Players from earlier NBA eras have often been outspoken about the next generation. It’s not a phenomenon born of social media or the modern NBA; the same tensions surfaced decades ago.<\/p>\n
Back in 1988, for example, Elgin Baylor<\/a> had plenty to say about the “rookies” of his time. The Hall of Famer, long retired but still watching closely, wasn’t shy about voicing his concerns over how, in his view, negatively, the game of young players was evolving.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Baylor’s view on NBA rookies in 1988<\/p>\n When the 1988\u201189 rookie class hit the NBA stage, Baylor’s perspective still carried weight, which was true for two reasons.<\/p>\n First, “Rabbit” was still renowned as an 11-time All-Star forward and Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> legend. Second, he had stayed close to the game after retiring in 1971, working in coaching roles with the Utah Jazz before moving into executive positions with the Los Angeles Clippers. This meant that Baylor closely followed each new crop of rookies \u2014 a duty that eventually made him aware of some growing issues in player development.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n That season’s rookies included<\/a> Mitch Richmond, Michael Adams, Hersey Hawkins, Dan Majerle and Steve Kerr. Baylor didn’t single anyone out publicly, but about a month into the new season, he was skeptical about how many young NBA debutants approached the game.<\/p>\n “What people don’t seem to realize is that you play basketball with your head as well as your body,” said<\/a> Baylor, per the Christian Science Monitor. “Even though instincts are important when a certain play has to be made or the clock is running out, if the fundamentals aren’t already there, you’re probably not going to be successful.”<\/p>\n Basketball IQ in question<\/p>\n Baylor made an immediate impact in his debut season for the Lakers, averaging<\/a> nearly 25 points, 15 rebounds and 4 assists and earning Rookie of the Year honors. Much of that seamless transition to the big stage came from his days at the College of Idaho and later Seattle, where he had mastered the fundamentals \u2014 the very skills he believed many young players in the late 1980s lacked.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n “There is a right way and a wrong way to do things in basketball and without having learned the basics, no player is able to fit comfortably into a team concept,” he said.<\/p>\n “Rabbit” acknowledged that modern players were physical specimens compared to his generation, yet many failed to make much of these advantages. In his view, they often lacked a “solid overall understanding of the game,” meaning they didn’t know “how to run a fast break or finish a play.”<\/p>\n Baylor, who averaged 27.4 points over his storied career with a 43.1 percent field goal rate, added that while many of those modern-day rookies could likely shoot better, this lack of basketball IQ often led to poor shot selection \u2014 something for which there was simply “no excuse.”<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n While Baylor’s critique was sharply expressed, it was also broad. That rookie class included 75 players, and certainly not all fit the criticisms he leveled. Still, in a sense, it’s quite telling that from that group, only Richmond \u2014 that year’s Rookie of the Year \u2014 would eventually be enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n Related: “If you look up the definition of greatness in the dictionary, it will say Michael Jordan” – Elgin Baylor on MJ’s legacy<\/a><\/p>\n This story was originally reported by Basketball Network<\/a> on Sep 28, 2025, where it first appeared in the Old School<\/a> section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Players from earlier NBA eras have often been outspoken about the next generation. It’s not a phenomenon born…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[89474,49,48,89472,1527,8231,89473,459,14116,89475,82,15717],"class_list":["post-175466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-basketball-iq","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-elgin-baylor","tag-los-angeles-clippers","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-mitch-richmond","tag-nba","tag-players","tag-rookie-class","tag-sports","tag-utah-jazz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}