Jordan: 'I could have scored 100 points' in today's NBA

Is not about the pace played in the different eras, is about how many FGAs by a player. In 86-87, Jordan average 27.8FGA compared to Kobe's 27.2 05-06 season despite playing at fastest pace, Jordan jacked up 0.5 more FGA than kobe's. Fact is, pace doesn't matters, is a matter of how many shots you jacked up.
The main difference between Jordan and Kobe is, shot selections. Kobe despite having better jumpers like to shot contested shots whereas Jordan use his smart to shoot high % shots. That's the difference between the 2.

 

Pace does matter, the higher the % of usage, the defense will more focus on the player, and the more contested shots. In a slower pace if you want to come up with the same number of shots, you have to up the usage and take more contest shots, ending up with lower efficiency number. If MJ were to get 37 ppg today, he had to shot more than 27.8FGA to get there due to lower efficiency.

The true shooting efficiency was only 0.3% for the seasons you compared. MJ also got about 2 more FT per game to get those points, that's about one possession as well.

In any sense, it's easier to find high % shots when both teams are pushing for fastbreak, that's the 80s style.

 

did hollinger copy my post (despite writing 6 hours earlier)? did i channel hollinger when i wrote mine? am i john hollinger? that was an amazingly similar use of statistics and assumptions.

 

pace doesn't matter.
when kobe scored 80, it wasn't about pace. it was about how many times he wanted to score. he was going to score, and no one could stop him regardless of what they did to guard him. i'm pretty sure the defense started to key in on him too...it doesn't help in today's game. jordan can easily do that too...just even better at the rim, where most of the points lie.
not only this, but pace is an average thing. there's plenty of games where teams like golden state play crazy amounts of possessions(i would really like to see jordan vs golden state)...it would be one of those games.

 

No offense, but this is wrong...all wrong. Back then centers could stand under the paint, and there weren't as many shooting bigs stretching the floor. Pivots were usually in the lane. A while ago someone found a youtube of MJ dunking on everyone and their mother. The guy was one of the best at finishing on people.

The Rockets were able to handle the Bulls because Hakeem was quick, was a great shotblocker and he could dominate offensively. A big man like that doesn't exist in the league today. These quicker centers that you claim would contest Jordan's drives would just wind up in a lot of highlights, especially since you can't handcheck him to keep him out of the lane or clobber him and get away with it. I mean honestly, who scares folks from driving the lane these days? Do you realize Jordan was fearless attacking the basket in an era where real pivots played and they were allowed to try and murder you, and have things like a no lay-up/dunk rule. You think Wade and LeBron get a lot of free throws.

 

Oh great, so now individual skills is suddenly the most important now...

A couple years ago, people were defending Jordan because Kobe/Lebron didn't have enough rings

Whatever it takes to hang on MJ's nuts I guess.

 

Chicago's roster was littered with jump shooting big men during Jordan's career. Stacey King, Horace Grant, Will Perdue, Scott Williams, Luc Longley, Bill Wennington, Toni Kukoc, Joe Kleine.

Let's do the math. If the center is in the high post, 12-15 feet away from the basket then where is his defender in a league without legal zone defenses? Is that defender standing in the paint to defend the rim or is he out on the floor 10-12 feet away from the basket? So tell me, which player is going to be able to protect the paint better against that offense, the slower 7 footer who is 10-12 feet away or the 6'10" guy who is a few feet closer to rim already due to the lack of zone rules?

Heck, the triangle itself is designed to open up the lane for drivers off the high post and now you're going to say they ran that triangle wrong for 15 years? Okay.

 

Were you old enough to actually watch the nba's in those days? zone defenses weren't uncommon. ie, they rotated 1-2-2 to 3-2 with the offense.

If they played the centre near the low post, you played a 1-2-2, if you had the centre at 15 feet, you played 3-2 zone, it was really only called when your zone didn't match the offensive setup of the offense, with often the small forward rotating, layup attempts were met with what is called flagrant these days.

 

It should be obvious that it takes a combination of individual accolades and team accomplishments to be considered the best. Otherwise, we'd be calling Bill Russell the GOAT, and Kobe would have essentially zero chance of ever catching up because he's not even half way to Russell's ring total.

 

You need both my man. A few years ago you couldn't even begin to consider making the argument that Kobe was close to MJ because he didn't have the rings or the stats. Now he is closing in on the rings (we'll disregard the fact that he was second fiddle on three of the Championship teams) I guess someone could compare him to MJ but then you compare stats and it's obvious he still isn't on MJ's level.

 

I have a hard time believing Jordan Hill said this.

 

You guys are forgetting Jordan's legendary will to score.

