RealGM

When?

Was it from....
88-93?
89-92?
89-96?
90-92?

What you got?

Physical prime? Probably late 80s, like around 87-88.

92-93ish. You can say that he learned most of the tricks/mental aspects of the game by 91-92, during his 1st and 2nd championships. Although he was still in great shape after his first retirement, I still feel like he was losing his athleticism during that period. His first championship run was the perfect blend of his athleticism and intelligence.

Personally though, I love watching 88-89 Jordan. Dude was on trampolines.

Gotta go with 88-93. Pretty long Prime considering he retired during the 2 years. Who knows what could of happened.

every year

astrallite wrote:Physical prime? Probably late 80s, like around 87-88.

What about basketball prime? Although athletic prime might be your definition of basketball prime.

you could argue he had a prime from 88 to 98. his absolute peak though was the first threepeat. i think 88-90 was his physical peak and 96-98 was his mental peak. 91-93 was just the perfect blend of both.

86 to 98

Collie wrote:86 to 98

i could also agree with this too. how in the world do you put up 63 points in the playoffs on the 1986 celtics and you still haven't hit your prime?

Athletic Prime: '84-'89 (Leaner, Rock the cradle, Free Throw line dunks, etc. this was MJ at his best)


Skilled Prime: '90-'93 (Hanging layups in traffic, defensively, supreme offensive ability, these were Jordan's best years)


BBall IQ Prime: '95-'98 (These are the years where he took everything he learned of himself as a player and put it all together mentally even w/ his athleticism fading)

Greatest Player Ever

Some people say Jordan learned how to win in 91-93, but let's face it, if you put 1991 Jordan into the 1989 Bulls team, they wouldn't win the championship. The difference in 1991 was Pippen becoming a legit star. Jordan's prime was really the late 80s when he won Defensive Player of the Year and was averaging 1.6 blocks per game, and was dunking like crazy.

And some people say he was a more 'well-rounded' player in 1995 onwards, because he was posting up a lot. People say he developed post-up skills in 1995-96. Not true. As was pointed out in "The Jordan Rules" by Sam Smith, Jordan had become an excellent post-up player in 1991, and posted up more than any other Bull. And he was posting up in the 80s too with great success, but he just did not need to do it as much because he was beating guys off the dribble constantly. But the skill was always there, and was displayed frequently at a young age.

Some people also say Jordan's jump-shot improved dramatically later in his career. But look at his 63 point game vs Boston in 1986. Nearly everything was a jump-shot. Look at his 69 point game vs Cleveland in 1990. Nearly everything was a jump-shot. His jump-shot was always one of the best mid-range shots in the NBA. Maybe people got confused when he suddenly shot .427 from downtown in 95-96. That was because the NBA 3-point line was moved in. In 97-98 Jordan shot only .238... And in 1989-90, Jordan shot .376 (92-245), probably his most impressive outside shooting year ever, because the NBA 3-point line was further out.

Maybe the better question is, not of Jordan's prime but rather the Triangle Offense's prime. That was the key to Chicago's championships, as well as the emergence of Pippen.

nadalwon2012 wrote:Some people say Jordan learned how to win in 91-93, but let's face it, if you put 1991 Jordan into the 1989 Bulls team, they wouldn't win the championship. The difference in 1991 was Pippen becoming a legit star. Jordan's prime was really the late 80s when he won Defensive Player of the Year and was averaging 1.6 blocks per game, and was dunking like crazy.

And some people say he was a more 'well-rounded' player in 1995 onwards, because he was posting up a lot. People say he developed post-up skills in 1995-96. Not true. As was pointed out in "The Jordan Rules" by Sam Smith, Jordan had become an excellent post-up player in 1991, and posted up more than any other Bull. And he was posting up in the 80s too with great success, but he just did not need to do it as much because he was beating guys off the dribble constantly. But the skill was always there, and was displayed frequently at a young age.

Some people also say his jump-shot improved dramatically later in his career. But look at his 63 point game vs Boston in 1986. Nearly everything was a jump-shot. Look at his 69 point game vs Cleveland in 1990. Nearly everything was a jump-shot. His jump-shot was always one of the best mid-range shots in the NBA. Maybe people got confused when he suddenly shot .427 from downtown in 95-96. That was because the NBA 3-point line was moved in. In 97-98 Jordan shot only .238... And in 1989-90, Jordan shot .376 (92-245), probably his most impressive outside shooting year ever, because the NBA 3-point line was further out.

Maybe the better question is, not of Jordan's prime but rather the Triangle Offense's prime. That was the key to Chicago's championships, as well as the emergence of Pippen.

Not to say that I agree or disagree with you, but excellent first post.

^^^Good post.

