Michael Jordan: If I Played Today, I Could Have Scored 100

Michael Jordan did spend entire stretches of games driving to the basket. Intact here’s a quote from Tim Grover “with the way refs call games now and all the padding these guys wear Michael would average 40 or 50 a night if he wanted.” Grover trained Kobe before he went out and averaged 36 he trains LeBron. Michael was physically far superior to kobe bryant and was a much more dangerous offensive threat. Jukai are you crazy? Look at jordans numbers he averaged more points on a higher % shooting in every comparable year but the 36ppg season except Michael had a more impressive 37ppg year. Against tougher defenses with less rules enabling the offense to get wherever the expletive they want.

this is demented. mike has no idea what the hell he’s talking about. of course he can score 100 in a game, but only if that was a preseason game against 5 wnba players.

yeah the games are much less physical now coz of the hand check and bump rules. but he couldn’t make it to 100 for 3 reasons:
1. teams nowadays have a much much slower pace (except the suns, warriors)
2. defensive schemes today are much more effective. ever wonder why teams today rarely make it to 120pts, unlike the 80′s and early 90′s?
3. MJ can’t make more than 7 threes in a game

MJ, you talkin silly

i didn’t even mention how they let you carry and travel now !!! MJ would be unstoppable !

MJ may hit 85, 90 in today’s age… the only way MJ would hit 100 points is if he shot 30% and lost the game. And people were fouling the other team to stop the clock.

NBA Offense: Then and Now

1984-85 2003-04 Change

Points per game 110.8 93.4 -17.4
Possessions/game 104.8 92.0 -12.8
Points/possession 1.05 1.01 -.04
Field-goal pct. 49.1 43.9 -5.2
Free-throw pct. 76.4 75.2 -1.2
3-point pct. 28.1 34.7 +6.6
Off. Rebound pct. 32.9 28.7 -4.2
FTA/FGA .330 .303 -.207
Turnovers/possession .169 .154 -.015

hmmm. that formatting came out wrong. It said: NBA average scoring in 84/85 was 110.8 ppg/game. In 2003/04, 93.4. People talk about the physicality of the league in the 80s and 90s, but up until the early 90s, the league average for ppg was much higher than it is now. MJ was getting many of his points in the mid and late 80s, though he also got points when the defense of the 90s slowed things down. Basically, the league slowed down more in the early/mid 90s in terms of scoring, despite the belief that handchecking would open the game up. Handchecking was prominently used in the 80s during the high scoring years…showing that only the very best at handchecking were able to make a difference with it (Derek Harper, for one). Kobe came into the league when scoring was low, not high. Anyone who actually has seen 80s games knows how wide open they were. Jordan’s best chance to get 100 came at a time when league scoring was way higher, and during a time when he, personally, was all about scoring. He scored 37ppg when the league scoring average was 110ppg. He had his chance.

@nbk: there were enough nights against brutal teams that allowed 110+ppg. MJ wanted to get records like anyone else, and never let his foot off the gas pedal. There were nights when he demanded the ball everytime down the court. There WERE nights when he was feeling it against the right team, and his teammates DID get him the ball….but apparently not to the tune of 100, 90, 80, or 70. I’m stating facts. I love MJ, but he had about 5 years of his prime scoring years in the ridiculously high scoring, run n gun 80s when he could’ve, and didn’t. Case closed.

nbk: No.
Jordan scored primarily on drives, he functioned closer to the basket. He also took smarter shots, he’d pass instead of taking shots double teamed.
The former involves tougher, more exhausting shots: when you play pickup games and get tired, do you drive more or shoot more? Kobe is more of a jump shooter which uses up less energy, letting him play at a higher level for a longer period of time.
The latter means Jordan shot at a higher clip cause he was able to win more games with his passing, which in my opinion is much better than Kobe’s. This will not increase Jordan’s scoring average.
And people should stop saying “this is the guy who went for 35 points in the first half of a Finals game.” To my knowledge, that’s 70 points total… which is 30 points off the mark… and to my knowledge, the Blazers were probably the weakest defensive team of the five teams Jordan saw in the finals (maybe the Suns were weaker?).

ok, did some quick math and research. These #s are rough estimates though, but they paint the picture well enough.
In the post-handchecking era of basketball there have been 9 60+ single player scoring output games. Those players averaged roughly
FG: 23/39
3pt: 7/14
FT: 17/19
Handchecking era averages are:
FG: 28/45
3pt: 1.5/3
FT: 16/18
As you can see, there isn’t much of a disparity in terms of getting to the line, and the shot attempts can be accounted for with possessions per game. the biggest difference is 3pt production with 7 3′s being the average amount needed to reach 60.
Now Golden State led the league with possessions per games around 103. So assuming MJ played against GS’s atrocious defense, his team able to match GS’ possessions AND they got off a shot on EVERY possession, AND MJ got 60% of the attempts, AND he shoots 50%, AND gets to the line 25 times shooting 100% from there, that gets him abt 85pts.
If it isn’t obvious, the zone regulations are exactly why we see such a spike in 3pt production in this era vs the handchecking era. While players are afforded the less restrictive perimeter guarding regulations, it is now legal to zone off areas so that penetrators are often faced with a second(oftentimes 3rd)defender who is designed to force pull up and perimeter shots. Simply stated, given the current trend of possessions per game, one would be hard pressed achieving 60+ without using the 3pt line. And given MJ’s 3pt shooting ability and the clip required to score 60+, it really is unfathomable to think that Money could score much more than 60 in today’s game given his style of play. 100 without a solid trey-game is just silly.

I mean, if MJ exploited today’s game to attack the hole there’s no way he scores 100. If he doesn’t, he never had the chops to score from outside and beyond the 3 as would be necessary to produce those gaudy numbers. It’s just not happening.

