Michael Jordan Stats and Footage vs. DPOY Michael Cooper (8-time All-Defense)

Not 1 word itt about defensive 3 seconds, which banned zone inside the paint.. Instead, today's defenders must stay within "[I]armslength[/I]" of an offensive player (about 3 feet) - [B]that's the exact opposite of a zone[/B].. Infact, "[I]armslength[/I]" is the strictest defense possible outside of having defenders stand shoulder-to-shoulder.. Yet this strict policy governs today's defenders in the most important area of the floor: the paint.

Of course, the defensive 3 seconds rule also banned paint-camping... Paint-camping is a superior defensive tactic to today's shading/flooding.. Furthermore, due to defensive 3 seconds, defenders must shade/flood to OUTSIDE the paint, leaving the paint unprotected and allowing quick wings to beat defenders to the open paint (as opposed to defenders already being in the paint waiting on penetrators, like previous eras).

Finally, today's 3-point shooting and the resulting spacing negates the current defensive schemes.. It's all nice and good that defenders are flooding, but the spacing makes them help from further away - spacing makes defenders help from further away - that's the definition of spacing... The further distance of today's help defenders isn't disputable - it's physics... Spacing affords today's players more time and room to operate than ever before.





You have to admit - it's remarkable how Lebron craters the APG and sometimes PPG of his teammates..

Anyway, redirecting - here's the real issue about this thread - [SIZE="7"]Lebron can't shoot[/SIZE] from midrange, which he would HAVE to do in the 80's/90's to be a 28-30 ppg scorer.

With less than half the 3-point production that today's game uses to open up the lane, 1993 Lebron would be forced to pull-up for more midrange jumpshots, like all aggressive scorers back then.. The lack of 3-pointers would also reduce the efficiency of screen-roll/drive-and-kick - he simply wouldn't be using screen-roll as much as he does in today's game, and would again be forced to use midrange, as well as post and isolation, all areas he's average to bad in.



[QUOTE=GIF REACTION]Incorrect

2013 Lebron shot .447 from 16+ ft and .406 from 3[/QUOTE]
For Lebron's career, he's 38.8% from the 16-23 foot range, which is below average, and he's 35.8% from 10-16 feet, which is far below-average.

In 2013, he actually began a 2-year campaign to inflate his efficiency by only attempting 17 shots per game.. This backfired in the 2014 Finals, when his passivity was run out of the gym.

Btw, 44.7% isn't impressive.. Magic shot 56% from midrange in the 1985 Finals vs. Boston - ask ShaqisGoat or PHILA - one of them has the data.. We know MJ shot 52% from midrange in 1997, per nba.com's stats..

[I]Here's the factual reality - for Lebron to be an elite scorer like 27+ppg in the 80's or 1993, he'd need [B]ELITE[/B] midrange or post game, like ALL the leading scorers back then:[/I]


[U]Leading Scorers in 1986:[/U]

SF Dominique 30.3
SF Dantley 29.8
SF English 29.8
SF Bird 25.8
SF Short 25.5
SF [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0ZCbZq8wWg]Vandeweghe[/url] 24.8


[U]Leading Scorers in 1987:[/U]

SG Michael Jordan 37.1
SF Dominique 29.8
SF Alex English 28.6
SF Larry Bird 28.1
SF Vandeweghe 26.9
PF Kevin McHale 26.1
SF Mark Aguirre 25.7
SG Dale Ellis 24.9


[U]Leading Scorers 1993:[/U]

SG Michael Jordan 32.6
SF Dominique 29.9
PF Karl Malone 27.0
C. Hakeem Olajuwon 26.1
SG Chris Mullin 25.9
PF Charles Barkley 25.6
C. Patrick Ewing 24.2
SG Joe Dumars 23.5
C. Shaquille O'Neal 23.4
C. David Robinson 23.4
PF Danny Manning 22.8
SG Drazen Petrovic 22.3
[B]PF Larry Johnson 22.1[/B]


Larry Johnson is the first guy listed here that didn't have an elite mid-range and/or post game.. :confusedshrug:


[QUOTE=GIF REACTION][B]

1981 - Illegal Defense Guidelines put in place to increase scoring and open up the paint

Passage from Bill Simmons' (Globally known NBA analyst, well respected publically) book

[/quote]
In 2005, a new defensive 3 seconds rule was introduced, which banned paint-camping and zone inside the 16 x 19 foot painted area - inside the paint, defenders must stay within "[I]armslength[/I]" (about 3 feet), which is the exact opposite of a zone.

