I was too young to see prime Jordan. Was he actually good?

I skipped around a little, so I may have missed this, but the reason Jordan was the greatest of all time by the end of career was as much intangible as it was statistics: you knew he was going to win. You knew he was going to create and hit the shot. No one else wanted to defend him and no one else wanted to be defended by him. He was simply dominant unlike any other player of the era. Jordan at the end of a Finals game was like Mo at the end of a 5000m or Kipchoge and the end of a marathon. It was like that Morceli ad by Nike from the early 90s: "When I race, I have many questions. Who is going to come in 2nd? Who is going to come in 3rd?"

he was almost singlehandedly responsible for the legalization of traveling, due to the entertainment value.

I just don't understand why people weren't taking so many threes and playing like to do today if it's clearly better.

It's not that hard to figure out that making x% 3pt is better than going inside. Either all coaches/staff couldn't do 7th grade staff, or the players on the court simply weren't good enough to execute the kind of high efficiency offense seen today.

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It's been mentioned a few times. The rules were different.

The big one is illegal defense from that time frame, and it was closely enforced. A guy

like Chris Mullin--the best free throw shooter on the team and played a bunch of

minutes--probably has a 2 ppg better scoring average because of all the technicals

for illegal defense.

Basically, you could not double the post without allowing an easy pass to a guy

for a wide open three. For example, you could not even fake a double team: take

a step towards a post player with the ball and you had to continue. A guy like

Barkley would watch this happen, wait until you were almost there and whip

it to the open man.

So the very fact that open threes generate more points meant that you had to leave a

Shaq, for example, one on one, and he dominated.

Jordan developed a post game later, and had an easier time putting up the big numbers.

But before that, the fact that he could outscore the post players by driving through

the hand checks, around the rim protectors that were always there, and avoid

getting killed by what are now flagrant fouls but were then part of the game makes

him special.

Your bigger and faster statement would be accurate if you were looking back 75 years. This thread is about Jordan, but the best basketball team ever was 1987 Lakers. They were significantly bigger than Golden State Warriors. They were not slower than Golden State. The best guys in NFL in '60's and '70's would be good now. They weighed less because the NFL players then did not lift weights. Your 40 yard dash statement is not accurate. There was no combine until the late 1980's We can name numerous sub10.5 100m men from 1960's, 1970's, 1980's in NFL.

The players are not bigger and stronger today. The overall quickness and speed is better, but there were plenty of quick, fast players back in the 80's. I mean, really, you have no idea what you are talking about. You are just making sh*t up because you are familiar with today's game and think it's better.

I agree. Today's game is better, but it's not because there weren't great players. Jordan is better than any guard today. Magic Johnson. Larry Bird. Hakeem. Would all be great players today. As would many, many others.

The game is better today because the rules are different. They are better, and it makes for a better game. The overall talent level is better today, but the top end is not better.

They don't shoot better today. Defense is not better today (it was tougher in the 80's and 90's). The only real difference is there are more good 3 point shooters today. Everyone needs to be able to shoot a 3.

Jordan was better than Kobe and Kobe was still at 36 and with injury problems than most of the players today. Better than all but James a few years ago when he was still 100%.

I suggest some of you learn some history, learn the game, and stop talking out your a**.

The entire world knew Jordan would get the ball for the final shot. The entire defense was on him. Then he showed us how to dream.

Name one SG in the game today who you think is actually faster, more agile and a better jumper than prime Jordan was.

MurderDub wrote:

Name one SG in the game today who you think is actually faster, more agile and a better jumper than prime Jordan was.

............and can also play defense!