Why was Jordan a Shooting Guard?

[studcrackers]

Wasn't he basically a small forward for the good part of his career (with Phil Jackson in the triangle).

I mean he was in the post so often and used his strength, definetly a trait that resembles the SF position. Not to mention his weakness was 3 point SHOOTING. Pretty much a must for SHOOTING guards.[/quote]

Disagree. Rip Hamitlon is more a slasher/mid range game, jordan is obviously one, Matt Harpring, Brandon Roy, Mike Finley,etc.

there is a plenty of shooting guard who are not particularly good 3 pt shooters

not meaning to call you out but this bothered me, after seeing michael finley the majority of his career in dallas i can tell you him being a slasher/mid ranger is a lie, he started out that way but as he got older he became almost strictly a 3 pt. specialist and using a jumpshot fadeaway that almost never worked. sadly josh howard seems to be heading that way too

[Teen Girl Squad]

Kobe is statistically better at the 3 too. Its just thr roster/the offense that kept both at guard.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

During his last time in Chicago, in the triangle he played the small forward position, Pippen was the point guard and Harper the shooting guard.

[tha_rock220]

I don'tknow what an SG is. Jordan to my knowledge was a g-f.

[Frosty]

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Actualy he was a SF before Phil. MJ was the 2nd tallest player in the starting lineup his rookie yr if Im not mistaken. To be honest the differance between SG and SF depends more on the coach and the system the team runs.

MJ was the biggest, quickest, fastest, strongest SG in the NBA. He could play anywhere he wants.

No he wasn't the starting SF. (He did play PG one year for Collins)

No he wasn't the second tallest player on the starting lineup. (Woolridge was)

In the 80's the SF was a much more defined role then it is today. As was the PF.

No he wasn't the biggest SG in the league. (Drexler was bigger and many were at least as big)

[Frosty]

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wasn't it just one year? The 95-96 season?

Anyways he really didn't need the 3 pointer because he could score anywhere on the floor.

Can you imagine MJ as a 3 point artist? He'd be depraving us of his crazy up and unders and tomahawks.

I think it was two years but he admitted he didn't shoot threes because he felt he wasn't helping his team by taking outside shots. When he faced Drexler in the Finals the media made a big deal out of how Drexler was a better 3 pooint shooter. So MJ went out and drained a bunch just to set the record straight.

And year Jordan took more then a handful of threes per game he shot a very high percentage. His weakness wasn't the three he just new his strength was getting the defense to react to him and drawing fouls. Something that was pretty hard to do back then as an outside shooter.

[GJense4181]

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No he wasn't the starting SF. (He did play PG one year for Collins)

No he wasn't the second tallest player on the starting lineup. (Woolridge was)

In the 80's the SF was a much more defined role then it is today. As was the PF.

No he wasn't the biggest SG in the league. (Drexler was bigger and many were at least as big)

+4

[penbeast0]

In reality he was, the bulls just had too many sf's. Their "true" line-up during the Jordan years consisted of

Shooting Guard
Point Forward
Point Forward
Power Forward
Center

[/non serious]

Does the "/non serious" refer to the Bulls center position? (joke)

[Deus]

I agree with the first answer. It all depends on who is guarding you when your on offense and who you are guarding on defense.

If Jordan is being guarded by Dumars, then I see him as a SG. But what if he's being guarded by Mark Price? Then he posts him up and becomes a SF.

I don't remember him ever running the break though. So being a PG wasn't exactly his specialty like Pippen. He was usually catching the lobs.

[Optimus_Steel]

Why is the sky blue? Why does grass grow green?

[Frosty]

I don't remember him ever running the break though. So being a PG wasn't exactly his specialty like Pippen.

Heh, how about the year he played PG and averaged 8 APG? Of course he also grabbed 8 rpg so maybe he was the starting PF that year.

[GJense4181]

Michael Jordan played all three backcourt positions. kthnx.
He had spent entire seasons as a full-time PG AND SF as well as fulfilling the duties of a SG to a T (his three-point shooting was indeed underrated).

This thread is silly.

[MaxRider]

yup
Jordan is SF, Pippen is PG, and Paxson/Harper is the SG

[T.Duncan21]

i think what position youre playing depends more on who you guard defensively.

Yup... players like Kobe... MJ... Lebron actually handle the ball so much on offense that they're actually the real PG but since they don't guard PG's on defense... they're classified as what position they guard.

[prophet_of_rage]

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Yup... players like Kobe... MJ... Lebron actually handle the ball so much on offense that they're actually the real PG but since they don't guard PG's on defense... they're classified as what position they guard.

Eric Snow was not considered a shooting guard in 2001 and he guarded the 2 spot while Iverson played 2 and guarded the one.

Your position is determined by your skillset. That's why Jordan was considered a swing. Not only did he have the ballhandling and midrange shot required of a shooting guard, but he had the baseline scoring abilities, size and strength and rebounding of a small forward.

The 2/3 spot in the NBA has been merged because of Jordan and now a lot of swings populate the league.

The small forward was originally the high scoring spot. Tall and could play inside and out and rebound. Think Dr. J, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, etc. Then when the guards (after Jordan) started getting bigger there was a merger and the best small forwards played guard now and the position got weaker because the power forwards wanted to show of their finesse skills and the centres wanted to masquerade as power forwards (Duncan, KG, et al.) The 3 then became just an athlete spot. Run the break, finish above the rim and rebound in traffic, but none of the skills of the former 3s.

[Jordan23Forever]

LOL @ Jordan's 3-point shooting being a "weakness."

It was the weakest part of his game, to be certain, but it wasn't what one could call a "weakness," since teams could never capitalize on it and he could hit them well enough to keep defenses honest. Jordan's 3-pt % over his career is an interesting topic, actually (in that every time he attempted a decent volume of 3's he shot a good % - see '90, '93, '90-'93 playoffs) , but I don't feel like rehashing.

[raptor21_85]

I think he was the PG/SG of that team