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"This younger generation – the 19-year-old, 20-year-old, 21-year-old kids – I think their heroes are usually Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. I think they really looked up to those two and can relate to those guys, right? When I've talked to young players, and I've asked them," Jud said.
This was from last month but I've been thinking how true it is, my kids love basketball and they rarely ever mention Michael Jordan but they will mention Kobe, Lebron and Shaq as the basketball greats. My son will also mention Tim Duncan but that's only because I raised him a Spurs fan.
What do you guys think, does the younger generation not admire MJ as much? If so, is it like this also in the Chicago area?
They’re probably tired of hearing their Gen X parents going on and on about how great Jordan was. Kids try not to like things their parents like.
My dad would rave about Simon and Garfunkel and I thought they were the lamest duo ever as a kid. Now 30 years later I actually listen to them on Spotify and I’m blown away, lol.
Most popular Gen Z opinions on 80s and 90s basketball.
-The 90s NBA was watered down through expansion
-Most players were unskilled because they had low 3P%s
-The 80s was plumbers and accountants
-The League was primitive because nobody understood 3 >2
-Jordan was guarded by slow white guys (Ehlo, Majerle and Hornacek), which makes his playoff performances overrated
-Jordan would be limited to 21ppg on 43% shooting if guarded by Ant-Man, Tatum KD, Giannis, MPJ, Lebron, Jimmy Butler nightly
-Jordan won as much as he did because he played on superteams
-Jordan is overrated because Pippen saved his legacy. He was 1-9 in the playoffs without Pippen
-Jordan had easy Finals opponents. Lebron would have had 50-point triple doubles against the Blazers, Sonics and Suns
-Boomers and Gen Xers are propping up Jordan to diminish Lebron's greatness. They feel threatened.
-Jordan was ahead of his time but there are now 100+ guys in the NBA as athletic and skilled
-Jordan was mentally weak and abandoned his team to play baseball
-Lebron coming back from 1-3 down = 4 Jordan championships
-Lebron will be the undisputed GOAT once the Boomers and Xers are no longer around to mythologize him
Most popular Gen Z opinions on 80s and 90s basketball.
-The 90s NBA was watered down through expansion
-Most players were unskilled because they had low 3P%s
-The 80s was plumbers and accountants
-The League was primitive because nobody understood 3 >2
-Jordan was guarded by slow white guys (Ehlo, Majerle and Hornacek), which makes his playoff performances overrated
-Jordan would be limited to 21ppg on 43% shooting if guarded by Ant-Man, Tatum KD, Giannis, MPJ, Lebron, Jimmy Butler nightly
-Jordan won as much as he did because he played on superteams
-Jordan is overrated because Pippen saved his legacy. He was 1-9 in the playoffs without Pippen
-Jordan had easy Finals opponents. Lebron would have had 50-point triple doubles against the Blazers, Sonics and Suns
-Boomers and Gen Xers are propping up Jordan to diminish Lebron's greatness. They feel threatened.
-Jordan was ahead of his time but there are now 100+ guys in the NBA as athletic and skilled
-Jordan was mentally weak and abandoned his team to play baseball
-Lebron coming back from 1-3 down = 4 Jordan championships
-Lebron will be the undisputed GOAT once the Boomers and Xers are no longer around to mythologize him
I like to give a lot more credit to the real Gen Z basketball fans than some of those opinions lol. Guys spouting off on-line and can't even get basic facts straight let alone understand things like how a more physical game with handchecking lowers shooting %'s.
I mean, come on, half of those "popular opinions" are troll posts just meant to try to rile people up.
Most popular Gen Z opinions on 80s and 90s basketball.
-The 90s NBA was watered down through expansion
-Most players were unskilled because they had low 3P%s
-The 80s was plumbers and accountants
-The League was primitive because nobody understood 3 >2
-Jordan was guarded by slow white guys (Ehlo, Majerle and Hornacek), which makes his playoff performances overrated
-Jordan would be limited to 21ppg on 43% shooting if guarded by Ant-Man, Tatum KD, Giannis, MPJ, Lebron, Jimmy Butler nightly
-Jordan won as much as he did because he played on superteams
-Jordan is overrated because Pippen saved his legacy. He was 1-9 in the playoffs without Pippen
-Jordan had easy Finals opponents. Lebron would have had 50-point triple doubles against the Blazers, Sonics and Suns
-Boomers and Gen Xers are propping up Jordan to diminish Lebron's greatness. They feel threatened.
