Michael Jordan would really struggle against today's athletes

[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.

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.

Giannis is 6’11” and has about 50 lbs of solid muscle on MJ. They have nothing in common.

Go ahead and name the SGs who are averaging 30 without a 3-point shot.

[Kobe187]

Michael Jordan is a once in a lifetime type of athlete, he ran the 40 yard dash in 4.38-seconds! Usian Bolt, and the fastest time ever recorded in the NFL, have a time of 4.22 seconds. Jordan had a recorded vertical of 46 inches measured at North Carolina. MJ might be the greatest pure athlete of all time, a rare specimen and a freak of nature. The insane skill, awareness, and competitiveness to go along with the incredible athleticism would make Jordan dominant in any era.

[durden_tyler]

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?

He'll dominate Kawhi.

[DavidSterned]

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.

Is that supposed to be meant to disparage him? Walter Davis was quite good.

[nfmos]

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.

You must be like 15 years old. Your experience with MJ is only article quotes and youtube clips. Im so sad you had to miss him actually playing.

[Antinomy]

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.

Lol. That dude didn’t watch a second of Michael Jordan. He’s just regurgitating an autobiography. Anytime you see someone present Jordan’s career the way he did, you know he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

Notice the name-dropping & “physical defense” trope. Maybe he doesn’t know that 1987 was the highest paced season in the past 40 years.

[dantheman74]

You'd have to have a serious from of mental illness to see Jorans vids on youtube and think he wasn't athletic enough to compete/dominate today.
lol @ Dumars being "the bane of his existence"
Back then players paid respect to opponents more often as basketball was a growing global phenom and it made for good soap opera. It was a hill you had to climb to make each and every round and when you finally beat your nemesis they paid respects for the good of the game.
Honestly though I think Dumars was probably one of the boringest players ever to watch, and a really overrated defender. He had thugs behind him ready to smash you to the floor.

[SNPA]

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.

This is correct.

Anyone with basketball knowledge that watches Jordan and sees how he moves around the court can tell he is all time elite athletically.

This thread is embarrassing.

[durden_tyler]

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.

Giannis is 6’11” and has about 50 lbs of solid muscle on MJ. They have nothing in common.

Go ahead and name the SGs who are averaging 30 without a 3-point shot.

This is true, Giannis have nothing in common with Jordan. Scoring prowess, Giannis is like a 5 and Jordan a 10...

[Alize]

Its okay, there are many player today that are similiar athletically

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.

This is correct.

Anyone with basketball knowledge that watches Jordan and sees how he moves around the court can tell he is all time elite athletically.

This thread is embarrassing.

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[Alize]

Lol, you can cleary see the struggling from 88 to 90. Delusional.

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".

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[AussieCeltic]

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.

43 minutes a game and only scored 18 points a game against the 8th best defense they year?? And now you’re blaming it on the “roles”.. Wow. You can blame it on anything you want, it still happened.

You quote MJs bad games of 23-24 points against one of the best defensive teams of all time just proves my point. He still averaged 31 against them for his career.

MJ wasn’t unbeatable but he won more than Lebron did.

[HMFFL]

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?

Last one. Who was the toughest guy to guard in your career, other than Michael Jordan? Again: You cannot say Michael Jordan.

You know, Jackie MacMullan did a great story on him a couple of weeks ago — it was Reggie Lewis for me. He was long, athletic, smooth, he could raise up over you and shoot. He was a really good defender, too. He was a tough, tough cover. Man, he was a tough guy to guard. He was definitely the one, other than MJ, who was the toughest for me to figure out. He was so long, and you couldn’t really get physical with him, because he was so slim, and it always seemed like I was getting called for fouls. He was a great, great player.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/pistonpowered.com/2013/08/07/joe-dumars-reveals-the-player-who-was-second-toughest-to-guard-behind-michael-jordan-of-course/amp/



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[HurdyGurdyMan]

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?

seek professional help, seriously

[Air Apparent]

has anyone actually though this though? i didnt know this was a thing

usually its the other way around, that current players would get destroyed in the 80s 90s

[Jordan Stopper]

That first picture isn't athleticism.

It's art!

[bullsnewdynasty]

Jordan played 37 minutes a game at age 39. And he played 82 games.

Compared to a guy like Kawhi who plays 32 minutes at age 28 and needs rest every 2 games.

MJ was not only more athletic, but had more stamina and endurance than any current player.

[HomoSapien]

I can't believe I'm engaging in this, but why the hell not. In the 16-17 season Demar Derozan averaged 27.3 ppg despite only making 0.4 three's a game. This season, Russell Westbrook is averaging 27.5ppg while shooting 25% from downtown. As someone else mentioned, Giannis is third in the league in scoring without being able to hit a three. I feel pretty confident that Jordan would be able to score just fine in this era without a reliable three-point shot.

[In SVG We Trust]

If you're going to cite "athletes" Kawhi is not even the best example. Yes, he's a great defender, but not an out of this world athlete.

I think some people don't understand athleticism is something different in every sport. Kawhi is one of the most athletic players in NBA history

[JustOneFix]

You are right. Bradley Beal and Luka Doncic, below average athletes are scoring 30ppg without breaking a sweat, but MJ would "struggle".

Jesus Christ, they should really impose some kind of a age rule here on real gm.