The debate on how players from older eras would fare in the modern era and how the NBA stars of today would do in the 80s and the 90s often dominate barbershop discussions and even ESPN studios. This topic has polarized fans of the game across generations due to their different sensitivities, leading to a whole new “old school vs new school” phenomenon. Just a few days before the All-Star break, veteran Sportswriter Roland Lazenby sat down for an exclusive interview with The SportsRush’s Adit Pujari to provide his perspective on a lot of different basketball-related topics, included the ‘then vs now’ debate that has divided fans.
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Lazenby is an eminent Sportswriter and has penned over 60 nonfiction books in his career, all revolving around basketball and American football. As a hoops writer, he has covered the decorated careers of both Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant in his brilliant books. The 72-year-old’s 1996 work Bull Run! The Story of the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls earned him the Sports Book of the Year Award in 1997. His 2014 book Michael Jordan: The Life also earned the Sports Book of the Year Award in 2015 and is often regarded as his most notable work.
During the interview, Adit brought up Luka Doncic’s past comments on how it is easier to score in the NBA compared to that in Europe had prompted some backlash from fans. He asked Lazenby if Doncic’s impact would have been similar in the bygone eras when defensive assignments were taken more seriously. In response, Lazenby said that Lakers legend Jerry West once told him that “truly great players” from across eras always “find a way” to play “under any rules”. According to West, the top-class talent from any period can adjust and thrive no matter the physicality of contemporary players.
“You can look at Luka [Doncic], LeBron [James], Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Michael [Jordan], Larry [Bird], Magic [Johnson], you can go on down the list, probably Dennis Rodman. All these different figures who found their own way to greatness in that 94-foot space. They would find it just as LeBron does today,” said Lazenby.
Then the veteran basketball author touched upon the subject of old-school hoops fans disregarding modern players. Lazenby admitted that the physicality in the league has been watered down and part of what makes Michael Jordan great was the relentless contact in the game of his time, especially when he went up against the ‘Bad Boy’ Pistons. He credited the blows dealt by the team as a way for MJ to figure out how to be even greater than he already was.
However, despite the disparity in physicality between the two eras, Lazenby remarked that Stephen Curry would still find a way to dazzle physically stronger defenders. To shed more light on this perspective, he alluded to Phil Jackson’s stance on Curry, which was that the guard would be like LSU and Denver Nuggets’ mid-range maestro Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf (known as Chris Jackson earlier). Abdul-Rauf never hit the 20 points per game mark during the season and was a borderline All-Star player. Therefore, Jackson believed that Curry would be at best like him.
However, Lazenby disagrees with the former Chicago Bulls head coach and thinks that the ball-handling wizard would have been as great during the physically demanding eras as he is today. In fact, for the renowned author, Curry’s impact would have been way greater back in the day.
“I think Steph Curry would have still found a way to change the game. He is revolutionary as a shooter. He changed the parameters of the court. In a lot of ways doing what he has done would have been even more powerful considering the old rules. Now it would have been tougher on him with the hand-checking, probably so. They would have come out and defended him on the perimeter and gotten into him. But you know, he is a brilliant ball-handler, and they can set screens anywhere on the floor,” Lazenby told The SportsRush.
For Lazenby, if the NBA goes back to the old rules and allows more contact, it’d be intriguing to watch a shooter like Curry work. His enthusiasm when talking about Curry displayed his respect for the old-school greats and new-school greats alike. His perspective helps balance the polarization that has engulfed the NBA world for a long time. The author believes that no matter how the game is played, top-flight players figure out a way to prominence.
