Jordan averaged 37 pts/game in the playoffs, the highest average by 4 points over everyone else. And that was in a ton of playoff games...over 150 games. He was MVP in all six Finals he participated in...and won. Not a ''lot of good players '' have ever achieved any of this. Jordan is still the best, but Lebron is edging into the top 5. Wilt,Magic, Russell, Jordan....and Duncan. But if you are going by position, Russell edges out Wilt, and Lebron is the small forward.
Dev: I was best B1G guard, not Stauskas
- Thread starter tweeterhawk
- Start date
As for Stauskas, I like his game a lot. As a Bulls fan, I would love to see him drop to 16 where they pick, but I doubt it. I would be fine if the Bulls traded their 19 and 16 picks to move up and get him. He has the great shooting eye, but can put it on the floor also. He is Lithuanian by way of Canada ,and he reminds me of some of the great Russian/Euro guards like Marsilonious, or Dragan guy in Pheniox , who made 3rd team all NBA this year.
Dev has to sound confident or he would get dinged in the interviews...but Stauskas was voted POY for a reason...he was the best.
Dev has to sound confident or he would get dinged in the interviews...but Stauskas was voted POY for a reason...he was the best.
It must be true.
HawkeyeMike23
Banned
No way is Byron Russell a top five player, top 50 maybe, definitely not top 5.
tm3308
Well-Known Member
At what point was this fact of life ever disputed in this thread?
If Jordan isn't the best, he's undoubtedly in the top 3. And if you disagree with that, you're either trolling or you've forgotten just how good Jordan really was.
HawkeyeMHA
Well-Known Member
Jordan is the best to ever touch a basetball, fact and period.
Lebron has a ways to go to get to Jordan... Not going to say he can't cause his book is far from written yet but he's certainly not there yet. They are different types of players. Now that the media is running with the Melo to Miami rumor just picture that for a second. Lebron could be the 3rd highest scorer on that team and still be playing the best ball in the league. I'd love it cause he could play PG much like Magic and just picture that lineup. Lebron could be averaging double figure assists easy. Not sure how much gas Wade has left in the tank but that'd be a heck of an athletic lineup. Who cares who the center is they could get Bill Cartwright today and still win.
Well good for you; I am looking forward to watching a team next year instead of Marble and the other 4 guys on the floor. Oh and Jordan is the best, players today could not put up the numbers they do if they played in the 80's and 90's with the physical play back then. So glad I grew up in the era of competitive Iowa basketball and the height of the NBA. Lute,Raveling,Dr.Tom,Dr. J, Bird,Magic,MJ,Troy Skinner 
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Jordan scored a lot of points in losing playoff games. I give credit to Phil Jackson and his coaching staff for helping the best player become a champion.
tksirius
HN's Love Doctor
HawkeyeMike23
Banned
Why not? Teams in the 80's and 90's, especially the 80's, scored a lot more than they do today. It was much easier to just isolate one on one back then. The scouting was nowhere near what it was today. Plus with all the advances in training and more emphasis on weight lifting the guys nowadays are much bigger than they were back then. Jordan spent a lot of time being guarded by 6'4 190 lb guys, there weren't very many 6'7 210-225 lb wings back then like there are today.
Like Jordan said, he would have fouled out of most games if he played today. They may be bigger ect. but they play a softer game now and it is more saturated. Those 6'4 190lb guys still played a more physical game than todays bodies.
HawkeyeMHA
Well-Known Member
I surely actually do because it's the truth
HawkeyeMike23
Banned
By what measure do they play a less physical game today? Players shot more free throw attempts per field goal attempts back then so the notion that they call more fouls today is wrong. There's no statistical evidence that it was harder to score back then, almost all of it actually points to it being harder to score today. It's mostly just former players who think their era was better.
With age comes wisdom! Jordan hand checked and played very physical (it may have been overshadowed by the rest of his game). What's next for the NBA, fouls called for trash talking? Insert 80's player today and they foul out for playing their game, Insert current player in the 80's and watch them ***** that they cannot score because they think they are being constantly fouled.
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HawkeyeMHA
Well-Known Member
Whose better? And don't call me Shirley.
jacknicholson
Well-Known Member
jacknicholson
Well-Known Member
Knight78
Well-Known Member
I'm a life-long Lakers fan, but I'd have to say Larry Bird is the best to ever lace them up. The guy took a Celtics team that was 29-53 the year before he came and led them - yes, led them as a rookie - to a 61-21 season, 32 more wins (most in history for a team getting just one new player on their roster). And it was essentially the same team. It was the following year (80-81) they acquired McHale and Parish and 83 when they got DJ. He made the other players better, just as he made his teammates at ISU better. And when Bird was not in the lineup, the Celtics were amazingly average and lost in the first round of the playoffs.
MJ? How many more games did the Bulls win in his rookie year? Oh, yeah, they won 11 more games; went from 27-55 to 38-44. At that time and for many years Jordan played for Jordan. He was definitely did not make his teammates better until later in his career after he learned he'd never win a title on his own. And when MJ was out of the lineup, the Bulls still made the playoffs and lost in the Conference Finals.
I agree with Tierney. Jordan was a very good player, but the NBA has several very good players in it's history. Oh, and for the record, there isn't anyone on the court today that should be in the conversation with either of these two.
Knight78
Well-Known Member
So Wilt is in there? As well as Russell? If those two played today, with the many playoff games that are played today, they'd have MUCH better stats than any of the others you list. Back then, they had Eastern and Western conferences and the top two teams played for the conference championship and then they had the finals. Russell accumulated all of his playoff stats at a time when there were only a maximum of 14 playoff games a year.
Also, you do realize that they didn't even keep blocked shots as a statistic until both Russell and Chamberlain were well into the twilight of their careers, right? Nor did they keep offensive rebounds. Both led to a lot of rules changes (look up the history as to why the lane and the free throw circle are called "the key" and why it changed) And I'll be willing to bet that Wilt's 100 points in a game and his 55 rebounds in a game will stand for a VERY long time, if not forever. As well as Russell's 11 championships. And while Russell didn't win any NBA Finals MVP awards, they didn't start awarding the Finals MVP until 1969, the year Russell retired. And it's not truly the "NBA Finals MVP Award", it is properly called "The Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP Award".
