lefty knows the Lakers fan answers of "will he retire with 6 rings"...not if Kobe pads his stats.![]()
lefty knows the Lakers fan answers of "will he retire with 6 rings"...not if Kobe pads his stats.![]()
Jordan came into the league 23 teams and when he retired in 2003, there were 29.
Vancouver Grizzlies and Toronto Raptors (1995-96, the year the Bulls won 72)
The Bulls were a combined 5-1 against the expansion teams that year. Notable players the could've been on other rosters include Damon Stoudamire (Rookie of the Year), Bryant Reeves, Doug Christie, Tony Massenberg, Tracy Murray, Greg Anthony, and Byron Scott.
Minnesota Timberwolves (1989-90)
In Jordan's time in the league, notable players include Kevin Garnett, Pooh Richardson, Tom Gugliotta, Christian Laettner, Stephon Marbury, Sam Mitc , Luc Longley, Isaiah Rider and Donyell Marshall.
Charlotte Hornets (1988-89)
In Jordan's time in the league, notable players include Larry Johnson, Alonzo Mourning, Dell Curry, Mugsy Bogues, Rex Chapman, Johnny Newman, Kobe Bryant, David Wesley, and Bobby Phills.
Miami Heat (1988-89)
Kevin Edwards, Glen Rice, Rony Seikley, Grant Long, Steve Smith, Matt Geiger, Voshon Lenard, Kurt Thomas, Bruce Bowen,
Orlando Magic (1989-90)
In Jordan's time in the league, notable players (read like a Hall-of-Fame ballot) Shaquille O'Neal, Chris Webber, Anfernee Hardaway, Dennis Scott, Nick Anderson, Scott Skiles, Terry Catledge, Brian Williams, Darrell Armstrong and Bo Outlaw.
Last edited by Darrin; 11-18-2009 at 03:59 PM.
This is the only team added to the league since he started to dominate (1991).
You're telling me that Stockton, Malone, DRob, Hakeem, Drexler, Isiah, Ewing, Pippen, Barkley, Dumars were a piece of cake to play against night in and night out? They didn't play in games Jordan played?
And I'm just listing mostly HOFs. I'm missing a bunch of second tier, very talented players also, and other HOFs coming from the 80's (Magic, Bird).
That was his compe ion and he flat out dominated.
If dropping 81 on a Toronto team doesn't really tells you the story, then you need to have yourself checked...
I thought Kobe got his due already. Being League MVP, Finals MVP and doing all that without Shaq's shade. Most every fan will tell you he's the best player in the game right now.
What else is due?
i held my tongue the whole thread but ur a ing idiot if you think the Lakers didnt need him to go nuts to even get back into that game.
also...u shouldnt use the 81 point game as an example cuz everyone and thier mom (except for haters) wanted him to pad thoses after he hit 60 points.
I think deep down he knows he is wrong but he backed himself into a corner early on in this thread.
You can't have it both ways. If we're using 1990-91 as a measuring stick, Magic wouldn't last past the Finals, Bird would retire a year later. Isiah Thomas, a s of himself, and Dumars were losing in Detroit because they had no talent around them. 1990-91 is known as the last hurrah around here because it was the last time the Pistons would win a playoff series until 2001-02. They'd make the playoffs in 1992, but they wouldn't be back until Jordan was retired, unretired, and won 72 games. Barkley switched Conferences in 1992. And the rest of the players you mentioned he saw twice a year thanks to expansion (changes in the schedule).
You're lacking imagination. The Minnesota Timberwolves didn't sniff .500 until 1997. Part of the Bulls domination was against these teams.
Postseason Series Against the Bulls:
Miami (1992, 1997),
Orlando (1995, 1996),
Charlotte (1996, 1998),
The teams drained the pool of talent that affected Jordan's era. He was still dominating while these franchises were learning how to play.
And I want to be clear--this isn't to diminish what he accomplished. But the Stern-era expansion is the larger than the ABA/NBA merger. You can't say it wasn't watered-down.
