Many retired NBA players tend to talk about how today’s stars wouldn’t cut it in their era, but Hall of Famer Spencer Haywood isn’t one of them. During an appearance on the Digital Social Hour Podcast, Haywood claimed today’s players would dominate back in the day.
“They would have killed our a**,” Haywood said. “… There’s just more talent, but they are better. If you think, like everything that happens in America… We had on Converse shoes, no cushion, no nothing. I mean, these guys are running double the amount of mileage that we ran during the time we were playing. The game has evolved into something beautiful and special. It’s international.”
It’s good to see an old head not hate on today’s players for once. This simply comes down to evolution. The players today are more skilled and athletic than the ones who played 40 to 50 years ago.
Haywood had entered the NBA in 1970 after spending one season in the ABA. You transport any good player from today to the 1970s, and they’d do pretty well.
We had LeBron James hilariously say Giannis Antetokounmpo would score 250 points in a game in the 70s. An athletic freak like Antetokounmpo is almost unstoppable today, and he’d wreak havoc in that era. He obviously wouldn’t get to 250, but he might have potentially come close to breaking Wilt Chamberlain’s single-game record of 100 points.
Getting back to Haywood, while he admits today’s players would dominate back in the day, he also believes he would be putting up big numbers in this NBA.
“With traveling, palming the ball, ticky-tack fouls?” Haywood said. “Yeah, I could still do my 30 and 20.”
Now, Haywood averaged 30.0 points and 19.5 rebounds as a rookie for the Denver Rockets in the ABA in 1969-70. He led the league in both categories and was named Rookie of the Year and MVP.
Haywood wouldn’t be quite as dominant once he got to the NBA, but he played at a very high level at first. Over his first five seasons with the Seattle SuperSonics, he averaged 24.9 points and 12.1 rebounds.
Haywood finished fifth in MVP voting in 1972 and seventh in 1973. He was certainly no slouch. Haywood would end up making four All-Star and four All-NBA teams during his career. He also won a championship with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1980.
All in all, Haywood spent 12 seasons in the NBA during which he averaged 19.2 points, 9.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 0.6 steals, and 1.1 blocks per game. He would have fared well in today’s NBA, too, especially as he claims he could shoot threes.
A 6’8″ forward like Haywood just wasn’t allowed to take those shots back in those days. He hilariously stated he would have been sent to the Continental League if he were out there shooting three-pointers.
