Why does it seem that the NBA has more 'thug-like' players than in the past?

Answer 1

Nba players come from the poverty areas , in the Ghetto area, so they are growning up influence by the hip hip culture, which is "thug like".

Answer 2

Clearly you're young and don't really know the history of the NBA. In the early 1980s it seemed like 30% of the league was getting suspended for cocaine use. Back in the 1970s almost every team had one "enforcer", usually a power forward, whose job was to be very physical with the other team and frequently get into fights. In the mid to late 70s there were many more fights during games than there are now.
Waaaay back when, from 1950s on back, basketball was a much, much rougher sport. Less fouls existed and less were even called. Most players wore knee pads and elbow pads because of the rough nature of those games.
If you're saying "thug-like" in terms of off the court behavior, then you don't realize that only a tiny percentage of the players have had that kind of trouble, as opposed to say, the NFL where many more players get in off the field trouble.

Answer 3

Do you mean they look like thugs or they play like thugs? They look like thugs because of all the tattoos they're wearing, made fashionable by Rodman in the 90's. Add to that the gangsta attitude that has become mainstream the past decade, which is why commissioner David Stern made suit and tie a requirement for inactive players sitting on the bench last season.

In terms of playing like thugs, you just haven't seen as many games in the past which were played a lot more physical. Nowadays you can see almost every game played every night. So the more you see physically played games, the more they look thug-like. The level of physicality has also been lowered by rule changes through the years that the slightest touches are called fouls. Some flagrant fouls these days (e.g. holding down a guy's shooting arm as he drives to the basket) were considered just clean hard fouls two decades ago.

Did you know that flagrant fouls were instituted because of the way the 'Bad Boys' Pistons played in the late 80's? It was routine for them to foul somebody hard going to the basket instead of giving up a dunk or lay-up. "Make them earn their points from the foul line" was the Pistons' motto.

So many cameras are used in every game nowadays that you can see the action from every imaginable angle, especially all the pushing and shoving in the paint and under the basket. Back in the day those angles are few and far between, you can see the action mostly from the camera behind the crowd on the side of the court. You don't see a lot of pushing and shoving, all of a sudden you see a player down on the floor.

Answer 4

I would have to disagree with that. Thugs-like players have always been in NBA, past and present.
You should have seen the Pistons led by Isaac Thomas in the early 90s and the previous New York Knicks team in the mid 90s.
They are known as "The Bad Boys Club", not for no reason.
I think that Thugs in NBA are just the minority

Answer 5

It's not, 15-20 years ago there was atleast 1 brawl every week with mostly white people playing, now that the NBA has mainly black people playing they are trying to clean up the game so fans don't quit watching.

Answer 6

That's how the current culture of NBA players is as apposed to the earlier days.

Answer 7

Doesnt seem like it to me, but maybe they are just more noticable because the NBA is pointing it out more trying to clean up the league, and all the "good guys" conform easily and the "bad guys" go with a little more trouble

Answer 8

It doesn't just seem that way, they DO. And I won't name names but every time a lot of them open their mouth trash comes out of it. It turned me off the L.A. Lakers specifically, and then basketball altogether.

Answer 9

The skill level has decrease, so the thugism has increased.

Answer 10

Its alot of talent from the african american race (in the hood)