Originally Posted by Rudy tossed tigger's salad:
Yeah, but how many white Americans were playing back then?
:-) Obviously, everything was different then. Just like any other sport, you can't compare apples to apples when the two eras are 50 years apart. [Reply]
Originally Posted by New World Order:
Imagine Jordan’s scoring average if there was no handchecking back then :-)
This is not to denigrate MJ in any way, but I think a lot of people forget that Jordan didn't win anything before '91 when they first started legislating some of the physicality out of the game. The Detroit Bad Boys used to smack him (and everyone else) tf around every single time he drove, and they would get away with it. Then suddenly if a defender breathed on MJ the wrong way it was a foul. People talk about the calls guys get in today's game like LeBron and Harden and others. MJ was getting those calls in the mid 90s. In general the game was more physical in the 90s no doubt, but much less physical in the back half of Jordan's career than the first half. I think that contributed to MJs ability to maintain such a high scoring average as his body began to break down with age.
LeBron is 6'8", 260 lbs.. He's built like a Defensive end. Guys were big back then too, yeah, but many were not as built as today's athletes. LeBron is more built than most dudes were back then. All things equal, what makes people think he would not have just lowered his head and plowed right thru defenses like a freight train if they were gonna try and bash him? Sports medicine and science are so much different now, athletes are bigger stronger faster. Thats why its hard to compare players over eras. Why can't people just appreciate the greatness of both? [Reply]
