Was Michael Jordan a sub 10 second talent?

So what your saying is Lebron had the speed to run 11.00 but Jordan didn't? I noticed that very little in your post made sense.......the short basketball court makes it HARDER to reach top speed.....so Lebron's recorded on court speed is less than his true peak speed..plus basketball players are rarely sprinting more than 2/3 of the court. Look at the point that 100m runners reach top speed, it's not in the first 20-30 m............so the fact that LeBron reached 11.1 100m speed in a space too short for him to reach top speed is fairly clearly indicative that he posseses the SPEED to run something close to 11.00....Plus it was near the end of 48 minute basketball game.

His weight would make it hard to maintain for 100m but Jordan didn't have that issue. So unless you think Jordan was unquestionably slower than Lebron, something I've never heard argued before, then clearly Jordan was in the realm of 11.00 as well when he was in his prime.. 11.3? 10.9? who knows, none of us do......but at least I'm basing my position on a few points of actual data that make sense.

he was a ten second talent in bed according to his wife

Lebron has sub10 feet.

http://www.totalprosports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/lebron-james-toes-closeup.jpg

Sub 10? Almost certainly not. I think he would have been a better 400m guy, personally. Maybe even world-class 400m.

"Smith says Jordan is the hardest worker he's ever coached. In high school Jordan hustled so, he was nicknamed The Rabbit. Rabbit, run. When he enrolled at Chapel Hill, Jordan ran the 40-yard dash in 4.6 seconds. This fall he ran a 4.3. By running and lifting weights he has substantially built up his upper body and gained 12 pounds in two years, most of it in the shoulders."

you would think a 6'5" guy is going to be better at the 100m than the 40yd. I'm going say Jordan could break 11 in 100, even if 4.3 was 4.39999999

For comparison here's bunch of guys from the NFL that have both a 100m time and 40yd time

If we give Jordan a 4.4 instead of a 4.3 i think he's breaking 11 pretty easily considering his height would be better suited for the 100m than the 40. thinking 10.6-10.8 range given a bit of training.

Chris Johnson 10.38 4.24

DeMarcus Van Dyke 10.61 4.25

Dri Archer 10.49 4.26

Jerome Mathis 10.49 4.26

Jacoby Ford 10.32 4.26

Jeff Demps 10.01 4.26

J. J. Nelson 10.49 4.28

Brian Witherspoon 10.22 4.29

Darrius Heyward-Bey 10.3 4.3

Josh Robinson 10.77 4.33

Tye Hill 10.27 4.34

Michael Huff 10.13 4.34

Travis Benjamin 10.4 4.36

Devery Henderson 10.4 4.36

Roy Williams 10.3 4.36

Brandon Banks 10.42 4.37

C. J. Spiller 10.29 4.37

Reggie Bush 10.42 4.38

Jamaal Charles 10.23 4.38

Andre Johnson 10.59 4.4

Joe McKnight 10.59 4.4 4

Lamar Miller 10.56 4.4 4

T. J. Graham 10.21 4.41

Devin Hester 10.42 4.41

Cordarrelle Patterson 10.54 4.42

Denard Robinson 10.44 4.43

Average 10.39577 4.340769

Surely his potential would be in the high jump?

ukathleticscoach wrote:

Surely his potential would be in the high jump?

I agree he would probably be better at the high jump, and not only for obvious reason of his vertical leap, but his in air body control was more impressive than in my opinion. I've seen other players jump as high, but no one in the NBA had the body control in the air that Jordan did.

Ehhhhhhhhh, MJ could have been a sub 10 talent. LeBron is much larger and much less of a sprinter/runner body type. MJ is an extremely fast and agile and dexterous athlete. He ran a 4.3 40yd dash, that with training and running as a focus could easily garner a 10 second 100m. Alsoooo, comparing stolen bases in terms of speed and time to base is a fine way to compare to 100m dashes. Not to mention we have a documented 40 time for MJ. Also...MJ was faster than Allen Iverson, however I am not able to find Gary Peyton's sprinting speed.

Actually MJ's most mathematically optimal sport would be long jump due to his speed and jumping ability

IVERSON RAN 4.63

MJ RAN 4.3

40 YARD DASH

no,he couldnt run sub 10.but i think he might have had potential as a high or long jumper.

I don't think it's a stupid question at all. It also depends on what hypothetical you're asking. If you're asking, if Jordan lived and trained as he did for basketball and we went back in time to Jordan's athletic prime (I'm thinking somewhere in the 86-90) and just had him run a 100 m, I think have broken 11, but not 10. A 4.3 30 which he ran I've read could convert to between a 10.2 to 10.4. However, if you;re asking with Jordan's genes if he had the potential under the right training to have a run a 9.9X high in his prime, I'd say fair odds he could have done it.

Jordan would've been a great long,high, or triple jumper.

A far more relevant question is what could he have done in discus - massive wingspan, high point of release excellent coordination.... could have been very interesting

Not nearly enough power for the discuss. Jordan has more of a frail type of body frame whereas top discuss throwers have a powerful frame. They typically outweigh Jordan by a 100 pounds.

it never stops wrote:

Not nearly enough power for the discuss. Jordan has more of a frail type of body frame whereas top discuss throwers have a powerful frame. They typically outweigh Jordan by a 100 pounds.

I’m presuming we’re allowing him to train for the event... I can’t believe the original question was whether he could break 10 off basketball training.

If he’d dedicated his training to discus, I think it’s safe to assume he’d be considerably heavier.

Michael Jordan? The basketball player you mean? Sub 10 in the 100 meters? Michael Johnson the 200 meter guy wasn't even sub 10 in the 100 meters.

I bet Jim Walmsley could do the same. Train and become one of the best discus throwers.

What if Jim trained for the 100 meter? Could he break 10?

Peak Michael Johnson was sub 10 in the 100. No doubt about it.