Easy to say since he’s retired and fat now: Reigning MVP Stephen Curry believes that he could beat Michael Jordan in his prime, with a game on the line
It must be so great for NBA players now to be able to use Michael Jordan’s name in vain, considering MJ is now 52, overweight and retired, and vastly less likely to take words as challenges, lace up his Air Jordans and get back on the court to put some youngsters in their places. Now, under the guise of veiled respect, today’s players are all allegedly better than Michael Jordan was, and they’re not as afraid to opinionate such beliefs to inquiring ears.
Reigning MVP and leader of defending champion Golden State Warriors,* Stephen Curry is the latest of upstarts to boldly proclaim himself, basically better than Michael Jordan. He tries to backpedal a little bit and apply a scenario of it, “with the game on the line,” but there’s little reason to believe that he simply doesn’t think he’s better than Michael Jordan.
*words I never thought I’d ever type in my lifetime
The funniest thing is that his own dad, former NBA player, Dell Curry said it in a recent SportsCenter commercial: “win one MVP…” with the implication that Steph’s head is beginning to get a little bit on account of some recent success.
Sure, Curry is playing in a way that is backing everything up right now, but it’s still way, way, way too early for there to be any claims to MJ’s throne here. Yes, the Warriors are 22-0, and everyone’s talking about how the 1996 Bulls and their 72-10 record are in jeopardy now, but let’s be real here, every so often, there’s a team that comes along that everyone thinks is going to break the 96 Bulls. A few years ago, the Dallas Mavericks won like 67 games, and a few years before them it was the Lakers that won 67 games.
There’s a reason why a season is 82 games, aside from the massive amounts of money that having a fuckton of basketball games generates – it’s to weed out 14 pretenders, so that an absurd 16 teams can have the longest fucking playoffs in the world to determine a champion. But the fact of the matter is that 82 games is a long time, and the Warriors still have 60 games over four months to go. Whether it’s injuries, fatigue, or players simply faltering a little bit, that’s still a tremendous amount of time for the Warriors to drop just 11 games, and be just another challenger to a tremendously difficult record to break.
But back to Steph vs. MJ, there’s no way that Curry would succeed against Michael Jordan. Aside from the obvious “it’s a different game,” from when Curry played versus when MJ did, the bottom line is that aside from being one of the most prolific scorers in history, MJ was a tenacious defender, with quick hands, quick feet, and great reflexes that always had his name in the conversation whenever it involved guys who could steal the ball as well as block shots.
Throughout the current modern era of basketball, defensive specialists are guys that are typically known for leading the league in blocks, and amassing high numbers of defensive rebounds, and some other stats like efficiency ratings and shit, but it’s all nice ways of stating big guys who reduce opponent points, while not really contributing towards their teams’ points. In 1988, Michael Jordan won Defensive Player of the Year, for grabbing 259 steals and blocking 131 shots, the latter number more reserved for 7’0 centers; all while scoring 35 points a game in the process.
And the thing is, this wasn’t even where Jordan was truly at his prime yet. Steph Curry wouldn’t have been able to hang with this Michael Jordan, much less the truly peaked Michael Jordan that was winning every championship ever.
Steph Curry could go right, and swing left, step back, and take his jumper, but in reality, MJ would be right with him every step on the way, jump just a few inches higher with his arms outstretched, and swat his quick release into the fifth row, and the Warriors would lose. All day long.
There’s nothing wrong with confidence and belief in one’s self, but Steph Curry has way more to prove for a way longer duration, before he’s remotely in the same hemisphere as Michael Jordan’s legacy. Win one MVP, smh…
