Shawn Marion/DeShavn Stevenson and Tyson Chandler shut down James in the 2011 finals. Imagine what the 90s Knicks with Ewing, Mason, Oakley would do to him, let alone the Bad Boys lol
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Jordan was outscoring 2nd place by about 2 ppg each season, back then. The scoring leaders charts were almost identical, only a couple % lower. One guy (Jordan) just over 30 ppg, and another half dozen between 24-29 ppg.
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No one is scoring these huge numbers you two are talking about. Kobe didn't. Durant doesn't. Iverson didn't. Steph doesn't. Westbrook doesn't. No one does it.
The fact you guys think Jordan could average 50+ per game shows how delusional people get when glorifying the past. It's bizarre, unprovable, and incredibly unlikely. No evidence bears it out.
Jordan would be the top scorer in today's game. Just like he was then. But he'd be 2-3 ppg higher than the best scorers today, just like he was then.
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No one is scoring these huge numbers you two are talking about. Kobe didn't. Durant doesn't. Iverson didn't. Steph doesn't. Westbrook doesn't. No one does it.
The fact you guys think Jordan could average 50+ per game shows how delusional people get when glorifying the past. It's bizarre, unprovable, and incredibly unlikely. No evidence bears it out.
Jordan would be the top scorer in today's game. Just like he was then. But he'd be 2-3 ppg higher than the best scorers today, just like he was then.
If Jordan would score 50 per game today, I guess Malone would score 45 per game. Hakeem would score 40 per game. And so on and so forth.
Every star who plays today must be a complete scrub for not putting up 40+ per game in NBA easy mode.
Every star who plays today must be a complete scrub for not putting up 40+ per game in NBA easy mode.
Dont even make me look up Hakeems (who like Jordan would be unstoppable today, because no one could even slow him down, let alone stop)
Again, whos gonna stop him? And how? The guys scoring repertoar is far ahead of anyone in todays game. No one could score in so much different ways. You have an inferior player in Kobe averaging 35ppg on 2006 in a playoff team (that was crap honestly), and you think the athletically and basketball wise superior version of him couldnt get more on a bad team? lol 2-3 ppg higher
in today's version of the game, MJ would have averaged 20+ ppg just from free throws alone. And unlike Lebron, MJ was actually a sharpshooter ...
Again, whos gonna stop him? And how? The guys scoring repertoar is far ahead of anyone in todays game. No one could score in so much different ways. You have an inferior player in Kobe averaging 35ppg on 2006 in a playoff team (that was crap honestly), and you think the athletically and basketball wise superior version of him couldnt get more on a bad team? lol 2-3 ppg higher
Defense isn't as physical, hand checking isn't allowed.
But players are twice as fast, twice as strong, twice as agile, help-defence is far better now.
Jordan was the first of the new era of super athletic basketball players. He was faster than everyone, he had a better vertical, he was more explosive. The players of the 80s smoked, drank, partied, and were not the athletes they are today. Jordan took advantage of this, because alongside insane level basketball IQ and shooting stroke, he was also the best athlete in the NBA of that era by a country mile.
He wouldn't be today. The vast majority, 90% plus of NBA players today are fantastic athletes, with quickness, explosiveness, and strength. Jordan would have to compete against with much better athletes. It's not about the stars. It's about 3-7th player on each roster, the guys who aren't the great basketball players. Those guys are phenomenal athletes today, they weren't then. This is why in 20 years without Jordan, even though the game is far less physical, no one is scoring much over 30 ppg.
Jordan would be top scorer today, just like he was then. But it would be by the exact same margins it was then.
So yes, 2-3 ppg game higher.
Obviously.
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Malone averaged 30+ ppg (31, to be exact) in his 20 year old career exactly... Hold on... Wait for it... Once. One season our of 20. 31ppg. And that is Michael Jordans career average
Dont even make me look up Hakeems (who like Jordan would be unstoppable today, because no one could even slow him down, let alone stop)
Dont even make me look up Hakeems (who like Jordan would be unstoppable today, because no one could even slow him down, let alone stop)
So according to the logic of how much easier it is to score today, with Jordan scoring 50 ppg, Malone would have scored about 43 ppg.
