Where would 1998 MJ rank today?
Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2025 5:20 pm
Where would 1998 Jordan rank in todays league overall?
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oaktownwarriors87 wrote:He was only 34 and he lead the NBA in scoring, won the MVP, was 4th in DPOY, lead his team to the best record in the NBA (Pippen missed half the season) and a Championship.
No way I'm picking SGA, Jokic or Gianni's over that.
LakerLegend wrote:Some absolute crazy talk in here...98 Jordan was universally considered a better player than a 26 year old Shaq.
One_and_Done wrote:LakerLegend wrote:Some absolute crazy talk in here...98 Jordan was universally considered a better player than a 26 year old Shaq.
By the media who was trying to sell papers from his hype. In reality though? Not sure he was. This is also about how he'd play today. Shaq is a cleaner fit in today's league than an aging guard with no 3pt shot.
LakerLegend wrote:One_and_Done wrote:LakerLegend wrote:Some absolute crazy talk in here...98 Jordan was universally considered a better player than a 26 year old Shaq.
By the media who was trying to sell papers from his hype. In reality though? Not sure he was. This is also about how he'd play today. Shaq is a cleaner fit in today's league than an aging guard with no 3pt shot.
The defense and physicality in 98 is worlds different than now. Jordan would have much better numbers from 3.
One_and_Done wrote:LakerLegend wrote:One_and_Done wrote:By the media who was trying to sell papers from his hype. In reality though? Not sure he was. This is also about how he'd play today. Shaq is a cleaner fit in today's league than an aging guard with no 3pt shot.
The defense and physicality in 98 is worlds different than now. Jordan would have much better numbers from 3.
He gets the 3pt % he actually demonstrated. If anything the 3 was far less guarded in the 90s than today. Today the whole defense is geared around not giving up 3s, and they'd be harder for MJ to make as a result.
The defense today is much more physically taxing than in the 90s. The only way in which it was more 'physical' in Jordan's day is that occasionally guys would clothesline or elbow you. KG actually talked about it in a rare interview, noting that he's not sure how many guys from back then could make it today.
LakerLegend wrote:One_and_Done wrote:LakerLegend wrote:
The defense and physicality in 98 is worlds different than now. Jordan would have much better numbers from 3.
He gets the 3pt % he actually demonstrated. If anything the 3 was far less guarded in the 90s than today. Today the whole defense is geared around not giving up 3s, and they'd be harder for MJ to make as a result.
The defense today is much more physically taxing than in the 90s. The only way in which it was more 'physical' in Jordan's day is that occasionally guys would clothesline or elbow you. KG actually talked about it in a rare interview, noting that he's not sure how many guys from back then could make it today.
lol.
One_and_Done wrote:LakerLegend wrote:One_and_Done wrote:He gets the 3pt % he actually demonstrated. If anything the 3 was far less guarded in the 90s than today. Today the whole defense is geared around not giving up 3s, and they'd be harder for MJ to make as a result.
The defense today is much more physically taxing than in the 90s. The only way in which it was more 'physical' in Jordan's day is that occasionally guys would clothesline or elbow you. KG actually talked about it in a rare interview, noting that he's not sure how many guys from back then could make it today.
lol.
https://www.basketballnetwork.net/old-school/kevin-garnett-believes-guards-from-20-30-years-ago-couldnt-compete-in-todays-nba
"The game is at another level," the retired forward claimed in an interview with the New York Times.
"I want you to get on a court, sprint corner to corner, stop on a dime and shoot a 3. I want you to do 10 of those. Then, I want you to focus on how tired you are. Because these players do that for 48 minutes. I don't think guys from 20 years ago could play in this game," he added.
LakerLegend wrote:One_and_Done wrote:LakerLegend wrote:
lol.
https://www.basketballnetwork.net/old-school/kevin-garnett-believes-guards-from-20-30-years-ago-couldnt-compete-in-todays-nba
"The game is at another level," the retired forward claimed in an interview with the New York Times.
"I want you to get on a court, sprint corner to corner, stop on a dime and shoot a 3. I want you to do 10 of those. Then, I want you to focus on how tired you are. Because these players do that for 48 minutes. I don't think guys from 20 years ago could play in this game," he added.
There also plenty of comments from players/coaches/executives going the other way.
One_and_Done wrote:oaktownwarriors87 wrote:He was only 34 and he lead the NBA in scoring, won the MVP, was 4th in DPOY, lead his team to the best record in the NBA (Pippen missed half the season) and a Championship.
