Compare the stats. James Harden 2014/15 vs. Michael Jordan 1991/92

What exactly does this mean? per 36?
In 91-92 MJ averaged 30.1 ppg on 51% with 6.4 reb and 6.1 apg and 2.3 spg and .09 bpg. Its one of if not the worst season of his prime. He did it in 38.8 mpg with Pippen finally starting to get heavier share of ball handling and play making.

Harden plays 36.6 mpg to get his 27.1, 5.8, 6.9, 1.9, .8 as the only and absolute ball handler and play maker.

Of course none of this tells the story of playing lockdown defense.

So what exactly does saying per 36 minutes mean?

Just an FYI, MJ went on to average 34.5, 6.2, 5.8, 2, .7 through the entire playoffs and Finals MVP.

Harden puts up about the same regular season stats with just much less efficiency.

The playoffs are where you earn your legendary status. David Robinson is arguably a better regular season player than Hakeem Olajuwon, but when it came to the playoffs, DR34M went above and beyond his regular season output just as Jordan and other top 10 GOAT's have before him.

 

THE NEXT MICHAEL JORDAN! SHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIII THATS AMAZING!

 

What about defense?

Silly comparison.

 

Best post in this thread. That shows you how delusional he is. Jesus freaking Christ. He compared him to Michael Jordan

 

didnt jordan have a year where he averaged 37 points?

i still think had a run of the 3 or 4 best years ever for an nba player in the last 50 years. too bad him and jordan never played each other in the finals

 

ITT delusional stat geeks

 

cheke hates any and all optimistic or positive opinions or observations about the Rockets.

No rational person thinks you're saying Harden is on Jordan's level. The statistics are just obviously quite close, and I agree that it's interesting to see. Shows how dominant he's been this season. Nothing more.

 

I love it how things goes straight over some fans head around here. The OP is not comparing Harden to Jordan, he comparing their stat line.

Bmd it is pretty close. Harden is having a remarkable year. Hopefully the end result of this magnificent season is a championship.

 

This is where stats paint a lie.

We love Harden, but chill.

 

Per 36:

Harden: 26.6 ppg, 60.9 TS%, 6.8 ast, 5.7 reb, 1.9 stl, 0.8 blk

McGrady: 29.3 ppg, 56.4 TS%, 5.0 ast, 5.9 reb, 1.5 stl, 0.7 blk

Numbers are very similar the same across the board. Harden is more efficient and has more assists. McGrady shot more which is why he has 3 more ppg than Harden. Everything else is virtually identical.


In 2002-2003, McGrady was the scoring champion, and um, yea that's it.

 

The truth is somewhere in between "this is a ludicrous comparison" and "Harden is as good of a player as Jordan."

 

Well... Not going to restate about stats etc. Or how he's not Jordan blah blah... But another interesting thing is that Jordan was 29 during OP's stat line, so it'll be interesting to see what Harden has done in another 4 years (25 now, obviously Jordan started career later but just saying). Jordan had incredible stat numbers but didn't start getting passed anyone until Celtics/Bad Boys were gone. So hopefully Harden continues to have drive from summer to do something exciting in playoffs and back the numbers up. Obviously way to early to label him mj but it is exciting to see a player like harden on the Rockets, and I think op was just showing stats to wake people up to how great his season is going (especially younger posters who only know Jordan as a brand).

I know during tmac years houston got plenty of great stat lines from him, I just hope that's not all we get from Harden, but time will tell.

 

Not sure why we're arbitrarily using '91-'92 MJ (age 28), because
Jordan's stats were better at age 25 (Beard's current age).

 

Jordan played defense in the Hand Check Era. Derek Harper was a great defender too because of this. The technique was putting a stong hand on the offensive player's hip. Jordan attested to this during an interview many years ago.

By putting a hand on the offensive player's him, you can basically direct which direction his body is allowing him to go. By directing him into your same direction, you can easily stay in front of him. You hardly saw Jordan play with space because that nullified his best defensive weapon, hand checking.

He didn't have Ariza/Pippen length to play off players AND be just as effective. That's why Jordan was a good defender...the era he played in. This makes good defense from the wing position that much more impressive because you cannot just hand-check your way to a reputation of being a good defender.

So if Harden is having an MVP-caliber year, and the only thing that he does not mirror Jordan about is Defense? Then all I can say is that's ok with me. I love me some MVP-caliber year from Harden.

Go Rockets!

 

Why is everyone so butt hurt. OP just presented a fact that Harden's numbers resemble Jordan's numbers for that year. Harden is having a great season.

 

MJ is a Basketball god.

 

You don't watch the games. How would you know?

 

I love Harden as much as the next guy but can we please never ever ever compare him to MJ. Geez.