 

really? let's look at the stats and see the huge discrepancies

ppg: jordan - 30.1, kobe - 25.3
rpg: jordan - 6.3, kobe 5.3
apg: jordan - 5.3, kobe 4.7
spg: jordan - 2.3, kobe - 1.5
bpg: jordan - 0.8, kobe - 0.6
fg%: jordan - 49.7%, kobe - 45.5%
3pt%: jordan - 32.7%, kobe - 34.0 (advantage kobe)
ft%: jordan - 83.5%, kobe - 83.8% (advantage kobe)
playoffs jordan - 33.4ppg, 6.4rpg, 5.7apg
playoffs kobe - 25.5ppg, 5.2rpg, 4.8apg

accolades
MVPs: jordan 6, kobe 1
FMVPs: jordan 6, kobe 2
DPOY: jordan 1, kobe 0
all-nba 1st team: jordan 10, kobe - 8
all-nba defense 1st: jordan - 9, kobe - 7
championsips: jordan 6, kobe 5

NOW REALLY? how can anyone argue kobe having the better career/player than MJ? like i said, it's a blowout in MJ's favor statistically and accolades-wise.

and jordan was THE FMVP in all his finals win. kobe is 2/5.

 

You are forgetting Kobe's will to win.

 

unfortunately, it's not as long.

 

I'm a huge MJ fan, but even I don't think he could get 100. Sure, the defense is worse and rules changes have benefited the offensive players but it still takes a lot of stamina and luck to get to that. Not to mention, Jordan wasn't much of 3 point shooter so he'd have to score more on jumpers and dunks.

 

Why is this a big thing? I'm so tired of one sentence being pulled out of an interview, made into a headline and endlessly discussed.

It's like if there were a lot of people in a store and I said, "there must be a 1000 people in there"

The next day, headlines, "Local shopper claims 1000 customers in WalMart"

WTF?

He meant, "I woulda made a ****load of points on all these b****-ass p*****s in today's NBA". He couldn't say that explicitly, so he used a metaphor to get his point across.

oh, let's argue about whether he could have made 92.5 or 93.7 points now...

 

During the first 3-peat the primary centers were Cartwright and Perdue, and neither one was a guy living on the perimiter. I'm not really going to consider the 2nd 3-peat since MJ was primarily a jumpshooter at that time. Horace Grant was really the only guy you mentioned that had a jumper as to where you didn't want to leave the guy. Kukoc was a SF so I don't see why you even mentioned him.

Most of this is inacurrate, but even considering that it was accurate, let the defenders of today be in the lane. What part of Jordan was great at finishing over folks are you not getting, or what part of you can now drive and not get your head taken off are you not getting? MJ would have no problem finishing over the likes of any pivot of today, especially when they can't just foul the crap out of him. Did you miss the numerous highlights of him dunking over, not around, guys like Hakeem, Mutombo, Ewing, Robinson, etc? His huge hands and insane hops allowed him to do that, as compared to Kobe who has small hands and isn't as good at just consistently finishing on people. This argument isn't really about MJ being better than Kobe or the guards of today, even though I think he is. This is about the rules today favoring quick guards that can penetrate. MJ's game was tailormade for this era. Jordan in a league where you can't touch him to prevent him from driving and you can't try to kill him in the lane (which still didn't stop him from driving)? Folks in the league today can't keep Wade, LeBron or even Rondo out of the paint (and if Rondo had an actual jumper he might be the best PG in basketball).

No, I'm saying if you are trying to sell the Bulls centers as dudes standing outside drawing defenders away because of their jumper then that's wrong. I'm saying back then a pivot was allowed to camp out in the lane and this happened more than today because the bigs played down low and not on the perimiter. They were supposed to call 3 seconds but it was rarely called. I'm saying it was harder to finish on the inside, for a guard, then as compared to now, when a dude like Tony Parker can be one of the league leaders in points in the paint. And I'm saying even assuming everything you say is correct, if a dude has no problem dunking on Hakeem when he knows Hakeem can body slam him and stay in the game then he would have no problem dunking on any center you can name today that can't do that.

 

I am sure 20 years after Kobe has retired, people will rave about how he was incredibly unstoppable and how he could easily score 100 points in the current league, laughing at those doubters who never saw him play. By that time, people who actually remember Michael Jordan will be too old to post on the internet, and of course, no one alive will have ever seen Chamberlain in person.

 

Wow. Those stiffs that you mentioned as Chicago centers were far from jump shooting big men. This kind of analysis using internet info and stats to bolster your claims is very flawed because they do not really give you the totality and depth of information that you need to claim anything conclusively.

Jordan used to literally smack these centers because he lost quite a bit of patience for their relative impotence. Stacey King for instance, was a high pick bust and nowhere near a jump shooter as you claim.