- Rick Barry has slammed the idea that old NBA superstars played against ‘plumbers’
- He claimed that if they had the advantages that today’s players have, they would be even greater than they were
- Rick Barry pointed out that modern superstars get private planes and agility coaches while old players got $8 per day to spend
No NBA debates get as heated as the one comparing the older era of superstars with the modern era of the game. The debate took the spotlight last season after JJ Redick’s comments about Bob Cousy, and Jerry West’s crisp reply to it.
Rick Barry, who is an NBA champion, a Finals MVP, and an 8-time All-Star, was asked about this discussion. And in response, he went off on a massive rant about the misconceptions and dumb ideas that some current players have.
“Please, the plumbers. You’re kidding me,” Barry said. “They had so many great centers back in those days. They hardly have centers. The guys that are centers now, they’re not centers. I mean, they play out in the wing trying to shoot 3-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.
“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, 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.
“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 so much better a basketball player cuz 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.”
Rick Barry goes on EPIC RANT about his era vs. today’s era. 😳👀 pic.twitter.com/dSpGzUJ1N9
— Joy De’Angela (@joydeangela) August 9, 2023
In his prime with the Golden State Warriors between 1973 and 1978, Rick Barry averaged 24.0 points, 6.4 rebounds, 5.8 assists, and 2.3 steals per game. He made the NBA’s 50th and 75th Anniversary Team and is a true legend of the game.
It’s hard to deny his claim that he would be better with the sort of access that a lot of modern players in the league have from the time they’re in school.
Bob Cousy And Jerry West Have Also Hit Back At This Narrative
While Rick Barry broke everything down, Jerry West and Bob Cousy have also fired back at this narrative in the past. Jerry West attacked Redick directly, while Cousy picked apart his ‘plumbers and firemen’ comment with even more precision.
“I’ll just give you a few of their names… that I played with and against. How about Bill Russell… Wilt Chamberlain, I guess he must have fought fires as well… the best small forward that ever played the game, was a guy named Elgin Baylor…
“My colleague who also had an award created, guy named Oscar Robertson, who was pound for pound the best player, perhaps in the game. Jerry West wasn’t too shabby… I could go on and on. We must have had the best firemen and plumbers on the planet at the time.”
The NBA of today’s time is indeed more talented and athletic than ever before. But that’s through no fault of the stars that played in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. They dominated with what they were given and, with the same opportunities as today’s players, would likely even dominate in the modern era.
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