The idea that Jordan would outscore the best players in the league today by 15-20 ppg is just so laughably stupid it's mind-boggling. That's skip bayless kind of stupid.
Jordan in 2002, after 2 retirements and bad knees, was the only player other than TMac to average 25+ 6+ 5+ in the NBA that season, before he torn his ACL and his productivity fell after that. This is a 38 year old, that hasnt played ball in 3 years. What the physical freak that was 80s Jordan would do, i dont want to imagine. Put him on a bad team, like he was in early 80s, im 100% convinced he would get 50
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Jordan averaged 30+ppg in 8 or 9 different seasons, his rookie season, his 2nd season when he barely played because of injuries, his return season in 95, and his last season in Chicago (not sure if 97 too) are his only when he didnt break 30, and he was very close to 30 in them too. Comparing a guy that gets half his points off the pickandroll to the most dominant iso scorer ever is just ridiculous
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Jordan averaged 30+ppg in 8 or 9 different seasons, his rookie season, his 2nd season when he barely played because of injuries, his return season in 95, and his last season in Chicago (not sure if 97 too) are his only when he didnt break 30, and he was very close to 30 in them too. Comparing a guy that gets half his points off the pickandroll to the most dominant iso scorer ever is just ridiculous
Sorry. This is inane.
You do understand that scoring has actually been down in the NBA for the vast majority of the 2000s compared to the Jordan era? Right?
Points per 100 possessions:
1985: 107.9
1986: 107.2
1987: 108.3
1988: 108.0
1989: 107.8
1990: 108.1
1991: 107.9
1992: 108.2
1993: 108.0
1994: 106.3
1995: 108.3
1996: 107.6
1997: 106.7
1998: 105.0
1999: 102.2
Post 2000:
2000: 104.1
2001: 103.0
2002: 104.5
2003: 103.6
2004: 102.9
2005: 106.1
2006: 106.2
2007: 106.5
2008: 107.5
2009: 108.3
2010: 106.8
Only in post 2010 has scoring gone back up towards the 1985-1995 levels.
If defence was so much better and more physical and hand-checking slowed everyone down, why was Pace so much higher from 1980-1993? Not one season since has matched the pace of the league back then. Add to that scoring was at over 100 ppg every single season from 1980-1995. From 2000-2013 scoring was below 100 ppg in 12 of 14 seasons. Only with that advent of dominant 3 point shooting, pace freaks like GSW, Houston, etc, has scoring and pace started climbing back to Jordan era levels.
SO tell me, how is Jordan going to score 15-20ppg more in a lower scoring, lower pace era? Because the Kobe era into the first 10 years of Lebron era are the lowest scoring and lowest pace era of the NBA.
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No it isn't. You are saying he would jump 15-20 ppg. And score around 50ppg each season. ACmilan said 60
If it's so much easier to score now (all evidence says otherwise), all the star players of the 80s and 90s would score far more too.
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But this simply isn't true. Or not for the reasons people suggest.
The season Zizinho is talking about where Jordan scored 37.1 ppg, NBA teams averaged 30.5 free throws per game. They scored 109.9 ppg. The pace was at 100.8.
In 2015-16. NBA teams averaged 23.4 free throws per game. They scored 102.7 ppg. Pace was 95.8.
The NBA was more physical, but they also called far more fouls back then. 24.5 per game, as opposed to 20 per game in 2015-16.
And the last 3-4 years have seen a massive increase in pace, and scoring, because of the game evolving to this 3 point barrage deal we are seeing now with teams taking 10+ more 3 pointers per game than 10 years ago. the 2000-2013 era was incredibly low-scoring, low-pace.
