There were eyebrows raised when Gilbert Arenas recently implied that Michael Jordan used PEDs. One of the points Arenas brought up was Jordan playing all 82 games as a 40-year-old when he was with the Washington Wizards. Kwame Brown was a teammate of Jordan’s at the time and he has now reacted to Arenas’ comments.
“I can say 100% that that’s cap,” Brown said. “MJ wasn’t on anything. At 38, at 39, 40 years old, MJ wasn’t outrunning any other young guys. MJ wasn’t coming down the lane tomahawk-dunking on anybody. He was very old, and you could tell this was an older guy out there with young people. He’s not an older guy that’s still dunking on people through the lane. Full fastbreaks, coast to coast, in the things that we’re seeing now.”
Brown added that he is not suggesting that LeBron James is using PEDs.
“Am I saying that LeBron is on something? No,” Brown continued. “I’m just comparing the two at around the same age. I had a very closeup look at MJ, and now I’m seeing LeBron, and I’ve never seen anything like this.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P4j-Ezsuao
Brown never saw anything that suggested Jordan was using PEDs at the time. Sure, he was productive on the court during his stint with the Wizards, but he wasn’t exactly dominating on a nightly basis.
The 2002-03 season was Jordan’s last in the NBA and he averaged 20.0 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.5 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game in that campaign. Those are fine numbers for someone of that age but Jordan was still a shell of his former self.
This was a man who flew all over the court during his time with the Chicago Bulls to win six championships, six Finals MVPs, five MVPs, and 10 scoring titles. We didn’t see that version of Jordan when he was with the Wizards. There were some great performances, but like most older players, he couldn’t do it on a consistent basis.
As Brown pointed out, he looked like an older man, but because he was so skilled, he was still able to produce on the court. He certainly wasn’t playing the way LeBron is right now.
James’ play has led to talk that he is using PEDs, but like Jordan, he has never failed a drug test. It’s a shame that instead of applauding both of them for what they did and continue to do, there is chatter that it is because of PEDs.
Kwame Brown On Michael Jordan’s Mentality When He Was With The Wizards
Brown was selected with the first pick of the 2001 NBA Draft by the Wizards when Jordan was team president. The two would then become teammates when the latter came out of retirement and Brown revealed what Jordan’s mentality was like when he was 39 years old.
“You had a coach in Doug Collins who didn’t believe in playing young players, and Michael didn’t either. Michael’s last hoorah, he wanted to win a championship. He thought that if he could get to the playoffs, he could win a championship.”
The Wizards would miss the playoffs in both seasons with Jordan, as they finished with an identical 37-45 record in those campaigns. Would they have won it had they made it? Certainly not, but I am not surprised that Jordan thought he could win it all.
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