re: Watch this video, and tell me NBA superstars didn't have it easier in the '90's

However, I have to be at work at 6am, so adios.

EASIER??? Every shot he took was amazing and 95% were heavily contested. That was SICK, the best player ever in the Playoffs in his absolute prime.

Sorry for the intentional "look at me" double post of a stupid long write up. Last time I made these points the thread was dead and this time it got stuck at the bottom of a page. I'll delete it if it's too much.

I haven't read the OP yet or watched the video(I will in a sec) but I made a long post about this exact thing the other day.

I watched an old Bulls game against the Knicks. In the first quarter, the Bulls had a run where 6 or 7 out of 10 possessions or so, went to Jordan. Now, this IS NOT an attempt to diminish his game. And people can roll their eyes at this all they want, but it's exactly what happened....

Each time he touched the ball in this section of the game, Jordan ran up the right side of the court as the ball handler brought it up the floor. Each time Jordan sorta posted up near the block. The 3 other Bulls players parked it on the left side of the court, behind the 3 point line, and the ball was dumped to Jordan. I'm not exactly a rules expert over here, but it was obvious that man to man rules were nuts, because the Knicks players were all beyond the free throw line, save for the little dude guarding MJ.

With the ball in his hand, he's face up his defender, pump fake, jab step, turn his back, jab step, and pretty much just fell out the situation and create space. The man guarding him was the only player between him and the basket.

2 of the 6 or 7 possessions he put the ball on the floor but for some reason, illegal defense was called. I assume because a Knick defender came to double him too early...? The other times he shot little 12 footers over the man guarding him like there was nobody there....which he was a master at.

What really blew my mind was thinking about what the Spurs to do Lebron(which is amazing). There a plenty videos and pictures to show how difficult it is for guys to get to the basket when the Spurs don't want them to. If/when Lebron beats his man, 2 or 3 Spurs players immediately sink to the basket. It's a feat in and of itself just to get a path to the rim. It's just not realistic to dribble through that many guys for a clean look.

I don't know if it was always like this for Jordan, but in the game I watched, he didn't have to deal with ANYTHING like that. Hell, it was downright ridiculous how he could maneuver around the court.

What I took away from it was defenses now would be MUCH more difficult for guys back in the day to score on. Kobe's game would have been PERFECT against what I saw. He reminds me so much of Jordan now that I've seen full Bulls games. Lebron's size and speed would have demolished the man to man he would have seen. Not saying he would have averaged 40 or anything, but damn.

Sorry for this insanely long post, but I'm so interested in this discussion.

ETA: A more level headed and knowledgeable fan...looking at you, RTR and Spur, will correct this if need be....but I honestly believe that if Lebron played under the same system that Michael Jordan did, he'd be considered the better player by the majority of basketball fans.

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While maddening, it's beautiful watching them force him into decisions during a game. He just never looks comfortable against them.

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This is all Pop aims to do, I think. I mean, he had freaking Boris Diaw on him in the 2013 Finals and it was still effective because the looks they throw at him are so multiple. Just great coaching, tbh.

And I don't hate LBJ, for the record. Flat out amazing player The over the top lovefest can get annoying, but so can the ubiquitous hating. I'm somewhere in the middle but definitely appreciate his game

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I do think this Cavs team is built perfectly to deal with this though. I'd like nothing more than a Spurs Cavs finals. Such amazing basketball.

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I'm hoping for Spurs/Hawks just because I want to see Coach Pop and Coach Bud (good friends and longtime colleagues) go up against each other with similar styles. If SA somehow makes it and sees the Cavs, though, I guarantee it won't be a 2007 rerun

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By the way, since you and Mattz brought up DeAndre Jordan, he's had 1,226 rebound this season... that's the most any player has had since Dennis Rodman in 1993-1994.

Before that, it wasn't done since Moses Malone in 1978.

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that's quite impressive, he's a great rebounder(for today's game), which is great. He even averaged 5 offensive rebounds a game...and still only 11 points per game.

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MJ has the advantage of being the "first mover" in his style of play as a transcendent wing player. What he was doing simply had never been done at that level before

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I know how crazy it sounds to people who grew up watching MJ. And honestly, it doesn't exactly feel right to declare that I think Lebron is the better basketball player. I don't say it without putting serious thought into it and weighing a ton of things that don't all have to do with their game.

To further my Spurs Cavs comment...

I think Kyrie can take some pressure off Lebron. I how good Wade was/is, but Lebron was handling the ball a shite ton on those teams and they worked to get Wade going by using him to slash to the basket and other scenarios that didn't require him to have the ball in his hands. So like I said earlier, Lebron was the one having to navigate the Spurs defense.

Does Kyrie turn the ball over a significant amount? I could see, and hope to see Kyrie handling the ball more than Lebron this go-round. Think they'll be more efficient with the ball in a better dribbler's hands and allow Lebron to get looks without the Spurs literally stopping him in his tracks like they do. Maybe Lebron can step up his defense and Kyrie can show us some of the defensive performances he's had against good PGs this year.

I could discuss this all day I'm so excited!

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Watch the video

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The one in the OP? If so, I did, and I've seen it many times. It's amazing. I watch MJ videos all the time. He was jaw-droppingly good.

We're blown away by Kyrie's ability to finish at the rim. MJ was better at it(right?) and bigger and better at every other aspect of the game. I think MJ was more skilled than Lebron. Just think Lebron is the better all around player, due in part to something neither had control over, their size.

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Its the argument of 1a/1b, both are great, they're both slightly better at certain things, but they're both the best when it comes down to it.

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Precisely.

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if we're talking playoffs, there's only one guy you'd want between them and its Jordan

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Depends. I think Jordan today would struggle with the West just like LeBron has. But he'd also benefit by playing in the East.

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But if we're talking playoffs, there's only one guy you'd want between them and its Jordan.

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1000%

During the summer when none of the sports I like are on I sit down and watch every hardwood classic I can.

Just an unfair force of nature in the playoffs.