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Jordan's ppg steadily declined from 37.1 to 28.9 ppg from 1987 to 1998.
1987-37.1
1988-35.0
1989-32.5
1990-33.6
1991-31.5
1992-30.6
1993-32.6
1996-30.4
1997-29.6
1998-28.7
This mirrors almost identically the decline in NBA scoring and pace, from 1987-1998.
You do understand that scoring has actually been down in the NBA for the vast majority of the 2000s compared to the Jordan era? Right?
Points per 100 possessions:
1985: 107.9
1986: 107.2
1987: 108.3
1988: 108.0
1989: 107.8
1990: 108.1
1991: 107.9
1992: 108.2
1993: 108.0
1994: 106.3
1995: 108.3
1996: 107.6
1997: 106.7
1998: 105.0
1999: 102.2
Post 2000:
2000: 104.1
2001: 103.0
2002: 104.5
2003: 103.6
2004: 102.9
2005: 106.1
2006: 106.2
2007: 106.5
2008: 107.5
2009: 108.3
2010: 106.8
Only in post 2010 has scoring gone back up towards the 1985-1995 levels.
If defence was so much better and more physical and hand-checking slowed everyone down, why was Pace so much higher from 1980-1993? Not one season since has matched the pace of the league back then. Add to that scoring was at over 100 ppg every single season from 1980-1995. From 2000-2013 scoring was below 100 ppg in 12 of 14 seasons. Only with that advent of dominant 3 point shooting, pace freaks like GSW, Houston, etc, has scoring and pace started climbing back to Jordan era levels.
SO tell me, how is Jordan going to score 15-20ppg more in a lower scoring, lower pace era? Because the Kobe era into the first 10 years of Lebron era are the lowest scoring and lowest pace era of the NBA.
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No it isn't. You are saying he would jump 15-20 ppg. And score around 50ppg each season. ACmilan said 60
If it's so much easier to score now (all evidence says otherwise), all the star players of the 80s and 90s would score far more too.
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But this simply isn't true. Or not for the reasons people suggest.
The season Zizinho is talking about where Jordan scored 37.1 ppg, NBA teams averaged 30.5 free throws per game. They scored 109.9 ppg. The pace was at 100.8.
In 2015-16. NBA teams averaged 23.4 free throws per game. They scored 102.7 ppg. Pace was 95.8.
The NBA was more physical, but they also called far more fouls back then. 24.5 per game, as opposed to 20 per game in 2015-16.
And the last 3-4 years have seen a massive increase in pace, and scoring, because of the game evolving to this 3 point barrage deal we are seeing now with teams taking 10+ more 3 pointers per game than 10 years ago. the 2000-2013 era was incredibly low-scoring, low-pace.
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Jordan's ppg steadily declined from 37.1 to 28.9 ppg from 1987 to 1998.
1987-37.1
1988-35.0
1989-32.5
1990-33.6
1991-31.5
1992-30.6
1993-32.6
1996-30.4
1997-29.6
1998-28.7
This mirrors almost identically the decline in NBA scoring and pace, from 1987-1998.
Sorry. This is inane.
You do understand that scoring has actually been down in the NBA for the vast majority of the 2000s compared to the Jordan era? Right?
Points per 100 possessions:
1985: 107.9
1986: 107.2
1987: 108.3
1988: 108.0
1989: 107.8
1990: 108.1
1991: 107.9
1992: 108.2
1993: 108.0
1994: 106.3
1995: 108.3
1996: 107.6
1997: 106.7
1998: 105.0
1999: 102.2
Post 2000:
2000: 104.1
2001: 103.0
2002: 104.5
2003: 103.6
2004: 102.9
2005: 106.1
2006: 106.2
2007: 106.5
2008: 107.5
2009: 108.3
2010: 106.8
Only in post 2010 has scoring gone back up towards the 1985-1995 levels.
