Gerald Henderson beats Michael Jordan

[airowe]

Here we go again.

[NSDukeFan]

I'm guessing that was tongue-in-cheek, because I've never met anyone who doesn't think Jordan was the greatest player ever. I mean, all three were great, but only one of them wasn't taller than everyone else.

Stick around and you may meet quite a few. I'm assuming you are quite young if you haven't met anyone who will not give Jordan the mantle of best ever. I don't have strong feelings one way or the other, but Olympic Fan (I think) has made a great case for Russell on these boards.

[sagegrouse]

I'm guessing that was tongue-in-cheek, because I've never met anyone who doesn't think Jordan was the greatest player ever. I mean, all three were great, but only one of them wasn't taller than everyone else.

Starter, you need to meet some more people. Re Lebron and Michael: Jordan didn't win an NBA champioship until his seventh season, and folks were wondering whether he ever would.

In terms of greatest player, I would give a lot of credit for defense and rebounds, not just scoring or dramatic last-second shots. And I would give weight to championships but not to the exclusion of everything else. Jordan is certainly in the top ten and probably in the top five of those whose careers have been completed. He goes along with Russell (championships, defense, RBs, scoring early in his career); Wilt (his best years were off the charts -- 50 ppg average?); Oscar (few championship but didn't he average a triple double in some years?); Kareem (offensive brilliance and staying power).

sagegrouse

[CrazieDUMB]

There's an excellent article on freedarko about what it's like to play HORSE against Michael Jordan. Never being a Jordan fan (I was partial to Ewing and the Knicks, as well as John Stockton), it's nice to see that the guy's true psyche is starting to come out.

Freedarko, by the way, is a fantastic blog about pro basketball. It can get kind of heady; that said, it's like the McSweeney's of basketball blogs.

(Warning: some foul language)
http://freedarko.blogspot.com/2010/0...st-friend.html

[slower]

There's an excellent article on freedarko about what it's like to play HORSE against Michael Jordan. Never being a Jordan fan (I was partial to Ewing and the Knicks, as well as John Stockton), it's nice to see that the guy's true psyche is starting to come out.

Freedarko, by the way, is a fantastic blog about pro basketball. It can get kind of heady; that said, it's like the McSweeney's of basketball blogs.

(Warning: some foul language)
http://freedarko.blogspot.com/2010/0...st-friend.html

Just be aware that Free Darko is HEAVILY populated by Tar Heels (Bethlehem Shoals and several other regulars are Hole grads) and you will find a regular dose of Duke hate going on. Otherwise, an entertaining site, although much plagued by self-important bloviation and hipper-than-thou proclamations.

[CrazieDUMB]

Just be aware that Free Darko is HEAVILY populated by Tar Heels (Bethlehem Shoals and several other regulars are Hole grads) and you will find a regular dose of Duke hate going on. Otherwise, an entertaining site, although much plagued by self-important bloviation and hipper-than-thou proclamations.

Haha - well I guess after hunting around the internets for long enough I don't even notice Duke Hate anymore, although you are correct in this regard. I do agree that FD does espouse a very hipper-than-thou attitude, but that's the price you have to pay sometimes. I have similar feelings towards Pitchfork.

[slower]

That WAS a pretty great Free Darko post, though!

[Kdogg]

Sorry, I didn't know that. I'm not an MJ expert. But anyone that calls him a sociopathic competitor needs to be called out.

In college, Micheal Jordon would cheat at cards against Buzz Peterson's GRANDMOTHER.

[Acymetric]

i HATE that the hornets, and subsequently, the bobtails were located in charlotte SC...i often think about what it would be like to have an NBA team here in the triangle (and don't draw comparisons to the hurricanes, that's HOCKEY)


I'd buy a season ticket. no matter WHO was on the team...but everytime i pontificate on the possibility, everyone shoots it down saying we have too much basketball here already...

This is so true, I would love a team here. I've managed to latch on to the Panthers pretty well, but even if G was playing starters minutes I'm not sure I could really get behind the team as a whole, even if it wasn't run and staffed by tar heels...I just don't feel any personal connection to anything in Charlotte. The columns their paper run doesn't really help their cause.

[noyac]

Looks like yahoo updates the article and it appeared on their frontpage news.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/bal...urn=nba,225258

G is better than MJ. I love it

[AZLA]

I can tell you right now that Jordan is not going to like seeing those quotes about his golf game, even though they're all in fun.

My understanding is G is an incredible stick -- scratch or near scratch -- and it may not be completely be out of the realm of possibilities that we'd see him on the Sr. Tour well in the future or at least a contender at a PGA celebrity pro am. If Jordan thought G was tough at H.O.R.S.E, he's in for a rude awakening if he plays G on the links.

Just PLEASE get him on the court ASAP and as much as possible -- he's got more than enough talent and class to be a force in the NBA.

[SupaDave]

My understanding is G is an incredible stick -- scratch or near scratch -- and it may not be completely be out of the realm of possibilities that we'd see him on the Sr. Tour well in the future or at least a contender at a PGA celebrity pro am. If Jordan thought G was tough at H.O.R.S.E, he's in for a rude awakening if he plays G on the links.

Just PLEASE get him on the court ASAP and as much as possible -- he's got more than enough talent and class to be a force in the NBA.

