Anyone who thinks "but hand checking!" is a real argument is extremely mistaken. Late 90s/ealry 00s basketball was basically just slow boring ISO ball and teams were just not smart enough to play the right way yet.

This is ridiculous. The NBA literally changed the rules with the intentions of opening up offensive opportunities for players. If you watched games from the 90s and watch a game from today, you would see how easier it is for a guard to play offense in this era. The physicality has been nearly completely taken out of the game. Guards today can drive with ease to the basket and are guaranteed either a basket or a foul because of the rule changes. The defensive three-second violation is a prime example of this. It literally prohibits teams from playing the defense they want to by not allowing a defender to protect the rim for more than three seconds at a time. More space and opportunities has been created for guards in the last 10-15 years. Do you honestly think it's just a coincidence that the league has become so guard-heavy in the last few years? You just said yourself:

The only reason there were ever dominant post up bigs in the 90s was because the rules disadvantaged defense and artificially made post ups an efficient shot.

In the same vein, replace dominant post up bigs with small, skilled guards in the 10s and you have the same result...

And if you don't think hand-checking isn't real, I mean...I don't know what to say lol. Just watch Scottie Pippen videos. The way he played defense, you literally can't play defense like that anymore today. Physical, aggressive defense where you're essentially bodying the ball-handler.

And this isn't even just my opinion, this has literally been said by NBA coaches and players for years now. Steve Kerr himself said this about Curry and why he's been able to be so successful