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In the current #16 thread I'd made a comment questioning Mikan's impact in other eras, and was asked what exactly I thought it would be. It's an interesting topic, so rather than derail that thread I made this one. So.....how would Mikan do in the 60's? The 70's? 80's? and so on. Thoughts?

My own thoughts.....
The 60's
Suppose Mikan came into the league around the same time as Wilt or thereabouts; what would his numbers look like? Would he be the big kahuna in the league? Would he even be a top 3 player? Top 5?
It's a very interesting hypothetical, imo. Although in terms of years it's not too far separated from Mikan's own era, I believe it was ThaRegul8r who said (correctly, imo) that professional basketball underwent more change between the BAA days and the early-mid 60's than it has in all the years since.

Instead of playing in an era where the best Mikan had to face at his position were guys like Red Rocha, Alex Groza, Ed Macauley, Larry Foust, and Arnie Risen.........he'd now be facing much more athletic and truly tough two-way centers and/or defensive and rebounding monsters like Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Willis Reed, Walt Bellamy, Nate Thurmond, and perhaps occasionally Bob Pettit. And because the league is so small at this time, he'd be faced with one of these guys literally every other night. Facing centers like Red Kerr, Clyde Lovellette, Wayne Embry, and Zelmo Beaty might actually feel like a bit of a reprieve (because those are essentially the WORST centers he'll ever be matched up against).
And with guys like Robertson, West, Baylor (and to a lesser degree Sam Jones, John Havlicek, among a few others), he'd also be seeing a class of perimeter player that---with the possible exception of Bob Cousy---simply did not exist in the late 40's/early 50's.
All of these things would effect his potential impact in the league of that era, and particularly his impact relative to his peers.

His size, touch around the rim, FT-shooting, and general basketball IQ will still make him a very very good player, imo. I could see him averaging anywhere from 19-24 ppg (depending on his team's needs) and 13-15 rpg. Defensively, I see him being considerably behind Russell, Wilt, Thurmond, and probably Willis Reed, at least.

Overall, where does that place him? Generally speaking I can't see him being better than perhaps the 3rd-best center in the league (behind Russell and Wilt, at the very least), and most years not better than the 5th or 6th-best player overall (also behind West, Robertson, as well as Baylor most years). It's possible he'd also be considered behind someone like Willis Reed some years, too. That's quite a switch from being the stand-alone GOAT in his own era.


The 70's
Integration is in full-swing now. Overall, the size and athleticism of the average NBA player in the league is bigger/more athletic than he's ever been before. Mikan's size is now fairly ordinary for his position, and his general athleticism is entirely unremarkable.
Wilt, Bellamy, Thurmond, to a lesser degree Reed are all still around early in the decade. We also have a new class of great bigs in guys like Kareem, Hayes, Lanier, Cowens, and Unseld all present at the start of the decade. By the mid-late 70's we'll also have Gilmore and Walton. Long shot-blocking bigs like Caldwell Jones will appear, too.

Some excellent and super-athletic forwards in the game: Spencer Haywood, Connie Hawkins, Gus Johnson for the first couple years of the decade, McGinnis and Dr. J by the middle of the decade.

For other perimeter players: West and Robertson are still around for a few years (Robertson fading a bit). Also get some new noteworthies in Walt Frazier, Norm Van Lier, Dave Bing, Tiny Archibald, David Thompson, Pete Maravich, Rick Barry, World B. Free, etc.

tbh, I see Mikan struggling to even be among the top 5 bigs in the game during this decade (or top 10 player overall). Could see him averaging like 18-20 and 12-13, maybe.


The 80's
So many great players enter the league during the decade:
'80 brings in Bird, Magic, and Sidney Moncrief.
'81 brings in Kevin McHale.
'82 brings in Isiah Thomas.
'83 brings in James Worthy and Dominique Wilkins.
'84 brings in Clyde Drexler (and Ralph Sampson, fwiw).
'85 ushers in Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley, and John Stockton (best draft class ever?).
'86 brings in Karl Malone, Patrick Ewing, Joe Dumars, and Chris Mullin.
'87 brings in Mark Price and Brad Daugherty......
....well, you kinda get the idea. This in addition to the great players who are still around from the 70's and perhaps just coming into their primes in the 80's (at center: Moses Malone and Robert Parish), including a great class of SF: Alex English, Bernard King, Marques Johnson, Adrian Dantley. Kareem is still a super-star thru the first 1-3 years of the 80's, too.

