Jordan the Wizard - Underrated?

[Higga]

We sucked, but at least we were relevant and exciting. I can now tell my kids/grandkids I saw the greatest player of all-time live in person, even if he was a shell of his former self.

His first year though, we would have made the playoffs if Etan **** Thomas's knee didn't collide with MJ. Yeah you know your franchise is cursed when even the GOAT gets hit by it. Still hate Etan to this day for that...

But there were some great moments. HE DID IT AGAIN. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlNfnD_i77s

[montestewart]

At the start of his 2nd Wizards season, Jordan declared (with his usual humility) that he could help the team most by coming off the bench. After 15 games, they weren't too far off the previous year pace, or that year's final record pace, but he (he said "we" but...) decided he was going to start. I think if he was a politican and Jon Stewart got ahold of the two statements, the juxtaposition would be hilarious. At the end of the year, his ppg stood at exactly 20, as if he realized that he was going to have the only sub-20 ppg season of his career, and played the remainder of the year primarily to avoid that.

I enjoyed watching some of those spectacular offensive games he had, but I saw him play as a Bull, and the Wizards Jordan was a shadow of the GOAT. I remember as well him shooting 1-9 with two points, and rationalizing (in his humble way) that he had eight assists and it was all part of the plan since they got the win. I recall him routinely failing to stay in front of younger guards like Ray Allen and Rip Hamilton, and being too winded to get his on some nights. I recall the other scorers (Stackhouse, Hughes, etc.) basically standing around, bored, waiting to see if he would share the ball. To me, it was sad that such an ephemeral blip, two 37-45 seasons, seemed "relevant," that it was a high point. There was a Harlem Globetrotters feel to the whole thing. Nothing wrong with that, except it's not the NBA.

[keynote]

http://airjudden2.tripod.com/ejf/ejf.htm

Here's a 1996 classic from "Air Judden" breaking down just how much of a ballhog jordon really was.
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgr ... h20wMUCg0J

Code: Select all

        Just in time for the NBA's 50th Anniversary,
        I will demonstrate why jordon is not only the most overrated player
        of all time, but also why he isn't one of the 50 greatest players
        of all time.  I earlier introduced the category of "Partial Power
        Points", which negates jordon's unfair advantage over players who
        played before 1974.  In this, I will use a player's partial power
        points if he played over half of his career before 1974, because
        most players have higher power points in their prime (even jordon
        did).  Some players who did this, still have more power points
        than jordon, and I will go on to show that players who avg
        power points are hurt by this, are still better than jordon.
 
        Finally, I do include ABA numbers, because the ABA watered down
        the talent level, just like the current NBA.  This negates another
        one of jordon's unfair advantages.  With this, I present to you
        50 players who are better than jordon (with ballhog points included
        to show that jordon is a bigger ballhog than all 50 of them).
 
Player                  Power (jordon = 15.69)  Ballhog (jordon = 1.77)
                        Points                  Points
--------------------    -------                 -----------
1.  Wilt Chamberlain    27.3*                   1.03
2.  Bill Russell        26.8*                   0.61
3.  Maurice Stokes      22.6*                   0.91
4.  Magic Johnson       20.6                    0.80
5.  Hakeem Olajuwon     20.3                    1.09
6.  Nate Thurmond       20.2                    0.80
7.  David Robinson      20.1                    1.10
8.  Wes Unseld          19.6                    0.52
9.  Dave Cowens         19.5                    0.92
10. Dikembe Mutombo     19.3                    0.42
11. Bob Pettit          19.2*                   1.38
12. Larry Bird          18.9                    1.15
13. Jerry Lucas         18.9*                   0.84
14. Shaquille O'Neal    18.6                    1.27
15. Charles Barkley     18.2                    1.07
16. Elgin Baylor        17.8*                   1.58
17. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 17.6                    1.51
18. Artis Gilmore       17.5                    0.88
19. Walt Bellamy        17.4*                   1.07
20. Billy Cunningham    17.2                    1.23
21. Elvin Hayes         17.2                    1.26
22. Oscar Robertson     17.0*                   1.37
23. Bill Walton         16.9                    0.73
24. John Stockton       16.8                    0.68
25. George McGinnis     16.8                    1.20
26. Willis Reed         16.4                    1.11
27. Karl Malone         16.3                    1.41
28. Derrick Coleman     16.3                    1.16
29. Sam Lacey           16.2*                   0.67
30. Julius Erving       16.2                    1.36
31. Moses Malone        15.9                    1.16
32. Patrick Ewing       15.8                    1.36

* = This a players partial power points (and partial ballhog points). 
        He is so much more powerful than jordon, than even without steals
        and blocks, he is a much better defender and team player than
        foolish jordon...for a closer comparison, compare those numbers
        to jordon's partial power points).
 
Name                    Partial (jordon = 12.08) Partial (jordon = 2.30)
                        Power Points             Ballhog points
----------------------  ------------             --------------
33. Gus Johnson         15.4                    1.18
34. Dolph Schayes       15.2                    1.28
35. Bill Bridges        14.7                    0.84
36. Dave DeBusschere    13.9                    1.24
37. Donald Johnston     13.8                    1.36
38. Harry Gallatin      13.7                    0.98
39. Gerald Govan        13.7                    0.64
40. Johnny Kerr         13.4                    1.12
41. Alex Groza          13.1                    1.60
42. Connie Hawkins      13.0                    1.34
43. Jim Ligon           13.0                    0.95
44. John Raymond        12.9                    1.28
45. Bob Cousy           12.7                    1.65
46. Julius Keye         12.6                    0.67
47. Jerry West          12.5                    2.01
48. Walter Dukes        12.4                    0.96
49. Thomas Washington   12.4                    0.78
50. Tom Boerwinkle      12.2                    0.61
 
This is not an exhaustive list, but rather the first 50 I ran across.
It is easy to see that jordon is not a team player and not a defender,
which is why his power points and partial power points are below these
50, and it is indisputable that jordon does not belong in the top 50
players of all time.
 
jordon.  Simply overrated.  Simply not top 50 material.
 
Judden             
Vice President:  exposers of jordon's foolishness.



[bostonfan34]

Wow, that's a pathetic website.

[keynote]

Wow, that's a pathetic website.

You realize that site is silly satire, right? In today's parlance, the entire site would be in green font.

[montestewart]

Wow, that's a pathetic website.

You realize that site is silly satire, right? In today's parlance, the entire site would be in green font.

It was pretty hilarious. Green font would ruin it. Jim Ligon, is that Goose Ligon!?!

[bostonfan34]

Wow, that's a pathetic website.

You realize that site is silly satire, right? In today's parlance, the entire site would be in green font.

Hahaha - no, I didn't get that. It seemed like too much work to be satire.

[Deivy202]

Why would he be the same player, though? He was 38-40. I think people had expectations too high for him and missed out on an impressive run he had. I know he was inefficient, but the team was much more competitive during his two years and he was still a top 10-20 player. I don't get why that sort of tenure in Washington is considered so bad by the masses.

Had rasheed and ben wallace to and webber horrible mistakes.

[nate33]

Why would he be the same player, though? He was 38-40. I think people had expectations too high for him and missed out on an impressive run he had. I know he was inefficient, but the team was much more competitive during his two years and he was still a top 10-20 player. I don't get why that sort of tenure in Washington is considered so bad by the masses.

Had rasheed and ben wallace to and webber horrible mistakes.

Those mistakes were by Wes Unseld, not Jordan.

[Deivy202]

No im saying in general.