If defence was so much better and more physical and hand-checking slowed everyone down, why was Pace so much higher from 1980-1993? Not one season since has matched the pace of the league back then. Add to that scoring was at over 100 ppg every single season from 1980-1995. From 2000-2013 scoring was below 100 ppg in 12 of 14 seasons. Only with that advent of dominant 3 point shooting, pace freaks like GSW, Houston, etc, has scoring and pace started climbing back to Jordan era levels.
SO tell me, how is Jordan going to score 15-20ppg more in a lower scoring, lower pace era? Because the Kobe era into the first 10 years of Lebron era are the lowest scoring and lowest pace era of the NBA.
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No it isn't. You are saying he would jump 15-20 ppg. And score around 50ppg each season. ACmilan said 60
If it's so much easier to score now (all evidence says otherwise), all the star players of the 80s and 90s would score far more too.
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But this simply isn't true.
The season Zizinho is talking about where Jordan scored 37.1 ppg, NBA teams averaged 30.5 free throws per game. They scored 109.9 ppg. The pace was at 100.8.
In 2015-16. NBA teams averaged 23.4 free throws per game. They scored 102.7 ppg. Pace was 95.8.
You do understand that scoring has actually been down in the NBA for the vast majority of the 2000s compared to the Jordan era? Right?
Points per 100 possessions:
1985: 107.9
1986: 107.2
1987: 108.3
1988: 108.0
1989: 107.8
1990: 108.1
1991: 107.9
1992: 108.2
1993: 108.0
1994: 106.3
1995: 108.3
1996: 107.6
1997: 106.7
1998: 105.0
1999: 102.2
Post 2000:
2000: 104.1
2001: 103.0
2002: 104.5
2003: 103.6
2004: 102.9
2005: 106.1
2006: 106.2
2007: 106.5
2008: 107.5
2009: 108.3
2010: 106.8
Only in post 2010 has scoring gone back up towards the 1985-1995 levels.
If defence was so much better and more physical and hand-checking slowed everyone down, why was Pace so much higher from 1980-1993? Not one season since has matched the pace of the league back then. Add to that scoring was at over 100 ppg every single season from 1980-1995. From 2000-2013 scoring was below 100 ppg in 12 of 14 seasons. Only with that advent of dominant 3 point shooting, pace freaks like GSW, Houston, etc, has scoring and pace started climbing back to Jordan era levels.
SO tell me, how is Jordan going to score 15-20ppg more in a lower scoring, lower pace era? Because the Kobe era into the first 10 years of Lebron era are the lowest scoring and lowest pace era of the NBA.
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No it isn't. You are saying he would jump 15-20 ppg. And score around 50ppg each season. ACmilan said 60
If it's so much easier to score now (all evidence says otherwise), all the star players of the 80s and 90s would score far more too.
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But this simply isn't true.
The season Zizinho is talking about where Jordan scored 37.1 ppg, NBA teams averaged 30.5 free throws per game. They scored 109.9 ppg. The pace was at 100.8.
In 2015-16. NBA teams averaged 23.4 free throws per game. They scored 102.7 ppg. Pace was 95.8.
Team stats dont say much (told you once to stop clinging on stats so much, they dont tell even half the story), its a matter od simple basketball. Get the ball in Jordans hands and he will score (at high efficiency too). There is no way anyone is stopping that guy from scoring, especially early athletic Jordan and with wide open lanes.
Im not saying he would jump 15-20 Pts, you clearly read whatever you want to read once again. Im saying put early Jordan (the guy that averaged 37 and 35 as a 23-24 year old) on a bad team, and hed get you 50 per game for a season
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And you say no it isnt ridiculous to compare a picknroll player to the best scorer ever, so i should probably stop talking you seriously right there
So you dont post stats after 2010
Team stats dont say much (told you once to stop clinging on stats so much, they dont tell even half the story), its a matter od simple basketball. Get the ball in Jordans hands and he will score (at high efficiency too). There is no way anyone is stopping that guy from scoring, especially early athletic Jordan and with wide open lanes.