Mikan's height is now probably even marginally SHORT for the center, and he's generally becoming a bit out-classed athletically. I could see him having a Robert Parish-esque offensive skill-set, although he wouldn't quite have Parish's mobility or Parish's height.
So tbh, it would not particularly surprise me to see Mikan as a ~16-18 ppg/9-10 rpg player during this era, although he might do as well as 20/11-12 (at least for some teams)......an occasional All-Star, though more often a borderline All-Star.

I'll stop there. Suffice to say I see things getting marginally worse for him in the 90's, and no better in the modern era when the center position has been marginalized a bit (although the lack of good competition at his position in the mid 2000's might see him get the odd All-Star selection).

George Milan was 6-10 barefoot and 245lbs with no weight training. He would never be considered small at C in any era.

Isn't that thread exactly for discussions like this? To be honest though, you need to establish a baseline. What was Mikan like in the '50s. What the competition was like, what his skill set was, why he dominated. Really all I am seeing is you naming decades, and then naming players in those decades that were really good.

JeepCSC wrote:Isn't that thread exactly for discussions like this? To be honest though, you need to establish a baseline. What was Mikan like in the '50s. What the competition was like, what his skill set was, why he dominated.

Kinda thought I implied that....

trex_8063 wrote:His size, touch around the rim, FT-shooting, and general basketball IQ will still make him a very very good player, imo.

And I made multiple comments relating to the relative athleticism of the competition and how he sizes up against it (which sort of allude to my opinion of his total athletic package). I can go into more depth about what I see as his strengths/weaknesses in each era are; just figured that what I'd already provided was sufficient. Further, was really more interested in what other people thought on the matter.

JeepCSC wrote: Really all I am seeing is you naming decades, and then naming players in those decades that were really good.

I did a little more than that. And although I did a fair amount of name-dropping, I figured the point/context was clear: how capable would George Mikan be of distinguishing himself as elite vs. the different array of professional peers he'd be facing in each era? I don't really want to compare Mikan singly to each and every individual, particularly with trying to impose my perception of each individual on others.

When comparing the early 50's the the 60's, for instance, I don't really think that's necessary. Do we honestly need to expound on a declaration that Russell, Chamberlain, Reed, and Thurmond represent a significantly higher class of competition at the center position than Rocha, Risen, Foust, and Macauley? That seems fairly superfluous.

I stated outright that I can't see Mikan distinguishing himself as better than Russell or Wilt, at the very least. This too is not a bold or outlandish statement. Really, it borders more closely to "obvious", I would say; but if you feel it's truly necessary to delve into that, feel free to get the ball rolling.

wrt to the perimeter players mentioned, the implication was again fairly clear: which of these guys could Mikan distinguish himself as better than? I again stated the ones that I think he'd probably fall behind (and suggesting that he may often fall behind Robertson or West---nor suggesting these were perimeter players well beyond the class of perimeter players seen in the early 50's---did not seem to me overly-bold statements, but if you really feel it needs to be explored, again: feel free to get the ball rolling on why).

I don't know enough about the 1950s and Mikan in general. Mentioning Caldwell Jones can shot-block in the 1970s doesn't mean much to me when discussing Mikan. Perhaps it does for others though. Like I said, I don't know much about Mikan.

Honest to god, the NBA in the 1940s seemed like the WNBA from watching its highlights. Candace Parker probably would have been one of the better players in the league if she played back then.

Great thread idea.

I like this not just to study Mikan, but to help explore something that could be expanded upon in player rankings imo.

How players translate across eras, both future and past.

Since Mikan isn't often discussed or explored as much as other players on the PC (or any other) board to my knowledge, this will potentially be a great opportunity to bring new things to learn.

I'll be contributing here shortly, I have to finish some discussion in the Top 100 thread first.

GC Pantalones wrote:George Milan was 6-10 barefoot and 245lbs with no weight training. He would never be considered small at C in any era.