So you agree he was padding stats... gotcha.
LOL washed up Jalen Rose...
Now you're being completely disingenuous. You mention 4 expansion teams up there. How could you claim the Bulls were dominating only those teams and yet winning 72 games in a season? At MOST they were playing those teams, what, 12 games a season?
Not to mention that even if you argue talent was diluted then, it's not much better now at all. There's one more team (30 total), and there's really only 4 or 5 teams you could claim are le contenders.
I actually argue that due to the recent rule changes that favor guards, Jordan would actually have been even more dominant now than before.
Obviously, it's impossible to prove.
No, you're missing the point.
i agree...after he scored around the 70 point mark, the rest was probably padding stats.
Did you think he was padding stats when he got 63 points against the mavs and sat the whole 4th?
We got your point on page 1. You're a completely bitter Piston fan.
I can only imagine how painful the 90's were for you.
Considering the Lakers were up 34, I would say yeah, he was definitely padding stats. And I'm fairly sure if Phil didn't have the decency to sit him down at that point, Kobe would have gladly kept on playing.
Now, don't get me wrong. It takes a lot of talent to score 30 points all by himself in a quarter. And Kobe should get all the credit for being a very talented player. That's certainly out of the question.
The funniest part was that they barely double-teamed him, even when he was torching them..also that they had scrubs guarding him, but Raptors didn't really have any notable defenders anyways..
I remember how outraged the local media was in TO after the game..it was a very low-point for the Raptors, and had a big part in talks of how soft of a team they were, and how they needed a guy that would have knocked Kobe on his ass..
It was definitely stat-padding and horrible compe ion, but it's amazing anybody does anything like that..
his 60+ through 3 was more impressive IMO..
They were painful as a Piston fan, but I got over it a long time ago. If you're wondering when, it was around the time Joe Dumars was trading Grant Hill to Orlando for Ben Wallace and Chucky Atkins. I still had a Jordan poster on my wall in 1992. My favorite team has little-to-no effect on how I view Jordan, except I live in a town that put the 1989 Conference Finals on DVD.
Did you forget they were up by more than 25? Kobe was on the bench at the start of the 4th. The announcers even made the comment that they hoped the reserves could maintain the lead so he didnt have to retrun. They didnt... he did.
Not sure why I repy to anything you post... you are a complete moron and your hatred clouds your vision.
Last edited by cobbler; 11-18-2009 at 08:37 PM.
Yeah... Toronto was so soft I think 5 or 6 guys dropped 80 on them that year.![]()
This reminds me of the 1997 game at the Palace when Doug Collins broke down in tears because the Pistons beat his former team, the Chicago Bulls. Does that make Michael less of a dominant force in 1997? No. It means he lost games in his career. One game isn't indicative of an entire career.
Now you're going to tell me that a washed up Jalen Rose was DPOY?
I already said there's no argument that Kobe is incredibly talented, and not everyone has the talent to drop 60+, even on a team. That doesn't mean that Toronto team was not crap. And that's certainly not what we're discussing here.
It's amazing to me how butthurt lakerfan gets over the realization that Kobe is simply not going to be able to match MJ. It's no knock on Kobe. I mean, the guy works hard, tries his best every night, tries to catchup to MJ's legacy on every game and he's undeniably going to retire as one of the better players to have played the game.
The New York Knickerbockers were horrible defensively in 1962. They gave up 119.7 ppg, 6th in the league (of 9). They were 29-51. And on March 2, 1962, they gave up 100 points to Wilt Chamberlain. I was 2-months old on the 22nd anniversary of this game, so it's needless to say that I didn't see it. There's literally no tape on it. But considering those statistics, it's not Wilt was picking on the NBA Champions for his dominant individual performance.
That tells me Wilt Chamberlain was incredibly talented, which is, again, not what we're discussing here. Wilt did much more than drop 100 on the Knicks. You and I both know that.
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