"[I]Armslength[/I]" is actually the strictest defense possible outside of having defenders stand shoulder-to-shoulder.. yet this ridiculously strict policy governs today's defenders in the most important area of the floor: [I]the paint[/I].


[QUOTE=GIF REACTION]

Offenses have had to adjust to the modern, strong side flooding defenses

[/QUOTE]
Remember - the defensive 3 seconds rule banned paint-camping... Paint-camping is a superior defensive tactic to today's flooding.. Furthermore, due to defensive 3 seconds, defenders must shade/flood to OUTSIDE the paint, leaving the paint unprotected and allowing quick wings to beat defenders to the open paint (as opposed to defenders already being in the paint waiting on penetrators, like previous eras).

Finally, today's 3-point shooting and the resulting spacing negates the current defensive schemes.. It's all nice and good that defenders are flooding, but the spacing makes them help from further away - spacing makes defenders help from further away - that's the definition of spacing... The further distance of today's help defenders isn't disputable - it's physics... Spacing affords today's players more time and room to operate than ever before.


[QUOTE=GIF REACTION]

Elite scorer numbers are down across the board

[/QUOTE]
This is factually incorrect - there were only two 30-point scorers in the 90's - MJ six times and Malone once... In the 2000's there have been many 30 point scorers.. Today's much higher number of 30-point scorers is due to increaseed 3-point shooting which has spread the floor, hand-check ban, and defensive 3 seconds.

Remember, Wade and Westbrook led league in scoring in 2009 and 2015 with a worse 3-point shot and far worse mid-range shot than MJ.. Nor could they double-pump with ease from the [url=http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/10-03-2015/64Ba72.gif]FT line[/url] like MJ.. And let's compare the defenses they faced:

[COLOR="Indigo"][I]PREVIOUS ERA[/I]: paint-camping... no-spacing... hand-checking[/COLOR]
[COLOR="DarkRed"][I]TODAY'S ERA[/I]:[COLOR="White"].....[/COLOR] shading..[COLOR="White"]........[/COLOR] spacing.. [COLOR="White"]..[/COLOR]no hand-checking[/COLOR]


I guess that's why MJ was able to average 37 PPG on 59% TS despite shooting all 2-pointers amidst [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLDGm8pV6uU&t=6m40s]every-possession double-teams[/url]... Only the goat has it [url=http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=386210]like that[/url].

.

[QUOTE=3ball]:biggums:[/QUOTE]
MJ only swept twice in his career
both against Bird's Celtics :bowdown: :bowdown:
Bird the GOAT

Empty stats

[QUOTE=3ball][IMG]http://gifsforum.com/images_new/gif/other/grand/740c4aeb63705ef81d066269d25f3e54.gif[/IMG]


Just think how much more he'd dominate WITH spacing.. :bowdown:

Even though MJ would dominate much more in today's game with shooters perpetually spreading the court and opening up the middle of the floor for him, [I][B]he'd actually be a worse basketball player today[/B][/I] - he'd use inferior moves than what he needed in the no-spacing environments of previous eras and his repertoire would be much weaker.

In today's game, he'd use the spacing to get a much higher proportion of clean looks - his efficiency would be sick, while still undertaking his typical league-leading volume.. [I]But again, he'd be using less sophisticated moves and actually be a WORSE basketball player[/I].. So while high-level moves [url=http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showpost.php?p=11064438&postcount=38][u]like this[/u][/url] and passes that thread needles [url=http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=355658&page=44][u]like this[/u][/url] were necessary to mitigate defenders in no-spacing environments, they'd be unnecessary in today's game.

For one thing, MJ wouldn't posterize paint-camping 7-footers at the rim like he used to, since paint-camping has been banned.. Instead, those 7-footers are now shading on the perimeter - so instead of finishing on them at the rim like previous eras, MJ would blow by them on the perimeter [url=http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=374490][u]in today's game[/u][/url], which is [I]expected[/I] of a perimeter ballhandler and not nearly as impressive.[/QUOTE]
Lost more games than he won... therefore the stats are empty.

