Jordan playing with the Wizards: Good or bad for his legacy?

[Samurai Swoosh]

If I'm Michael Jordan, I'd rather go out on top with that game winning push-off jumper in Byron Russell's eye

Is that a back handed compliment? Otherwise what was the purpose of throwing that in there? It's not near the push off certain people try to make it seem. Did Jordan nudge Russell in the process? Yes, but Russell was super off balance playing for the drive (as Jordan blew past him on the previous offensive play) and yanked him back with the crossover. And Russell slipped because of the velocity of the move. To act like Jordan got free because of a "push off" is ridiculous. Watch the move in slow motion. Jordan's nudge wouldn't account for how fast and how hard Russell fell for that move. Otherwise you would've had to have seen an overtly obvious shove from Jordan.

[ImmortalD24]

Take it however you will.. the subtle yet effective push-off and all net jumper and the pose leaving his arm up there to top off an incredible legacy is what I remember. It isn't a slight, just how I recall the play.



It doesn't mean that I don't think he's the goat or anything sinister.

[jstern]

Is that a back handed compliment? Otherwise what was the purpose of throwing that in there? It's not near the push off certain people try to make it seem. Did Jordan nudge Russell in the process? Yes, but Russell was super off balance playing for the drive (as Jordan blew past him on the previous offensive play) and yanked him back with the crossover. And Russell slipped because of the velocity of the move. To act like Jordan got free because of a "push off" is ridiculous. Watch the move in slow motion. Jordan's nudge wouldn't account for how fast and how hard Russell fell for that move. Otherwise you would've had to have seen an overtly obvious shove from Jordan.

That play is one of the reasons why I don't waste my time arguing a lot with most people, since most of them are dumb. If you look that play up on youtube, it gets replayed in real time, in slow motion, and if you read the comments you will noticed that an insane amount of people are just dumb. They have no basic sense of the laws of physics just from being alive. They are willing to fight to the death that Jordan with super human strength was able to knock Russell to the floor with a light ass tap when Jordan's hand was going down, than Russell trying to desperately get back to Jordan who did a dead stop, after he was following him at full speed forward.

Since inmortad put that gif, here's the youtube video that shows it better from behind. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRCTp57LQro

[Soundwave]

That's not a push off ... THIS is a push off

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlNnL...eature=related

It was the 90s, where refs didn't call every little ticky tacky crap foul late in the game and left it up to the players.

Russell was way off balance anyway, Jordan was going to get a relatively clean look from the free throw line even if he hadn't slipped.

[step_back]

his legacy was already written in history, so it was more of a personal goal of seeing if he still had it. In terms of certain stats like career averages dropping slightly you can't really argue that it wasn't a good idea as the drops were pretty minimal.

Michael retired in 98 when realistically he could have played for another 2 years. I think this is what his regret was, I always think that when a player retires ontop they ponder whether or not they will get knocked off and who could do it.

as a competitor myself (in nature) I would rather my body tell me I can no longer do something then retiring when I still can and have more to give.

[TryToBeUnbias]

Both. He proved he could still play at a relatively good level even at the age of 38-40 (Good) But while doing that he did some damage to his all time stats (Bad).

[Sarcastic]

Was Babe Ruth's legacy ruined by playing for the Boston Braves in his last season?

Was Willie Mays legacy ruined by playing for the New York Mets in his last 2 seasons?

[97 bulls]

It hurt him in that his stats were lowered. But his play definately can be put into perspective by the fact that he was doing just as good as the best guards in the league at age 38- 40.

[97 bulls]

Take it however you will.. the subtle yet effective push-off and all net jumper and the pose leaving his arm up there to top off an incredible legacy is what I remember. It isn't a slight, just how I recall the play.



It doesn't mean that I don't think he's the goat or anything sinister.

It looks to me like russel was out of position. Unless you feel jordan physically picked him up and turned him around and then pushed him. And besides what reggie miller did to jordan in the ecf was farrrrr worse.

[kizut1659]

His legacy was too secure to be hurt, especially as while he was certainly not what he was - he was still pretty good and did not embarass himself ala Ali or Ruth. How many other NBA players averaged 20+ points at age 40?

[ThaRegul8r]

Was Willie Mays legacy ruined by playing for the New York Mets in his last 2 seasons?

You've never heard anyone talk about how painful it was to see Mays as a shell of his former self?

[oh the horror]

It was nothing but good. I still to this day, rant and rave about the fact that even an "old" Michael Jordan was schooling people in the league on the Wizards.


His legacy at that point was ALREADY etched in stone. Anything after that, short of a complete disaster, was just a bonus. And his stint with Washington was nothing close to a disaster. He did PRETTY DAMN WELL. I'd say

[mlh1981]

"legacy" is such a superfluous term to begin with.

The man wanted to play basketball. His final shot over Russell was OUR perfect ending, but not his.

The man simply missed the thrill of competition. For a guy like that, nothing in life can ever replace the thrill of competing against the best in the world.

Most of us retire in our 60s, and here was a guy, not even 40 years old, wanting to see if he could do it one last time. I'd imagine it would be tough to still be so young, relatively speaking, and be considered "over the hill" in any area of life.

More power to him for going out and doing it, rather than wondering about it for the rest of his days.

[oh the horror]

"legacy" is such a superfluous term to begin with.

The man wanted to play basketball. His final shot over Russell was OUR perfect ending, but not his.

The man simply missed the thrill of competition. For a guy like that, nothing in life can ever replace the thrill of competing against the best in the world.

Most of us retire in our 60s, and here was a guy, not even 40 years old, wanting to see if he could do it one last time. I'd imagine it would be tough to still be so young, relatively speaking, and be considered "over the hill" in any area of life.

More power to him for going out and doing it, rather than wondering about it for the rest of his days.

Yep, and not only did he go out there and do it, but he also did it well. Jordan still had it, and THEN some.

[PowerGlove]

He was still dropping 40+/50+ on people, how would that severely hurt his legacy? Sure he didnt have the team success, but he proved why people called him the GOAT in those two years. A slow, old Jordan that was still claiming lives on the basketball court? Come on, that kind of enhanced his legacy IMO. You just gotta give him props for the effort and not being washed up at that age.