I may be in the minority here, but I don't think of the late 80's as Jordan's physical peak. He didn't have the classic Jordan body until 1991, where it looked like every muscle was ripping out of his jersey. He was much stronger, and still had the vertical. Some of his craziest layups/dunks were during this period. In the 80's he was dunking everything and that tapered off a bit in the early 90's, but I think that's due to maturity.

96-98 he didn't have the same explosion, but he was so good by that point he was toying with people. Basketball was probably most effortless to him during this period, so that's a different kind of prime. Didn't Bill Simmons say Jordan had four primes?

Jordan's overall prime I'd say was from 1984-1998.

1988 to 1993

Thanks J.

Something else from "The Jordan Rules"....according to Sam Smith, Phil Jackson was observing Jordan playing PG in the 1991 all-star game (and not doing it well) and Jackson noted that Jordan's court-vision was not as good as it was in 1989. 88-89 was the year Jordan averaged 32ppg 8apg 8rpg and was a triple-double machine.

nadalwon2012 wrote:Thanks J.

Something else from "The Jordan Rules"....according to Sam Smith, Phil Jackson was observing Jordan playing PG in the 1991 all-star game (and not doing it well) and Jackson noted that Jordan's court-vision was not as good as it was in 1989. 88-89 was the year Jordan averaged 32ppg 8apg 8rpg and was a triple-double machine.

how can court vision suffer over time? Maybe playmaking ability if it involves your use of athleticism to break down the defense, but in 91 Jordan was still in elite physical form. I think what was mistaken as a lack of courtvision was simply a more selfish style of play. It's not that he didn't see the open teammate, he just chose not to pass to him and go for the difficult shot(which he converted;see infamous Jordan switch-hand layup) instead.

junot111 wrote:

nadalwon2012 wrote:Thanks J.

Something else from "The Jordan Rules"....according to Sam Smith, Phil Jackson was observing Jordan playing PG in the 1991 all-star game (and not doing it well) and Jackson noted that Jordan's court-vision was not as good as it was in 1989. 88-89 was the year Jordan averaged 32ppg 8apg 8rpg and was a triple-double machine.

how can court vision suffer over time? Maybe playmaking ability if it involves your use of athleticism to break down the defense, but in 91 Jordan was still in elite physical form. I think what was mistaken as a lack of courtvision was simply a more selfish style of play. It's not that he didn't see the open teammate, he just chose not to pass to him and go for the difficult shot(which he converted;see infamous Jordan switch-hand layup) instead.

Nah, Jackson wasn't referring to Jordan shooting the ball. Jordan had 10 turnovers in the 1991 all-star game http://www.basketball-reference.com/all ... _1991.html

Collie wrote:86 to 98

I'll go with this also, he had the longest prime of anyone ever....he really was that good...

WillyJakkz wrote:
Athletic Prime: '84-'88 (Leaner, Rock the cradle, Free Throw line dunks, etc. this was MJ at his best)


Skilled Prime: '90-'93 (Hanging layups in traffic, defensively, supreme offensive ability, these were Jordan's best years)


BBall IQ Prime: '95-'98 (These are the years where he took everything he learned of himself as a player and put it all together mentally even w/ his athleticism fading)

Greatest Player Ever

This is a great post...he always got better in some regard....

Johnny Kilroy wrote:you could argue he had a prime from 88 to 98. his absolute peak though was the first threepeat. i think 88-90 was his physical peak and 96-98 was his mental peak. 91-93 was just the perfect blend of both.

No one who wasn't around to see Jordan in his pre-titles years should comment on this because a lot of fans who knew nothing of him other than his winning years tend to think he was GOAT from the day he signed up at (edit) NC, which wasn't true. His prime was 91-93 and it was far more centered around his mentality than his physicality (which was enough to make him unstoppable 1:1 on its own). Before 1991, he was viewed by and large as a step below Magic and Bird, no matter WHAT he was doing physically in previous years.

Jackson was a godsend to his career. Who knows what he would've done w/ sycophants like Collins for his entire career. I'm not saying he wasn't a supreme player for his entire career, I'm saying that it is patently true that he had a learning curve about winning just like a lot of his inferior contemporaries. The quotes you heard from him regarding teamplay and winning before 91 and in, say, 96, are night and day. In the winning years, he mentioned the term "intelligence" a lot... Once he and the Bulls knew what it took to win, younger up-n-comers like the 98 Lakers, and teams that couldn't adapt and had no winning culture (Utah), and teams w/ numbskull stars (Seattle, NY) had no chance against them. Even a scrub like Levingston had quotes about how they would "figure out" an opponent by the 4th/5th gm and then it was over. Jordan's prime coincided w/ these kinds of notions which Jax helped him to internalize.