Heej wrote:Showtime 80 wrote:LOL HeeJ, Russell Dumbrick's last 3 years blow your theory right out the window.
This guy is one of the dumbest, lowest IQ and fundamentally flawed players in NBA history yet he averaged a triple double for 3 straight seasons while winning MVP and leading his team to nearly 50 wins in the supposed "tough conference". He did all this shooting a paltry 43% from the field and 32% from 3 not to mention he also sucks on defense and his team was near the bottom in 3 point percentage so they weren't creating that much space for him either. Lack of hand checking, clear lanes and evaporated physicality HAVE EVERYTHING to do with this knucklehead's success the last few years.
Based on that evidence what a prime MJ would do to the current soft as tissue paper rule altered AAU buddy buddy NBA would be 60's Wilt levels of insanity, these punks wouldn't know how to handle a psychopathic competitive animal like that. Heck the 89 or 90's Bulls would be a 60 win team in today's West, easy!
MJ had to deal with this for 6 straight years in the playoffs at the hands of the Pistons and Knicks for God's sake, you think a bunch of 3 point chucking ref baiting divas are scaring him:
Thanks to David Stern, Jerry Colangelo, Rob Thorn and now Adam "McMahon" Silver today's primadonnas like LeBron, Doncic, Giannis, Harden, Curry and Brickhouse don't have to deal with that physicality and are free to display their dumbed down games for all the world to see.
As for Steve Kerr he was just a bench player for the Bulls who got a ton of open looks thanks to playing along side the greatest player of all time, Zaza Pachulia on the other hand was the starting center scrub for the repeat Warriors for God's sake. Kerr would do the same thing Kyle Korver did a few years ago when he was a friggin all star, stand open at the 3 point line, receive the kick out and shoot 8 3's a game instead of the 3 he shot back them. Rinse and repeat.
I think you have a great point there tbh, but let's not pretend Westbrook didn't have an outlier season amongst all outliers in terms of usage rate and blatant statpadding in terms of FT rebounds and uncontested rebounds being funneled to him while he completely lays off shooters. And Westbrook, for all his faults is literally 2 tiers beyond MJ as a passer. I remember seeing a study that in terms of pure passing accuracy kicking out to shooters he was the most accurate passer in the league for a reason.
Great passing ability is what unlocks spacing. It's why Giannis was able to get triple teamed every time he drove into the paint vs the Raptors even though the Bucks were one of the most advanced teams in terms of fundamental floor spacing. MJ was certainly a good passer for a SG, but I for sure don't think he was a great one. He was very content ignoring teammates and rising up for contested midrangers just like Kawhi and KD are nowadays. MJs forays to the rim are gonna be walled off A LOT more than Westbrook's were due to the latter's superior passing ability and inconsistent finishing around the rim.
Not to mention Westbrook basically did Jack **** on defense all year and loafed around trying to pick passing lanes and snare rebounds. His offensive production has so many nuances to why he put up the numbers he did despite being a low IQ player. MJ also had the luxury of playing in the 90s where the total amount of ground covered by players on defense was at most half of what defenders are expected to cover now. And the type of defense being played now being predicated on assuming a help position and sprinting back to close out on a shooter and decelerating to zero all in a matter of yards is just another level of taxing compared to how they played back then.
If you're telling me MJ could average 35/7/7 on 57 TS% while doing jack **** on defense and making a mockery of the sport on offense leading a Thunder level team to 55 wins, I can probably buy that though that's me being highly optimistic and giving MJ legitimately every benefit of the doubt. Gun to my head though I'd absolutely take the under on his production if that's the type of statline you think he'll give me considering that's around what he did in the 80s which was just an atrociously bad era of defensive basketball and his motor was higher. I doubt he takes a rag tag team like that anywhere past the second round either.
So how better is it really when he's giving you 90% of that box score production in the 90s with elite defense thanks to him being more rested on both ends with a high level playmaker/floor general feeding him while also controlling the game on the defensive end. And I guarantee you if he intends to play all-time level wing defense as he's likely to try to do, the demands on his motor placed in this era compared to the 90s on the defensive end would stifle his offensive production to a far higher degree than I think you're willing to consider. Westbrook is just not the comparison to make here. You need to look at what comparable scorers like KD or 2 way players like Kawhi do when you try to scale MJ to this era. Their best offensive years absolutely do not concur with their best defensive years. So where does that consideration fall into your analysis?
Please don't bring up Kyle Korver my dude. He was literally unplayable in the Finals and couldn't hit the broad side of the barn vs the Warriors defense. Kerr compared to him is not only an inferior shooter BY FAR; but he's also a far inferior defender by virtue of the fact that Korver was bigger, stronger, and had much higher defensive IQ.
Also, those Westbrook teams were only average offensively. When he won MVP they were 16th in offensive rating. They got by on their D.
Similar to the Iverson 76ers
