"Offensively, there's a huge advantage, that's why you see so much dancing": Julius Erving reemphasized how physical NBA basketball was in the 70s and 80s

NBA Legend Julius Erving believes that the current NBA play style gives more offensive freedom compared to his era in the 70s when players were physical.

There is no debate on which is the best era in the NBA in terms of offensive freedom. The Rules today give more advantage to offence and makes defending harder.

When Julius Erving was asked about his thoughts on the current NBA, he gave an expected answer. On KNUCKLEHEADS Podcast, Dr J said ” Offensively, a huge advantage. That’s why you see so much dancing”.

Clearly, Dr J was talking about the flashy handles and nasty crossovers. This became more common in NBA after banning “hand-checking” in the 2004-05 season. It means the ball handler cannot be touched unless he’s near the basket with his back towards the rim.

Combine that with more shooting from 3’s and you get today’s NBA. That’s one of the reasons why dominant Big Man are a thing of the past and the current NBA belong to guards.

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Dr J laughingly suggests taking away the 3 pointer game from some players. He said, “I don’t think everybody should have the license to shoot it.”

How physical was basketball when Julius Erving and his contemporaries played?

Julius mentioned how the “dancing” wouldn’t fly back in his era. Today if the refs think a player is talking to them rudely, he can be ejected. But scruffles were common back then.

Dr J is considered to be a gentleman in the game because of his clean image in the times where drugs consumption was common in the league. However, this gentleman once got into the infamous scuffle with Larry Bird.

In 1984 during an early-season matchup between Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics, a fight broke out when Dr J punched Larry Bird in the face while his teammates were grabbing Bird by the neck.

Even though we see a few fights here and there in the league now, but it’s nothing like back then. We Can’t imagine players hitting Steph or Kyrie for their handles.