For clarity, I never said Mikan would be "small" for a center (though I see how my statement might have implied that). Specifically, I said he would be marginally short in the 80's:
He's 6'10" barefoot, so he'd likely be listed as 6'11" in the 80's.
Starting or serious-minutes centers in that decade were running as follows:
Manute Bol 7'7"
Mark Eaton 7'4"
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 7'2"
Artis Gilmore 7'2"
James Donaldson 7'2"
Tree Rollins 7'1"
Bill Cartwright 7'1"
Patrick Ewing 7'0"
Robert Parish 7'0"
Brad Daugherty 7'0"
Benoit Benjamin 7'0"
Hakeem Olajuwon 7'0"
Kevin Willis 7'0"
Joe Barry Carroll 7'0"
Alton Lister 7'0"
James Edwards 7'0"
Bill Laimbeer 6'11"
Hot Rod Williams 6'11"
George Johnson 6'11"
Swen Nater 6'11"
Dave Corzine 6'11"
Jack Sikma 6'11"
Danny Schayes 6'11"
Mike Gminski 6'11"
Joe Kleine 6'11"
Darryl Dawkins 6'11"
Mark West 6'10"
LaSalle Thompson 6'10"
Moses Malone 6'10"
Mychal Thompson 6'10"
Michael Cage 6'9"

So that's big pretty inclusive list, from outliers like Bol at 7'7" to Cage at 6'9", and everyone in between. AVERAGE height of that whole group (which I think should be pretty representative of the center position in the 1980's): 6 feet 11.94 inches. So even if listed at 6'11", Mikan would be nearly an inch shorter than average for a center.

Compare this to his own era, when centers were (going by they're actual listed heights):
Ray Felix 6'11"
Chuck Share 6'11"
Ron Livingstone 6'10"
Arnie Risen 6'9"
Clyde Lovellette 6'9"
Red Rocha 6'9"
Larry Foust 6'9"
Ed Mikan 6'8"
Connie Simmons 6'8"
Ed Macauley 6'8"
Neil Johnston 6'8" (forgot about him in my original post)
Ed Miller 6'8"
Alex Groza 6'7"
Mel Hutchins 6'6"
Ed Sadowski 6'5"

Avg height: 6 feet 8.4 inches. With Mikan listed at 6'10", he's got >1.5" on the avg opposing center in his own era.
PF's in that era generally ranged from 6'4" to 6'7", let's say listed as 6'5" to 6'8" in the 80's: they were still a good 3" shorter on average than the PF's of the 80's (generally 6'9" or 6'10"; with oddities like 6'5" Barkley and Ralph Sampson at 7'4" playing PF, or Brad Sellers at 7'0"). Similar trends with the guards, too.

Point of the original statement was to suggest that Mikan's height advantage over the competition---which I think was somewhat relevant to his success at the time---essentially vanishes by the 1980's.

I could see him having a sturdy Joe Kleine-like build in an era that's beginning to encourage weight training, though.

According to this newspaper he measured out at 6'10 and 1/2.

If this was barefoot, as I've heard they measured in the past, that would put him at about 7 ft or more in modern shoes.



http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1 ... 43,2610728

With weight training he'd likely be about 260-280 I would think, looking at his frame. I'll get into how he would translate later when I have time (and his cons), but I'll share this side of the coin for now.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx69x0B7U00[/youtube]

Mikan was above average height for his era but not a Shaq/Yao sized outlier. What his peer talked about was his strength and his touch. He was listed about 20 pounds heavier than anyone else (everyone was listed at college weights) and his shooting percentages were not appreciably higher than his peers although his volume was clearly better as was his foul draw (which seemed to be more important than fg% in his era).

Physically and skill wise, I see him as Jeff Ruland with a healthy back and bigger hands (Ruland was a terrific player in many ways but couldn't palm a basketball; that may have been a partial explanation for his turnovers which were his biggest weakness). Offensively, a scoring/passing hub -- Moses was very successful with touch and strength rather than quickness and leaping ability and as he was used as a passing hub, I'd assume his passing is superior to Moses. Defensively a ground bound post defender with some but not great shotblocking skills. Add to that his lack of foot speed visible on the Youtube videos of him, and I'd say average or below defensively, about the Ruland level, a little below Moses Malone who was more fluid.

If you give him the benefit of the doubt, he's a slower, more groundbound version of Moses Malone with better passing and bball IQ. That's a pretty good player in any era. If you don't, he's a stiff.

90sAllDecade wrote:According to this newspaper he measured out at 6'10 and 1/2.

If this was barefoot, as I've heard they measured in the past, that would put him at about 7 ft or more in modern shoes.

Eesh, I think you're over-estimating the thickness of your Nike soles. It doesn't add 2".

That being said, if he was indeed 6'10.5" barefoot, it may well be he'd be listed as 7'0" in the 80's or modern league (so he'd be roughly an average height center in the 80's).

