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“Take Michael Jordan who was battered and bruised and was f*c*ed up running around, off the screens, through the paint and put him in the rules today”: Vince Carter describes how MJ would have fared in today’s NBA

Akash Murty
Published

"Take Michael Jordan who was battered and bruised and was f*c*ed up running around, off the screens, through the paint and put him in the rules today": Vince Carter describes how MJ would have fared in today's NBA

Michael Jordan could have played basketball in era and would still be considered the greatest basketball player of all time by most experts and fans. 

Michael Jordan left everyone spellbound since his debut in 1984. Coming into the league in the era of Bird and Magic, Michael’s rise in the NBA couldn’t be overshadowed by anyone.

Jordan showed every facet of his game, day in and day out. He had a big arsenal of moves since the day he arrived in the league thanks to his famous work ethic.

At 6’6 the Chicago Bulls shooting guard could dunk it as good as Dr. J and defend it like Bill Russell. MJ could do it all on the basketball court, he was a 10-time scoring champion and also made it to 9-All NBA Defensive First Teams and won a Defensive Player of the year award as well. He still leads the NBA in points per game.

Also read: “Comparing anyone to Michael Jordan is disrespectful”: NBA veteran Jamal Crawford has his say and picks MJ in the basketball GOAT argument

Jordan is always in the conversation of “who’s the best to ever do it” irrespective of which generation is having the debate. Some of the credit for that goes to the Netflix documentary “The Last Dance” which showed the Bulls legend’s career and his last year in the NBA to everyone throughout the world.

Vince Carter describes Michael Jordan’s greatness and tells how he would dominate the current era

The Last Dance showed the side of Mike that nobody was aware of. Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes discussed this with Vince Carter on their podcast “All The Smoke”

Vince Carter, like all the other NBA players of the 90s and afterward, idolized Jordan. Nicknamed “Vinsanity”, Carter is amongst the best dunkers of the basketball alongside Mike and Dr. J. 

He remembered his start in the league when MJ was coming close to retirement, “For those who didn’t play against him, we were pretty much close to MJ’s retirement, for those who only hear about Mike’s work ethic, how much of a*sho*e he was, and all he cared about winning. We saw it with Kobe, but didn’t see that Mike.” 

Carter then compared the basketball of today with MJ’s era, “When people ask these questions about who’s the greatest? I am like what rules are we using, because if you put some of the players and stars of today in that era, with the physicality and what is considered a flagrant now, who survives?” 

He then talked about how Jordan would have performed in today’s era, “Then take MJ who was battled and bruised and was f*c*ed up running around, off the screens, through the paint and put him in the rules today, and that’s my argument, it’s no disrespect to anybody.” 

The host of the show Matt Barnes insisted Jordan would average 45 a game if he played in this era. Jordan could certainly learn and re-learn things and he surely would be great at shooting threes if he wanted. In the first 2-seasons of his second 3-peat years, the defenders had his number inside the paint, so the Bulls legend went behind the arc and averaged 37 and 42 percent.

Also read: “My most memorable dunk that I very very often think about is on Patrick Ewing”: Michael Jordan reminisces about his most favorite dunk

In his 15 year NBA career, “His Airness” led the Bulls to 6 Championships in the span of 8 years, collecting Finals MVP all 6 times he played in the Finals. A 14-time All-Star, Jordan was also the league leader in steals 3 times.

About the author

Akash Murty

Akash Murty

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An Electrical and Electronics Engineer by degree, Akash Murty is an NBA Editor at The SportsRush. Previously a Software Engineer, Murty couldn’t keep himself away from sports, and his knack for writing and putting his opinion forward brought him to the TSR. A big Soccer enthusiast, his interest in basketball developed late, as he got access to a hoop for the first time at 17. Following this, he started watching basketball at the 2012 Olympics, which transitioned to NBA, and he became a fan of the game as he watched LeBron James dominate the league. Him being an avid learner of the game and ritually following the league for around a decade, he now writes articles ranging from throwbacks, and live game reports, to gossip. LA Lakers are his favourite basketball team, while Chelsea has his heart in football. He also likes travelling, reading fiction, and sometimes cooking.

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