I had this conversation with my sons. They are all better soccer players than I was in my era (skill-wise). But, they have had access to 1) better coaching, access to professional leagues, YouTube and online training videos, personal trainers, year rounds soccer....

I and my 4 brothers were all pretty good, 2 were all-state and played in college. We are all active in soccer now. Had we had the same training and opportunities as our kids (one of my nephews was on a team that travel to Europe to train and play Euro-clubs), I'm pretty sure we'd be even more successful.

MJ and the stars in the 90s changed the game. LBJ would have been successful then (he's an athletic freak with a work ethic, that also doesn't get injured much), but Malone, Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp, Robinson, Barkley, Iverson, Drexler, Hakeem,.... would have been all-stars in today's era as well.