Holy crap that’s such control - like cheat button video game control. I watched his entire career through green tinted glasses, so wanted to beat him not be him if you will, but it was just pointless.
Yeah, the greatness of Jordan is really the hang-time and control. Plenty of guys have come and gone with elite athleticism. Vince Carter is a good example. If you're doing NBA combine, I'm guessing he at least matches MJ or exceeds him. But MJ combined that elite athleticism with just ridiculous body control and hang-time. And we really haven't seen anything like it since.His ability to hang, wait for the defenders to fade away, and then shoot on the way down was really unique, and still is.
Something Elgin Baylor said about hang time was that in addition to having a great vertical; he also had this secret where he had a little hesitation before leaping; sending his opponents up a fraction of a second before he would take off, which helped create the illusion that he was floating above them as he was still at his peak when they were already headed down. Jordan was also a master of this, and you can see it whenever he takes a contested mid-range jumper.Yeah, the greatness of Jordan is really the hang-time and control. Plenty of guys have come and gone with elite athleticism. Vince Carter is a good example. If you're doing NBA combine, I'm guessing he at least matches MJ or exceeds him. But MJ combined that elite athleticism with just ridiculous body control and hang-time. And we really haven't seen anything like it since.
I kind of see what you're saying, but with the caveat that in a couple of clips you don't see his feet, I don't really see any. Being the person who jumped, you're going to have a great sense of where you are in relation to the ground, and therefore, when you absolutely need to release the ball. And Jordan would've had an even greater sense of that than any of us since it's all he did. Not saying it never happened, but I don't think it's one of those things where "he gets away with it because he's a superstar". It' probably happened a few times in his career because he had nowhere to go...and he got called for the up and down.How many of those were actual travels? Hard to tell with the grainy footage but looks like at least a couple of those had him landing before releasing the ball. Still absolutely sick though
You mean besides Time Lord.We talk a lot about athletic players coming into the league needing to have the game slow down for them before they can effective NBA players (guys like Jaylen, Rozier, etc).
Not so much do we talk about players needing to learn how to make time stop for everyone else on the floor while they keep moving. Just an insane combination of athleticism, body control, spatial awareness, and shooting touch with either hand from any position.
First thing I noticed when watching the video last night was that this clip isn't even in it.I’ve seen Nick Wright go off several times on how this famous play is not that amazing and the hand switch is unnecessary. He’s sort of View attachment 53930 right, but it’s no evidence that Jordan was somehow overrated because it was maybe his thousandth most impressive play.
Edit plus it is amazing.
I think you're right. And Jordan bringing the ball into the stratosphere for the assumed earth-shattering dunk basically paralyzes the defenders, just as Jed Zeppelin was saying. Then MJ just drops down for the off-balance layup. edit-although AC Green recovers in time to handle the in-bounds pass.Edit: While it wasn't "necessary", are we sure it wasn't a smart play? Watching that for the first time in many years, I can envision a scenario where Jordan goes up for an assumed dunk, thinks to himself in mid air that it might be a bit of a stretch, and opts to go with the extremely high percentage layup off the glass instead.
This 100 times: no player can "hang" in the air longer than any other, gravity doesn't work that way. A somewhat similar timing issue comes up in blocking shots; the best wait until after the shooter has already left his feet before starting to elevate. That way, the defender is still rising after the ball has left the shooter's hand.Something Elgin Baylor said about hang time was that in addition to having a great vertical; he also had this secret where he had a little hesitation before leaping; sending his opponents up a fraction of a second before he would take off, which helped create the illusion that he was floating above them as he was still at his peak when they were already headed down. Jordan was also a master of this, and you can see it whenever he takes a contested mid-range jumper.
I'd argue it's what you and Kliq are talking about here plus what we see in the video - he's controlling his mechanics such that he's fake pumping and still going up with the ball even when his center of mass is already coming back down (to the point where at least one person in this thread wondered if he was travelling some of the time). It's an illusion but also a highly effective play.This 100 times: no player can "hang" in the air longer than any other, gravity doesn't work that way. A somewhat similar timing issue comes up in blocking shots; the best wait until after the shooter has already left his feet before starting to elevate. That way, the defender is still rising after the ball has left the shooter's hand.
I love his use of the rim as a shot block deterrent on a lot of his reverse layups, too. He possessed such an insane combination of the mental acumen and physical tools required to play basketball at the "somewhere in the stratosphere" level.I'd argue it's what you and Kliq are talking about here plus what we see in the video - he's controlling his mechanics such that he's fake pumping and still going up with the ball even when his center of mass is already coming back down (to the point where at least one person in this thread wondered if he was travelling some of the time). It's an illusion but also a highly effective play.
But let's be real. The reason that any of this is possible in the first place is because he had amazing ups. From that perspective, he hangs better than most.
This. A good number of those shots are not just because of his rise but that his grip on the ball allows him to make very late decisions with it. He's really that perfect blend of athleticism there with physical freak control. Julius could do a lot of the same shit, but some of his best stuff is grainy video from the 70s. That ability to command the ball like a tennis ball in the hand allowed for so much creativity mid-air.Jordan also had some huge hands. You see it in every single clip of him, too.
9.75 inches in length, and 11.375 in width.
That reverse was learned by the innovator of much of what Jordan became famous for: Dr J. I remember watching this and just being totally stunned. What Jordan was in terms of superior athleticism to the rest of his NBA was even more amplified by what Dr. J was compared to the rest of his NBA in his early years in the league.View: https://youtu.be/XDiiVg48zAI
The 2nd play here is the greatest display of athleticism in NBA history.
Jordan had games with better highlights than the the entirety of some all stars from the last 15 years. Truly 1 of 1.