Who are the good 1 on 1 Defenders MJ faced?

[HomoSapien]

Missing Byron Russell, 6'7, 220 from your list. He was a pretty good defender.

Thanks. That makes sense. MJ shot 42 FG%, 30 3P% against Russell in the finals. He was struggling with his jumper in that series.

Shandon Anderson and Derrick McKey were other bench defensive specialists that played him hard.

[prophet_of_rage]

Dennis Johnson is being disrespected in this thread. That's somewhat excusable, given the age difference between DJ and Jordan and also the story of 63-point playoff game. Still, DJ was a good defender during the early part of Jordan's career.

He played good backcourt defenders. They were just too short. Jordan played a small forward game at guard. He was a physical anomaly at the time. Remember, prior to Jordan off guard was not an athletic position. Small forward was. So traditional defenses playing him with 1 or 2s were at a disadvantage and couldn't play him with 3s because of Pippen. He was murder in the post because of that.

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[HomoSapien]

Bobby Phills and Kendall Gill are two big, strong, and athletic defenders that people seem to overlook. Both those guys could really defend.

There were plenty of big athletic guards/wings like Eddie Jones, Isiah Rider, Malik Sealy, Jim Jackson, etc. in the league.

By that same token, today’s game also has a surplus of smaller two’s in Redick, McCullom, Gary Harris, Crawford, Mitchell, etc. Even Wade wasn’t that big.

[otwok]

Bobby Phills and Kendall Gill are two big, strong, and athletic defenders that people seem to overlook. Both those guys could really defend.

There were plenty of big athletic guards/wings like Eddie Jones, Isiah Rider, Malik Sealy, Jim Jackson, etc. in the league.

I know he was a SF but Stacey Augmon was another one.

[trickshot]

Kawhi would be too slow to guard Jordan.

Jordan didn't routinely struggle against Dumars and Payton.

There's plenty of games where he lit up Detroit.

Speed isn't why Kawhi would struggle to guard MJ (if he does). You make it sound like we haven't seen Kawhi keep up with players as fast

lol what? Who the hell is Kawhi routinely guarding that has a first step anything like MJ?

Kawhi doesn't have enough lateral quickness... not knocking him - no one that size does.

Now you're just making lazy assumptions about their size and speed. Title winning Jordan wasn't unguardable purely because of athleticism it was because of he had a million dribble/post moves and his athleticism. Speed isnt what makes staying in front of him hard. Before you get your knickers in a twist no one is saying Kawhi can lock down Jordan

[LKN]

Speed isn't why Kawhi would struggle to guard MJ (if he does). You make it sound like we haven't seen Kawhi keep up with players as fast

lol what? Who the hell is Kawhi routinely guarding that has a first step anything like MJ?

Kawhi doesn't have enough lateral quickness... not knocking him - no one that size does.

Now you're just making lazy assumptions about size and speed. Title winning Jordan wasn't unguardable purely because of athleticism it was because of he had a million dribble/post moves and his athleticism. Speed isnt what makes staying in front of him hard

First threepeat MJ absolutely was still that quick.

2nd threepeat MJ could still blow by guys, but not constantly like he did up to 1993. He picked his spots for drives a lot more when he came back.


I'm not making any lazy assumptions - why do you think teams chose to use smaller quicker guys on MJ? The Knicks are a good example. They tried using Gerald Wilkins - a really good 6'6" defensive player. He just could not guard MJ almost at all. John Starks, a smaller, but much quicker player, had more success.

[CIN-C-STAR]

He seemed to do just fine against Kobe, generally considered one of the best defenders at the 2-guard spot all time.
During their first duel (12/17/1997) MJ hung 36 points on 22 shots.
Kobe was still a pup at the time, but defense isn't generally something that takes a career to master and he was only a couple years from making his 1st first-team all-defensive team.
MJ also hit a fadeaway with 5 seconds left in OT of the 2003 All-Star game over Shawn Marion to take the lead, the exact type of player you speculate he would have struggled with.
And keep in mind MJ's scoring peak was in the late '80s, yet he still was able to find success against premier defenders in the late '90s and, to a much lesser extent, the early '00s.
I don't think your post has much merit tbh. MJ's fadeaway was basically unblockable, his first-step unmatched for a player his size, and his ability to finish around the rim GOAT status for a guard.

[trickshot]

lol what? Who the hell is Kawhi routinely guarding that has a first step anything like MJ?

Kawhi doesn't have enough lateral quickness... not knocking him - no one that size does.

Now you're just making lazy assumptions about size and speed. Title winning Jordan wasn't unguardable purely because of athleticism it was because of he had a million dribble/post moves and his athleticism. Speed isnt what makes staying in front of him hard

First threepeat MJ absolutely was still that quick.

