1990-1992 Michael Jordan Shot Chart

[3ball]

The illegal defense rules inflated offensive numbers by hindering team defense

Paint camping was legal in previous eras, whereas today it's banned.. Hand-checking and various physicality has also been banned - defense is now hands-off.

But the most important thing is spacing - there was none in previous eras - teams only took 2 three-pointers per game in 1985, compared to 22 per game today.. With no spacing, all the driving, cutting, and passing lanes were smaller - offense was harder for everyone.

The lack of spacing left the strongside with more defenders too - defenders in previous eras didn't have to guard weakside 3-pointers, so they didn't have to BE on the weakside - all defenders remained on the strongside and/or in the paint, and therefore closest to help on strongside action:






Otoh, in today's game, defenders must guard weakside spacing.. To defend weakside 3-pointers, defenders must position themselves behind the far side of the paint on the weakside, therefore leaving the paint wide open while being furthest away to help on strongside action:





MJ never faced a paint that was wide open with no defenders.. EVER.. This is a fact..

But it's clear as day in today's game - every team's 3-point shooting and spacing strategy uses weakside spacing to reduce the number of strongside defenders.. Players routinely face strongsides with only 1 or 2 defenders, due to weakside floor-spreaders that lure defenders away.. The weakside spacing and resulting porous strongsides necessitate the flooding of defenders BACK TO the strongside - this is how strongside floods originated.

Otoh, weakside spacing didn't exist in previous eras, so defenders weren't lured away - defenders just remained on the strongside, which meant players faced strongsides that were already flooded with all 5 defenders.. The difference is night and day - just a completely different game altogether..

Today's weakside spacing and resulting porous strongsides make strongside isolations easier to execute and more effective.. However, in the 2015 Finals, Golden State let Lebron isolate all alone on the strongside - Lebron is such a poor shooter and horrible isolation player, that letting him isolate made mathematical sense.. Lebron only shot 32.5% on isolations in the playoffs - it always makes the most sense to let a player attempt a 32.5% shot over and over.. The Warriors exploited the Cavs by letting Lebron isolate at 32.5% a pop over and over:

http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=378398
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[Nuff Said]

So now we're arguing with presumption? Hope that doesn't become an ISH thing. Give me the arbitrary numbers which are at least factual over purely guessing.

Ikr. At least use stats or even damn clip gifs to help prove a point.

[Height Freak]

Bump

[tripledouble55]

126 Games Total

http://i.imgur.com/g3XPS5u.png

1989-90: 35 games
1990-91: 44 games
1991-92: 47 games


Shot Chart


At Rim: 629/847 FG (74.3%)
In Paint (Overall): 786/1333 FG (59.0%)
Midrange: 793/1552 FG (51.1%)
3 Point: 93/243 FG (38.3%)

Shot Attempts Blocked (Offense): 67

*This means 2.1% of his shots (3128 FGA) were blocked in this footage

Overall Chart

Isolation Plays Only

Team Performance

Plus/Minus

Plus/Minus Total: +1767

Plus/Minus Per 100: +18.3

On/Off

On Court ORtg: 123.9

Off Court ORtg: 88.3

Net ORtg: +35.6

On Court DRtg: 105.5

Off Court DRtg: 114.8

Net DRtg: -9.3

On/Off Net Rating: 44.9

Clutch Play

59 Total Games

4th quarter or overtime, less than 5 minutes left, neither team ahead by more than 5 points


Plus/Minus Total: +246

Plus/Minus Per 48: +48.8

Win Percentage: 74.6 %



1 on 1 Defense

15/55 FG (27.3%)


Total Statistics

Per 48 Statistics


Sports Illustrated - May 21, 1990

It wasn't so much that Hawkins scored only two points in the final 12 minutes, it was more that Jordan wouldn't even let him touch the ball. The least recognized part of Jordan's game is his ability to slip picks and suddenly pop up in the passing lane, like a kid who finds a shortcut to the candy store. "Nobody has ever been better at the end of a game than Michael," said Bulls coach Phil Jackson afterward. " Oscar Robertson was great, but this guy is a closer at both ends."



Sports Illustrated - June 28, 1993

There would seem to be four players with whom realistically to compare Jordan: Magic and Bird, both of whom were three-time regular-season MVPs; Bill Russell, the ultimate winner, who led the Celtics to 11 championships in 13 seasons; and Oscar Robertson, whose versatility, leadership and coldhearted competitiveness during 13 seasons make him closest to Jordan in playing style.

"Oscar was great defensively when he wanted to be," says 68-year-old Bull assistant Johnny Bach. "But Michael is the Tasmanian devil."




"No matter what the game is or who you're playing against, you have to want the ball."


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIAow8OKOeM

I'm really hope you preserved this incredible body of work somehow. GoogleSheets or some spreadsheet that can't get lost on a laptop or something. This is an incredible amount of work that I'd love to see completed for as many games as possible. I'd love to start a group where we email teams asking for pbp data prior to 1997. From Harvey Pollack's work, there was definitely play pbp data back to 1988 as he had dunk totals and many other stats on all other NBA teams up to that point. Prior to that, he kept 76ers stats (so it seems) back to the 1960s fairly well. After that, probably would try to get video (much less likely I'd imagine, but can't hurt to ask). Would love to digitize as much PBP data as possible, especially shot distances, dunks, etc.