The Oranje have finally arrived at top form. Not much to be done unfortunately.

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I’m a multigeneration association fan, too. It’s too much to ask the current first generation fans — data-driven, internet savvy — to trust the eye test.

What it isn’t too much to ask is that the data be adjusted for secular changes in the way the sport is played. You’ve quite rightly noted one — the efficiency revolution. You’ve also quite rightly noted the direct corollary of the efficiency revolution — that if data can lead to a secular, fundamental change in the way shots are distributed, it can lead to a secular, fundamental change in the way job duties and responsibilities are distributed.

In fact, as strat has also noted, it *did* lead to this latter change. Stars in the current era are clearly given more responsibility (proxied essentially accurately by usage) than stars of the past. A modernist might say, “Well, sure, but that just shows that the stars today are better and therefore better able to handle the enhanced responsibility.”

At that point, no set of data can measure the accuracy of that claim. But if it leads to some kind of conclusion along the lines of something like that Russell Westbrook is better than Larry Bird well, then, just no. He isn’t.

Other important secular changes:

1. Players that hit the floor are shorter. There was no such thing as a smallball lineup BITD. That makes it easier for shorter guys to get rebounds.

2. The lane is far more open. That makes it easier for shorter guys to get more rebounds.

3. Obviously, the propensity to take three-pointers. That makes it very tough to do cross-era comparisons. My rough rule of thumb is that if Brook Lopez could teach himself to shoot and make three-pointers years into his association career, the vast majority of star wings of yesteryear could have done the same.

I’m sure there are more such changes.

Basketball is still a game played largely between the ears. In a big game with monster pressure, I’d pick Jordan over anyone, and Bird would be higher on my list than LeBron.