Posted by I have been watching some old matches from the 1980s and 1990s and trying to imagine how and where some of those players might fit into the current. A lot of players from the 1980s are not big enough or athletic enough to have a natural home in 2020. A couple of players I thought would thrive and indeed might even be better 35 years later were Karch Kiraly and Aleksander Savin.
Karch was a great receiver and a great athlete. His height would not have been an issue and he would have been able to hit a fast ball.
Savin would have been as effective in attack now as then. With his athleticism he would have benefited enormously from the improvements in block technique and tactics. Given that he would never have had to receive or spike high balls, he would spend more time doing the things that he was great at.
Which brings me to Bas van de Goer. He would have been a great player in every era, but what position would he have played if he had been born 20 years later? I suspect NOT middle blocker.
At Home On The Court 