Michael Jordan would really struggle against today's athletes

[brutalitops]

Considering he's 57 yeah probably

[90sAllDecade]

With the evolution of diet and modern day pizzas I say no.

[CeltsfanSinceBirth]

But you post a picture from the late 80's and he couldn't even beat the weak athletes from that era. How is he supposed to handle Kawhi Leonard when he couldn't even handle Joe Dumars?

Bruh. How could Lebron handle Dumars if he couldn't handle JJ Barea?

No. Jordan literally struggled against Dumars for years. Every year. Same problem over and over again. Jordan said Dumars was the best defender he's ever faced and the only one that checked him for an entire game.

Jordan's numbers vs the Pistons:
86-87 - 40 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 3.7 apg, 46% FG
87-88 - 38 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 6.2 apg, 48% FG
88-89 - 27.7 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 9.2 apg, 45% FG
89-90 - 26 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 5.0 apg, 43% FG
90-91 - 31.6ppg, 6.6 rpg, 3.4 apg, 53% FG
91-92 - 25.8ppg, 3.4 rpg, 5.6 apg, 52% FG
92-93 - 31 ppg, 7 rpg, 4.5 apg, 49% FG
94-95 (only 2 games because he just came back) - 23 ppg, 8.5rpg, 8 apg, 49% FG
95-96 - 37.8 ppg, 8 rpg, 3 apg, 54.5% FG
96-97 - 19.8, 7 rpg, 6 apg, 42% FG
97-98 - 25 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 6.5 apg, 40% FG

Wouldn't exactly call that "struggling".

[DavidSterned]

Honest question because im not sure, but was realgm like this 10-20 years ago? I dont remember there being so many lunatic fans of players when i joined. It resembles the political climate in many ways.

Pennebaker is an obvious troll. I'm surprised so many people are still giving him the credit of assuming that he posts in good faith.

[TheGOATRises007]

Honest question because im not sure, but was realgm like this 10-20 years ago? I dont remember there being so many lunatic fans of players when i joined. It resembles the political climate in many ways.

Pennebaker is an obvious troll. I'm surprised so many people are still giving him the credit of assuming that he posts in good faith.

He does to his credit try to be somewhat creative, but yeah he trolls about.

[draftnightsuit]

Yes.

[Ice Trae]

Was expecting LakerLegend to respond to Pennebaker with his LeBron HGH pic collection. Am disappointed

[MoochieNorris]

op i like your style.

anyone who says mike wouldn't be able to hang today is straight up coping.

he averaged 37 a game in 86-87 when defenses were arguably at peak physicality.

he'd average 40 easy in today's game. his scoring numbers would look like wilt's in this day and age.
this man beat magic, clyde, chuck, malone, stockton and payton/kemp for his rings(with the team who drafted him unlike false GOATs who squad up with other all stars) and people are gonna act like he had it easy. on the way there he took out people like shaq, ewing, reggie, zeke.

what else do you want from him?

this man changed the world. he's the reason that 90% of everyone under 40 here follows the NBA.

[WHITE_HOT_HEAT]

I don't know what the purpose of this thread is... Jordan was an exceptional athlete and was barely also ever injured (could be all the rampant drug use in 90s but anyway).. One of the, if not the GOAT.
The thread doesn't hold up well on sarcasm or facts...

[Pennebaker]

Bruh. How could Lebron handle Dumars if he couldn't handle JJ Barea?

No. Jordan literally struggled against Dumars for years. Every year. Same problem over and over again. Jordan said Dumars was the best defender he's ever faced and the only one that checked him for an entire game.

MJ averaged 31/7/6 against Dumars in regular season.. including 59 & 61 point performances.

30/7/6 in playoffs... but whatever helps you sleep at night man

I'm going to guess that you're younger and you don't really know about what happened in the 80's?



This is what really happened. It really did.

And then it happened again the next year.

[Jakay]

Yea h guys like Clyde Drexler, Charles Barkley, Shawn Kemp, Dominique Wilkens, Grant Hill, Penny Hardaway, they were really pretty average athletes too.

[AussieCeltic]

No. Jordan literally struggled against Dumars for years. Every year. Same problem over and over again. Jordan said Dumars was the best defender he's ever faced and the only one that checked him for an entire game.

MJ averaged 31/7/6 against Dumars in regular season.. including 59 & 61 point performances.

30/7/6 in playoffs... but whatever helps you sleep at night man

I'm going to guess that you're younger and you don't really know about what happened in the 80's?



This is what really happened. It really did.

And Lebron averaged 18 points in a finals series against JJ Barea. Does that diminish his other games?? I literally posted MJ's stats against Dumars.. Whichever way you cut it, 31/7/6 is not struggling

[prolific passer]

Yea h guys like Clyde Drexler, Charles Barkley, Shawn Kemp, Dominique Wilkens, Grant Hill, Penny Hardaway, they were really pretty average athletes too.

[Pennebaker]

MJ averaged 31/7/6 against Dumars in regular season.. including 59 & 61 point performances.

