BuzzerBeater Forums

When MJ played, players couldn't be double-teamed when the didn't have the ball, and the old illegal defense rules (eliminated in 2002) made defense much more complicated than it is now. Most defense in MJ's time was pretty much just man-on-man. hence, it was really hard to keep the ball out of his hands.

The hand-check rules are, as said above, so much stricter now, too. How many free throws was Miami shooting in the playoffs? Some games it seemed the did almost as much scoring from the FT line than the field! LeBron and Wade have a knack for drawing fouls. (That's something Derrick Rose get criticized for often, though he got better at this in early 2011 and then stopped getting fouled some time in the playoffs, probably because he got tired of getting hacked so much. Rose is more MJ-like in this respect where he's go for the best shot and try to avoid getting hacked, though with MJ it was also because the refs didn't always call a foul when the contact was minimal. Now there's a foul when the defender coughs too hard on the somebody driving the lane.)

Enough said.
His Airness has no equal!

To compare any NBA player post-MJ, to MJ, is heresy!!!

Such a gifted basketbal player, human being, cannot be so lightly compared. I feel sad that so many feel the need to tarnish his greatness. Leave him on that pedestal. He is there for a reason.

Such a gifted basketbal player, human being, cannot be so lightly compared

personally i think his personality wasn't that outstanding, but you are right for the goat discussion there was no other player after him(and maybe just 2-3 before).

LeChoke!

Magic won a championship in his rookie year, Bird won one the next year...so in comparison, Jordan took a long time to get his first ring. Give LeChoke time...

Last edited by Solana_Steve at 6/28/2011 2:41:56 AM

Magic won a championship in his rookie year, Bird won one the next year...so in comparison, Jordan took a long time to get his first ring. Give LeChoke time...

Well, let the comparison (re)begin. After six years, neither of them had championships.

In six playoff appearances, LeChoke(I think this one is going to stick around for a while) averages 43.6 MPG, 7.0 APG, 46% FG, 74% FT, 713-956 FT, and 28.0 PPG

In the first six playoff appearances, Michael averages 42.9 MPG("roughly" the same), 48.55 % FG, 6.3 APG, 85.01% (I believe this is significantly higher),519-623 FT, 36.08 PPG!.

Clearly, Jordan is a better scorer and not only because of the obvious 36 PPG, but also because LeChoke's average is lying a little bit, because he gets a whistle whenever someone give him small push, shove, ugly look, whatever... and his real ppg is about 23-24, which, needless to say is not that impressive, plus most of his FG were layups or dunks, not jumpshots, so FG% should really go down with 2 or 3% at least. All this being said, you should already be wandering if this thread should really exist.
Plus, Michael played in the times when "anything goes" was at its best. So, he had to counter all sorts of pushes, shoves, aggressive picks, trash talk, etc.

And for the conclusion, Michael never went "at war" with the media, and never paid too much attention to it. And in that department, LeChokey made the biggest mistake of his carrer

I think the big comparison should be not in what they've done, but in what they've failed to do. Jordan never failed like this...

I don't know, LeBron has good chemistry with his teammates and isn't necessarily berating team employees or anything.

Proof: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP1Hv29Zvok
Sure it was Cleveland but still.

and if we talk about character, really there was no athlete that was called GOAT and was a nice guy to hang around. MJ was a bad ass, kobe too, Pele and Maradona in football were the same. But no one was so disrespectful to his teammates or his team the way Lebron is.

Yes, but unlike MJ, Kobe and Maradona....Pele never used his hands.