Also, I think 280 is pushing it. He already had some kinda nicely sculpted legs back in the day, and it wasn't just his height, but rather his overall SIZE and strength that helped make him the dominant force he was. Take Ray Felix, for instance: one of the few centers of the early 50's actually TALLER than George Mikan, listed at 6'11"......but he apparently only weighed 220 lbs. Mikan could probably move him around the way Karl Malone was bulling Calvin Booth out of the way in the video you posted in the #16 thread.

Mikan already had a bit of a physique; I don't think weight-training is gonna slam 35! extra pounds on to him. I just don't see the frame to carry that. Maybe up to ~260-265 lbs, though.

penbeast0 wrote:Mikan was above average height for his era but not a Shaq/Yao sized outlier. What his peer talked about was his strength and his touch. He was listed about 20 pounds heavier than anyone else (everyone was listed at college weights) and his shooting percentages were not appreciably higher than his peers although his volume was clearly better as was his foul draw (which seemed to be more important than fg% in his era).

Physically and skill wise, I see him as Jeff Ruland with a healthy back and bigger hands (Ruland was a terrific player in many ways but couldn't palm a basketball; that may have been a partial explanation for his turnovers which were his biggest weakness). Offensively, a scoring/passing hub -- Moses was very successful with touch and strength rather than quickness and leaping ability and as he was used as a passing hub, I'd assume his passing is superior to Moses. Defensively a ground bound post defender with some but not great shotblocking skills. Add to that his lack of foot speed visible on the Youtube videos of him, and I'd say average or below defensively, about the Ruland level, a little below Moses Malone who was more fluid.

If you give him the benefit of the doubt, he's a slower, more groundbound version of Moses Malone with better passing and bball IQ. That's a pretty good player in any era. If you don't, he's a stiff.

Interesting to see you make the Jeff Ruland comparison; that's kinda who I was thinking about too. Really similar physiques and athletic specimens, imo. Kinda similar post-game, both good passers, too.
Mikan would have marginally more length (suspect he's perhaps as much as 1" taller, plus Ruland had those sort of stubby arms); Mikan might end up being marginally stronger, too. Not sure if Ruland didn't have marginally better mobility, though (at times he looks a pinch quicker, but I guess I'm probably splittin' hairs there).

The other question mark, though, is whether or not Mikan would develop a mid-range game. Ruland had a nice mid-range spot-up. Mikan's a question mark there (he just never needed one back in the 50's).

Anyway, it's a nice comparison. And given that I think I maybe short-changed Mikan slightly as to how he'd translate to the 80's.

trex_8063 wrote:

90sAllDecade wrote:According to this newspaper he measured out at 6'10 and 1/2.

If this was barefoot, as I've heard they measured in the past, that would put him at about 7 ft or more in modern shoes.

Eesh, I think you're over-estimating the thickness of your Nike soles. It doesn't add 2".

That being said, if he was indeed 6'10.5" barefoot, it may well be he'd be listed as 7'0" in the 80's or modern league (so he'd be roughly an average height center in the 80's).

Also, I think 280 is pushing it. He already had some kinda nicely sculpted legs back in the day, and it wasn't just his height, but rather his overall SIZE and strength that helped make him the dominant force he was. Take Ray Felix, for instance: one of the few centers of the early 50's actually TALLER than George Mikan, listed at 6'11"......but he apparently only weighed 220 lbs. Mikan could probably move him around the way Karl Malone was bulling Calvin Booth out of the way in the video you posted in the #16 thread.

Mikan already had a bit of a physique; I don't think weight-training is gonna slam 35! extra pounds on to him. I just don't see the frame to carry that. Maybe up to ~260-265 lbs, though.

I think modern shoes can add 1 to 2.25 (extreme end) inches to height. Let me give you an example, take Spencer Hawes a player with almost the exact listed height and weight of Mikan. He's 6'10.5 without shoes (240 lbs) and listed as 7'0.75 with shoes.

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Spencer-Hawes-483/

If you check Draftexpress' database, those ranges of 1 to 2.25 are the highs and lows of increase with shoes:

http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-pre-dra ... All&sort=2

So when I say 7'0 or more I'm not suggesting he'd be 7'4 with platform shoes or anything
But I can agree with 7'0 as a likely height. As far as weight, Bill Russell claims Mikan was closer to 280 when he first met him, rather than 245 (at the 1:30 mark onward)

http://www.nba.com/spurs/multimedia/rus ... n_pt1.html

Now Russell was definitely exaggerating, given he listed his junior high height/weight at 6'7 about one hundred pounds. He also says it was high school in other quotes.

