Rand: Old school vs. new school in NBA length of games debate

The NBA's decision to try a shortened preseason game on Sunday (11-minute quarters, 44 minutes total) has sparked a broader discussion about the length of the league's season, not the length of the games themselves.

LeBron James and Dirk Nowitzki, who make a massive living playing a game, chimed in to say the schedule is too long, which seems odd since one would imagine they have fun playing basketball and cashing huge checks. Michael Jordan, arguably the greatest player of all time, has responded in an ESPN interview by disagreeing with both players.

It's hard to view this as anything but a generational thing — old school vs. new school — and more specifically Jordan vs. LeBron, with Nowitzki strangely wedged in between them, agewise, but siding with LeBron.

It's probably more nuanced than that; if you asked some retired superstars, they might say a 65-game schedule would have been great. And if you interviewed a bunch of current players, at least some would say they want to play every night — or at least 82 times a year.

Generally speaking, though, the comments from Jordan and LeBron not only fit a convenient narrative but are also probably reflective of similar players from their generations.

Said Jordan: "I love both of those guys, but as an owner who played the game, I loved playing. If I wasn't playing 82 games, I still would've been playing somewhere else because that's the love for the game I had. As a player, I never thought 82 games was an issue."

Amen.

Same goes for James and Nowitzki, who aren't stuffed into seat 37E on commercial flights during their between-game travel but instead are spread out on team charters. Back-to-back games are a grind, sure, but the end result is playing a game.

There are more demands placed on a modern athlete's time than ever before — endorsements, appearances, social media, you name it — but none of those time demands should come at the expense of the core product.

"We all as players think it's too many games," James said. "In our season, 82 games is a lot."

If that's the modern mentality, it clearly irked Jordan — and for good reason.

michael rand