Michael Jordan is considered by many to be the greatest NBA player of all time, but not everybody agrees with that. As the years go on by, his status is disputed by those that never watched him play, with many now saying LeBron James is the GOAT. This is something that happens naturally, and LeBron deserves his flowers as well, but it’s easy to take what Jordan was able to achieve for granted sometimes.
Even before he started winning championships regularly, Michael Jordan was leading the league in scoring. In just his 3rd and 4th seasons in the league, Jordan averaged 36 points per game, forcing teams to change the way they played on defense. His dominance continued for most of his career, even though he played in an era when defenders got away with being a lot more physical than they are today.
The Legendary George Karl Explained Why Michael Jordan’s GOAT Status Cannot Be Questioned
George Karl coached against Michael Jordan, he was the brains behind the Seattle Supersonics in the 90s. Karl’s Sonics, led by Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp, faced off against Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Finals in 1996 but fell short against that very legendary team. And Karl is seemingly tired of people questioning whether MJ is the GOAT, recently taking to Twitter to set the record straight.
Anyone who is debating Michael’s GOAT status doesn’t realize he would average a 40 PPG triple double in the modern game! pic.twitter.com/gKovbG3AH6
— George Karl (@CoachKarl22) January 11, 2023
“Anyone who is debating Michael’s GOAT status doesn’t realize he would average a 40 PPG triple double in the modern game!”
The idea that Michael Jordan would average 40 points or more in the modern NBA has been shared before. Analyst Chris Broussard said much the same when discussing the Bulls legend at one point, and former Head Coach Jeff Van Gundy went into details about how exactly he would do it too.
“If you would give the ball to Jordan in his prime with these rules, with all the shooting, and think that he wasn’t going to shoot over 50%? Michael shot over 50% with limited 3-point shooting, and limited space in the triangle offense….at the highest form of physicality, the (Detroit) Pistons or the (New York) Knicks trying to take your head off. So there is (absolutely) no question Michael Jordan would have led the league in scoring (in today’s time)…..he would’ve averaged 40 (points).”
The part that is perhaps a little harder to believe is the triple-double. In the two seasons, he averaged 36 points, MJ had 5 rebounds and 5 assists per game, and doubling that in any era seems like a stretch. The larger point remains though, there is a reason that MJ is considered to be the greatest ever by a majority of NBA fans.
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