That FTs per FGA are lower than they used to be? Yes, because I can read.
Everything else was just conjecture; feel free to agree or disagree or whatever. And I'm not talking late 80's bad boy versus today. I know the league was on its way to getting way more physical than it is today. I'm talking 1983-1984. Pointing at LeBron and saying the league is soft is fine, but maybe there's more to the story than one jackass trying to spoil everything because he's not nearly as talented as his predecessors.
Here, watch Jordan's 1984 game where he scored 40+ for the first time. Every foul is ticky-tacky, the defense is soft and there's little physical contact.
To try and back myself up on this, the league average DRtg back in 1984 was 107.6 (which only 10 teams were above), which would be good for 20th in 2014. By way of comparison, Portland of 2014 is an above-average defensive team in 1984 (107.3 DRtg).