Rule changes as in how the balls are racked which totally benefits the “illusion” of better pattern play, roll out, & and the advent of jump cues IMO make it very difficult to compare past generations. These rule changes changed the game… beyond incredible shot making and getting shape, strategy is not as a huge part of the game of 9 ball anymore.
Strategy is a MUCH bigger part of the game today. There are more two-way shots, more kicks, more jumps, and more need for billiard knowledge than ever before. The lack of tactical skills among the old-timers showed up in spades when Hopkins staged the "Legends of Pool" series in what I believe was 1983. The level of play was still pretty high, just not the defensive and tactical play.
There was much less need to be a great kicker/jumper or safety player back in the day, and position play errors were often forgiven because you could push out.
Even ignoring the fact that today's players play on super-tight equipment and the last generation did not, the game is much more difficult today. Similarly, mediocre position play was not punished as much on loose equipment, but today, recovering a lost pattern is a much tougher challenge than back in the day.
For every super-straight shooter there was in Mike Sigel's prime, there are probably ten of them today. Finally, the pattern play today is much better than it was ten years ago, never mind forty years ago.
The only player of the 1980s who is in the coversation with the defensive greats of today is Nick Varner.
But, as you say, comparison across the generations is near impossible. Still, the quality of play has skyrocketed to a level few could have imagined even ten years ago.
