Not a Cavs rant, but it's a basketball rant for comparing eras between now and the 80s-90s.
First off, the argument that hand checking was this incredible rule for defenders that allowed guys to foul with no repercussion is a joke. If you hit a guy, that was still a foul. The basic explanation: As the defender, you used to be able to touch the player you were guarding with your hands. You couldn't put your hands on him and hold him, you couldn't KEEP your hands on him, like a grab, but you were allowed to reach out with your hand and touch his arm, or his wrist, or leg, etc.
First off, every single player who has ever guarded LeBron has hand checked him. And hasn't been called for it. Bojan was basically pressed up against LeBron with his hands draped all over him. On top of that, the average free throws per game have dropped by nearly 10 attempts since Jordan was drafted. So less fouls were called, my ass. Additionally, refs now call less fouls to speed up the game. Back then, you could have like 600 possessions per game because refs would call
Because of the lack of 3 point shooting, the zone was so much easier where you could have a guy defend the rim (Rodman), another just trolling for steals (Jordan...) and defend like one three point shooter man up. If that team was in the modern NBA, having to guard 5s who can take it from anywhere on the court, Jordan would not have won as many DPOYs. He'd have to play much more one on one defense.
Just because the league was filled with dirty players, doesn't mean the defense was better. A foul was a foul, was a foul. And every team used it to their advantage.
I think NBA analysts might be the worst sports analysts through all major markets. I hate the fact that I still pay attention to them, but work starts off slow...