Alatan wrote:MavsDirk41 wrote:Duke4life831 wrote:
Ya that’s a good debate to have. Because I do agree I think Bird checked off more boxes. But the level of dominance by MJ can’t be overlooked either.
It would kind of like having a Jokic vs Shaq debate. Jokic the far more versatile player on offense. But prime Shaq was just so damn dominant. And he did that against some elite big men defenders. What would you prefer to have, the ultimate versatility guy, or just the sheer dominant guy.
I personally would go Jokic. But if someone says Shaq, I don’t have much of an argument against it. I grew up watching prime Shaq, there was no such thing as even slowing him down when he was fully checked in.
I would have liked to know how Jokic would have performed against bigs of the 90s….Ewing, Robinson, Shaq, Mourning, Mutumbo. Other than Embiid who is always hurt, there isnt any bigs with his size and skill set.
You can also turn this around and ask how would Ewing, Robinson, Shaq, Mourning, Mutambo do in the 3point spamming, freedom of movement era.
If anything the slower era with a more crowded paint would help teams hide Jokic on D. He might even play PF in such conditions.
Also this era also has had some good bigs that competed or still compete against Jokic. Embiid, Davis, Wembenyama, Towns. Heck, you can even throw in Gobert since some people think he is good.
Great points but i disagree about Towns and Wemby. I think both are more comfortable offensively playing in space, away from the basket, facing their man up, shooting jumpers while Ewing, Dream, Shaq, and Mourning primarily operated on the block. Robinson would face you up and either drive to the basket or shoot a mid range, although he could operate down low.
