Did Michael Jordan have a true weakness?

[White Chocolate]

Scoring- career 30.1 PPG

Shooting- shot over 50% 6 times

Defense- career 6.2 RPG(had an 8 RPG season), 2.3 SPG(once had 3.2), 1.5+ BPG twice

Leadership- extremely clutch, Bulls never lost a series with home court

3 point shooting- in seasons with at least 90 3 pointers made, never shot less than 37.4%

Playmaking- career 5.3 APG, averaged 6+ APG 3 times

Health- in his years as a Bull(minus 1994-95), played in 92.3% of his team's games


Honestly, did the man have one single weakness on the basketball court?

[Loki]

No, he didn't. He had areas where he was not as great as he was in every other area (namely 3-point shooting), but even those weren't "weaknesses," because for something to be a "weakness," it needs to be something that could be exploited. Jordan can and would knock down 3's if you let him.

In every season Jordan attempted more than a miniscule number of threes ('90, '93, '96, though the latter was at the shorter line), he shot it in the mid-upper 30's. He also shot 38.5-40.3% from deep in the playoffs from '91-'96, including 38.9% on 4 threes attempted per game in the '93 playoffs. This suggests that Jordan was a rhythm three point shooter -- whenever he took a good amount, he made a good amount. He explicitly stated several times that he never wanted to take a lot of threes because it would detract from his definition of his game, and the evidence seems to bear out the fact that it was a conscious decision rather than a shortcoming, since when he took more, he made more.

Who knows how Jordan's 3FG% would have looked if he worked on it and attempted 5+ threes per game for several seasons? I have no doubt he'd be a mid-30's shooter at the very least, since this is what the evidence suggests.

[highwhey]

gambling?

[starface]

gambling?

thats win.

[worldbefree]

I saw a documentary on him back in the day when analysts, etc were criticizing his 3point shooting so he spent the entire summer working on his 3ball. He was truly dedicated.

[bdreason]

Killing his dad took him out for one year.











I know, that was low.

[shaoyut]

hes not that good at 3 point shooting

[Loki]

hes not that good at 3 point shooting

That wasn't (nearly) a "weakness." See my post above for an explanation.

[1987_Lakers]

3 point shooting

He sucked so much that the NBA shortened the 3 point shot so Jordan can improve in that area.:)

[Loki]

3 point shooting

He sucked so much that the NBA shortened the 3 point shot so Jordan can improve in that area.:)

Another misinformed poster. And yeah, they shortened it for him despite the fact that he was coming off one of the best 3FG% seasons of his career and shot it at 40% in the playoffs on a good volume of attempts. Oh yeah, and they knew he was retiring, too, yet still did it. Makes perfect sense.

[White Chocolate]

hes not that good at 3 point shooting

Yes, that's not a strong spot for Mike. But, it still wasn't a weakness. Once he regularly starting shooting 3s, he was 37-40%.

[1987_Lakers]

Another misinformed poster. And yeah, they shortened it for him despite the fact that he was coming off one of the best 3FG% seasons of his career and shot it at 40% in the playoffs on a good volume of attempts. Oh yeah, and they knew he was retiring, too, yet still did it. Makes perfect sense.

I was obviously joking.

[Loki]

I was obviously joking.

I knew you were joking about them moving the line in for him, but I've heard many people actually state the same thing, which is why I took the time to debunk it. When I said you were misinformed, I meant in regards to his 3-pt shooting being an actual weakness, which I felt you were saying sincerely.

[AllenIverson3]

Yes, that's not a strong spot for Mike. But, it still wasn't a weakness. Once he regularly starting shooting 3s, he was 37-40%.

dont look at his percentage from the 3 point line look at how many he made!

[White Chocolate]

dont look at his percentage from the 3 point line look at how many he made!

It's not about how many you make. Quality > quantity. In other words, efficiency is far more important than making a ton of shots.