re: LBJ = GOAT.

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Since the 90s, that has been the overall trend

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It's been up over the last decade, so saying it's "steadily" declined is definitely false.

This would mean that it has been fluctuating back and forth.

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No they're not. Poor defense, and more importantly poor offensive skills in overall NBA play, create that mirage

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You want to see a mirage?

Watch ESPN Classic, watch ANY game in all of those epic Lakers-Celtics NBA Finals. Then come back to this thread, there is absolutely no chance anyone can watch a full game from then, then come back and say defense was better in the 80s than it is today.

90s weren't even really that much more physical, in the normal sense. Sure, they had a few more of those big hits, but people act like they were happening all game, every game, which is false. Otherwise, today's game is about as physical.

But as far as the intricacies of the way defense is played now and the complexities, no, there is absolutely no way to argue that any other era was more complex than today's defense. It's not even close.