*[Ballislife]* Ty Lue on playing with a 40-year-old Michael Jordan: “I don’t care he was 40. He averaged 20 points a game on one leg because his knee was messed up. And he played all 82 games. That just tells you who he is.”
And he’s right. Washington Wizards Michael Jordan is one of the most underrated players in the 2000s era. The Wizards were well on their way to make the playoffs in Jordan’s first season with them until MJ went down with an injury halfway through the season.
**Michael Jordan (Washington Wizards):** 21.6 PPG / 5.9 RPG / 4.5 APG / 1.5 SPG / .5 BPG / 43% FG / 24% 3PT / 81% FT /
**Question**: Where does Washington Wizards Michael Jordan rank among shooting guards from 2000 to 2009?
Link to video: https://twitter.com/ballislife/status/1684934232659972096?s=46&t=2XICXD1S1auwdIVvfhoXgw
by ParisLake2
36 Comments
**Question**: Where does Washington Wizards Michael Jordan rank among shooting guards from 2000 to 2009?
It’s funny. Because on the one hand, his intensity was a big part of his greatness, but on the other, maybe some load management (whether that’s sitting out or not being psychotic) might have meant he didn’t need to go dick around with a baseball, or could have come back from it faster.
MJ scored 50 and 45 points in back to back games as a wizard
It’s crazy to think that a lot of people still consider MJ the GOAT despite him only playing 13 “real” seasons. Plus the wizard years. If he played 20 like Kobe or Bron, it’s crazy to think where his numbers would be
Edit: I think my post is being misinterpreted. Oh well….
The whole concept of load management sucks to me. It’s a mentality we’ve allowed to get more and more steam by not holding guys accountable and allowing teams to make their own standards for play time. Jordan, Malone, Barkley, that era never would’ve sat unless physically a must.
Stuff like this keeps giving me new ways to respect Mj.
In terms of who he was in 01-02, probably top 20. Pretty easy to name 10 guys above him, after that it gets murkier.
That being said, that was the wrong role for him at that stage of his career. He needed to be a 2nd option to a team with a clear 1, which obviously wasn’t possible because of the front office aspect in Washington. But if he could have had a true star to pair with, he would have been a perfect running mate.
Kawhi would never
Tbh I actually think Jordan’s Wizards years actually enhanced his legacy. Hardest defensive era & a league with more athletic wing stoppers and he was still able to put up 20 PPG at 38 with injuries after a 3 year sabbatical.
Kawhi and Paul George in shambles
This is poetic coming from Kawhi’s and PG’s current coach. Took a not so subtle shot at his superstars 😂😂😂😂
Damn it’s crazy to think that lebron is probably gonna be better than Jordan was at 40.
“I’m just saying…MJ would never”
-Ty to Kawhi/PG
Playing 82 games at 40 on a bum leg and these dudes today can’t even get 65 games in fully healthy.
Check the stats before he was hurt. All nba type numbers and the Wizards were on pace for the playoffs
> 43% FG / 24% 3PT
Watch as everyone ignores these marks or tries to pretend they were normal for that era (they were well below league average)
> Question: Where does Washington Wizards Michael Jordan rank among shooting guards from 2000 to 2009?
Lower than almost every other SG who ever made all-star. Maybe at the same level or slightly below Jerry Stackhouse
And who he is now is a washed up old man with a limp
I was born on ’95, so my first memories of seeing MJ in action was when he was a Wizard. That so-called “blemish” on his career still left an impression on me as a little boy.
He was garbage for the wizards. 2 seasons, 0 winning seasons. 21/6/4 on 44/24% shooting. To put that terrible shooting into perspective, he shot 1 more FGA per game than LeBron’s career average, but came up with 7 less points per game.
Like sure MJ scored 21, but only because he continued to be the league’s biggest ball hog of all time.
