>Legacy comps for basketball players are very often a trap, a clandestine way for talking heads and malcontents to crush modern players while pretending that they’re implicitly praising them by broaching the topic. It’s a loophole the biggest personalities in the hot take industry discovered ages ago, that if you compare an athlete to someone or something else that’s older and better, you have plausible deniability to bash that present-day player when ordinarily there might not be much to be objectively critical of them about.
>It’s why the biggest hot takers in sports almost always frame their discussions around the macro, around someone’s legacy or how much blame they deserve or if they’re overrated, as opposed to the micro of dissecting a player’s performance from the previous night: it’s because the macro is easier. It’s also why many of the biggest NBA hot takers can be fairly accused of not actually paying close attention to the sport they’re purporting an expert on: they don’t have to. The “current player X isn’t as good as Y” comp is a well you can keep returning to over and over again, and more than a few basketball analysts have made doing so the cornerstone of their careers.
by OnlyMamaKnows
45 Comments
part of the process. you know we love building them up before tearing them down.. it’s toxic, and ANT knows it
The hype around this dude is honestly ridiculous.
He had two good RS and a bunch of Playoffs games.
That’s it.
Unbelievable talent, but the fact that he is considered one of the best in the game despite having demonstrated next to nothing is weird.
Let alone these MJ comparisons.
When bron was his age, i distinctly remember watching him score like 40 straight points in 4th qtr and OT in a playoff game in Detroit and i turned to my roommate and he said something like “pssshht, win 6 then talk to me”
> if you compare an athlete to someone or something else that’s older and better, you have plausible deniability to bash that present-day player when ordinarily there might not be much to be objectively critical of them about.
> The “current player X isn’t as good as Y” comp is a well you can keep returning to over and over again, and more than a few basketball analysts have made doing so the cornerstone of their careers.
Yup. 100%
It’s really not that serious.
Dude sorta looks and plays like Mike.
Everyone on both sides need to just relax and let shit play out.
This is fairly accurate.
If we were talking about ANT like he’s a really good player with a killer playoff mentality who plays tough and elevates his game, who went in to the defending champs’ building and took 2 games off of them including one that was an absolute embarrassment for the Nuggets, that wouldn’t stir drama. It would just be a fair comment about how good he is, and lead to discussion about whether the Wolves are contenders (yes but they don’t have an easy road) and whether he’s going to get more MVP consideration in the next few years (probably, but there’s a crowd of great players up there rn.)
But if we’re talking about ANT like he’s the next Jordan, that creates drama about “where’s the 3peats?” and Jordan’s signature playoff wins and such, and it becomes a way to bag on him for not having rings or enough playoff wins or whatever. He’s smart to tell people to knock it off with those comparisons.
GOAT discussions and this guy vs that guy before the career is done. These are the discussions of simple minded basketball watchers
Its amazing that people still don’t realize the MJ comparisons are purely in terms of aesthetics lmao which are deserved because Ant’s play style is similar to Mike in some ways
These discussions happen because every nba talking head is a shock jock that will say whatever to get reactions. Of course the mouth breathers take the bait every time. Just watch the games and avoid the stupid opinion shows and podcasts. Makes the league more enjoyable.
“Ruined”. K.
I think discourse in places like this sub aren’t impacted whatsoever by this. And I think studio and talking head shows are “ruined” by unqualified hot take artists vomiting all over the set. This Edwards thing is a symptom, not a cause.
It’s what the media does with young score-first guards. There’s a lot of casual fans that aren’t interested in team basketball, and just want to see a fireworks player.
it’s never been easier to ignore the hot take clowns, just watch the games and find a good podcast/YT channel instead
Legacy comps are horrible for sports discussion PERIOD, but people are too obsessed with the idea of GOATs or having a top 10 to ever stop. If your first reaction to a player’s performance in the playoffs is “how does this affect their legacy” then you are a loser imo. But it drives clicks and engagement so sports media leans into it and influences fan engagement as a whole.
Here we go again “THE LEGACY”. Guys, do you get horny thinking about some sport legacy? Who TF cares for that?
Know the work rules
“Hey that fadeaway from the post in a do or die playoff moment reminds me of watching Jordan”.
vs.
“ANT IS THE NEXT MICHAEL JORDAN!!!”
Talk to me when Anthony Edwards brings 6 rings to Milwaukee… hell, I’ll listen after he gets them 3. In the meantime, I’ll just enjoy the bad blood between our fans. Got no issues
with the team itself. As one of their fans wrote regarding us, “F”@k those guys.”
It’s a discussion. Discuss whatever you want man.
Jordan himself said he couldn’t say he was better than Wilt or Jerry West because he didn’t get to play against them. Era vs era stuff is always silly.
would be nice if people didn’t jump to the conclusion that folks are suggesting that Edwards as good as MJ. No one is, but here’s a whole thread pretending it’s happening and vilifying folks for doing it, lol.
A lot of Edwards moves look exactly like MJ. He’s not on MJ’s level.
No.
