You like guys with less skill - I get it. Nothing wrong with that.
I think I'm the opposite. I was born in 86 so started watching mid to late 90s. I loved Shawn Kemp on the Sonics for the dunks, but later on my favorite individual non-Cav was Rasheed Wallace. A big who could play D, dunk, and hit jumpers. He was so much more skilled than his peers, even the good ones - Chris Webber for example. Just like I hate Ben Simmons now, I hated Larry Hughes, Darius Miles, all those guys who couldn't shoot the ball, or even handle that well. So I guess the game morphed into something that fit my taste better, because Sheed was ahead of his time.
I want to push back some on the guys being tougher and caring more. Again, some guys did. But remember Lamond Murray, Wesley Person, shit Glenn Robinson. Brian Grant. The late 90s and early 2000s were the era of guys having noticable dropoffs once they got a big contract. Plenty of starter level players were just happy to be in the league and didn't care. When we think back, we think of the guys who took every possession seriously. But in the moment there was Ricky Davis and Quentin Richardson and Tim Thomas. Rashard Lewis. I could go on.
One thing I will give the nostalgic crowd, I did like players hating each other. I loved the Kings and Lakers rivalry, because those guys really hated the other team. Cavs Warriors, especially pre-KD, was the only thing I've seen recently that approaches that level - but it's not even close because Lebron is a nice guy. I miss when guys genuinely were not friends off the court.