Danny McCarthy Salem Massachusetts: Who was your hero growing up?

Bill Russell: My father. Outside of him, my basketball coaches were great. And also, don't forget George Mikan. This was a great player, this always bothers me when people talk about the greatest players to play the game, they don't discuss George enough. One time I met him, I was third string varsity in high school, and I met George Mikan. And he walked over to me and said, "Hi, Big Fella". And he was 6-10 and I was 6-6! And here was the No. 1 guy in basketball and I was a third string guy in high school and he talked to me about basketball for 15 minutes!

http://www.nba.com/celtics/chat/russell_050228.html

But if that was Mikan's later years, and 245 was his college weight, then he likely got bigger as he aged over his career. I think a 255-260 lbs range is probable, without him lifting weights, so another 15 pounds of muscle over his entire basketball career (college, 10-15 years pro) is entirely possible imo. Look at Shaq, or Garnett.

Garnet out of high school was 215 or 220. His listed weight on NBA.com is now 253 lbs:

http://www.nba.com/playerfile/kevin_gar ... stats.html

That's 33 lbs right there, and with Shaq you have a similar jump. He's listed at 294 on his LSU profile:

http://www.lsusports.net/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=174841

Many have him at 325 for his playing weight, but others say he was more like 335 or more. Again thats 30+ pounds of increase with consistent weight lifting for both players.

So Mikan could potentially be 7ft with modern shoes and 265-270+ with modern weight training and fitness. That size would be good enough imo. Now his explosiveness is an entirely different thing, as I'll get into later discussing his weaknesses in era translation.

Rupert Murdoch wrote:Honest to god, the NBA in the 1940s seemed like the WNBA from watching its highlights. Candace Parker probably would have been one of the better players in the league if she played back then.

Any WNBA team would have been crushed by the Lakers of that era. There's no female pro who could have covered Mikan. The Globetrotters couldn't guard Mikan. Reese Tatum stated after the first game between the Globies and the Lakers that Mikan was a lot quicker than they thought and way too big. To stop him Tatum said they had to gang up on Mikan and beat the heck out of him. I doubt there's any female players who could dunk from the foul line. Jim Pollard could. Vern Mikkelson was 6'7 and very mobile. Slater Martin used to give Cousy fits and was the starting pg for the champion '58 Hawks.
It's true the average level of play from the early years of the NBA was awful. But the best teams would still stomp any WNBA team. Despite the poor skills the male players would have been too big, too strong, and even more athletic than today's female pros.

I've read a bio of Mikan and tried to watch as many videos on the internet as possible of Mikan or any other players from that era. There is one very interesting video of a finals series between the Lakers and the Syracuse Nationals from 1954. Interestingly enough, I watched it for about the fifteenth or twentieth time yesterday just to observe Mikan. Many descriptions of Mikan put him down as a lumbering oaf, but he was hardly that. Even George Yardley, the league's first 2000 pt scorer said he doubted Mikan could dunk. Which was clearly a ridiculous statement. Mikan could easily dunk. Probably at least half the players in the league in the early fifties could dunk. It's just that few of them tried. Jim Pollard, Mikan's teammate on the Lakers, could dunk from the foul line. At the start of the fifties the average height of an NBA player was about 6 '4 and 1/2. And we're talking about basketball players not average stiffs, so it's likely most of them could get off their feet somewhat.

So how would big George do today? Well naturally he'd have a huge adjustment. There are a lot more players as big and more athletic than Mikan. But could he play with a little improvement? He had good timing on his rebounding and could get off the floor. He looks like a better jumper than say Pekovic. Mikan also had a nice hook with either hand. He also took a turnaround jump shot in the internet game. Of course, like many players from that era he threw up some funny looking shots. But with proper training today, obviously Mikan wouldn't be taking those bad shots which were common in the old days. A good coach would have him shooting a modern jump shot. I still don't think that with excellent training Mikan would be some kind of all-star. But he was more athletic than people think, and he had an excellent attitude towards improving his game. We'll never know, but there's a chance Mikan with modern training methods could have played in the modern era.

Mikan had amazing fundamentals. He'd succeed in any era.

