wait, youre serious? so every small forward that you'd put on lebron you'd also put on barkley?
It's not like Barkley isn't smaller, slower, and less athletic than Lebron, with worse ball handling and a worse shot and worse bball IQ, but he'd magically beat the same defenders as Lebron because... magic era dust.
Barkley looked better because he went up against worse defenders. That's all.
Kevin McHale was arguably the best post player in his era. 6'10", 210 lb power forward scoring 20+ a game (26ppg one year) and making 1st team all-defense in Barkley's era.
McHale didn't have any special athleticism. He was skinny 6'10" White guy. You don't think there aren't 100,000 tall guys in the world? You don't think ONE of them would be able to learn post moves and dominate like McHale?
It's not a global conspiracy against learning post moves. It's that on the modern NBA, so much is working against you (the zones and defensive scheming and improved athleticism of the opponents) that some skinny White dude isn't going to dominate on post skills alone any more.
The crap opponents that Barkley dominated were just as bad as the ones McHale dominated. And if a skinny 6'10" White guy can't dominate the NBA on post moves alone anymore, why would a fat 6'5" Black guy with inferior post moves to him be able?
Oh, I remember, because in the 1990s there was magic.
you saying there are better shooters now and better perimeter defenders? is that stupid logic too?
Because as shooting improves, shooting defense HAS to improve unless teams just give up.
What you're claiming is the opposite... You're claiming that post defense regressed, so that post offense could be even more dominant... but then post offense mysteriously regressed too right at the moment that it would be most effective.
Global conspiracy? Someone destroyed all the tapes? No one knows how to make Barkley-level post moves anymore because it was a secret science?
I can explain why shooting improved - more guys started leaning younger and good technique is taught earlier, so the talent pool is bigger.
I can explain why post play diminished in importance - because modern defences and defensive rules close it off, and there are fewer total stiffs to abuse down low.
You can't explain how, with a much larger pool of talent, hundreds of millions of guys who would kill to go to the NBA, all the tapes on deck, and supposedly worse post defense, that the 6'5" fat guys and 6'10" skinny White guys aren't dominating the NBA in the post anymore.
Athletic skills only regress when they become less useful or a sport becomes less popular.
no because jordan was facing GOOD teams... y'all missing the point
jordan was out there kicking ass, but the 90s knicks were not a cupcake team... neither were the 90s pacers.. or the 90s heat... or magic... or hawks
every single of those teams had hall of famers on the squad and a few all stars... what we got now?
what all time nba team did lebron go through? you think you gonna be playing 2k25 and they'll have the 16 raptors up in there
Lebron beat the Durant-Westbrook-Harden-Ibaka Thunder, the Duncan-Parker-Kawhi-Ginobli Spurs, the Pierce-Garnett-Allen-Rondo Celtics, the Rose-Deng-Boozer-Noah Bulls, and the Curry-Green-Thompson-Iggy Warriors.
But you're bragging about the 1990s Hawks and Knicks. Teams that had John Starks or Christian Laettner leading in scoring.
1990s Pacers dominated by HOF Reggie Miller are the toughest team Jordan beat some years. In 2016, a player better than Reggie in every way (Klay - better shot, better handles, better passes, and FAR better defense) is the 3rd or 4th most important player on the team Lebron beat.