Who faced tougher defenders/defenses? Jordan or Harden? Debate/Poll

Everyone always acts like today's players, Curry, Durant, Lebron, Harden, Westbrook are 'GOAT' status. No way. Anyone who has played past about 2000 has played in the creampuff era. It's what the NBA wants to be, it's what the NBA is. What they're doing is still 100% skill, but they're not facing the same physical game.

 

Wow no mention of Jordan having to face Vernon Maxwell? I don't even know how Harden would do against the craziest man I have ever seen put on a Rockets Jersey.

 

I think Harden faces tougher teams and Jordan faced tougher players.

 

Team defenses these days are way tougher than in the 90s because of analytics. The series vs the Jazz is a good example of the extremes teams go to try to stop James Harden.

Jordan played in an era where players are allowed to push people out of the air without getting ejected most players didn't want to get a tech because of the fine, even then Jordan got every whistle because he was the face of the league. Just like Harden in the regular season, if you breathed on Jordan, you get called a foul (ofcourse, most fans these days who are too young don't know that at all).

 

The bad boy Pistons and 90s Knicks wanted to hurt and maim Jordan...

 

I appreciate the effort there @Air Canada but as a Rockets fan, how do you leave out Vernon Maxwell?!?! A guy MJ admitted was one of the toughest he had to face? In fact, you seem to have quite some PGs in there who didn't even necessarily guard MJ. MJ faced Mitch Richmond and later Sprewell who are actually SGs rather than tiny Tim on that Warriors team, two much better, tougher and taller defenders.

You're also forgetting some other very hard-nosed defenders in Kendall Gill, Bryant Stith and maybe an actual tough PG defender in Stockton. Then there's the casual throw in of Draymond Green. If you're going to put him in that list, then you might as well throw some bigs from MJ's era like Rodman in there since he occasionally got switched out on MJ too. To me this shows your bias and while maybe not intentionally, it does hurt your argument of MJ facing smaller guys and worse defenders than Harden.

While there is definitely an argument to be made that the current generation of players Harden has to face are taller, stronger and even better 1-on-1 defenders, you're forgetting one thing about that hand check: players were allowed to physically push a guy and try to steer him where they wanted the offensive player to go. Imagine guys getting in Harden's grill, putting a hand on his hip and steering him. Harden is strong, but that beating MJ took would've taken a toll on Harden too. His reliance on the referees and FTs would've suffered.

It will always remain inconclusive since there's no way of telling which individual defenders were better, what the rules or type of defenses would've done for each player in a different era. However, it is clear as day that MJ faced tougher defenses and defenders given the rules and mentality back then. I didn't say better, tougher, so I answered MJ faced tougher defense.

 

I agree. Just because players hammered a ball handler in the head and acted like they were going for the ball, doesn’t
necessary mean better (tougher) defense. Sometimes smarter defense is tougher defense.

Back then one player provided help defense and most everyone else stood their ground.....maybe one rotation beside help defender. Now you get multiple rotations and exotic schemes.....meaning smarter. This can be done because of guys defending halfway between one player and another. Cuts the distance covered in half. Well in theory anyway.

 

Are you talkin about Lebron or MJ? Because I watched 90's basketball and can tell you that's false. Back then the game was slower & ten times more physical, so you almost had to have a few go to moves just to get your shot off. So either your trollin or just fabricating how much old school basketball you watched

 

Sports evolve over time. The average player today is significantly stronger, faster, and longer than back in Jordan’s day, and as long as the popularity of the sport continues to grow, that trend will continue.

Players from the past would have an extremely tough time against a modern defense. If Jordan could shoot the 3 the way Harden does, he would have averaged 50 points a game instead of 35.

The only reasons these comparisons still exist is because old people who pay a lot of money for entertainment want to believe them. The league in 20 years will make almost every current player look bad in comparison, but we’ll continue to compare.

 

harden has better youtube highlights, so i will vote for harden.

can jordan even beard?

 

Agreed. The overall pool of talent in the NBA back then was smaller and way less efficient than what you see now. 80% of the guards in the NBA in the 90's wouldn't make an NBA team now, because they weren't taught to shoot the 3. If you could place Harden in that era (in a vacuum, with no adjustments), he'd average at least 40 a game. For those who say that way less fouls were called back then, MJ averaged 8.2 FTA/game in his career, Harden 8.5. Either way, maybe players were "tougher" back then, but defenders now are way more technically sound and athletic. It's not really a fair comparison.

 

when harden was in the finals back in what 2012?!

Let's see harden came off the bench so I guess he faced maybe udonis haslem,norris cole, and shane battier. james jones !?

Notice how you have to put all these pre-condiions on the comparisons. Gee I guess that's because Jordan and harden don't necessarily belong in the same class or category. Basically They not on the same level.

 

I'm sorry KD, Giannis, Steph, Harden, and LeBron would be unguardable under the older rules against most teams. There were teams with good defenders and defenses. But, a bad team with trash defenses, like the Clippers, Warriors, Raptors, and Kings would be allowing some record breaking performance.

It's like saying Julio Jones, Calvin Johnson, or Gronk would do worse in the 70s/80s against smaller, slower, simpler schemes, and not as strong DBs, because of contact rules.

 

Players in general we’re able to “get away” more in terms of being a bit more physical towards the offensive player.

 

Bigger....and stronger....?

Whut?

 

I dont care.