No way I'm picking SGA, Jokic or Gianni's over that.
Yeh, but it was 1998. That Bulls team wouldn't get out of the 2nd round today.
oaktownwarriors87 wrote:One_and_Done wrote:oaktownwarriors87 wrote:He was only 34 and he lead the NBA in scoring, won the MVP, was 4th in DPOY, lead his team to the best record in the NBA (Pippen missed half the season) and a Championship.
No way I'm picking SGA, Jokic or Gianni's over that.
Yeh, but it was 1998. That Bulls team wouldn't get out of the 2nd round today.
In 1998 the NBA wasn't a Development League with a bunch of 20 year olds. You actually had to prove yourself before you got into the league.
And your high-paced game argument doesn't really work. Pretty much all the top layers in the league around the bottom and movement and speed. Doncic, LeBron, Tatum, Jokic, Embid, Giannis, KAT, Edwards, AD, Irving etc. Guys like Curry exception, not the rule.
One_and_Done wrote:oaktownwarriors87 wrote:One_and_Done wrote:Yeh, but it was 1998. That Bulls team wouldn't get out of the 2nd round today.
In 1998 the NBA wasn't a Development League with a bunch of 20 year olds. You actually had to prove yourself before you got into the league.
And your high-paced game argument doesn't really work. Pretty much all the top layers in the league around the bottom and movement and speed. Doncic, LeBron, Tatum, Jokic, Embid, Giannis, KAT, Edwards, AD, Irving etc. Guys like Curry exception, not the rule.
Yeh, disagree. The 98 Bulls were trash compared to the top teams today.
Your examples are just misguided. Firstly prime Giannis is incredibly mobile for a big. He's had patchy health this year, but still seems to get able to cover ground very well when he wants to, especially with his insane reach. AD is similar, with the additional proviso that he has been playing the 5 almost exclusively, and this move back to the 4 in Dallas is likely to be a disaster unless he gets back to hitting 3s. Tatum is very athletic and plays alot of 4. I don't know why you mentioned non-bigs like Irving and Luka, but they are bad defenders and are optinally deployed with 4 great defenders around them.
Embiid and Jokic play the 5, the one position where you can still have a traditional 5. Even then, Embiid is exposed every playoffs and Jokic gets by because he's so insanely good on offense that his weak D doesn't matter as much. KAT plays the 5 right now, and is pretty athletic tbh. He's not a great help defender obviously, but he played very good man D on Jokic last playoffs. I can't even take you seriously saying Edwards has poor speed.
oaktownwarriors87 wrote:One_and_Done wrote:oaktownwarriors87 wrote:
In 1998 the NBA wasn't a Development League with a bunch of 20 year olds. You actually had to prove yourself before you got into the league.
And your high-paced game argument doesn't really work. Pretty much all the top layers in the league around the bottom and movement and speed. Doncic, LeBron, Tatum, Jokic, Embid, Giannis, KAT, Edwards, AD, Irving etc. Guys like Curry exception, not the rule.
Yeh, disagree. The 98 Bulls were trash compared to the top teams today.
Your examples are just misguided. Firstly prime Giannis is incredibly mobile for a big. He's had patchy health this year, but still seems to get able to cover ground very well when he wants to, especially with his insane reach. AD is similar, with the additional proviso that he has been playing the 5 almost exclusively, and this move back to the 4 in Dallas is likely to be a disaster unless he gets back to hitting 3s. Tatum is very athletic and plays alot of 4. I don't know why you mentioned non-bigs like Irving and Luka, but they are bad defenders and are optinally deployed with 4 great defenders around them.
Embiid and Jokic play the 5, the one position where you can still have a traditional 5. Even then, Embiid is exposed every playoffs and Jokic gets by because he's so insanely good on offense that his weak D doesn't matter as much. KAT plays the 5 right now, and is pretty athletic tbh. He's not a great help defender obviously, but he played very good man D on Jokic last playoffs. I can't even take you seriously saying Edwards has poor speed.
I'm not saying any of them have poor speed. NBA tracking just puts them at the bottom in speed/distance covered while on the floor. It's not my opinion, it's a fact.
Role players are the ones running around non stop.
Top 10 players.in speed while on the floor (30+ MPG)
Camara
Bane
Daniels
McCollum
Martin
Wagner
Murray
Herro
Ball
McDaniels
Pretty much all the elite players are at the bottom.
LakerLegend wrote:
There also plenty of comments from players/coaches/executives going the other way.