Gilbert Arenas has played down the level of competition that Michael Jordan went up against at the two-guard position in his career. On the latest episode of Gil’s Arena, Arenas was discussing Anthony Edwards’ infamous comments about Jordan being the only skilled player of his era, when he pointed out that the Chicago Bulls icon didn’t have to face any of the top five shooting guards in history in their prime.
“If we really want to have this discussion about Jordan’s competition, just go this, top five shooting guards in history, he didn’t play against any of them in their prime,” Arenas said. “Kobe’s two, but he had a young Kobe in ’98. Allen Iverson, Dwyane Wade, James Harden, T-Mac (Tracy McGrady), Vince (Carter)… Jordan didn’t face these guys. History is showing you who’s who now because time has went by.”
(starts at 27:58 mark):
I think it’s fair to say Jordan didn’t play any of the top five when they were in their prime. We ranked the five greatest shooting guards in NBA history by decade and the best one he came up against in their prime was undoubtedly Clyde Drexler.
Now, some would argue Drexler is top five all-time, but I think he just misses out. I would have Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, James Harden, and Allen Iverson in there. If you don’t consider Iverson to be a shooting guard, I think Jerry West would be the one who takes that spot.
Jordan did face Bryant and Iverson from that group, but neither of those two was anywhere near their prime at that point. When he retired for the second time in 1998, Kobe had made one All-Star team (averaged just 15.4 PPG that season) while Iverson was yet to even make one.
Still, though, does that diminish what Jordan accomplished in his career? Certainly not. He went up against some of the greatest big men and point guards the game has ever seen, Shaquille O’Neal, Karl Malone, Isiah Thomas, Magic Johnson, and John Stockton, and came away from his playoff battles with them with six championships.
Gilbert Arenas Claims Michael Jordan Was The Only Elite Athlete Of His Era
Arenas made quite a few interesting statements during that episode of his show when discussing Edwards’ comments. At one point, Arenas stated Jordan was the only elite athlete of his era.
“Jordan is a 10, it’s like a car. All of Jordan’s competition in that era did not even have the physical tools to keep up with him. So he was basically a Bugatti, and everybody else was a Honda Civic. All the shooting guards were 6’4″, they had no jumping ability, so who he went against, they weren’t talented. Meaning, they weren’t athletic enough to keep up with him. Today, everybody has a 40″ vertical that can jump with me.”
While I wouldn’t say Jordan was the only elite athlete of his time, he was arguably the best, and that was a big reason why he dominated the way he did. He was just too big, too strong, and too fast for many of the two guards back then. In some ways, Jordan was way ahead of his time and became the prototype for the great two-guards that came after him.
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