Magic Johnson would play PG in today's game because

[ThickassGlasses]

And in case your confused, saying MJ isn't the GOAT at 1 specific thing doesn't mean he still isn't the superior player.

[3ball]

Worse passer than Magic, yes, but Lebron's still better at passing than mj

^^^^ That holds no water when the NBA's the player-tracking data shows Lebron ranks 8th in the league's ball-dominance stat, defined as: "percentage of points scored with greater than 6 seconds of touch time" - 37.5% of Lebron's points are scored by taking longer than 6 seconds (8th in entire league) - he and Harden were the only non-PG's in the top 50..

Considering Lebron is more ball-dominant (8th in entire league) than even the most ball-dominant PG's, his lower career assist averages than MJ's off-ball game achieved thru age 30 in the playoffs and Finals can only mean MJ was the better passer..

The higher assist numbers despite playing OFF-ball are especially startling considering MJ was undertaking a much higher scoring load on better efficiency as well (34 ppg/50% fg to Lebron's 28 ppg/48% in playoffs - that's a 25% higher scoring load... 36 PPG/53% to 24 PPG/46% in Finals, or 50% higher scoring load).

Also, MJ was a better passer at Lebron's own game - as a ball-dominating, point guard.. Despite Lebron's entire career as a ball-dominator and point guard (giving him maximum opportunity to accumulate assists), Lebron has never come anywhere near the 30/9/11 MJ put up during his 24-game stretch at PG, which included a stretch of 10 triple-doubles in 11 games.

MJ's point guard numbers were so ridiculous and so much better than anything Lebron or any other non-point guard has ever done, that it can't be chalked up as anomalous - that's clearly what MJ's production was as a point guard.
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[SpanishACB]

It makes sense - if you were a coach and you had a guy who was a 12 APG passer, you'd but him at PG.. Don't try to convince me that you'd be the first coach in the history of the game to start a 10+ APG passer at a non-point guard position.. Since the game was invented, coaches have started 10+ APG passers at point-guard 100% of the time with no exceptions - like, 50,931 out of 50,931 times at all levels of basketball.

flawed logic. You'll never know. Being a PG means you get to average more assists because you have the ball more. Teams could have 2x 10apg players but playing one at SG/less minutes/whatever meant said player never got to average 10apg.

You see. If you had Nash and Magic on the same team, you wouldn't play Magic at PG because it would give you so much flexibility defensively. It doesn't matter if Magic held the ball a lot. Sure Magic is better than Nash, but Magic can playmake from the post and Nash can't, so you accommodate, and play Magic anywhere from SG to PF even though he would still be a main focus in creation.

[Kobe_6/8]

flawed logic. You'll never know. Being a PG means you get to average more assists because you have the ball more. Teams could have 2x 10apg players but playing one at SG/less minutes/whatever meant said player never got to average 10apg.

You see. If you had Nash and Magic on the same team, you wouldn't play Magic at PG because it would give you so much flexibility defensively. It doesn't matter if Magic held the ball a lot. Sure Magic is better than Nash, but Magic can playmake from the post and Nash can't, so you accommodate, and play Magic anywhere from SG to PF even though he would still be a main focus in creation.

In that situation you could have Magic play PG on offense while he guards up elsewhere on defense.

[3ball]

http://www.basketball-reference.com/..._g_career.html


The top 25 career leaders in APG are all point guards.. Magic is #1 overall, with an 11.2 career APG average, ahead of Stockton's 10.5.. There are only 12 non-point guards in the top 100, and the first isn't until #28.

In other words, there has never been a player anywhere near Magic's passing capability that played a position other than point guard - the top 27 career leaders in APG are all point guards!!!.. Think about that.. So it's ludicrous to think Magic would play any other position today.
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