30/7/6 in playoffs... but whatever helps you sleep at night man

I'm going to guess that you're younger and you don't really know about what happened in the 80's?



This is what really happened. It really did.

And Lebron averaged 18 points in a finals series against JJ Barea. Does that diminish his other games?? I literally posted MJ's stats against Dumars.. Whichever way you cut it, 31/7/6 is not struggling

Still no. Look, LeBron played 43 minutes a game. Barea didn't even play half that and when he did play he mostly defended other guards. Barea was only on LeBron sporadically and he was an overall -24 in 6 games in general.

Marion was the primary guy assigned to LeBron, obviously. But even that is somewhat irrelevant because LeBron's statistics in that series had less to do with defense and more to do with confusion between him and Wade over roles.

In any case, Dumars vs Jordan were legendary, epic struggles, which saw Jordan ultimately on the losing end for 3 consecutive seasons.

[Tracymcgoaty]

Season resumes today Covid be damned we've got MJ virus seeping from all over this board.

[Optms]

90's had the greatest collection of athletes to come from the big man position. The 00's had the greatest collection of athletes to come from the guard position.

Today, outside of a few generational freak athletes, I would say athleticism is average relative to the previous 3 decades. Some of the greatest players today aren't even athletic. Steph Curry and Jokic for example can barely chase down rabbits and can barely clear a toddler. Harden isn't running anyone down either.

[draftnightsuit]

op i like your style.

anyone who says mike wouldn't be able to hang today is straight up coping.

he averaged 37 a game in 86-87 when defenses were arguably at peak physicality.

he'd average 40 easy in today's game. his scoring numbers would look like wilt's in this day and age.
this man beat magic, clyde, chuck, malone, stockton and payton/kemp for his rings(with the team who drafted him unlike false GOATs who squad up with other all stars) and people are gonna act like he had it easy. on the way there he took out people like shaq, ewing, reggie, zeke.

what else do you want from him?

this man changed the world. he's the reason that 90% of everyone under 40 here follows the NBA.

There was absolutely no defense in the NBA in 1987. The pace was also faster back then.

Walter Davis averaged 24 PPG in 1987 LOL

MJ would have absolutely zero chance of touching 37 PPG today. He’d struggle to get to 30 PPG without a 3-point shot, which he never had.

The only time he was able to shoot was when they pushed in the 3-point line.

[prolific passer]

op i like your style.

anyone who says mike wouldn't be able to hang today is straight up coping.

he averaged 37 a game in 86-87 when defenses were arguably at peak physicality.

he'd average 40 easy in today's game. his scoring numbers would look like wilt's in this day and age.
this man beat magic, clyde, chuck, malone, stockton and payton/kemp for his rings(with the team who drafted him unlike false GOATs who squad up with other all stars) and people are gonna act like he had it easy. on the way there he took out people like shaq, ewing, reggie, zeke.

what else do you want from him?

this man changed the world. he's the reason that 90% of everyone under 40 here follows the NBA.

There was absolutely no defense in the NBA in 1987. The pace was also faster back then.

Walter Davis averaged 24 PPG in 1987 LOL

MJ would have absolutely zero chance of touching 37 PPG today. He’d struggle to get to 30 PPG without a 3-point shot, which he never had.

The only time he was able to shoot was when they pushed in the 3-point line.

[TheGOATRises007]

op i like your style.

anyone who says mike wouldn't be able to hang today is straight up coping.

he averaged 37 a game in 86-87 when defenses were arguably at peak physicality.

he'd average 40 easy in today's game. his scoring numbers would look like wilt's in this day and age.
this man beat magic, clyde, chuck, malone, stockton and payton/kemp for his rings(with the team who drafted him unlike false GOATs who squad up with other all stars) and people are gonna act like he had it easy. on the way there he took out people like shaq, ewing, reggie, zeke.

what else do you want from him?

this man changed the world. he's the reason that 90% of everyone under 40 here follows the NBA.

There was absolutely no defense in the NBA in 1987. The pace was also faster back then.

Walter Davis averaged 24 PPG in 1987 LOL

MJ would have absolutely zero chance of touching 37 PPG today. He’d struggle to get to 30 PPG without a 3-point shot, which he never had.

The only time he was able to shoot was when they pushed in the 3-point line.

Giannis averages 30 pgg without a 3pt shot.

Just stop. You're embarrassing yourself.

The greatest scorer of all-time would have no problems averaging 30 ppg.

With the amount of switching that occurs in today's games, he'd destroy teams in isolation.

[triple_threat]

But you post a picture from the late 80's and he couldn't even beat the weak athletes from that era. How is he supposed to handle Kawhi Leonard when he couldn't even handle Joe Dumars?

Not sure, maybe Kawhi would lock him up like he did LeBron in the Finals?

Funny thing is, Pippen was a far better athlete than Leonard and Jordan went against him everyday in practice.

So gets a far better athlete than leonard as a teammate AND doesn't face a perimeter defender like Leonard. Jeez way to stack the deck.