Johnlac1 wrote:I've read a bio of Mikan and tried to watch as many videos on the internet as possible of Mikan or any other players from that era. There is one very interesting video of a finals series between the Lakers and the Syracuse Nationals from 1954. Interestingly enough, I watched it for about the fifteenth or twentieth time yesterday just to observe Mikan. Many descriptions of Mikan put him down as a lumbering oaf, but he was hardly that. Even George Yardley, the league's first 2000 pt scorer said he doubted Mikan could dunk. Which was clearly a ridiculous statement. Mikan could easily dunk. Probably at least half the players in the league in the early fifties could dunk. It's just that few of them tried. Jim Pollard, Mikan's teammate on the Lakers, could dunk from the foul line. At the start of the fifties the average height of an NBA player was about 6 '4 and 1/2. And we're talking about basketball players not average stiffs, so it's likely most of them could get off their feet somewhat.

Yeah, there's a dunk within that short video 90'sAllDecade posted above: Vern Mikkelsen dunks on a fast-break at 2:02. He doesn't do it "with authority"; in fact, he appears to take care to not grab the rim at all. But his hand is above the rim, and he simply pushes the ball down thru the net gently: that's a dunk. He doesn't appear to have exerted himself to do it, either.

wrt dismissive comments about this era (obv this not aimed at you Johnlac1)......
When watching these old videos, it's important to consider how games were officiated in this era, too, particularly where ball-handling is concerned, imo. Casual fans look at these videos and think the ball-handling looks downright infantile, the way they dribble the ball out in front of the body and such.......not realizing that if they dribbled the way players do today they'd get called for a carry: like nearly every single possession. They dribbled that way for a reason: because the rules had not yet evolved to a point that allowed for more "creative" ball-handling.

At any rate, I was thinking more on Mikan last night and how he can translate. Life is about to interfere, so will try to write a bit more later.......

Alright, here's more info on Mikan:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0SKebKJgAQ[/youtube]

Big George played at 6 ft. 10 in. and 245 pounds. He was quite
probably the strongest man then playing the game. ''He could raise
that left elbow and move to the basket, and the bodies would just
start to fly,'' says former teammate Swede Carlson. ''I used to like
to pass him the ball, cut out around him and then listen to the sound
the guy guarding me made when he ran into George.'' But it was not so
much his strength or the accuracy of his short hook shots, left- and
righthanded, that made him such a force -- it was his indomitable
will. Bud Grant, who is certainly better known as the longtime coach
of the NFL's Minnesota Vikings, played for two seasons, 1949-51, with
Mikan and the old Lakers. He had this to say about his famous
teammate: ''I have played with and coached many great players. And
I've seen and coached against some of the best -- Walter Payton, to
name one. But I'd have to say that George Mikan was the greatest
competitor I've seen or been around in any sport. I studied George
back before I realized I'd someday make my living studying athletes,
and he was amazing. He played hurt. He played when he'd had no sleep
because of our travel schedule. And he always played at one speed
-- top. Then, when things got tough, he'd turn it up. His will to win
permeated the whole team. It was a great thrill playing with such a
man.''

With Mikan at center the Lakers won championships in six of their
first seven seasons -- one each in the NBL and the BAA, and four in
the National Basketball Association, which was formed in 1949 after a
merging of the older leagues. Mikan averaged a comparatively modest
22.6 points per game for his nine-year professional career, which
started in 1946 and ended in '56 (he retired for one year before
playing his last season), but in his peak years, 1948-51, he averaged
28.3, 27.4 and 28.4 points, respectively. He was the NBA's first
official scoring champion, in 1949-50, and a four-time champion
overall, including his years in the NBL and BAA. He had more than a
thousand rebounds in both the '52-53 and the '53-54 seasons, when the
seasons were 10 games shorter than they are now. In the 1949 BAA
playoffs, Mikan averaged 30.3 points in 10 games, playing the last
two against Red Auerbach's Washington Capitols with a fractured
wrist. He played the final game of the 1951 playoffs against the
Rochester Royals with two fractures of the fibula and still scored 32
points in a losing effort, the one year in the first seven that the
Lakers failed to win a title. The next season he achieved a measure
of revenge by scoring his career-high 61 points against these same
Royals.

