The discussion on the 90s vs the modern era of basketball is never-ending. After a widespread social media campaign claiming, “We’re done with the 90s”, new age hoop fans have yet another point to debate over. Speaking on the matter during a recent appearance on The Big Podcast, JJ Redick stated that the Michael Jordan era was watered down because of the addition of six new teams. Following this comment, Stephen A. Smith was seemingly left deeply offended, and even publicly trashed Redick on ESPN’s First Take.

During his conversation with Shaquille O’Neal, Redick said that the overall talent pool in the league at the time was nowhere near the quality that exists today. In his opinion, the addition of six teams when Jordan was at the peak of his career also had an adverse effect on the skillset of his competition. He said, “There were 90 players added to the NBA. Does that not water down…You’re not telling me that the league for a little bit is gonna be watered down?”

Despite the seeming logic in the former sharpshooter’s argument, Stephen A Smith was far from impressed. As someone who witnessed it all unfold, the ESPN analyst couldn’t believe that someone as informed as Redick would say something of this nature. His reaction can be witnessed in the X[Formerly Twitter] post by First Take.

Stephen A. responded to Redick with, “He done lost his mind with this assertion. I don’t know what the hell he’s talking about. He is off his rocker.” The media veteran then went on to put things into perspective as a rebuttal to Redick. He said, “Folks who are successors, don’t pay enough attention to the predecessors who paved the way, enabling them to do what they did.”

Stephen A. believes that Redick falls in the same bracket as the naysayers. He used the example of the Bad Boys Pistons, the 76ers, and the Celtics to make his point that basketball was more physical back then than it has ever been since.

SAS was on point with his response. As articulated as Redick was with his comment, he failed to notice that in the last seven decades, the game has grown from strength to strength. In this time period, so many notable athletes have taken up the sport and have left it in a much better condition. All those things add up and should be considered when we try to assess the differences in eras.

Without those former players’ influence, the game wouldn’t have evolved to this level of athleticism and quickness that fans get to enjoy today.

.@stephenasmith isn't buying the narrative that MJ's era was "watered down" 👀 pic.twitter.com/kLPGEzMQns

— First Take (@FirstTake) May 2, 2024

Michael Jordan also frowns upon his successors

It is not only Stephen A. who is unhappy with the ignorant comment made by Redick. Even the great Michael Jordan has been aggravated by the successors of the league and their ignorance towards the pioneers who paved the way for them. In a decade-old clip shared by The Kick Club, Jordan talked about the physicality in the league back in his day. He said, “Physically it was a much more physical game than what it is. Today, You can walk across the lane without getting checked, or screens. [Back then] you always had to pay a price.”

As for the people who downplay the impact and efforts of the yesteryear legends, he said, “Those are the type of things that these kids don’t even have a clue, of how we had to grow up or how we had to play.” It really shouldn’t be as difficult to understand as some make it to be. Players in different eras played the game their own way. Every generation took something from the previous one and left the game in a better place for the next generation to pick.

To look at it any other way, would not only be disrespectful to the prior generations of the game, but perhaps the sport itself as well.