Im not saying he would jump 15-20 Pts, you clearly read whatever you want to read once again. Im saying put early Jordan (the guy that averaged 37 and 35 as a 23-24 year old) on a bad team, and hed get you 50 per game for a season
Team stats dont say much (told you once to stop clinging on stats so much, they dont tell even half the story), its a matter od simple basketball. Get the ball in Jordans hands and he will score (at high efficiency too). There is no way anyone is stopping that guy from scoring, especially early athletic Jordan and with wide open lanes.
Im not saying he would jump 15-20 Pts, you clearly read whatever you want to read once again. Im saying put early Jordan (the guy that averaged 37 and 35 as a 23-24 year old) on a bad team, and hed get you 50 per game for a season
Seriously. 1987 the NBA was scoring 109.9 ppg with a pace over 100. Do you really not understand how that helped Jordan to score the most points of his career? Go watch 1980s and early 90s basketball games. It was physical, there was hand checking, but teams just ran right through one another all the time, the pace was insane, and games were insanely high-scoring and in by the basket to boot, as 3 point shooting was way lower.
Scoring has been going up again post 2012, 4 straight seasons over 100 points, but it is still nowhere near 1987.
How you don't understand that the NBA was ridiculously high scoring back in the early Jordan era is beyond me. It was easy to score then. All stats and evidence back this up.
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And of course I'm not comparing Malone to Jordan, I'm saying your argument holds no weight if other scorers of that era wouldn't see similar bumps in scoring. FFS. How can you be this ignorant about things like pace, ppg, and free throw numbers.
Again, team stats for the entire league (?) dont tell you how a player from that era would perform today. For example, you have Magic who today would be surrounded by 3 point shooters and cutters with minimum post pressence on defense. You think he would average 7 assists per game based on you bogus pace stat? Thats the flaw with stats, they dont show you nearly as much as simply watching the game. Jordan is an unstoppable 1on1 player. Seriously, tell me one thing hes not incredible at? Footwork, midrange, post game, finishing at the rim... And still athletically superior to whoever guards him in terms of quickness, 1st step speed, strength, hangtime, and on top of all his incredible bball IQ which allows him to score in variety of ways. You can post stats od whatever you want, but simple eye test tells me all i have to know. 80s athletic Jordan just cant be stopped on todays rules
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Another thing, the game is more jumpshot oriented now compared to past years, a simple fact to debunk the freethrow stat you posted above, so ill say this one more time again - STOP RELYING ON STATS SO MUCH
And before you say anything, yes i did watch a lot of games from the 80s and 90s, a simple youtube search gets you access to hundreds of them
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Another thing, the game is more jumpshot oriented now compared to past years, a simple fact to debunk the freethrow stat you posted above, so ill say this one more time again - STOP RELYING ON STATS SO MUCH
And before you say anything, yes i did watch a lot of games from the 80s and 90s, a simple youtube search gets you access to hundreds of them
You're truly an idiot about this. Your eye test.
What a fucking stupid argument.
As league pace, scoring, etc dropped, so did Jordan's scoring. Which makes sense. But apparently, in a lower-scoring era, he would have scored far more because Zizinho's eye test.
Jordan's the greatest player of all-time and would be the same playing today, it doesn't mean you have to go full retard and delusional with your fantasies about he would fare in today's league. Yeah, he'd outscore Westbrook by 19 points per game this year in a far lower scoring league than 1987 when he outscored number 2 Wilkins by 8 ppg. Makes total sense.
And in this NBA, tactics are 3 point dominant for good reason. And Jordan was a mediocre 3 point shooter through his early career. But there it is, 50 ppg in a league where at the rim finishing is far less prevalent, and far harder than it was in the late 80s. (far less open lay-ups and dunks now).
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Don't rely on stats rely on Zizinho's eye test. This shit is too hilarious to be true.
