In 1965 Cincinnati Royals led the league with a 44.7 FG% the average was 42.6%, the Royals also led in PPG at 114.2 and the average was 110.6. To compare to last season(which is easiest since that is essentially what 2k12 will represent out of the box) Boston shot 48.6% to lead the league and the average was 45.9%, Denver led the league at 107.5 PPG and the average was 99.6.
While teams shoot a higher % now they still score at lower amount of points per game because the pace of play(tempo) is slower than it was in 1965. Defensive intensity is also a likely reason why today's game is lower scoring(more athletic defenders as well) but that does not wholly account for the drastic difference in shot attempts between the eras.
I'll refer to Bill Simmons "Book of Basketball" and give you a comparison between 1962 Wilt Chamberlain and 1972 Kareem Abdul-Jabar.
Wilt - 80 GP, 48.5 MPG(must have had a lot of OT games), 50.4 PPG, 25.7 REB, 2.4 AST, 39.5 FGA, 20.0 FGM, 50.6 FG%, 13.3 FTA, 6.7 FTM, 61.3 FT%
Kareem - 82 GP, 44.2 MPG, 34.8 PPG, 16.6 REB, 4.9 AST, 24.9 FGA, 14.3 FGM, 57.4 FG%, 9.0 FTA, 6.2 FTM, 69.9 FT%
This illustrates the "statistical inflation" that took place during the early-mid 60's. Wilt scored 40% of his teams total points in '62 and Kareem scored 30% of his teams total points in '72 but Kareem did it more effectively. Not that this is a comparison of Wilt vs. Kareem but it is a good example of the best players from each of those seasons.
Basically teams shot more and at lower % in the 60's, this leads to one conclusion in my opinion, a faster tempo game.
One final point to further illustrate my Russell as a great passer point from earlier. This is a quote from John Havlicek's 1977 autobiography "Hondo". "People think of him(Russell) in terms of defense and rebounding, but he had been the key to our offense. He made the best pass more than anyone I ever played with....His ability as a passer, pick-setter, and general surmiser of the offense has always been overlooked." I'd imagine no-one hear was around to watch Russell play, but Hondo's word is good enough for me when it comes to this topic.
Again I apologize for veering off topic, but he asked so I answered. If you want to discuss this further I am willing to do so, but we either need a different thread(probably in the general basketball forum) or through private messages.