With the abundance of sports news reported everyday, one of the biggest, most talked about headlines was a 44-year-old NBA owner participating in practice with his team. It just so happens that owner was Michael Jordan. No, the greatest basketball player of all-time isn’t contemplating a return to the court. But MJ’s emergence from the boardroom did get me thinking. If he wanted to, could he still play? Unquestionably YES! Don’t forget he scored 51 points in a game at the age of 38. Then scored 43 points when he was 40-years-old, shattering Kareem’s previous high of 27 in 1987.
But all this talk is clearly dependent on a laundry list of “what-ifs.”
- If his knees are healthy
- If he is in the best condition – for a 44-year-old
- If he’s on the right team and in the right situation (think aging superstar playing to compete for a championship a la Robert Horry w/superhuman basketball abilities)
- And if, most importantly – he could suppress the #1 reason he is Michael Jordan? That eternal, inextinguishable competitive fire that drives him to dominate every minute of every game.
Can you picture Jordan only playing 20-25 minutes a game coming off the bench? Being the 3rd or 4th scoring option? Not being the guy everyone in the arena knows is going to take the last shot at the buzzer? I can’t, and neither can he.
Ultimately, that is what keeps #23 from making another Washington Wizard-esque return to the game he loves. So for now I’ll take the images of him fading – slowly and not as far – away from Raymond Felton to knock down his bread and butter shot.
P.S.
I’ll save my thoughts on what MJ would do in this era if he were 29-years-old for another post. Hint: Kobe, Wade, Lebron and any of the other superstar guards should consider themselves lucky.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I think your last point is the one that would convince me that MJ could play today. His determination to be the best is unquestioned.
Like a veteran pitcher who learns to throw ‘junk’ after losing velocity on his fastball, Jordan would change his game to fit his current condition and excel.
And I’m with you, the talent of the NBA is not what it was. Like MLB pitching, it is simply watered down.
I agree 100% with Dannie.
Can’t wait to read the post about MJ in this era if he were 29. We actually had this debate several times with our friends, and everyone seems to think MJ can’t hang with the new kids on the block. Jordan is by far the best player ever in any era of the game.
I’m sorry but Jordan at 29yrs of age in this era?? lmfao….the man’s WILL alone would’ve been too much for these guys to handle, let alone comprehend! He woulda scored on them at will and made them looked silly and THEN, to top it off, he woulda turned around and played D on them like they have never seen before…are you kidding me?!?!?!……c’mon now,the guards now a days wouldn’t know what to do with him- guys in the game today are more about flash and show as oppose to winning and making their teammates rise to the occassion- just ask steve kerr and bill cartwright- and taking them on a magic carpet ride!!! G.O.A.T. = MJ (simple as that!)
There’s also the fact that Jordan’s era of basketball was about a zillion times more physical then today’s game, with all this ticky tac foul nonsense. I laugh every time I see LeBron whining in the playoffs about a hard foul from Brendan Haywood…I mean, if he thinks a stupid Wizard frontcourt plays physical, or a Detroit team that doesn’t even have a true center, I’d LOVE to see him just get battered all day by an old school Knicks or Pistons team. The King would cry.
Let’s add to the fact that Jordan’s era actually had BIG MEN. Whereas we’re proud of the fact we Sixers have a decent defensive double double center that is effective…Jordan played at a time when THREE of the best centers of all time (Dream, Ewing, Admiral)…plus a fourth that was one of the best of the decade (Zo)…and one of the best defensive centers of the decade (Dike)…were all in their primes. And Barkley/Malone I think are far superior than just about any of the major power forwards in the 00’s (KG, C-Webb, Dirk, E Brand, J O’neal, C Bosh, Amare, C Boozer), with the exception of Tim Duncan.
Jordan, despite the fact that frontcourts are more versatile and athletic now, would absolutely eat the majority of forwards alive in today’s game. Backcourt wise Kobe, probably Chris Paul in another year or two would be the only guys that could even touch his level of play, with Bron and D-Wade right below them.
On a random note: If you look back at the early 90’s drafts…it’s interesting, and kind of incredible, to think there were five MAJOR mega-star talents who were regular potential 1st team all NBA-ers, and could have been some of the all time greats…that had their careers cut short due to injury or for off court issues: Penny, Larry Johnson (Grandmama!), Grant Hill, Shawn Kemp, Derrick Coleman. And while he’s obviously a whole tier down in talent, you could probably add Vin Baker to that list, who easily could have had another five all-star type years left in the tank.
The equivalent in today’s era would be if Dwayne Wade, Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudamire, and Deron Williams just faded into oblivion where they were at in their careers right now. Unreal that many top flight players barely scraped their prime years. I would have killed to see a healthy Penny in his prime make the Kobe/T-Mac a trinity for top 2 guards in the game.