It was, to be sure, a different game then. There were a few
seven-footers in the league, but not every team had them, and none
was as mobile as the giants of today. The guards were more often 5
ft. 9 in. than 6 ft. 9 in., and none had the all-around skills of
Magic Johnson. And there were no Michael Jordans flying overhead.
Basketball is a much more vertical game today. In Mikan's day, 40%
shooting from the floor was considered effective. The defense was
more strictly a man-to-man and was mostly without disguised zones.
It was a white man's game when Mikan joined the Lakers in 1947,
and though blacks entered the NBA in 1950, it was still pretty much
that when he retired for good in 1956. In a sense, the Lakers
hastened integration with their rollicking series of games against
the Harlem Globetrotters in the late '40s and the '50s. The Trotters
were much more than showmen when they played the Lakers for the first
time, on Feb. 19, 1948, at Chicago Stadium. Indeed, they had most
of the best black players in the game, including Ermer Robinson, Babe
Pressley, the dribbling genius Marques Haynes and, yes, even their
chief clown, Reece (Goose) Tatum. The Globetrotters won the first two
games of the annual series before packed houses. But as the Lakers
steadily improved, the Globetrotters lost the next five before their
boss, Abe Saperstein, a close friend of Laker general manager Max
Winter, terminated the series. By then some of the Globetrotter
stars, including Nat (Sweetwater) Clifton, had moved to the NBA, the
Laker games having established what had long been suspected: Black
players could easily make it in the white man's game.

No one questions that it is a better game now, so much better that
there might not even be room in it for a player as slow-footed as
Mikan. ''I'm afraid if he played now, everybody would be coming back
from one basket while George was leaving the other one,'' says Jaros.
''We'd probably get the hell kicked out of us today,'' Pollard
acknowledges. ''They're so big and agile and such great shooters. But
I think I could've played in this game, and though George was a
little slow and not much of a leaper, I think he could've adjusted. I
do know this -- anyone who played against him would come out with
bruises.''

http://www.si.com/vault/1989/11/06/1209 ... pro-crowns


Rules changes bothered him, such as the initial widening of the lane to slow his dominance:



http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2 ... 679,265543

To his credit, league heathcare was terrible back then and injuries had taken a toll on his longevity and production (and some other info about that era):

The Lakers missed the title in '51 because of Mikan's leg injury,
but they won the next three years. They were the darlings of an
entire state, Minnesota's first major league team, the only game in
town, and champions of all they surveyed. But it wasn't long before
certain apparently unsolvable problems reared. The Minneapolis
Auditorium, the Lakers' home court, was an antiquated building with
an undersized court and a seating capacity of barely 8,000.
Furthermore, it was unavailable, because of trade show commitments,
during playoff time. The team was frequently obliged to play
important games either in the even more inadequate Minneapolis Armory
or in small college gyms. The owners had not had the foresight to
call their team the Minnesota Lakers, which miffed St. Paul
authorities, so it was always difficult to get bookings in that
adjacent community. And the University of Minnesota, jealous of the
Lakers' popularity, made its facilities scarce. Then Mikan and
Pollard, the big gate attractions, retired. Mikan quit after the 1954
season to become the team's general manager. He was only 29, but his
big body had taken a beating over the years. He had broken at least
10 bones, and he was about to have his left kneecap removed. More
important to him, he had become over the years of constant travel a
stranger in his own house. ''I came home one day and picked up my
second son, Terry, and he began crying,'' Mikan says. ''He was afraid
of me, because he didn't know who I was. It broke my heart.''

Mikan's retirement didn't last. Spurred by more than 1,500 fan
letters urging him to return, he left his desk job as general manager
for the Lakers and played the last half of the '55-56 season,
averaging 10.5 points and 8.3 rebounds in 37 games for a team that
finished under .500 for the first time in the history of the
franchise.

As far as athletic ability from what I can determine from watching the clips, especially the lengthy segment of the Lakers-Nationals finals game from 1954, it appears Mikan could get off his feet and down the floor quick enough. Remember, when the Globies played the Lakers for the first time, they have a terrible time guarding Mikan not only because of his size but also because he was a lot quicker than they thought he was.
Mikan certainly looks to be not worse athlerically than someone like Pekovic and actually looks quicker and more agile than Pekovic to me. Of course the awkward and goofy shots most players took in those days did them no favors. But Mikan's hook shot moves look fairly quick and he did have a turn around jump shot. Again, we'll never know, but that stuff about Mikan not being able to make it down the court is ridiculous.

I see him being something like Al Jefferson. At 6-10, 245 with an excellent offensive game and a nice post game, I see him getting similar stats, 20-10 with about 50% FG percentage.