People have a misconception about NBA defenses of the 80s/early 90s. The 80s were a golden age of scoring, as I’ve shown. The Early 90s got tougher and scoring went down, but this has been over emphasized because it was being compared to the earlier era. Defense actually stayed at the same level throughout the 90s. In 2000/01, for example, NBA scoring was at 94 ppg. Subsequent seasons were at 95ppg, 95, 93, 97, 97, 98, 100, 100, and 100. Jordan would now be playing in a league with fewer possessions and points. It would be tougher for him to maintain his averages he had in the 80s, even in his prime, though I don’t doubt he could do it. But this cannot be emphasized enough: Jordan played during a time when scoring was HIGH, not low. HIGHER than now. MORE possessions. HIGHER FG%. (2-3 points higher). Does that sound like defenses were BETTER, or WORSE? Know your history. I’m a student of the game. But I also like to teach.

@Eboy.. can’t say I agree with your top 10 list. You’re omitting Frazier, Monroe, Kidd, Cousy and Wade from consideration at least (since yours is a SG AND PG list). How about: 1. Jordan 2. Johnson 3a. Robertson 3b. Bryant 5. West 6. Thomas 7. Stockton 8. Gervin 9. Wade 10. Frazier. HM: Drexler, Iverson, Kidd, Cousy, Nash, Monroe, Miller. Missing the cut: Allen, Richmond, Maravich, Dumars.

Mitch Richmond? wtf? He isn’t better than prime TMac

Why try to score 100 when you have Luc Longley on your team ?

Luc Longley > Hakeem Olajuwon
http://www.basketwallpapers.com/Images-02/Luc-Longley-Wallpaper.jpg

Missed the entire thread. Damn, I was too late. Anyways, for all the guys who think MJ can get 100…..3pt shooting. Before the 3pt-line was brought closer by 2 feet (to put it in context, Ron-Ron would’ve had the best 3pt shooting percentage ) was a terrible 28%. That’ll never bring you 100pts MJ. Never. Keep playing your videogames in which you can score easily even from 3pt land (My biggest gripe with 2k11…Jordan=God)

i dont think mj would score a 100 points in a game but i think he would average close to the fourties and be the best player in nba. but if lbj would quit acting like a bad ass shooter and atack the rim more often then he lbj would have alot of 60 point games when he played for cavs.

i dont know i just dont think he can do it even though the dfence was alot tougher back then but 100 points doesnt seem believable in this time

Personally, I think it’s hilarious when jtaylor rants and beefs about the 80′s… Yet he wasn’t alive in the 80′s to experience anything first hand. Your credibility on anything prior to 2005 is sh+t kid, put the keyboard away. With the ref’s in Mike’s pocket and the increased sensitivity of what a foul is considered to be, Mike could have scored 100 easy in my opinion. Please don’t comment if you weren’t around for it though, it gets too silly around here.

Jordan in ’87 could have dropped 100 on 2006 defenses. That’s a really theoretical and conditional statement, but it’s also a very true one. Dude averaged over 37 points per, against tough and physical defenses. And to counter-argue the “3-point shot” point: MJ would LIVE at the free-throw line, because he played a game closer to the basket. He also had moves and knew how to finish after a foul.

NBK
I’m going to leave the 100 debate alone. Just wanted to note this.
Jordan shot a lot. Look at his shot attempts. They dwarf Kobe’s. I think Mike has like two seasons with over 2,000 shots attempted. That’s an astronomical amount of shots.

jordan’s feelin himself too much. He’s da lebron of his generation. 2guards were da size of pg durin his best days. think about it. jordan was a beast physically n he was 6’6 210. now a days that ain’t shit. baron davis is 4 inches shorter than that n he’s 30 lbs heavier. every sg in da league is mike’s size. in todays league he couldn’t averege 25 a game.

david who yeah go back in that time and find how many 6’4 players there were not much even though the L didnt have 3 point line the d was weak all you had to do was run through there and lay it up

NBK: if you believe that driving to the basket isn’t more physically exhausting than taking jump shots, we’re done with this conversation.
Kobe scored 81 mostly on jump shots and three pointers. Jordan has a more driving based oriented game. And yeah, Jordan scored 63 points on one of the toughest defenses in the history of the NBA, but it took him 2 extra quarters to get there.
One again, Jordan’s highest scoring output was 61 in regulation, and he shot worse than Kobe and missed every single three pointer he took. Kobe and Jordan also took the same amount of free throws.
So, really, it’s just not possible.

JoeMaMa…there’s a flaw in your thinking though about how MJ had his chance in the scorer’s era of the 80′s. He only came into the league in ’83, missed most of ’84 and didn’t come into his physical prime until the late 80′s, early 90′s when the league WAS slowing down and becoming a LOT more physcial. You take ’89-92 Jordan, who took a pounding every night and still scored over 30 a night, in a system where Phil was preaching team play THROUGH Jordan and put that guy in a system like Phoenix and tell me he can’t go off for 100? Really? I also think people are underestimating how much the handcheck rule would have effected this. Nobody could guard him while handchecking. What makes you think they could guard him without that extra little help?
@Jukai…In his prime, when did you ever see Michael tire? He didn’t. That was another thing that amazed his opponents, that no matter how much he was shooting or minutes played, the man did not get tired. He willed himself to keep going. And it’s not just that he played offense too, because he was determined to shut down his guy too which he did a lot more often than not.
Whoever said Michael, when compared to Kobe’s 81 pt. game, couldn’t ever hit 7 3′s in a game apparently never saw the 6 in a half against Portland. He barely played the second half or you could have booked a bunch more that night