i don't remember if it was last year's playoffs or the year before, but almost every major star had a higher free throw rate in the playoffs than the regular season. one of the only exceptions? james harden. so i guess you could argue harden should change his game because the refs are going to screw him while lavishing calls upon everyone else, but that really seems like a solution to a different problem than liking layups and 3's. but how does that line up with history? he was averaging 37 a game back in like '86-'87. he was scaring the crap out of the pistons long before he beat them. he didn't beat their defense with midrange jumpers, he beat it by having scottie pippen and horace grant join the team and grow massively as players. but are we sure harden would be good at it (again, ignoring the fact that kobe did it in an era when everyone took those same shots). harden certainly wouldn't have the height to be able to go to the turnarounds like kobe and jordan, which were huge staples of their mid-range games. he could do face-ups. maybe he tried it at times and it was just never for him. some players are just better at certain things. dirk and durant to me are some of the rare exceptions where focusing on 2's was actually probably better. largely because both have unblockable release points, but neither has the insane speed to keep people from crowding up on their bodies (durant is obviously faster, but also somewhat skinny and can be muscled). since taking a 3 with someone crowding up on you is immensely more difficult than a mid-range jumper just based on the strength needed to get the shot off, i think they were both right to perfect a deadly 18 footer that no one could block. and just as a counterpoint to my 3-point heavy argument. i do think the mid-range is a slightly more lethal triple-threat starting position. so it's a reason for less gifted shooters (like lebron) to start there instead of focusing on just getting off the most efficient jumper. but i don't think harden (or many guys these days) fit into the category where the boost to driving outweighs the benefits of your triple-threat jumper being a 3 instead of a 2.
not sure if serious, but i'll bite. it wasn't a slower or more defensive era. it was largely similar to what feel like the crazy offensive years of this year or last year, which only feel crazy because a lot of us can still remember the 84-79 games of the early 2000's. that era was also a lot more focused on one-on-one play (jordan's specialty) because of the illegal defense rules, so that also helped. finally, it was also more focused on white guys being considered legitimate perimeter defensive options.
Man Jerry Krause; great GM at roster construction, terribly personality and terrible at building relationships. Almost threw my remote at the tv when he said I wouldn’t want Phil back even he went 82-0
Good storytelling so far, but to nitpick a little, I wish they would let the game footage breathe a little rather than all the quick cuts. Let people appreciate the game at the pace it is played. For instance, we saw the UNC game winner from 4 angles in 5 seconds, but to see how gorgeous basketball is you’ve got to pick one good angle and watch it unfold.
Hahaha see it wasn’t all that crazy and it’s good clean fun. You understand why MJ did it and Max going at him for it.
It's no tiger king, but first episode was enjoyable enough. Really looking forward to seeing more of the rare footage of Jordan interacting with teammates in practice, etc.
Regarding the discussion about threes, midrange, the 90s and MJ and his Bulls: I hope after this documentary maybe we all can respect the Bulls a bit more and see MJ for the great player he was and why people see him as the GOAT. Sure there are aesthetic reasons and just like with the Warriors an agenda to push for the Bulls on prime time as much as possible, marketing MJ for money reasons and such, but the facts speak for themselves. Those 3-peats were special and it’s hard to argue against their run, something I cannot say for the Warriors. Bulls faced some weak teams sure, but to go 6 for 6 with the 96-98 run in the domination fashion they did, 65+ wins in 3 seasons, with the guys they had is still the most impressive in my book during my lifetime (not including anything pre-1990 since I wasn’t around). I know this is a Rockets fan board so anything said against them, criticism of their play and admission of being fan of another team is met with resistance, but still I am of the firm belief that while 90s basketball was ugly at times, I’ll take it over this era any day. I got into basketball after Space Jam and watched 96-98 with a love for Rodman and Olajuwon. The playoffs were exciting, fun and most of all: defensive intensity was off the charts. I rather watch great defense and mediocre offense than the other way around. While modern basketball is maybe deemed on a higher level overall and fully taking advantage of the 3pt shot, the Warriors proved you still need midrange and diversity. I liked when we were the team who took most threes and mixed it up with post ups, drives and off the ball action. I love center play, just big and against big, waiting for the dunk, hook shot or intimidation to cause a bad shot or just a block. We had Olajuwon so that’s why we were special. He was the MJ of bigs, came through on both ends. This in stark contrast with today’s game and today’s Rockets. In the end, it shouldn’t matter who you like or what player or era you prefer, any documentary about a legendary player and team should be something we should all enjoy. There’s no conspiracy here or preference, MJ is simply an icon like Kobe and those Bulls teams championship runs special and something we haven’t seen since. I do hope there’s proper respect paid to the Pistons, Magic, Rockets among others. Wish to see some focus on Rodman too! I’m excited
LMAO, that's the first thing that came to my mind was, is this gonna go hard as Tiger King? Rodman with his goofy ass would probably fit right in that documentary.
Pippen signing that contract was pretty similar to the Astros signing Altuve to an extremely team friendly long-term deal... both times the player chose financial security over betting on themselves. In the case of Altuve, they went ahead and worked out an extension. Not sure why the Bulls were reluctant to do so with Pippen other than they just really wanted to re-start/re-build at the end of all these deals.
Interesting tidbits. Klay Thompson's uncle Andy Thompson and Adam Silver were all part of that documentary as part of NBA Entertainment. Iverson's doc did persuade Jordan in the end to release the documentary. https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nba...spn-the-last-dance/1qc3iy77uth2m1g1u2pno54123
