Synthetic

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Regarding the Colts prediction, my prediction wasn't that far fetched. They lost 2 or 3 games they could've/should've won.

Every team's fan base says this exact same thing when they are 7-8. 

Go read on Saints Report, I promise you, all year long; almost every thread is "we should be 10-4" due to all the close losses - Raiders, Giants, Broncos, Bucs: all loses by 6 points or less. My fan base is slightly worse than on here, cause even at 1-3, they were literally talking about playoffs. 538 put the Saints chances down to 4% and they still were talking about making the playoffs by some unrealistic miracle. 

That argument can be made for every fan base. I'm sure Chargers fans feel the same way with all their close losses. 

I had both the Saints and Colts going 7-9 this year cause both our teams look horrible when compared and almost a mirror image. No defenses and playing in a division where a young team is rising up, but also can't beat up on another divisional foe (Houston in your face, Atlanta in mine). 

The Zone Defense is an excellent point and that is where I give Kobe a lot of credit too, he had to face Zones. Back in the 80's and 90's the REFS allowed more physical play though and hand checking so I guess that somewhat equals out. Wilt was a beast but I actually think Kareem was better, not by much but he had a better/longer career. Wilt and Shaq are pretty similar IMO. Wilt put up some stats though that will never be broken, like 100 points in a game for example.

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Back in the 80's and 90's the REFS allowed more physical play though and hand checking so I guess that somewhat equals out. 

This argument can go both ways. MJ for example, led the league in free throws often during his career, especially in his later years when he was old and slow. I don't see where he ever had to play hard physical defenses like LeBron has to deal with his entire career. If one wants to bring up free throws and refs, I'd say MJ is the king. Any time he drove to the basket, you often heard the whistle blow. 

NBA defenses today are much tougher than they were in the 90's all thanks to the zone defense. It's completely changed the game in general. Some truly believe that the NBA changed the rule in 2002 to stop Shaq and Allen Iverson. Shaq was so powerful and dominate, he manhandled anyone one on one with his sheer size, but then his game slowed down and he wasn't the same again after the zone defense rule change. 

The NBA changes and evolves every decade. In Wilt's era, it was all about the center position and the same could arguably be said about Kareem. I liked Shaq a lot back in his prime and looking back, he was a call back to that old era in some ways.