Could Michael Jordan score 40 ppg in this era?

[BEAST Griffin]

It's easier than ever for perimeter players to penetrate. And that's something Michael Jordan excelled at. With these soft no touch rules he'd probably average 10+ ft's per game and penetrate at will.

40 ppg is realistic.

[OmniStrife]

A 40 PPG player is a terminal tumor for a team and a losing season.

[OldSchoolBBall]

Nah, I doubt it. If '87-'91 MJ played from '06-'10, I see a high season or two of 36.0-36.5 ppg/47.5-49.0% FG/56.5-58% TS and regular seasons of 32.0-33.5 pts/50-52% FG/58.5-61% TS.

[TheMan]

It's easier than ever for perimeter players to penetrate. And that's something Michael Jordan excelled at. With these soft no touch rules he'd probably average 10+ ft's per game and penetrate at will.

40 ppg is realistic.

Yes...easily

with today's soft NBA and the big man in the middle basically extinct, nothing would stop MJ from taking it to the rim all game long.

[jstern]

Jordan comes across as a very honest guy in his interviews. Very, very little bravado, just very honest. And back when he was playing he said that he could average 40 ppg, but that it would not be good for the team. So that's back then, imagine now. If he played his regular game I think he could. I think his natural instinct was always to look for the best shot for the team to score, which usually meant he taking a shot with how easily he could get one off, so since it would be so much easier for him for him now, then I think there would be seasons where he would score over 40ppg. If my assessment is correct, then you can probably even ask if he would be capable of scoring 50+ ppg, but at the expense of the team and winning.

[Droid101]

Yes...easily

with today's soft NBA and the big man in the middle basically extinct, nothing would stop MJ from taking it to the rim all game long.

Except the zone defense which would force him to pass.

You realize he played in an era of illegal defense, so it was hard to double team him. It's super easy now. Just have someone floating over toward him at all times.

His assists would probably climb (but not by much, that pressure usually makes the second pass the one that hits the most open man), but his scoring wouldn't be any higher.

[8BeastlyXOIAD]

Lmfao @ old geezers on this site

[amfirst]

Nope, they would force him into a zone defense, which would have one guy guarding him and one guy guarding the guy guarding back with 1 more defender on one side. Forcing him to his weaker hand and more predictable outcome. Averaging 40 point per game would be terrible for his team's winning percentage. The main reason why he won't average 40 ppg today.

[juju151111]

Except the zone defense which would force him to pass.

You realize he played in an era of illegal defense, so it was hard to double team him. It's super easy now. Just have someone floating over toward him at all times.

His assists would probably climb (but not by much, that pressure usually makes the second pass the one that hits the most open man), but his scoring wouldn't be any higher.

MJ averged 37 ppg and stop pretending teams play Zone all gm. They barley ever do. Larry brown,Pat Rileyetc... all say zone is.BS and the best defense play man with help. MJ would tear this

[OldSchoolBBall]

Nope, they would force him into a zone defense, which would have one guy guarding him and one guy guarding the guy guarding back with 1 more defender on one side. Forcing him to his weaker hand and more predictable outcome. Averaging 40 point per game would be terrible for his team's winning percentage. The main reason why he won't average 40 ppg today.

Like I said above, I don't think he'd average 40 ppg, but you make it sound like it's been difficult for perimeter players to score in the '06-'11 era when the exact opposite is true: perimeter players have scored more than ever during this period.

[andgar923]

Easily.

LOL @ Zone defense stopping MJ.



Of course, this is assuming that he played exactly how he did back then, he'd be obliterating zone defenses.

All one has to do is move without the ball and exploit the weak spots on the defense (which there's many in zone), and that's exactly what MJ did for his entire career.

ROFL @ zone defense

[eliteballer]

The Bad Boy Pistons allowed more PPG than the Nash/Dirk Mavs.

[8BeastlyXOIAD]

The Bad Boy Pistons allowed more PPG than the Nash/Dirk Mavs.

/thread

[asdf1990]

he would average 50 ppg/12rpg/15apg/20 spg/10bpg on 100/200/900 with a TS of 500 in this era

[catch24]

He could, but on a really bad team.