Ya know there might be some leeway between 10 attempts a game and the 3.6 he peaked at in 97
Melkor_The_Morgoth
Is that also why he didn’t want to make many of the 3s that he took?
BUSean
there are a lot of options but it’s entirely fair to say that MJ peaked as a demigod right about the time of this interview, given the previous game.
ttvdokkan
Why not just shoot when your open and if your not drive?
TheMuffingtonPost
I think the current era of shooting has proven this theory to be wrong. Being a 3pt threat spaces the floor which makes defensive scheming much more difficult and opens up the interior. You can’t sag off of guys and provide greater help defense in the interior when the opposing wings are capable of shooting from deep at a good efficiency.
lugubrea
The funny thing is he wasn’t bad when he took more 3s. He had two seasons where he attempted more than 2 threes per game (excluding seasons with the shortened line) and he shot 36.3%.
QueasyDrummer00
He’s 100% correct. He’s talking about himself. Too many people are trying to compare him to the modern style of play. He didn’t say anything about other players, or teams running systems with lots of shooters. He benefitted greatly from Kerr and Paxson camping at the 3 point line so he fully understands the benefits.
There are also plenty of guys who learn how to shoot the 3 and forget what got them to the NBA. It’s much easier to launch a 3 than it is to penetrate a defense.
isasweetpotato
I think there’s something poignant about this in regards to 3 point shooting in different eras. Even though we’ve known 3 is more than 2, for a long time the 3 ball was only an off ball weapon, which makes it a bit of a 1 dimensional strategy and explains why it took so long for the 3 to become what it is today. Steph Curry had to do amazing things to change the philosophy so that the on ball 3 point attempt is not just for a superstar having a heat check.
[deleted]
[deleted]
bronco_y_espasmo
I came here to read the comments.
Some people really are trying to explain basketball efficiency to the most extraordinary player to ever play the sport.
LyonsKing12
Please Lord, let the season start
EJohns1004
Today’s NBA’ fans would call him trash anyway for a career 32 3pt percentage.
Thunder141
Well articulated, I think SGA has seen this clip before.
Onomatopoeiac
This is how the game was viewed in the 90s. If you shot a three it was standstill catch and shoot almost exclusively. Dominant players did not see it as a way to control the game. Curry, Harden, Lillard, Trae, etc. have shown how deadly off the dribble shooting can be and how it distorts the court forcing the defense to make choices in ways that no one understood thirty years ago.
STA_Alexfree
MJ is correct. His penetration is what drove the Bulls offense
jagaaaaaaaaaaaan
Can someone explain to me why these “vintage” interviews with the closeup face and black background feel so much better than todays interviews?
Jkru3
Someone needs to explain to MJ that the three point threat will open up the floor and allow him to attack the basket with less trouble and higher efficiency!
No_Pop2129
He was a knife through butter when he was young , he was tying to dunk on you not shoot over you.
HiNeighbor_
Michael legit has the most soothing voice of all time
Akumetsu33
What many don’t realize is MJ and his peers didn’t grow up with the 3pt shot so they never felt 100% comfortable adapting it or making it a go-to move like modern players, who grew up with it so it’s natural as breathing to them.
If we implemented a 4pt midcourt shot today, we would see the same effect; only few modern players would adapt well(Curry, Lillard) but most would struggle, like MJ and his peers struggled with the 3pt shot and would not try it too much.
Then a decade later we have kids who grew up with the 4pt shot and would be much better, and so on.
Tsunami-Papi_
this mf really is the goat idc
WinterEngineering322
So lemme get this straight. A big man like Al Horford can come into the league not known for his 3-point shooting. 16 years later he is one of the leaders in 3-point shooting percentage while shooting at a higher clip. What in the world makes you believe a guy like Michael Jordan wouldn’t be able to adapt? Don’t get it twisted. Jordan was capable of shooting the long ball, it just wasn’t as much of a requirement back then, and was only shot when necessary. If you don’t think MJ would work on improving that shot you’re outta your damn mind
dissphemism
his reasoning was ‘you tend to sit in the 3-pt line and wait for somebody to find you, and that detracts from your drives to the rim’
the concept of pulling up from 3-pt distance was so taboo and/or foreign to players back then (and for a long time) that they didn’t even consider it. they didn’t have the vision to see the offensive potential of a 3-pt pull-up game to make drives to the rim more effective, not worse
480AHole
3’s are dumb low percentage shots. Some idiot made up TS% to justify poor shot selection. The game has devolved into a bunch of morons chucking bad shots. It’s a joke.
