J Shuttlesworth
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- Aug 6, 2012
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LeBron wouldn't have drafted Frank Kaminsky.
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Jordan definitely not a great evaluator of talent, but not on his lonesome there:
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Because the 2014 draft had a heap of good PGs?
There's like 1 half decent one and he went mid second round, so even the experts didn't see that one.
Nup. MJ in today’s league would destroy more so then he did in the 80s and 90s. No hand checks free flowing games of today with point scoring average up by so much.. be ridiculous actually.Weird waste of time Youtube video.
LeBron is probably the greatest floor lifter of all time. Even better than MJ.
But Curry is one of the best ceiling lifters of all time. He'd make any team immediately better, because he's so good off the ball.
Curry on the Lakers instead of LeBron, and they would still be title favorites.
Nup. MJ in today’s league would destroy more so then he did in the 80s and 90s. No hand checks free flowing games of today with point scoring average up by so much.. be ridiculous actually.
like fans lose their mind when people rate him as the 2nd best all time which is a GIGANTIC compliment.
There is nothing Jordan couldn't do.
Both true statements.Just catching up on this thread, I see jod is still in good form.
Both true statements.
Nobody is perfect. MJ as a basketball player was as close as you can get.You have a meltdown when anyone suggests MJ isn't perfect. Glass houses, stones etc...
Nobody is perfect. MJ as a basketball player was as close as you can get.
Lol.Your posts on him are basically fan fiction.
I don't think there is much validity in anything he says there. His expression on his face at the end when he says and that my case says it all, he knows he's clutching massively at straws and the way the other guys all find it hilarious.
Let's look at his ridiculous points though.
1. A total loser without Pippen.
So I don't think Nick Wright does much research, he's more a propaganda guy but Jordan was drafted to the Bulls who were god awful. They had the second worst record in the league (27-55) the season before Jordan arrived and avoided the worst record in the league by just one win, that's how bad they were. In Jordan's first year at the Bulls in which he improved them to 38-44 and dragged them into the playoffs, these were his teammates.
Dave Corzine
Chris Engler
Quinten Daily
Sidney Green
Dave Greenwood
Rod Higgins
Steve Johnson
Caldwell Jones
Charles Jones
Wes Matthews
Jawann Oldham
Ennis Whatley
Orlando Woolridge
Yikes. I mean who the fu** are any of those players. Woolridge the only half decent player but not even an All Star. Even die hard NBA fans would stuggle to know even any of those players.
In Jordan's second year in the league the Bulls managed to acquire a little help for Jordan. The Bulls traded Dave Greenwood (who?) amazingly for George Gervin a former All Star and big time scorer, but it would be Gervin's final year in the NBA before he retired. The Bulls also got John Paxson through free agency and Ennis Whatley was traded for Charles Oakley. Alas the Bulls went backwards finishing the season 30-52 because Jordan broke his foot and basically missed the entire season.
Jordan's third year in the league (second actually playing) and the Bulls surged up the standings finishing the season 40-42. He still had no help, the Bulls had lost Woolridge through free agency and just had Oakley and Paxson as help. The roster at this point had guys like ...
Gene Banks
Mike Brown
Fred Cofield
Steve Colter
Dave Corzine
Earl Cureton
Darren Dave
Pete Myers
Ben Poquette
Brad Sellers
Sedale Threatt
Elstone Turner
Granville Waiters
Perry Young
A veritable who's who of NBA Basketball.
The following year, Jordan's 4th, the Bulls drafted both Horace Grant and Scottie Pippen and finished the 87/88 season 50-32. So technically Nick Wright is correct. In the three years before Pippen's arrival the Bulls did not post a winning record. 38-44 in Jordan's rookie season, 30-52 in Jordan's second season (injured the whole year) and 40-42 in Jordan's third year.
So a total loser without Scottie Pippen is by and large correct, I dont know if making the playoffs every year before Pippen turned up with those rosters I've listed can be considered a total loser is up for discussion. Not to mention, Wright suggests Jordan only started winning once Pippen arrived, the Bulls went 50-32 in Pip's rookie season. Pippen wasnt a Jordan, LeBron, Duncan kind of rookie though, he averaged 7.9ppg, 3.8rpg and 2.1apg so I dont think Pippen suddenly turned the Bulls into a winning franchise, that was Jordan that did that as he won his first MVP on route to a 50 win season in 87/88.
So sure Nick Wright's first point is technically correct but if you actually dive into it, it's pretty ridiculous.
2. Never once beat Larry Bird.
This one is just a weird one. What has this got to do with anything? Wright says Jordan never once beat Larry Bird in the playoffs and yep that is absolutely true. In the 1985/86 playoffs, the Bulls lost to the Celtic 3-0 in the first round, the 1986 Boston Celtics are widely regarded as one of the greatest teams of all time. They won the championship that season, went 67-15 and had a roster with Larry Bird, McHale, Parish, Ainge, Dennis Johnson and Bill Walton. Jordan as great as he is, with zero help, is not winning a game there or the series.