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Go watch that 63 point game of Jordan's against the Celtics in 86, vs Kobe's 08 finals against that Celtics. Kobe got fucking mauled all game. Jordan didn't get touched. It was literally a red carpet laid down inviting him to open basket after open basket.
Eye-test my ass. The NBA was far easier to score at the basket back then.
What a fucking stupid argument.
As league pace, scoring, etc dropped, so did Jordan's scoring. Which makes sense. But apparently, in a lower-scoring era, he would have scored far more because Zizinho's eye test.
Jordan's the greatest player of all-time and would be the same playing today, it doesn't mean you have to go full retard and delusional with your fantasies about he would fare in today's league. Yeah, he'd outscore Westbrook by 19 points per game this year in a far lower scoring league than 1987 when he outscored number 2 Wilkins by 8 ppg. Makes total sense.
And in this NBA, tactics are 3 point dominant for good reason. And Jordan was a mediocre 3 point shooter through his early career. But there it is, 50 ppg in a league where at the rim finishing is far less prevalent, and far harder than it was in the late 80s. (far less open lay-ups and dunks now).
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Don't rely on stats rely on Zizinho's eye test. This shit is too hilarious to be true.
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Go watch that 63 point game of Jordan's against the Celtics in 86, vs Kobe's 08 finals against that Celtics. Kobe got fucking mauled all game. Jordan didn't get touched. It was literally a red carpet laid down inviting him to open basket after open basket.
Eye-test my ass. The NBA was far easier to score at the basket back then.
You're truly an idiot about this. Your eye test.
What a fucking stupid argument.
As league pace, scoring, etc dropped, so did Jordan's scoring. Which makes sense. But apparently, in a lower-scoring era, he would have scored far more because Zizinho's eye test.
Jordan's the greatest player of all-time and would be the same playing today, it doesn't mean you have to go full retard and delusional with your fantasies about he would fare in today's league. Yeah, he'd outscore Westbrook by 19 points per game this year in a far lower scoring league than 1987 when he outscored number 2 Wilkins by 8 ppg. Makes total sense.
And in this NBA, tactics are 3 point dominant for good reason. And Jordan was a mediocre 3 point shooter through his early career. But there it is, 50 ppg in a league where at the rim finishing is far less prevalent, and far harder than it was in the late 80s. (far less open lay-ups and dunks now).
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Don't rely on stats rely on Zizinho's eye test. This shit is too hilarious to be true.
What a fucking stupid argument.
As league pace, scoring, etc dropped, so did Jordan's scoring. Which makes sense. But apparently, in a lower-scoring era, he would have scored far more because Zizinho's eye test.
Jordan's the greatest player of all-time and would be the same playing today, it doesn't mean you have to go full retard and delusional with your fantasies about he would fare in today's league. Yeah, he'd outscore Westbrook by 19 points per game this year in a far lower scoring league than 1987 when he outscored number 2 Wilkins by 8 ppg. Makes total sense.
And in this NBA, tactics are 3 point dominant for good reason. And Jordan was a mediocre 3 point shooter through his early career. But there it is, 50 ppg in a league where at the rim finishing is far less prevalent, and far harder than it was in the late 80s. (far less open lay-ups and dunks now).
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Don't rely on stats rely on Zizinho's eye test. This shit is too hilarious to be true.
It all had to do with league pace, it had nothing to do with the Bulls team getting better each year and Michael having to carry less of a burden offensively
the pace is the only thing that can slow down players, apparently LeBron would have 35-12-12-5-3 in 87, because pace would allow him to do whatever he wants Nice way of avoiding my Magic point, i guess pace would allow him only 7 assists per game if he played today Hakeem would be a career 18 ppg player if he started his career in 2002, because thats how much the pace would allow him to score Get lost PI
Oh god. You are unbelievably dumb.
Yes, finishing at the rim is harder.
DO you know why? Because help defense and zone make it so.