sallright
Jordan mentally psyched out by an inanimate line on the court. Not the killer attitude I expected.
iIiiIIiiiIiIIiI111
Cringe
rabidantidentyte
When you’re arguably the best slasher/driver of all-time, that makes a lot of sense. As long as he has the threat of the 3, he’s 100% right (not like I’m one to judge MJ)
AtreusIsBack
Steph: I’m not tall and I don’t weigh much, lemme start shooting 3s instead.
OtherShade
This is exactly the issue with basketball now. A lot of sitting around waiting for a 3 point shot to chuck. Not as much play action and aggressiveness.
BodegaDaddy
gotta know your strength and weaknesses
p3n0y
In theory not having a real 3pt shot makes it easier to guard a drive from behind the arc (logic obviously falls apart against MJ). I’m also old school so I have a soft spot for the guys who haven’t fallen in love with the three point line.
hankbaumbachjr
Why shoot 3’s at 35% when you can shoot from inside the arc and hit what feels like 90%?
KellerFF
It takes the greatest ever to say the most common sense thing, ever, regarding the 3.
Yes, now you need to have it **in** your bag but it doesn’t have to be **the** bag, when you excel at everything else. And most importantly produce better returns.
Jesmer8490
Lol everybody just eats up everything he says. I suck because I don’t want to stop attacking 🤣
Putrid_Ad_2256
I’d love for more players to realize this. And sure, shooters can shoot themselves out of slumps, but they can also layup themselves out of slumps. One of the most annoying things in the modern NBA is watching a player continue to chuck up brick after brick without trying to get some points in the paint after their 3rd or 4th miss.
drudru91soufendluv
basketball purists and institutionalized old heads from the pre merger era just had this bizarre hate for the 3pt line and were adamant about how the game must be played, and their sentiment carried weight decades after the merger.
It took some time and distance from that rhetoric and energy before everyone saw the integral part of the 3pt line in the natural ebb and flow of the game.
they talk about this in ABA documentaries a lot actually; how they played a more uptempo game that resembles today’s much more closely and how the 3pt line was responsible for that by drawing defenders out and creating more slashing and cutting lanes.
36 Comments
Ya know there might be some leeway between 10 attempts a game and the 3.6 he peaked at in 97
Is that also why he didn’t want to make many of the 3s that he took?
there are a lot of options but it’s entirely fair to say that MJ peaked as a demigod right about the time of this interview, given the previous game.
Why not just shoot when your open and if your not drive?
I think the current era of shooting has proven this theory to be wrong. Being a 3pt threat spaces the floor which makes defensive scheming much more difficult and opens up the interior. You can’t sag off of guys and provide greater help defense in the interior when the opposing wings are capable of shooting from deep at a good efficiency.
The funny thing is he wasn’t bad when he took more 3s. He had two seasons where he attempted more than 2 threes per game (excluding seasons with the shortened line) and he shot 36.3%.
He’s 100% correct. He’s talking about himself. Too many people are trying to compare him to the modern style of play. He didn’t say anything about other players, or teams running systems with lots of shooters. He benefitted greatly from Kerr and Paxson camping at the 3 point line so he fully understands the benefits.
There are also plenty of guys who learn how to shoot the 3 and forget what got them to the NBA. It’s much easier to launch a 3 than it is to penetrate a defense.
I think there’s something poignant about this in regards to 3 point shooting in different eras. Even though we’ve known 3 is more than 2, for a long time the 3 ball was only an off ball weapon, which makes it a bit of a 1 dimensional strategy and explains why it took so long for the 3 to become what it is today. Steph Curry had to do amazing things to change the philosophy so that the on ball 3 point attempt is not just for a superstar having a heat check.
[deleted]
I came here to read the comments.
Some people really are trying to explain basketball efficiency to the most extraordinary player to ever play the sport.
