NBA: A closer look at the Flynn Effect on today’s NBA

NBA fans like to argue about historical teams and compare them to today’s game. Those arguments rarely account for something called the Flynn Effect.

The Flynn Effect is the study that over time, the average IQ raises. This is due to a myriad of things including more/better education, better conditions, medical advances, and better nutrition amongst many other things. This can apply to a lot of NBA developments over time.

First, looking through the lens of development of the league, guys like George Mikan were pioneers of the game, however, they don’t have the luxury of learning from the past. Guys like Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at least had the opportunity to watch them or other stars growing up and build their games based on the legends.

From there, guys like Michael Jordan (who at the time didn’t have a historical comparison at his position) were able to grow and develop and help guys like Kobe Bryant who, in turn, were able to build their game off of him. Now players have a larger group of former/current players to help mold their games after and help them find a way to fit their abilities into the team they’re on.

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The development of coaching has also helped shape a better NBA today. Successful coaching styles like Mike D’Antoni’s 7 Seconds or Less offense or Phil Jackson’s triangle offense are hidden influences in a lot of league-wide styles now. (Here’s an article from The Athletic taking a look at it, paywall required.)

To go along with the rise of historical players to learn from and coaching advancements, the analytics of the game has boomed over time. Teams can now track things better and see what does and does not work (see the decline of the mid-range shot and early 2000’s “Hero ball”). Teams now have the means to look at data through Second Spectrum amongst other sources at a vastly superior quality/quantity than their historical comparisons.

Adding in all of those factors amongst technology advances (things like a player now being able to carry all of the film they need to study on a flash drive, better video quality/analysis tools, etc.) and the on-court product, in theory, has gained a ton compared to its historical predecessors.

Then comes the health aspect of things. Medical advances have made things like an ACL tear, which at one point was a career killer, an injury that a player can now recover from and return with similar athleticism/durability. Teams have the ability to also help players avoid injury better (like reteaching Zion Williamson how to run without putting too much pressure on his knees).

On top of the medical side, diets/strength training programs have naturally advanced as science develops. Players nowadays benefit from significantly more structure/focus/help on the strength training fronts and guys like Ray Allen, for example, have had historic longevity due to taking immense care of his body/diet. In fact, nine of the top 20 leaders in games played have been from the 2000s.

In essence, the Flynn Effect has enabled the NBA to be at it’s best today because we’re allowed to learn from a larger scale of history, enabled by technological/scientific/medical advances. The past eras of the league helped further the progress and were able to learn from their predecessors, however, don’t reap as much of the benefits as today’s league does simply because you don’t know what you don’t know.

The IQ of basketball, sports science, and everything else tied into it has been boosted over time because there’s just more data, evidence, and history as time goes by.