The late 80s weren't a low-scoring, tough as nails basketball era. The Pistons were the club that brought that style of play with heavy isos too, into the league. The whole league wasn't this badass, tough, Pistons style league. That was one team, and it wasn't really adopted en masse until the 90s and in a big way by the time of Jordan's second three peat. Hence the reason scoring and pace dropped so dramatically from the late 80s to the late 90s. Finishing at the basket now isn't harder than the 1993-2010 era. But it's a country mile harder than it was the 1980-1993 era.
Zone defense makes it harder for one player to score, then the iso heavy defensive schemes of the Jordan before zone was allowed. Hand-checking being gotten rid of gives everyone an easier time, but zone takes that away from the best players as they don't see as many iso's, which is what Jordan thrived on, making defenders look like fools in iso plays.
What I would guarantee is that Jordan's assist numbers would be far higher in today's league. He'd be leading scorer by 2-3 ppg most seasons, just like he was back then, but his assists would go up quite a bit due to zone.
You are a child with absolutely no clue how basketball actually was back then.
50 ppg. That's literally the dumbest thing I've ever read about Jordan.
Yes, finishing at the rim is harder.
DO you know why? Because help defense and zone make it so.
The late 80s weren't a low-scoring, tough as nails basketball era. The Pistons were the club that brought that style of play with heavy isos too, into the league. The whole league wasn't this badass, tough, Pistons style league. That was one team, and it wasn't really adopted en masse until the 90s and in a big way by the time of Jordan's second three peat. Hence the reason scoring and pace dropped so dramatically from the late 80s to the late 90s. Finishing at the basket now isn't harder than the 1993-2010 era. But it's a country mile harder than it was the 1980-1993 era.
Zone defense makes it harder for one player to score, then the iso heavy defensive schemes of the Jordan before zone was allowed. Hand-checking being gotten rid of gives everyone an easier time, but zone takes that away from the best players as they don't see as many iso's, which is what Jordan thrived on, making defenders look like fools in iso plays.
What I would guarantee is that Jordan's assist numbers would be far higher in today's league. He'd be leading scorer by 2-3 ppg most seasons, just like he was back then, but his assists would go up quite a bit due to zone.
You are a child with absolutely no clue how basketball actually was back then.
50 ppg. That's literally the dumbest thing I've ever read about Jordan.
Again, whos gonna stop him? And how? The guys scoring repertoar is far ahead of anyone in todays game. No one could score in so much different ways. You have an inferior player in Kobe averaging 35ppg on 2006 in a playoff team (that was crap honestly), and you think the athletically and basketball wise superior version of him couldnt get more on a bad team? lol 2-3 ppg higher
P.S. I wouldn't bother with Post Ironic - I don't know how familiar you are with NFL but PI argued until last year that Aaron Rodgers was better than Tom Brady. Now he is hanging on Lebron's nuts ... notice a pattern? Well, you should.
Big men had to stick to their man without zone defense in the Jordan era, which meant if Jordan beat his man in iso he had a much easier path to the rim. As soon as zone defense (the last two years has seen more man-to-man D, with a side of zone, and a lot of help) appears and players aren't forced to stick to their man, much more dedicated rim protectors appeared. It's pretty damn obvious that it's easier for a guard to get to the rim his teammates can pull big men away from protecting it. Rotations were much slower, and it gave explosive, athletic guards like Jordan time to get to the rim before the shot blockers could get back. Westbrook and Harden would have thrived in that era, getting to the rim. The lane was far more clear. Of course, hand-checking made it hard to beat your man, but once you were past your iso, it was a far easier path without a dedicated rim protector. A centre/shot blocker can literally camp out at the rim now on quick rotations, whereas in the Jordan era they had to follow their man out because off-ball doubles weren't allowed.
By the way, the first no hand-check rule was in 1979. It just wasn't truly enforced until post-Jordan.
By the way, the first no hand-check rule was in 1979. It just wasn't truly enforced until post-Jordan.