratings besides the NBA Finals weren't that good. I don't think the league will ever have the TV Ratings that they had in the 80's(Magic/Bird/Dominique/Isiah) and the 90's with Jordan, Malone, Hakeem, and Payton/Kemp. Maybe TV ratings from now on will fall between both before and when the Magic/Bird/Dominique/Isiah era was going on. Ratings were a little higher in the Jordan/Malone/Hakeem/Payton/Kemp era than they were in the Magic/Bird/Dominique/Isiah era. Maybe I should include Jordan in both era's but he wasn't must-see till the Bulls started winning championships in the 90's. Those Jordan/Dominique battles when the Bulls would play the Hawks were epic back in the mid to late 1980's. Both stars got up for those games against each other but it was a friendly rivalry between the two.


Well, I think people just watch the NBA games because Lebron James is like this generation's Michael Jordan. He can do awesome shots, despite only winning three NBA championships, where M.J. won all of the NBA Finals that he appeared in.

well said


the Spurs still have Tim Duncan... that's why they dominated last season.  I remember watching them play Dallas  and also LA Clippers and the Spurs killed them... it was like watching a 7th grade JV team try to play a Varsity Team comprised only of HS Seniors!
I'm curious to see how well the Spurs do in the upcoming season with the LaMarcus Aldridge addition and how that works out for them. The Spurs-Clippers playoff series was probably the best out of all the playoff series last year even though it was just the first round of the playoffs. Game 7 was pretty good to watch! I thought the Spurs showed the Clippers how to win but the Clippers totally fell apart against the Rockets in Game 6 and pretty much had no shot of winning on Houston's home floor in Game 7.

Well, I think people just watch the NBA games because Lebron James is like this generation's Michael Jordan. He can do awesome shots, despite only winning three NBA championships, where M.J. won all of the NBA Finals that he appeared in.
Yes LeBron is a great great player. I do think Steph Curry will draw more NBA Fans to the game in terms of ratings because of his team winning the NBA Finals last season.  I just think people tuned in to the NBA Finals to see Steph to see if his young team could beat LeBron's team last season. Basically winning the NBA Finals put Steph and his team on the map from a TV Ratings perspective for the future in my opinion. LeBron had one of the best NBA Finals of all time in terms of scoring average albeit in a losing effort. He was Jordan/Nique 80's era regular scoring avg. dominant in that Finals.

Yes LeBron is a great great player. I do think Steph Curry will draw more NBA Fans to the game in terms of ratings because of his team winning the NBA Finals last season.  I just think people tuned in to the NBA Finals to see Steph to see if his young team could beat LeBron's team last season. Basically winning the NBA Finals put Steph and his team on the map from a TV Ratings perspective for the future in my opinion. LeBron had one of the best NBA Finals of all time in terms of scoring average albeit in a losing effort. He was Jordan/Nique 80's era regular scoring avg. dominant in that Finals.


I think people just tuned in for the Finals just to see both players compete each other.

I just wanted to post on this thread: Charles Barkley(former NBA player) said the current  Warriors Team would get killed 20 years ago. Isn't he aware there were teams like the Warriors 20 years ago even 25 years ago? I remember his Phoenix Team from 1992-1993 they weren't physical and they won 62-63 games and went to the NBA Finals. Yeah they were loaded: himself, Kevin Johnson, Dan Marjlie , Mark West, and Tom Chambers. Richard Dumas even played well for them that season. For the record Dumas's career was short I think because of drug problems. Isn't Charles aware that there was a player like Steph Curry when he played? I think his name was Reggie Miller. Steph is doing the same things that Reggie did in the 90's but Steph is just more efficient. Draymond Green would have done fine in the 90's so would have Klay Thompson. The Warriors look to be an all-time great team.

I am looking forward to catching the All-Star Game this year. I haven't watched one since 2001 or 2002.