Monday, September 2, 2024

Gilbert Arenas on GOAT debate: ‘The only people who bring Michael Jordan up is when LeBron James' name gets mentioned’


By | September 2, 2024

What's the buzz on Twitter? Tommy Beer @TommyBeerIncredibly – this will be the first year since 2002 (!!!) that neither Federer, Rafa nor Djoker win a major(First time since before LeBron was drafted into the NBA) – 11:55 PM More on this storyline Gilbert Arenas: "All Jordan's competition in that era did not even have the physical tools to keep up with him, so he was basically a Bugatti, and everybody else was a Honda Civic. Most shooting guards were 6'4″ and under; they didn't have any jumping ability. So, who he went against, he's saying they weren't talented, meaning they weren't athletic enough to keep up with him. Today, everybody—me, I've got a 40-something inch vertical. Everybody I'm going against has a 40-inch vertical that can jump with me." -via YouTube / August 28, 2024 What makes James so great in these situations is that he is never predictable, given that there are so many ways in which he can hurt a defense. He also never tries to play hero ball, passing up a great shot for a teammate in order to get a more difficult shot for himself. For the Lakers star, it's the ability to almost manipulate time to his benefit that makes him so calm and collected in those situations. He discussed that concept on the latest episode of The Shop: "What's going on in my head? Like you said it's in slow motion, I slow it down as well. It's just about trying to be patient, not try to be over-exertive or try to pre-determine what I'm going to do. It's just kind of read and react. Even with the clock going 9, 8, 7, 6. If you look at a stopwatch, those seconds are ticking, like they're going fast. But for some odd reason on the basketball court for myself, when the time looks like it's going fast it's actually slowing down for me. So I'm able to just slow it down and be able to see what's going on on the floor. Will that always result in a make? No, I wish. I wish it would go in every single time, but I try to put myself in position that I make the right play or come home for the team every single time. That just comes with experience, the best teacher in life is experience and the more and more you get put in those opportunities and those moments, the better off you'll be." -via Lakers Nation / September 2, 2024 Avery Johnson: "You know, we can really peel back all of the numbers. You can even go with the eye test, but everybody else is a distant second behind Michael Jordan. Just a distant second. And there's no disrespect on it, so please do not send me any hate mail. It's my opinion, right? Michael, just for all the different reasons. But when you win six championships, you're the MVP of all six, you never get to a Game 7, and all of the defensive —first team All-Defense, first team All-NBA, MVPs, regular season MVPs—I think there was another stat that you know, he didn't have as many, it was a revolving door of free agents that he played with, and he did it with one team. And he had to go through the Detroit Pistons, the Boston Celtics, the Lakers, the Phoenix Suns, and Clyde Drexler with that Portland team that could have easily won championships, and Karl Malone and Stock ton with Utah. The rules were different—there was a lot more restricted freedom of movement and physicality. So yeah, it's Michael. The clutch shots, two-way player—it's just Michael. What they did with the Dream Team, yeah, it's just Michael." -via YouTube / August 30, 2024

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