I feel like I'm the only person that doesn't think that the league getting "watered down" was a bad thing. So many more guys are important and more guys get the chance to show what they're made of. There's a reason that as many teams have won championships in the past five years as they did in all of the '90s or something like that.
Yeah, that's what I thought when it first started. And then I saw some of the guys who were playing. Look at it this way. Ervin Johnson, Luc Longley, Mark West, and Greg Ostertag were starting centers on NBA finals teams. John Starks was the 2nd best player on an NBA finals team. Contrast that to any finals team in the 80s - Pistons, Trailblazers, Lakers, Celts, Sixers. Only the Rockets looked like a 90s team and they were surprise finals teams. Better balance on a team makes for a better game. At least that's my opinion.
I think talent, and the influx of foreigners has balanced out the league better now and I think you see a better quality of play - Barkley and all the other old farts be damned. Again, my 2 cents, YMMV.