Jordan Gives the Blueprint on Stopping Lebron Defensively

[Clippersfan86]

He's not stronger but the rest of the bold should be expected from a 6'6 athlete over a 6'8/9 that weighs 30 less pounds or more

Better COMBINATION of. His strength is close to Lebron if not equal. I've heard all time strong men like Charles Oakley say Jordan was nearly as strong as them. I just think Lebron would be unable to bully Jordan around with his athleticism the way he does with everybody now.

[Clippersfan86]

Old. Already posted and discussed two days ago.

My bad. Didn't see it, sorry man.

[BrickingStar]

Better COMBINATION of. His strength is close to Lebron if not equal. I've heard all time strong men like Charles Oakley say Jordan was nearly as strong as them. I just think Lebron would be unable to bully Jordan around with his athleticism the way he does with everybody now.

Opinion noted. Good thing lebron isn't just athleticism and has skills in multiple areas and isn't some like Blake G

[Clippersfan86]

Opinion noted. Good thing lebron isn't just athleticism and can shoot or some like Blake G

Agree Lebron is a very very capable shooter now and would still perform. No legend would completely shut any other legend down in a series really... but I have no doubt Jordan would hold him below his averages.

[pauk]

Where do you force him when you get that 6'9-260 booty backing you up all the way down under the basket MJ just like when Magic used to do to you all the time? :)

[tmacattack33]

I remember watching the Cavaliers in the 2007 ECF and Steve Kerr and them said the same sh*t.

It doesn't matter. It's not a secret. People know this and they still can't stop him.

Like people also know that his jump shot isn't the greatest (or at least it wasn't before this year) and it'd be best to limit him to jump shots. But he still tears up 90% of the league.

[tikay0]

Better COMBINATION of. His strength is close to Lebron if not equal. I've heard all time strong men like Charles Oakley say Jordan was nearly as strong as them. I just think Lebron would be unable to bully Jordan around with his athleticism the way he does with everybody now.

Robert Horry once said, Jordan came through and hit him in the chest, and said to himself, "DAMN, that guys strong!".

[pauk]

If you want to get in idea how it would somewhat look like if Jordan tried to defend Lebron then watch Jordan defend Magic, if you have seen 1991 finals for example.... Magic would ragdoll MJ in the post every single time, no moves required, just back him down routinely due to the size/strength advantage.... it was like a mouse in the house... Pippen was forced to defend him instead and he didnt do so well either, but better than MJ... if the 6'8-210 lbs Magic could do that then i want to assume Lebron could do it to...

[Lebron23]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3Um4x6M8ew

[Bigsmoke]

is this a joke? So basically Jordan's defense would make no difference? I don't think people understand although 6'6 220... Jordan was strong as a mother fu**er. I'd wager he's physically nearly as strong as Lebron. Combine that with superior IQ, tenacity, toughness and footwork? Sorry man but Lebron is not putting up 30, 7 and 7 against Jordan, especially in a series.

For the record tho, Jordan was a year removed from winning DPOY when Zeke was dropping daggers over his head in Game 6 in the 1989 ECFs

Zeke > LeBron?

[kenuffff]

Michael Jordan is probably the only player in NBA history that is MORE athletic than Lebron in terms of the combination of strength, leaping, quickness, explosiveness etc. I honestly think Mike would be a nightmare matchup for Lebron because he's the one guy Lebron wouldn't be able to bully. Wouldn't surprise me if he beat Lebron into submission mentally either.

lebron is physically more gifted than jordan sorry.

[Clippersfan86]

lebron is physically more gifted than jordan sorry.

Based on what? Anything verifiable? Because we KNOW Jordan is quicker, jumps higher and is as strong as an ox.

[Indian guy]

There's little truth to what he's saying though. LeBron prefers driving left for everything, not just shooting. If it was that simple, he'd be a jump shooter in this league.

And MJ's defensive strength lied in guarding players his size and smaller, where he was arguably the GOAT. There's no history of him ever checking big guys save Magic, who had his way with him. LeBron would be way too big for MJ. There's little chance of MJ ever even guarding him(no coach is stupid enough to do that), much less having success against him.

This is something people who have NEVER seen MJ play(OP, and the majority on this board) won't understand.

[Overdrive]

If you want to get in idea how it would somewhat look like if Jordan tried to defend Lebron then watch Jordan defend Magic, if you have seen 1991 finals for example.... Magic would ragdoll MJ in the post every single time, no moves required, just back him down routinely due to the size/strength advantage.... it was like a mouse in the house... Pippen was forced to defend him instead and he didnt do so well either, but better than MJ... if the 6'8-210 lbs Magic could do that then i want to assume Lebron could do it to...

Lebron's not Magic though. He couldn't even back down JJ Barea. If someone has a bad feeling for his feet - and aside from being an awesome player overall Lebron still has - you just step back and the player won't recover and quite possibly lose balance, so if he posts long and "ferocious" enough you just deny the post up. So Lebron has to post to post on Jordan on the block and Jordan most likely wouldn't guard him there.
Aside from that the made a rule change, because Barkley would do that on the perimeter, posting up on mismatches all the time and I'm pretty sure that was after the '91 finals.

[tmacattack33]

Based on what? Anything verifiable? Because we KNOW Jordan is quicker, jumps higher and is as strong as an ox.

No, all you posted so far was quotes from other players about Jordan's strength.

And it's pretty safe to assume there may be a chance that guys would exaggerate Jordan's strength as opposed to some random scrubs like Greg Foster or Dana Barros.

"Something verifiable" would be his bench press, squat, curl, or military press weight from some official measurement.