“Today’s players are certainly more athletic, more skilled, and more versatile, but not as smart.”: Mark Jackson compares NBA playing styles of 90s vs today, praises Michael Jordan and co

The ex-Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson in a podcast with Shannon Sharpe talked about how current NBA players differ from the past 

For NBA fans, Mark Jackson is a familiar household voice along with Mike Breen and Jeff Van Gundy. The ESPN analyst, ex-NBA player, and head coach recently joined Shannon Sharpe’s “Club Shay Shay”. 

He shared his experience from all the different roles he has played in the NBA. Jackson had a good 17-year career as a player in the NBA.

Also read: “Kyrie Irving is useless for 41 nights”: Mark Jackson emphatically suggests the Brooklyn Nets look to trade the former Celtics guard due to COVID vaccine debacle

Mark was able to play against Bird & Magic, Jordan & Pippen, Kobe & Shaq. If that was not enough proof of how well he knows and understands the game of basketball, he was the Head coach of the Warriors team before it became “the Warriors Dynasty”. He laid their foundation. 

Mark Jackson says current NBA players are not as smart as players in his era 

While expressing his views about the skills of the current generation of players compared to previous ones, he said, 

“Today’s players are certainly more athletic, more skilled – shooting, handling – and more versatile. The one thing that they are; they’re not as smart.” 

“Because I didn’t have the athleticism, the quickness, the explosiveness, I had to become smarter than everybody else on the floor.”  

Mark Jackson was a 6’3 point guard, he had a promising start to his career winning NBA Rookie of the Year in his first season and an All-Star appearance in the second. The NBA-assist leader in 1997, Mark was a very skilled passer. 

He continued “I studied the game at seven years old, at eight years old, I knew inside out whatever situation you put me in, I knew how to respond. It didn’t mean I had the answer, but I knew what the answer was.” 

“I don’t think because these guys are so athletic, so versatile, so explosive, so fast, I don’t think they have to lean on the same smarts and understanding that we had to growing up. It’s a credit to how far they’ve come as basketball players, but now you have to match the talent with the smart.” 

Also read: “LeBron James changed the game and doesn’t get enough credit for that”: Mark Jackson heaps praise on the Lakers superstar’s influence on today’s NBA players

Obviously, Mark is excluding the likes of LeBron James, Chris Paul and, Rajon Rondo when he’s talking about those skills though they are all in the latter end of their careers.

But there are young guns like Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic who do not rely on their athletic or explosive abilities. They are just smarter than others.

About the author

Akash Murty

An Electrical and Electronics Engineer by degree, Akash Murty is an NBA Editor at The SportsRush. Previously a Software Engineer, Murty couldn’t keep himself away from sports, and his knack for writing and putting his opinion forward brought him to the TSR. A big Soccer enthusiast, his interest in basketball developed late, as he got access to a hoop for the first time at 17. Following this, he started watching basketball at the 2012 Olympics, which transitioned to NBA, and he became a fan of the game as he watched LeBron James dominate the league. Him being an avid learner of the game and ritually following the league for around a decade, he now writes articles ranging from throwbacks, and live game reports, to gossip. LA Lakers are his favourite basketball team, while Chelsea has his heart in football. He also likes travelling, reading fiction, and sometimes cooking.

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