Bill Walton thinks Michael Jordan was just an average Athlete

In the closing minutes of the Oregon-USC basketball game on Wednesday, Bill Walton decided to take a few minutes to rip into his co-announcer a little and take a dig at Michael Jordan, all with a smile on his face. It was actually kind of incredible!

Here is the conversation in its near entirety, although we cut out some conversation about the actual game that happened along the way (emphasis ours):

[quote]Walton: [Dillon Brooks] drives to the lane for simple double clutch layups that tend to amaze you [Dave Pasch]. No wonder you think that MJ is the greatest player ever. I mean, Michael made those plays seem routine.

Pasch: We’re back to this now?

Walton: It all rolls into one. What I loved about Michael Jrdan was his commitment to the team, his emphasis on physical fitness, footwork, fundamentals and his ability to figure out how how they’re going to get the job done. Because Michael, face it -- [b]the guy was basically average in terms of size, strength, speed, jumping ability[/b], all the things that you seem to think make a great player. That guy was just a tremendous visionary like Thomas Edison -- he turned the lights on.

Pasch: I wouldn’t call Michael Jordan average when it comes to, uh, speed and jumping ability.


Walton: Well…

Pasch: Remember when Jordan took off from the freeline in a dunk contest? I know Dr. J had done this previously, but…[/quote]

[url]https://vine.co/v/OPW29BInbI2[/url]

[url]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/12/bill-walton-michael-jordan_n_6672370.html[/url]

You're late.

[url]http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=367932[/url]

[QUOTE=JohnMax]Walton: [Dillon Brooks] drives to the lane for simple double clutch layups that tend to amaze you [Dave Pasch]. No wonder you think that MJ is the greatest player ever. I mean, Michael made those plays seem routine.

Pasch: We

did bill walton move onto crack...?

[IMG]http://media.giphy.com/media/UROd8WyT84Z4k/giphy.gif[/IMG]
jordan is one of the GOAT athletes ever..

That's ridiculous.

Jordan was an absolute elite athlete. And we're not even mentioning his length and hands which allowed him to be so effective around the rim. While LeBron is a freak as well, there are certain areas where I think Jordan was still more gifted than him. I don't think LeBron for example ever possessed the grace and elasticity that Jordan had, which allowed him to move and shift his body mid-air in search of better angles. LeBron can certainly push people around more easily, but Jordan was able to achieve similar results by being more elastic I think. On the other hand, Kobe I would say was a level below in athleticism to both players.

Even in his second three peat Jordan was still a bull physically, and could back down almost any guard. All of this while retaining more than enough mobility. So that means that even in an advanced age he still possessed great physical attributes that allowed him to pack muscle without losing speed and explosivness. Remember that most older players have gone the other way, they have lost some muscle to retain mobility. Jordan could do both, which shows how great he was.

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"Average" :yaohappy:

Bill Walton is a weird motherf*cker.

[QUOTE=Prometheus]

Bill Walton is a weird motherf*cker.

[/QUOTE]

[SIZE="3"]Walton is just mad because MJ destroyed his paint-camping[/SIZE]


[IMG]http://gifsforum.com/images_new/gif/other/grand/4f4c41732d2efc336f98c983acb52e72.gif[/IMG]


while the new [url=http://www.nba.com/nba101/misunderstood_0708.html]defensive 3 seconds rule[/url] implemented in 2005 bans paint-camping under any circumstances, defenders in previous eras were allowed to paint-camp, which enabled better rim protection and allowed defenders to help from closer distances on post players.

all coaches in previous eras foolishly ran offenses that positioned players close to the rim, which enabled paint-camping by activating [url=http://nbahoopsonline.com/History/Leagues/NBA/Rules/Fouls.html][COLOR="Blue"]Rule 2b[/COLOR][/url] in the Illegal Defense Guidelines - this rule allowed defenders to paint-camp with no time restriction if their man was in the paint already, or within 3 feet of either side of the paint.

The legal paint-camping, coupled with higher physicality, hand-checking and no spacing, made it just as hard to score in previous eras as today's era.