Please Lord, let the season start
Today’s NBA’ fans would call him trash anyway for a career 32 3pt percentage.
Well articulated, I think SGA has seen this clip before.
This is how the game was viewed in the 90s. If you shot a three it was standstill catch and shoot almost exclusively. Dominant players did not see it as a way to control the game. Curry, Harden, Lillard, Trae, etc. have shown how deadly off the dribble shooting can be and how it distorts the court forcing the defense to make choices in ways that no one understood thirty years ago.
MJ is correct. His penetration is what drove the Bulls offense
Can someone explain to me why these “vintage” interviews with the closeup face and black background feel so much better than todays interviews?
Someone needs to explain to MJ that the three point threat will open up the floor and allow him to attack the basket with less trouble and higher efficiency!
He was a knife through butter when he was young , he was tying to dunk on you not shoot over you.
Michael legit has the most soothing voice of all time
What many don’t realize is MJ and his peers didn’t grow up with the 3pt shot so they never felt 100% comfortable adapting it or making it a go-to move like modern players, who grew up with it so it’s natural as breathing to them.
If we implemented a 4pt midcourt shot today, we would see the same effect; only few modern players would adapt well(Curry, Lillard) but most would struggle, like MJ and his peers struggled with the 3pt shot and would not try it too much.
Then a decade later we have kids who grew up with the 4pt shot and would be much better, and so on.
this mf really is the goat idc
So lemme get this straight. A big man like Al Horford can come into the league not known for his 3-point shooting. 16 years later he is one of the leaders in 3-point shooting percentage while shooting at a higher clip. What in the world makes you believe a guy like Michael Jordan wouldn’t be able to adapt? Don’t get it twisted. Jordan was capable of shooting the long ball, it just wasn’t as much of a requirement back then, and was only shot when necessary. If you don’t think MJ would work on improving that shot you’re outta your damn mind
his reasoning was ‘you tend to sit in the 3-pt line and wait for somebody to find you, and that detracts from your drives to the rim’
the concept of pulling up from 3-pt distance was so taboo and/or foreign to players back then (and for a long time) that they didn’t even consider it. they didn’t have the vision to see the offensive potential of a 3-pt pull-up game to make drives to the rim more effective, not worse
3’s are dumb low percentage shots. Some idiot made up TS% to justify poor shot selection. The game has devolved into a bunch of morons chucking bad shots. It’s a joke.
Jordan mentally psyched out by an inanimate line on the court. Not the killer attitude I expected.
Cringe
When you’re arguably the best slasher/driver of all-time, that makes a lot of sense. As long as he has the threat of the 3, he’s 100% right (not like I’m one to judge MJ)
Steph: I’m not tall and I don’t weigh much, lemme start shooting 3s instead.
This is exactly the issue with basketball now. A lot of sitting around waiting for a 3 point shot to chuck. Not as much play action and aggressiveness.
gotta know your strength and weaknesses
In theory not having a real 3pt shot makes it easier to guard a drive from behind the arc (logic obviously falls apart against MJ). I’m also old school so I have a soft spot for the guys who haven’t fallen in love with the three point line.
Why shoot 3’s at 35% when you can shoot from inside the arc and hit what feels like 90%?
It takes the greatest ever to say the most common sense thing, ever, regarding the 3.
Yes, now you need to have it **in** your bag but it doesn’t have to be **the** bag, when you excel at everything else. And most importantly produce better returns.
Lol everybody just eats up everything he says. I suck because I don’t want to stop attacking 🤣
I’d love for more players to realize this. And sure, shooters can shoot themselves out of slumps, but they can also layup themselves out of slumps. One of the most annoying things in the modern NBA is watching a player continue to chuck up brick after brick without trying to get some points in the paint after their 3rd or 4th miss.
basketball purists and institutionalized old heads from the pre merger era just had this bizarre hate for the 3pt line and were adamant about how the game must be played, and their sentiment carried weight decades after the merger.
It took some time and distance from that rhetoric and energy before everyone saw the integral part of the 3pt line in the natural ebb and flow of the game.
they talk about this in ABA documentaries a lot actually; how they played a more uptempo game that resembles today’s much more closely and how the 3pt line was responsible for that by drawing defenders out and creating more slashing and cutting lanes.