Don't forget, defense is a LOT more aerobic than ever.
Back in the day, it was literally either standing around on the perimeter, or guarding the guy on ball since most offenses were going iso.
Nowadays, you got everyone curtin and stretching the floor, everyone having handles, etc. So there's a lot more movement on defense.
Definitely. Defense is far more fatiguing than ever before, and fatigue leads to injuries, not to mention the increased wear on the joints.
You know what crazy is that back then in 80s-90s were all physical game and most of them players still play with their injury but yet nowadays these players play soft game with no physical game and easily get injury just
You have to realize that something is missing in your narrative when you add in that sports science is far better thfore, nutrition is far better than before, and there's a much bigger pool of elite bodies (pause) to choose from.
80s-90s had more physicality some of the time, but the vast majority of the time it actually had less physicality. There were more fast breaks. There were more guys not getting back on defense. There was a lot less off-ball action. There were more isolation plays with 4 guys doing nothing. There was a lot less movement on defense. Too many people watch the big playoff games on ESPN Classic and forget than a lot of guys were half-assing it during most regular season games (unless there was a big matchup or a grudge). Remember, those were the days that Bird said they didn't even guard threes until the 4th quarter, when someone from the late 1980s (I think it was a Laker) said they weren't even taught how to do switches on screens, when a simple-ass offense like Portland's could average 115ppg with no big man posting inside (Duckworth and Buck were their big men), no real elite shooters making threes (Only hit 1.5 threes/game
as a team in the 1990 Finals), and no bball IQ (according to Jordan).
The amount of effort required on a day-to-day basis has gone up a lot. And that (along with heavier bodies jumping higher) is why you're seeing more injuries.
