John Salley has a unique perspective of the evolution of hoopers as the first person to win an NBA championship in three different decades.
After being drafted in the first round out of Georgia Tech by the Detroit Pistons, he earned his first ring as part of the infamous ‘Bad Boys’ in 1989 and second a year later.
The power forward was drafted by the expansion Toronto Raptors franchise in 1995 but bought out of the contract and wound up on the Chicago Bulls.
Alongside Michael Jordan and former Pistons teammate Dennis Rodman, he earned a third championship in 1996 before retiring.
Just three months later he headed to Europe with Panathinaikos and played seven games before mutually terminating his $1million contract.
In 1999 he was back in The Association, joining the Los Angeles Lakers as Shaquille O’Neal‘s back-up under former Bulls coach Jackson and winning a fourth crown in 2000 in a team that featured Kobe Bryant.
He called it a day with 5,228 points at an average of seven a game in 12 seasons as an NBA player.
His claim to fame was playing for three storied dynasties and his incredible three-decade title streak, which was later matched by Tim Duncan.
Salley has played with some of the best to ever do it and as fans debate whether modern greats like LeBron James could have competed in earlier eras, the four-time champ has some thoughts.
“Isiah [Thomas] wanted you dead, Michael wanted you dead, Kobe wanted you dead. And then wanna resurrect you and kill you again,” he told The OGs podcast.
Salley then brought up the distinctly modern phenomenon of ‘load management’, players taking games off to ‘recover’, a concept that would have been laughed at back in MJ’s day.
“The real difference, guys take days off now. I mean Michael was talking smack about Horace [Grant], ‘Man, he only play 65 games a year, of course he’s gonna be fresh.’
“There is no way you were gonna get Kobe not to play a game, Michael not to play a game, or Isiah. They’ve not given up those minutes.
“So when I see guys talk about load, I don’t understand. Because when I first got into the league we flew commercial. Can you imagine?
“They loved the game so much that they were not going to take a day off.”
Modern players also have the benefit of state-of-the-art recovery facilities thanks to advances in sports science.
Back in the day, the rehab on offer varied greatly depending on your team.
“The Lakers were way cheaper than the Bulls, which is almost impossible,” Salley revealed. “Like the Bulls had three massage therapists, a swimming pool to train in, four trainers, strength coach.
“They fired the massage therapist I bought into the Lakers. I kept saying to Phil, ‘I’m gonna say it again, Formula One cars or stock NASCAR‘, he kept saying, ‘What do you mean?’”
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James has scoffed at the idea that modern stars couldn’t have played in previous decades despite the extra physicality.
The four-time NBA champion made headlines when he appeared on The Pat McAfee Show and said that Giannis Antetokounmpo would score 250 points in the 1970s.
“You’re trying to tell me Giannis wouldn’t be able to play an NBA game in the ’70s?” he asked rhetorically.
“Giannis Antetokounmpo would have 250 points in a game in the ’70s — 250. That’s no disrespect, but seriously.”
During an appearance on “Scoop B Radio” with Brandon Robinson, former New Jersey Nets star Jayson Williams shared what MJ thought about the debate.
“Different eras,” Williams told Robinson. “I asked Michael this when we played golf about five months ago, and he said, ‘LeBron James could play in ANY era.’”