Hell, in game two he scored an NBA playoffs record of 63 points in one game and Bird after the game described Jordan as God in disguise but still lost the game because the Celtics were just too great. This is also the same season where Jordan came back after breaking his foot and played just 18 regular season games, starting just 7.
The next year the Bulls faced the Celtics again where Gene Banks was Chicago's third top scorer in that series with 10ppg. Gene Banks. The Celtics meanwhile were the same team with four HOF's and beat Chicago 3-0.
Those two series were the only times Jordan and Bird met in the playoffs. Bird was in his prime and had a loaded roster and one of the greatest team of all time and Jordan had Gene Banks.
I mean this point that Nick Wright makes is just stupid.
3. Could never beat a super team. (Celtics, Pistons, Magic)
Well this is just wrong as the three teams he mentions that were super teams that Jordan could never beat, well he beat two of them. In fact he swept two of them. You just read the reasons above why Jordan and the Bulls couldnt beat the Celtics in those two years, after which the Celtics kind of fell away anyways and despite making the playoffs, never ran into Chicago again.
Jordan swept the Pistons on his way to his first title and the Magic beat a rusty Jordan having sat out almost two years of basketball and having only played 17 games on his return. The following season, Jordan's Bulls went 72-10 and swept the the 60 win Orlando Magic "superteam" as Nick Wright calls them.
So his third point is just wrong as Jordan beat both the Pistons and the Magic.
4. The East was terrible.
The East was far from terrible so I dont know where he is getting that stuff from. Nick Wright points to the fact that during Jordan's title runs that in the East no team had more than one HOFer on it. But I didnt know that was how you judge great teams. Sure HOFers are great basketball players and having more HOFers certainly helps but basketball is a team game and there was plenty of great teams in the East.Since
Since Wright is only going from when Jordan won his first title, first of all he beat the Pistons on route to his first title and they had more than one HOF but if we dont count those then yeah he is correct about his one HOF shout. Atlanta and Nique, the Cavs didnt have any HOFers, Knicks and Ewing, Magic and Shaq, Indiana and Reggie Miller, the Heat and Zo but that doesnt mean the East was terrible.
Those Pacers teams were loaded with Miller, Smits, Rose, Mullin, Jackson, the Knicks were a great team and a championship one if it wasnt for Jordan with Ewing, Starks, Oakley, Mason, Rivers, Smith. Those Cavs teams with Mark Price, Daugherty, Larry Nance and co. The 61 win Heat team with Alonzo Mourning, Tim Hardaway, Majerle and Mashburn.
The East was far from terrible so I dont know what Nick Wright is going on about.
5. Everyone won rings on his watch. (Bird, Kareem, Magic, Isiah, Olajuwon, Drexler, Shaq, Kobe, Robinson, Duncan)
This is Nick Wright's most amusing and ridiculous point. He includes guys winning championships on Jordan watch which include Shaq and Kobe and Robinson and Duncan. Haha. Jordan retired for three years came back at 40 and played with a bunch of scrubs at Washington. Somehow I dont think it was really Jordan's watch anymore.
He includes Drexler and Olajuwon haha again Jordan had retired. Then includes Magic, Kareem, Bird and Isiah who all won titles before Jordan got his first.
The point people make in the GOAT debate about LeBron and Jordan is that people do eat on LeBron's watch. LeBron has been the best player in the league for a long time now but once LBJ reached the top, he was knocked off. He reached the top again, he was knocked off. He's reached the top again now, let's see what happens. The point about Jordan is that once he got to the top, it was over. Nobody ate. He had to retire to let someone else win, then he came out of retirement and had to retire for a second time to let other teams win again.
Jordan was never knocked off his perch like LeBron has so this is a really weak point from Nick Wright.
So in summary, no I dont agree with you that everything Nick Wright said there was valid.
when he was switched on to Curry or important isolation plays where he had himLeBron made Steph look like an AA player. LeBron never guarded Steph, so I'm not sure how that works.
LeBron is great off the ball and blocking shots? You're seriously comparing him to David Robinson and Hakeem? Come on. Dude averages basically the same blocks a game as MJ (inc playoffs) despite being bigger/taller. Just because he's had some awesome highlight blocks that doesn't mean much. I'd argue that he's way below what he should be averaging (around 1.5 blocks per game).
Jrue?LBJ can put clamps on
Steph
Lillard
Harden
Giannis
not sure Kawhi can, and MJ ankles broken by AI plus a Washington Bullets jersey Rod Strickland
pretty diverse set of players, usually when they say that can play all 5positions they are talking on the offensive end
Dru Holiday is one who can defend bigs at 6'4" with long levers and narrow shoulders, Shaq and Embiid don't count
Simmons will on defensive end when he becomes a bit stronger because Giannis makes him his b*tch dow on the low block
I can criticise his offense, but I put on record when he brings it on the other side of the floorYou obviously realise that LeBron has never played a playoff series against (peak) Harden or Giannis. He also never defends Lillard or Curry. You've just picked 5 great players.