2nd threepeat MJ could still blow by guys, but not constantly like he did up to 1993. He picked his spots for drives a lot more when he came back.

1991 and 92 for sure he was still god. 93 title onwards it was more than a quick first step beating defenders

[TheGOATRises007]

Kawhi would be too slow to guard Jordan.

Jordan didn't routinely struggle against Dumars and Payton.

There's plenty of games where he lit up Detroit.

Speed isn't why Kawhi would struggle to guard MJ (if he does). You make it sound like we haven't seen Kawhi keep up with players as fast

Well he hasn't.

Westbrook has torched Kawhi plenty of times because Kawhi can't keep up with him.

[twyzted]

MJ was oversized and an outlier athlete at his position. He always had a physical matchup at his position because you couldn't really defend Pippen with a 4 or a 2. Again more of the reason Jordan never won without Pippen and Pippen was able to win without Jordan.

Washington Jordan failed to make the playoffs. Houston and Portland Pippen continued to make the playoffs.

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this is the stupidest thing i have read

Okay, let's think basketball.

With a Scottie/Michael duo can you defend Pippen with a small guard?

If the answer is no then you have to put that small guard on Jordan.

Advantage Jordan, correct?

When Jordan came back to Washington, could you put a smaller defender on Richard Hamilton and a bigger more athletic one on Jordan?

Could you put a small guard on Pippen in Houston and Portland? No. Size and speed mismatches were always an advantage in match ups.

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why would you put a small guard on pippen who played small forward?
You know pippen didnt play pg for the bulls right?

Edit:
And why would you put more emphasis on stoping richard hamilton than Michael Jordan or pippen for that matter.

[nfmos]

Dennis Johnson is being disrespected in this thread. That's somewhat excusable, given the age difference between DJ and Jordan and also the story of 63-point playoff game. Still, DJ was a good defender during the early part of Jordan's career.

The people hating on MJ’s defenders here have no idea who Dennis Johnson was and couldn’t pick him out of a lineup.


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[trickshot]

Kawhi would be too slow to guard Jordan.

Jordan didn't routinely struggle against Dumars and Payton.

There's plenty of games where he lit up Detroit.

Speed isn't why Kawhi would struggle to guard MJ (if he does). You make it sound like we haven't seen Kawhi keep up with players as fast

Well he hasn't.

Westbrook has torched Kawhi plenty of times because Kawhi can't keep up with him.

Which times to be specific? Kawhi typically had Durant

[VanWest82]

Patrick Ewing, Laimbeer and Rodman, Robert Parish, Shaq, Alonzo Mourning, Rik Smits and Davis Bros, etc., were all waiting for him in the paint. Seeing as there are so few actual rim protectors nowadays it's probably worth mentioning that MJ had to deal with a lot more than just the opposing SG.

[TheGOATRises007]

Speed isn't why Kawhi would struggle to guard MJ (if he does). You make it sound like we haven't seen Kawhi keep up with players as fast

Well he hasn't.

Westbrook has torched Kawhi plenty of times because Kawhi can't keep up with him.

Which times to be specific? Kawhi typically had Durant

They had Kawhi on Westbrook and Green on KD a few times.

Kawhi can't stay in front of Westbrook.

That 1 poster dunk Westbrook had on 2012 Kawhi. Dropped 40 on Kawhi's teams twice.

CP3 would be a better Jordan defender than Kawhi.

[AussieCeltic]

Do people realize Dan Majerle made 2x all defensive teams right?

[Antinomy]

Lol. Copy & pasting a list of guys who played the SG-SF position back then saying “good defender” doesn’t actually prove they were good defenders.

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

Don't fool yourselves, all five guys on the floor defended Jordan.

[TheGOATRises007]

Lol. Copy & pasting a list of guys who played the SG-SF position back then saying “good defender” doesn’t actually prove they were good defenders.

The same is true conversely.

[twyzted]

Lol. Copy & pasting a list of guys who played the SG-SF position back then saying “good defender” doesn’t actually prove they were good defenders.

Then why dont you give us your expert opinion on why said players are not good defenders.

[Antinomy]

Lol. Copy & pasting a list of guys who played the SG-SF position back then saying “good defender” doesn’t actually prove they were good defenders.

The same is true conversely.

I would love to hear your argument that guys like Kawhi, Bruce Bowen, Iguodala, Draymond & Shawn Marion aren’t good defenders.

I actually believe Kobe played against much tougher defenders & defensive schemes than Jordan did too. MJ was routinely guarded by short guys or unathletic wings. OP’s first post went down the list of his primary defenders in big series, the footage backs it up, yet I see you guys come in here and start listing names off random rosters.