elchengue20 wrote:kuclas wrote:elchengue20 wrote:Jordan didn't face a lot of great defenders in the 90's.
Igoudala, Shawn Marion, Tayshaun Prince, Paul George and young Khawi Leonard are way better one on one wing defenders than anyone MJ faced.
I think the only great defense he faced was the Detroit Pistons team defense which was like the 2008-2010 Celtics team defense.
Seriously. No way any of iggy, prince, George , and evening Leonard can defense Jordan 1:1 in open space.
How old are you? Like i said. Any poster born after 1980 probably doesn’t have a good idea how quick Jordan was.
And Jordan was deadly iso. Put Leonard our on island with Jordan 20 feet from the basket. I’d put my money on Jordan. Go ahead. Give Leonard help defense secondary switch defender after Jordan blow by Leonard. Rotating help defender leave Horace Grant wide open for dunk or John Paxton for easy wide open 3 pointer.
Paul George was zero chance vs Jordan in open space.
And there were good defenders in the 1990s. But Jordan has height advantage of smaller John Starks. Gary Payton became more effective against Jordan in the later years of Jordan career.
But comparing Jordan 1987-1993. Forget it. Only the pistons slowed Jordan down and he figured out the pistons by 1990.
Why you get so defensive? I'm not saying any of those players could completly shut down Jordan, he's the best 1vs1 scorer of all time, but for sure they could make his life harder than the defenders of his era. In a 7 game series that matters, a lot.
If i'm wrong, i invite you to name better wing defenders in the 90's, because John Starks and Gary Payton were point guards. They could guard Jordan for moments but thats like expecting Patrick Beverly to guard Leonard, LBJ or Kobe for an entire series, he will get destroyed sooner than later.
Why you only talk about 1987-1993 Jordan? He won half of his championships when he was past his athletic prime.
Also by 1990's rules playing 1vs1 basketball was easier, that isn't the case anymore.
The reason I mention 1987-1993 Jordan is because it’s age 24-30 Jordan era. His peak athletic age.
So we have to compare age 24-30 year old Paul George, Leonard, and other wings.
We all make fun of LeBron James defense these past few years but LeBron was a really good defender in his earlier days. So do we remember LeBron awesome defensive talents these days? Nope. We forgot he actually used to be a great defender.
So remember Jordan when he was elite athletic peak PLUS winning titles.
So if we think Leonard and George can guard Jordan. Can they guard similar age Jordan (age 24-30) because Leonard and George are ages 27/29 (Soo to be 28/30). Those are more apples to apples comparison.
As for wings in the late 1980s and early 1990s. You are right there weren’t many that were both Jordan height and similar athletic skills. So Jordan was ahead of his time with that view point. Most similar shooting guards were either too shot or not as athletic as Jordan. Sixers has hersey Hawkins who was 6 foot 3. And Hawkins was a good defense. But giving up 3 inches to Jordan was too much. But same thing can be said about LeBron. There isn’t anyone around to guard a 6 8 270 pound freight train. LeBron has a physical advantage over almost anyone who guards him similar to Jordan. Put a taller/strong guy on LeBron. He blows by. Put a smaller quicker guy on LeBron he will bull doze them. Elite legs ca players almost always have some type of physical advantage over their opponents. In a way. That’s why Steph Curry appeals to the young generation cause he doesn’t possess any elite physical traits. He’s pretty good ball handler but not isiah Thomas (pistons) quick. He’s not tall. Same with James harden. He’s not super quick. He just has great body control.
But Jordan played in era with more dominant 2 way centers. Centers who camped out in the interior and protected the rim.
The lane was much closed. unlike today. So with open lane to create offense. Jordan can easily average 40 plus points no issue in today’s era. I just have a hard time seeing defenders even with today’s length and similar athleticism being able to stay with Jordan’s first time. He beats you with his first step. It’s over. And we all know give him space he nails down the forgotten mid range with even more efficiency that the stats today claim to go for 3 points.
How many times did we ever see Jordan turnaround/fade-away. How do you defend that? You can’t.