[IMG]http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/10-17-2015/2T4am1.gif[/IMG]


As the gif shows, today's 3-point shooting/spacing and hand-check ban makes penetration an automatic, built-in component of the game - look how airy and contact-free Parker's drive into the lane is - it looks more like a performance routine of some sort than a basketball drive.

However, 1993 had less than half the 3-point production that today's game uses to open up the lane.. The paint congestion would force Lebron to pull-up for more midrange jumpshots, like everyone else back then.. The lack of 3-point-shooting personnel would also reduce the efficiency of screen-roll/drive-and-kick - he simply would NOT be using screen-roll as much as he does in today's game.. He'd be forced to use midrange, post and isolation - all areas he's average to bad in..



We saw Boris Diaw forced Lebron into midrange and forearm push-offs - this kind of mechanical, stone-hands touch wasn't good enough to be a 27+ ppg scorer in the 80's or 90's:


[IMG]http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/10-17-2015/NtLU8z.gif[/IMG]


That's ugly.. His touch is a 1 out of 10 compared to say, Bob McAdoo.



It's interesting, because the lack of spacing and packed paints often forced MJ to shoot jumpshots, which he did at a truly elite level.. Even the great Jerry West thought MJ was the best jumpshooter in the game (2nd paragraph):

[url]http://articles.latimes.com/1996-05-12/magazine/tm-3107_1_michael-jordan/4[/url]


[I]So people don't realize the skill difference - MJ was the best athlete in the game, but he was also the best jumpshooter in the game who routinely had massive games shooting all jumpshots - here's just a few examples:[/I]

54 in 1992 ECF vs. Knicks #1 defense - [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoVMIZWS_-A&t=0m53s][u]literally all jumpshots in the biggest game of year[/u][/url]
64 vs. Shaq's 1993 Magic on almost all jumpshots - [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzsmqlJhT58&t=0m33s][u]easiest-looking 60 point game in history[/u][/url].
46 pts in Game 3 of 1992 Finals vs. POR #3 ranked defense - [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIZ3d0pnY1U&t=1m40s][u]almost all jumpshots[/u][/url].


Imagine if Lebron was the best jumpshooter in the game, so he had the skill to have huge games (like, 40, 50, 60 points) just shooting jumpers if needed or if he felt like it.



1-9 with no all-stars.

Otoh, Zydrunas Illgauskas was named an all-star in 2003 and 2005.. So Lebron missed the playoffs in 2005 despite having an All-Star on his team.. And when he won his first playoff game in 2006, he did so with the help of a 2-time All-Star.

Otoh, MJ never played with an all-star, or anything NEAR that during his early playoff career... But once he got just 1 all-star, he went 6/6.. Whereas, Lebron missed the playoffs despite having an all-star, and only went 2/4 with two all-stars in Miami.




.
[COLOR="Red"]When Lebron caught it on the elbow, all he saw was [B]open space[/B][/COLOR] because shooters on weakside drew defenders away from strongside - yet he only averaged 36 ppg on 39%:


[IMG]http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/7-06-2015/uAh_p8.gif[/IMG]



[COLOR="Red"]Otoh, when MJ caught the ball on the elbow, all he saw was [B]bodies[/B][/COLOR] - no one was spacing the weakside so all 10 players were bunched up on strongside or in the paint, yet he still averaged 36 ppg on 53% in 1991-1993 Finals:


[IMG]http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/7-30-2015/jkrR_v.gif[/IMG]

[IMG]http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/7-13-2015/kZeK3Z.gif[/IMG]

[IMG]http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/9-13-2015/1Y-xzB.gif[/IMG]

[IMG]http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/8-06-2015/yu7DqT.gif[/IMG]

[IMG]http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/9-11-2015/4zBlRb.gif[/IMG]

[IMG]http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/7-08-2015/YLL71A.gif[/IMG]

[IMG]http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/7-15-2015/Gqsz_a.gif[/IMG]


Lebron has shooters spacing the weakside to take defenders away from the strongside, whereas MJ didn't get weakside spacing, so all 10 players were bunched up on the strongside.
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