Those fg percentages are rough. Was he just chucking at that point? I was still a kid I don’t have much memory of MJ playing but what I do is skewed by how larger than life Jordan was by that point
I mean i agree about this whole “oh he played 82 and he had amputated legs and 1 hand” stuff but come on all i want to see is somewhat solid regular season and complete playoff from the star player. I’d say lebron has been that.
Do what you need to do to get your team a decent playoff seed and a championship.
But Michael is goat, dont get me wrong.
Kawhi Leonard – why he say fuck me fo?
Underrated? While it was a thrill to get to see Jordan play a few more years, there’s a reason people kinda sweep it under the rug. He was an inefficient volume scorer past his prime.
the haters are just straight haters. if you look at MJ final year with wash he was averaging 20 6 and 4 on 45% fg at 40 years old.
if you look at the leader boards that year, the top 10 fg% guys were all centers and power forwards. MJ was still one of the best guards/perimeter guys in the league at age 40.
SHOTS TO KAWHI. Kawhi can’t even stand up from th couch when he’s 40
By far the GOAT. There is no debate.
Maybe he shouldn’t have played on an injured knee, seems pretty dumb.
Especially considering there was nothing to accomplish.
Theres a video by Johnny Arnett on youtube on Jordan’s wizards years, his defensive impact is near unbelievable for someone his age. Underrated for sure, i would have loved to see how he would have done in the playoffs if he stayed healthy.
I saw him in Houston his first Wizards season. He played like shit for three quarters and then scored 20 in the 4th to put us away.
Most hot shot 20 year old rookies wish they had a line as good as 40 year old MJ.
He was not as good as his numbers suggest. He was nowhere near a top 10 guard of that era lmfao. Yeah it was cool he was over 40 but this is a joke right?
MJ was 2nd in per 100 poss after AI in 2002 and 11 in 2003. 4th in per 36 in 2002 and 13 in 2003.
And people act like MJ played against scrubs but he was literally like a year from playing with LeBron
Came back to the NBA as a wizard. #GandalfTheBlack
MJ had the perfect balance between elite competitiveness and skill.
I was really young when MJ was a Bull so didn’t watch much of that, but watched a TON of his games on the Wizards, and yes Michael was a monster on Washington. The roster around him was dreadful unfortunately.
Good question. It’s kind of debatable if he was playing SG or SF with Rip and then later Stack in the lineup with him, but if considered a SG, I’d say he was easily top 10 SG of 2000-09.
Kobe, TMac, AI, and Wade is my easy top 4. Then MJ is probably at the bottom of the next tier with Vince, Ray Allen, Ginobili, and BRoy.
from an old reddit post.
“For the whole 2001-02 season, Jordan averaged :
22.9 PPG 5.7 RPG 5.2 APG .416 FG% .790 FT%
However, for his first 46 (pre-injury) games, he averaged:
25.1 PPG 6.2 RPG 5.3 APG .420 FG% .790 FT% in 36.8 MPG
And his last 14 (post-injury) games, he averaged:
15.7 PPG 3.8 RPG 4.8 APG .391 FG% .787 FT% in 28.4 MPG
What I found most interesting though is that as the season progressed and MJ played himself into shape and shook off the 3 year retirement rust – he was playing better and better.
For his last 20 games pre-injury he averaged :
27.5 PPG 6.4 RPG 5.2 APG .440 FG%
And for his last 10 games pre-injury he averaged a blistering :
29.7 PPG 6.6 RPG 6.1 APG .470 FG%
Those are some crazy, crazy numbers for a dude who at this point was a month or two away from being 39 years old. Had Jordan and Hamilton both stayed healthy I honestly believe the Wizards might’ve won 48-50 games and made some noise in the playoffs on the back of a fucking 39 year old. Amazing.
The Wizards went from having won 19 games the year before to a potential Playoff contender that was derailed by injuries with their offseason additions being:
38,5 year old Michael Jordan – ended up only playing 60 games and starting 53 due to injury”