-Jordan was ahead of his time but there are now 100+ guys in the NBA as athletic and skilled
-Jordan was mentally weak and abandoned his team to play baseball
-Lebron coming back from 1-3 down = 4 Jordan championships
-Lebron will be the undisputed GOAT once the Boomers and Xers are no longer around to mythologize him
Obviously some of these are troll posts, but the truth lies somewhere in the middle of all this. A few thoughts:
First things first: Jordan would have been just fine in this era. He would still be up there as one of the most athletic guys in the league along with Ant and Ja. Shooting wasnt his strongest skill but I think he would have worked on it to be a bigger part of his game. Depending on how good his teammates were, he would be a 25-30 ppg guy. He was always a great defender to being arguably the best two way player would mean that he's a top 5 guy in today's game.
Him playing against weaker comp in the 80s and 90s has some truth to it. I think of guys like Dale Davis, Rick Mahorn. They had long, productive careers in the NBA back then but I honestly think they would struggle to be bench guys in today's league. Back then, you could make the league as strictly a rebounder or enforcer, or defense only etc. Wouldnt work today, at least not for many players.
While I dont think MJ was overrated, I would say that people have glossed over his actual history to paint this perfect image that they then use to bash Lebron, sometimes unfairly. It took MJ seven seasons to even make an NBA finals. He would win the scoring title, dunk contests etc and then get waxed in the playoffs. He too carried the stigma of "cant win when it counts". He never beat the Celtics in the playoffs, and lost to Detroit 3 years in a row. So all this talk about how Lebron is weak and soft because MJ would never do this or that just tells me that people either didnt actually watch him, or are choosing to ignore his flaws.
That being said, when he finally broke through and won his first, he maximized his advantage and won 5 more. It's safe to say that he was definitely the greatest of his generation, beating all his peers like Barkley, Malone, Ewing etc. People get mad at the two year break, but to me that just makes him even greater. Show me another athlete who could take two years off completely and come back and still win it all.
The other question is whether he could have won without Pippen and Phil Jackson. Let's say he was drafted by the Hawks, and basically was swapped with Dominique Wilkins, another high scoring player who had a bunch of 30 ppg seasons and some would argue that he was a better dunker than MJ. He never made the Finals, and the highlight of his career was going toe to toe with Bird in one playoff series (still lost). For all the scoring and dunking he didnt even make the top 75 greatest list. Would that have been MJ's fate if he doesnt have the triangle and Pippen? I would say probably so. Now MJ was a better alround player than Wilkins (who didnt play defense at all), but it's safe to say that a high scoring player with no rings doesnt have all this adulation. So we have to say there was some luck that fell MJ's way. But of course, luck is only half the equation. He still had to work to achieve all that he eventually had.
Last thing; let's flip things and say Lebron goes back to 1984. I dont know if people are just numb to how much of a phenom Lebron is since he's been playing for over 2 decades. He basically has Karl Malone's body (close to same height and weight). I'm sure most of the younger folks on here probably didnt see much of Malone in his hey day. Malone was a muscular, physical forward who had a nice jumper, but wasnt the most athletic guy in the world, yet with all that was arguably the top forward in the game till Duncan. I can assure you that if Malone had Lebron's athletic ability, passing ability, could play (and defend) 1-4, he would be the best player in that year and decade, over MJ. Hands down.
And for those of you saying well Lebron's too soft, he would have adapted his game once he realized that the 80s refs werent going for all that. And for all his flaws, the book on him has never been to rough him up and get physical with him. That was young Dirk. The way to shut him down early in his career was to make him shoot the outside jumper. He's never been someone who could be bullied physically.
I feel like Jordan is the only athlete in history we play the "if" game with.
What if Montana didn't have Rice?
What if Brady got drafted by the Falcons instead of the Patriots?
What if Messi played for Uruguay instead of Argentina?
What if Magic wound up on the Clippers?
What if Bill Russell didn't have other HOFers around him?
What if Rod Laver had to play on 3 different surfaces?
What if Ali had to fight 100 rounds like fighters in the old days?
What if the '72 Dolphins had to play a 17 game regular season?
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