Oh yes, the never-ending passionate debate between past and modern NBA players enters a new chapter as legend Rick Barry recently went on a rant defending his generation against suggestions that they wouldn’t fare in today’s game.
Back in the day, the former Warriors star became an NBA champion and Finals MVP in 1975, and referred to all the misconceptions that assure that players from his time weren’t as good as they are thought out to be.
Barry met with Joy DeAngela on her podcast to share his perspective on the matter, as he pushed away all the misguided notions with a passionate tirade.
Rick Barry goes on EPIC RANT about his era vs. today’s era. 😳👀 pic.twitter.com/dSpGzUJ1N9
— Joy De’Angela (@joydeangela) August 9, 2023
“Please, the plumbers. You’re kidding me,” he began his rant. “They had so many great centers back in those days. They hardly have centers. The guys that are centers now, they’re not centers. They play out in the wing, trying to shoot three-point shots. They don’t block shots. They don’t protect the rim. It’s a different game. People don’t understand.
“People said, ‘Rick, you wouldn’t be able to play with these guys today.’ I say well, ‘What drugs are you on? Because you got a problem.’ Because if you really understood the game, and you knew what the difference was between what we do and the guys playing here, we had nothing to help us,” he added.
The ex-Golden State guard says that modern players have so many advantages nowadays, including a professional health team that provides them constant support and guidance to improve their condition.
“I didn’t have a dietician. I didn’t have an agility coach. I didn’t travel on chartered planes so we could get a good night’s sleep and get to the next city and have a nice day. We drove ourselves around in rental cars. We had $8 per diem,” he assured. “These guys get chartered food on the planes. We didn’t have whirlpools, and we didn’t have saunas, and we didn’t have masseuses, and we didn’t have any of that.”
Barry believes that all his fellow superstars would be even greater playing the modern game
Barry’s legendary career started in 1965 back when his team was called the San Francisco Warriors, where he eventually dropped a total of 25,275 career points, also playing for the Nets, Rockets and the deceased Virginia Squires.
The 79-year-old is convinced that his generation of players would be even greater in today’s basketball league.
“If I played today, I would be faster, and I was pretty fast. I would be faster, stronger, quicker, more endurance, and jump higher. I would be a much better basketball player because I had none of those things. It’s absolutely crazy how much better the guys I played with, the Oscar Robertsons, the Jerry Wests, all of us would be even greater,” Barry concluded.
In the video above, take a look at Barry at his best, during the championship run he led back in 1975.
The eight-time All-Star led the Warriors to their first-ever NBA title in a perfect 4-0 sweep against the Washington Bullets, averaging 29.5 points, 5.0 assists, and 3.5 steals during that series.
