Really nice, thorough breakdown of Miller's game. He'd really have been a nightmare in today's style of play.
The other part, where "experts" discuss what Jordan might do in today's league don't seem to take into account the fact that the players today are so much more athletic than they were in the eighties and nineties.
It's not a difficult argument to make that during his career, Jordan was, if not the most athletic player in the league, certainly near the top of a very short list. Now? It's possible that there are a couple of dozen guys with better raw athleticism than Jordan. This isn't to say that any or all of them are better players, only that he wouldn't be at such a competitive advantage now.
I think if, night to night, Jordan had to square up against the guys currently playing, he'd have needed to expend a lot more energy and effort than he did during his career. Also factor in that this more common freakish athleticism would require Jordan to spend a lot more energy playing defense on any given night. Phil Jackson might have tried to give Jordan easier assignments, but I'd guess that if an opponent was going off, he'd likely have demanded to switch onto that player.
Obviously, Jordan would be a hall-of-famer in any era, but these notions that he'd average 40+ points per game in today's league are ridiculous, especially when you factor in that he'd likely never become a guy expected to do much better than 35% from three. In his day, a guy shooting those numbers would have been elite, but today, you don't want that guy volume-shooting from distance.
I will concede, however, that he probably would get a whole lot more free throw attempts in the current era. It still wouldn't get him to 40 per game, but it's something to consider.
Really nice, thorough breakdown of Miller's game. He'd really have been a nightmare in today's style of play.
The other part, where "experts" discuss what Jordan might do in today's league don't seem to take into account the fact that the players today are so much more athletic than they were in the eighties and nineties.
It's not a difficult argument to make that during his career, Jordan was, if not the most athletic player in the league, certainly near the top of a very short list. Now? It's possible that there are a couple of dozen guys with better raw athleticism than Jordan. This isn't to say that any or all of them are better players, only that he wouldn't be at such a competitive advantage now.
I think if, night to night, Jordan had to square up against the guys currently playing, he'd have needed to expend a lot more energy and effort than he did during his career. Also factor in that this more common freakish athleticism would require Jordan to spend a lot more energy playing defense on any given night. Phil Jackson might have tried to give Jordan easier assignments, but I'd guess that if an opponent was going off, he'd likely have demanded to switch onto that player.
Obviously, Jordan would be a hall-of-famer in any era, but these notions that he'd average 40+ points per game in today's league are ridiculous, especially when you factor in that he'd likely never become a guy expected to do much better than 35% from three. In his day, a guy shooting those numbers would have been elite, but today, you don't want that guy volume-shooting from distance.
I will concede, however, that he probably would get a whole lot more free throw attempts in the current era. It still wouldn't get him to 40 per game, but it's something to consider.