[url=http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=359858][u]MJ FG's on Dennis Rodman[/u][/url]

[url=http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=365450][u]MJ FG's on Kobe Bryant[/u][/url]

[url=http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showpost.php?p=10699081&postcount=10][u]MJ Splitting Double Team[/u][/url]

[url=http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showpost.php?p=11013142&postcount=2][u]MJ Posters Over Fellow Superstars[/u][/url]

[url=http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=353826][u]100 Chest-to-Chest Posters[/u][/url]

[url=http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showpost.php?p=10906020&postcount=41][u]The Jordan Hop-Step[/u][/url]

[url=http://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?p=40750321#p40750321][u]Top 15 Hanging Jumpshots by MJ[/u][/url]

[url=http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showpost.php?p=10422917&postcount=172][u]MJ Hangtime Shots Off A One-Step Vertical (Drop-Step)[/u][/url]

[url=http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showpost.php?p=10451420&postcount=76][u]MJ Flight[/u][/url]

[url=http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=362242][u]MJ's Stats in Each Playoff Series vs. Top 5 Defense[/u][/url]

Bill is my generation. He has a dry sense of humor , but crazy antic's as well.

Quite frankly he is the funniest commentators of all time.

Ironically espn/ nba announcing crew extracted him , because his color commentary was literally over the top , and most thought he was nuts.

Comments about Jordan are just brush strokes of his comedic persona.

Bill knows full well and has said so in many ways that Jordan was king of bball minds and body.
As Bill would say : " Jordan's body of work is galatic' "


Bill is for the ages

[QUOTE=3ball][SIZE="3"]Walton is just mad because MJ destroyed his paint-camping[/SIZE]


[IMG]http://gifsforum.com/images_new/gif/other/grand/4f4c41732d2efc336f98c983acb52e72.gif[/IMG]


while the new [url=http://www.nba.com/nba101/misunderstood_0708.html]defensive 3 seconds rule[/url] implemented in 2005 bans paint-camping under any circumstances, defenders in previous eras were allowed to paint-camp, which enabled better rim protection and allowed defenders to help from closer distances on post players.

all coaches in previous eras foolishly ran offenses that positioned players close to the rim, which enabled paint-camping by activating [url=http://nbahoopsonline.com/History/Leagues/NBA/Rules/Fouls.html][COLOR="Blue"]Rule 2b[/COLOR][/url] in the Illegal Defense Guidelines - this rule allowed defenders to paint-camp with no time restriction if their man was in the paint already, or within 3 feet of either side of the paint.

The legal paint-camping, coupled with higher physicality, hand-checking and no spacing, made it just as hard to score in previous eras as today's era.


[url=http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=359858][u]MJ FG's on Dennis Rodman[/u][/url]

[url=http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=365450][u]MJ FG's on Kobe Bryant[/u][/url]

[url=http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showpost.php?p=10699081&postcount=10][u]MJ Splitting Double Team[/u][/url]

[url=http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showpost.php?p=11013142&postcount=2][u]MJ Posters Over Fellow Superstars[/u][/url]

[url=http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=353826][u]100 Chest-to-Chest Posters[/u][/url]

[url=http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showpost.php?p=10906020&postcount=41][u]The Jordan Hop-Step[/u][/url]

[url=http://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?p=40750321#p40750321][u]Top 15 Hanging Jumpshots by MJ[/u][/url]

[url=http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showpost.php?p=10422917&postcount=172][u]MJ Hangtime Shots Off A One-Step Vertical (Drop-Step)[/u][/url]

[url=http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showpost.php?p=10451420&postcount=76][u]MJ Flight[/u][/url]

[url=http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=362242][u]MJ's Stats in Each Playoff Series vs. Top 5 Defense[/u][/url][/QUOTE]

You posted four GIFs of Jordan dunking on Drexler, but Jordan only dunked on Drexler in two of them Gifs. False advertisement.

Size - 6'6 shooting guard at that time was big. Average size by today's standard.

Strength - Fair enough

Speed - Fair enough

Jumping ability - No chance, William. Jordan had serious bounce.

Why's there so many old ex-players making 'controversial' statements/comments about other players from their eras recently? Living in the past :confusedshrug:

[QUOTE=Jasper22]Size - 6'6 shooting guard at that time was big. Average size by today's standard.

Strength - Fair enough

Speed - Fair enough

Jumping ability - No chance, William. Jordan had serious bounce.

Why's there so many old ex-players making 'controversial' statements/comments about other players from their eras recently? Living in the past :confusedshrug:[/QUOTE]

"Speed - fair enough"? There is not another player above 6'5" who is as fast/quick as Jordan. In history.

jordan benefited from a weak era.

[QUOTE=Lebronxrings]jordan benefited from a weak era.[/QUOTE]

A shooting guard that won championships in a league that was dominated by power forwards and centers is not considered a weak era. That excuse is total bullshit.

Bill Walton also said that prime Tiger Woods was an average golfer.