Andre Kirilenko compares today's NBA to when he was drafted: "The game changed"

Over the past three decades, the NBA has evolved from bruising scoring and interior play to the perimeter-oriented game we see today.

This shift has led to the decreasing number of conventional big men in the league. Basketball has now become a game of shooting from far out, and as such, the emphasis on physicality has been reduced.

The old game style

In the 1980s and 1990s, the NBA witnessed a generation of big men physically intimidating enough to hold the team from the back, create with the ball, and dominate in the paint. The major draft picks throughout that era were all big men. Long-range shots weren’t a focal point of the game, as the league averaged below ten three-pointers per game. Teams had to rely on big players who could make things happen.

Former NBA player Andrei Kirilenko , who had a feel of both eras, certainly agrees that the game wasn’t what it used to be.

“I definitely agree that the game changed,” he said . “When I came in, it was a game of big men. It was a generation of Patrick Ewing, Hakeem [Olajuwon], Shaq [O’Neal], David Robinson, Yao [Ming]. It was a force, so the whole game was built to bring the ball down to the post; let the big men create situations.”

In that era, teams wanted players who could stand their ground in tight areas underneath the rim and were powerful enough to finish efficiently. It was a huge reason why the first overall picks during this era were mostly centers like O’Neal, Olajuwon, and Tim Duncan .

Related: Julius Erving believes no player is similar to him in the modern NBA: “I was a small forward, but I really played like a power forward”

The new game is different

In 2021, the NBA saw its shortest height average of 6'3". As of today, over 70% of NBA players are under 6'9", which shows that the game has transcended from depending on big men to make things happen at the rim.

Players like Stephen Curry — who Kirilenko lauded for changing the game — have made the game now reliant on shooters. In his MVP-winning 2014-2015 NBA season, the Golden State Warriors point guard broke the record of three-pointers made in the postseason. This ushered in a new trend of guards and forwards being drafted into the league and fewer big men. In the last decade, only three centers have been picked first overall. The rate of big men entering the league declined.

“Then, in 2000, it became a league of two threes. So like forwards, you got like [Tracy McGrady], [Jamal] Mashburn, Alan Houston, Ray Allen, so a lot of great players who could play with the ball, Vince Carter. So I think Michael Jordan played an integral part in showing everybody the way ‘You guys are supposed to play’. It has become a forwards game,” Kirilenko added.

In the era of big men, Mike won ten scoring titles, was a Defensive Player of the Year, and made nine All-Defensive First Teams. He displayed the characteristics needed to play the modern NBA and limit the dependency on big men.

Before, teams played with one or two big men in the starting lineup, but now teams can field a lineup with zero big men and still score more points.

Related: Andrei Kirilenko names a surprising player who was the first to 'bust his a**': "He was always in front of you"