Mamba4Goat wrote:IgorK wrote:It's not irrational to think that MJ would average 50PPG in this offense-friendly league. Defensive stalwarts couldn't contain the guy in an era when they were allowed to be more physical with offensive players. With today's rules? Psh.
I get that we all love MJ, but 50ppg is a bit of a hyperbole. 30? Sure. 35? Probably. But after some point, teams are going to gear defense more towards him, and we'd have to rely on his teammates a little more than scoring at will. Let's not forget that Curry had debatably the best offensive season there is and he only averaged 30ppg. LeBron's best ppg was 31 too. If we didn't care about winning and whatnot, sure MJ could eclipse 35ppg, maybe 40ppg if he's going farewell tour Kobe mode, but I don't think 50 is realistic at all.
MJ averaged 37 points in 1987, where hand-checking rules didn't exist and Bad Boy Pistons were allowed to clobber anyone any way they wanted. Teams adjusted for MJ back then, too - didn't do that much good.