Why the fuck is anyone comparing anthony Edwards to Michael Fucking Jordan hahah. Jfc
the vibes comparisons got out of hand but the counter think pieces and larger statements are kind of doubling down on the same bad habits in media
You mean the guy who finished 8th in mvp voting and swept a first round series isn’t gonna be the greatest player ever?
I mean every sports Facebook group I belong to has ultimately devolved into daily LeBron vs. Jordan GOAT debates so I can see where this opinion is coming from. On the other hand, the legacy debate tends to drive discussion about the game more than anything else.
I watched NBA as a child in the Jordan era. Loved it.
Fell in love with soccer in 99 and switched over for 20+ years.
Started following the NBA in ‘22 and am shocked at how much EVERYTHING is a comparison. These are discussions that do not interest me at all.
Comparison is an easy way to illustrate how good someone is that’s also easy to understand.
Comparison is an easy way to illustrate how good someone is that’s also easy to understand.
Nothing new. Harold Miner was nicknamed “Baby” Jordan before he even got to the league, he ended up only playing 4 seasons.
Agree kind of. There are just a milion podcasts and Reddit threads. Gotta fill the time, the crazier the Take, the more likely to go viral. We are the problem and the solution.
Ant looks and moves like MJ. Like, it’s eerie sometimes how identical he looks on the court. No one’s saying Ant is on MJ’s level, and I hope no one is expecting Ant to achieve what MJ did. But how can anyone watch Ant do his little hesi cross into mid range j and NOT think MJ?
Do the comparisons like this happen in baseball? I don’t really as much as basketball, but I rarely hear announcers and commentators fixate on comparing current players to players of old.
Articles like this are ruining the Nba
This has always happened and always will happen
This is one of the reasons that people HATE LeBron. They love Jordan, and LeBron has been compared to Jordan his entire career, and Jordan fans understandably and justifiably see Jordan as one of a kind
But LeBron is also one of a kind.
So when LeBron achieves something unprecedented, like making it to eight straight finals (and yes, Russell made it to more finals but never had to win three playoff series to do so, so LeBron’s run is unprecedented). The only thing people can say is “6-0.”
Rather than appreciating Jordan’s 6-0 as it’s own accomplishment and LeBron’s 8-straight as an equally impressive accomplishment in its own right, they’ve got to be measured against each other.
LeBron becomes a great all around player who leads his team in scoring, rebounds and assists? Not impressive enough because he only has one scoring title. LeBron makes it to the finals by age 22 (read that again) and he’s shit on because “Jordan never got swept in the finals.” But they don’t say that at age 22, Jordan got swept in the first round.
Let Jordan be Jordan. Let Ant be the Goose. Let Luka be Luka, and Giannis be Giannis, and Jokic be better than Embiid. Just stop with making everybody feel like unless they measure up to Jordan or whomever they are being compared to that they are a failure unless they exceed the accomplishments of the past.
It’s long since been ruined.. everything about individual players and expectations of them. It’s a team sport.. if I’m going to listen to someone talk about it, it has to be about strategies, adjustments, stats, and lineups. Not much of that to go around.
Have been since 2003
I’m still sticking that Edwards is going to be like Carter
There are so many things wrong with NBA discourse but it is interesting to point out this one. It’s always worth calling out but really until people migrate away from the talking head model that’s designed not to be smart or insightful but to be controversial and drive engagement through takes they know will get people talking nothing will change. Find a former coach or scouts blog or something similar and you’ll learn a lot more about what’s actually happening on the court and you’ll get away from the rangz and legacy discourse that turns everything stupid.
For example [here’s an excellent breakdown of Tobias Harris’ time in Philly]( https://www.rightstorickysanchez.com/p/sixers-tobias-harris-goodbye) and really explains why we were so frustrated with him. You get context, how he played that hurt the team, fit, why we probably didn’t try to salary dump him sooner, etc.
Think about his 0/4/3 in his final game as a Sixer and read this and it all makes sense. I’d rather get that kind of insight rather than “Is ANT actually Michael Jordan???”
If there were no talking heads people would still tell their friends “this feels like Jordan”
The way the NBA media and fanbase talks about players is completely toxic and takes away from appreciation and love for the game. The obsession with “where does this guy rank all time?”, the constant slagging of either former or current players depending on who’s speaking, the overemphasis of one-on-one skills, the way one guy can’t be praised without tearing someone else down, the obsession with legacy, to what this post is talking about, to so much more. It’s all toxic.
Who would you say is the Bam Margera of the current NBA?
since we’re on the topic of Raab Himself
Then stop commenting on the posts comparing them. They are popular comparisons because of the engagement, people can’t help but to comment on a hot take.
“Are” ruining? This is not a new thing. Besides the humorous comps like Harold Minor, this had been going on forever. Kobe was the next Jordan. Penny was the next Magic. I’m sure we can all find many more examples. It’s just that the sports media industrial complex is filled will takers and there are more of them now competing for attention, without original ideas or insights, so it becomes repetitive.
Everybody since 1993 has been compared to MJ.
Michael Jordan would win the title this year, so i guess we’ll see if the comp plays out.