Actually you should look around for it but G has stated that he plans to play on the PGA Tour (NOT celebrity) when he retires from basketball. He's that good. He's played golf with Tiger Woods and all of that stuff that high potential players get to do. Jordan wants NONE of that...

[Acymetric]

Actually you should look around for it but G has stated that he plans to play on the PGA Tour (NOT celebrity) when he retires from basketball. He's that good. He's played golf with Tiger Woods and all of that stuff that high potential players get to do. Jordan wants NONE of that...

As excited as I get over the idea of watching G dominate the golf course, I hope he has to put those plans off for a long, long time. But boy will it be cool if he decides to do that.

[AZLA]

Actually you should look around for it but G has stated that he plans to play on the PGA Tour (NOT celebrity) when he retires from basketball. He's that good. He's played golf with Tiger Woods and all of that stuff that high potential players get to do. Jordan wants NONE of that...

Aha! Good point, found it (maybe it was posted before, but worth another look). PGA and NBA -- that would be an incredible accomplishment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwsF_QrgeN4

[Newton_14]

Actually you should look around for it but G has stated that he plans to play on the PGA Tour (NOT celebrity) when he retires from basketball. He's that good. He's played golf with Tiger Woods and all of that stuff that high potential players get to do. Jordan wants NONE of that...

Correctamundo! Golf is actually the reason G got a late start on his basketball career relative to the kids that only focused on basketball all the way up. He seriously considered choosing golf as his profession before deciding on basketball sometime near his 13th or 14th Birthday I believe. He supposedly had/has enough game where had he not chosen basketball he would have had a real chance to be on the PGA Tour today.

I am glad he went with basketball in the end but not absurd to think we will see him on the links as a serious player one day.

And on another note, had he chosen basketball earlier in life, he likely would have been a much more accomplished basketball player coming in to Duke...

[Starter]

All right, now that the abuse is out of your systems, let's talk some hoops. To get this out of the way, I'm 30 years old, I'm an NBA guy and I know quite a few people already -- even some basketball people! I just don't know a whole lot that don't think Jordan was the greatest ever. I guess I know a few more now, namely those of you that responded here.

Russell was 6-foot-10 (I used a little hyperbole there, I'm prone to it) on a ridiculously loaded team. He was certainly the greatest defensive big man of all time without any question -- guy used to block shots by looking at people -- but I would have thought that someone of his height being considered to be the greatest player of all time would have scored over 19 ppg even once.

Now there's no doubt Kareem was awesome, and was for a long time. He was also 7-foot-2 and won five of his six championships on a loaded team with indisputably the greatest point guard of all time -- which probably helped his scoring averages. He led the league in scoring twice (Jordan led the league 10 times). Kareem's numbers, by the way, are essentially identical to Shaq's. (Go look, it's uncanny) Would Shaq be in the running here? Probably not?

Now Wilt used his size advantage better than anyone else as a scorer and rebounder, but had just -- "just" -- two titles, and was a 51% free-throw shooter. Actually, I'd probably put him over Kareem and Russell, but that's just me. As someone said, he averaged like 50 points once.

Note that none of the three of them topped Jordan in career efficiency rating, if you're into that sort of thing. That's understandable though, since Jordan ranks No. 1 all-time.

In terms of greatest player, I would give a lot of credit for defense and rebounds, not just scoring or dramatic last-second shots. And I would give weight to championships but not to the exclusion of everything else. Jordan is certainly in the top ten and probably in the top five of those whose careers have been completed.

sagegrouse

Probably in the Top 5?!?

Regardless, why should I discount Jordan's clutch shots? Isn't that a good thing -- or a great thing? He won six championships without the benefit of even one great big man (unless you count Rodman) and probably would have won more if he didn't retire twice in his prime, so there's that. He was just a scorer, right? Meanwhile he was first-team all defense nine times, ranks second all-time in steals (props to John Stockton) and won DPOY once -- typically a big-man award. He averaged over 6 rebounds for his career, hardly deficient for a guard. He was 6-foot-6 and dominated all facets of the game once he reached his prime. To me, he was clearly the greatest all-around player of all time.

But, as you guys said, I'm young and don't know a lot of people. It's all good, I'm cool with disagreeing.

[slower]

As excited as I get over the idea of watching G dominate the golf course...

Nobody said ANYTHING about him being a "dominant" golfer.

[whirlieduke4]

Nobody said ANYTHING about him being a "dominant" golfer.

...I think you missed the point.

[Acymetric]

Nobody said ANYTHING about him being a "dominant" golfer.

True, and if my post had been serious commentary on his golf game instead of a tongue in cheek statement about hoping he has a long NBA career that would have been worth pointing out. But thanks! Would you mind correcting any slight flaws in my future posts as well? It would be sooooo helpful!

Besides, who knows how good he'll be 30 years down the road when golf is his sole focus? This is, of course, moot if he changes his mind about playing golf professionally after basketball, thats a long time for him to change his mind about any post NBA plans.

[slower]

True, and if my post had been serious commentary on his golf game instead of a tongue in cheek statement about hoping he has a long NBA career that would have been worth pointing out. But thanks! Would you mind correcting any slight flaws in my future posts as well? It would be sooooo helpful!

Besides, who knows how good he'll be 30 years down the road when golf is his sole focus? This is, of course, moot if he changes his mind about playing golf professionally after basketball, thats a long time for him to change his mind about any post NBA plans.

You misspelled "so".

Seriously, sorry to offend. Obviously, I missed the point. It happens.