Jordan's team won 55 games without him when he retired. He was not the 15th best player in his Wizard days.
So Jordan was worth 17 wins. OK. And he was the 15th best player in his Wizard days. 20.8 PER, 22.9 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 5.2 APG, 1.4 SPG (Age 38) 19.3 PER 19.5 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 3.8 APG, 1.5 SPG (Age 39)
Took way too many shots at a bad clip, definitely not the kind of basketball player you want on a winning team. A better option than what they had maybe, but not a good basketball player anymore. 47 TS% in 01-02, simply atrocious, played just 60 games and didn't contribute to winning basketball. Not even close to 15th.
Jordan didn't play away from the basket until later in his career. He didn't have a reliable jump shot until later in his career and would use his athleticism and explosive first step to get to the rim. He refined his game and added new perimeter skills to his offense. One thing I admire about both Jordan & Kobe is their ability to continue improving and adding go to moves every offseason. Kobe Bryant had the benefit of the Jordan blueprint and adopted it early on in his development. He wasn't born with Jordan's large hands, the "hang time" Jordan had and the fast twitch muscles Jordan was blessed with. Kobe figured out early on he had to be a threat from the perimeter to compliment Shaq and the inside-out attack of the Triangle offense. When Shaq departed from the Lakers we saw how dominating Kobe could be during the 2003 season. He ran off 9 straight games scoring over 50 points. He had the 81 point game performance and was forced to score close to 40 points and be the primary defender for a lackluster Laker roster to make it into the post season. There's never been a player being option two on a team boosting the PER numbers Kobe had with Shaq. PER is the brainchild of a numbers driven analyst. To me PER is boring and doesn't capture the creativity and soul the game is played with. You can't put numbers on a lot of things players like Jordan & Kobe do on the court. They can do things with the basketball that no one else is capable of. Kobe defies PER because he is willing to take risks on the court and more often than not his risks result in success. PER is playing it safe and letting percentages get in the way of gut instincts. PER is great for a player like LeBron. He likes to play it safe on the court thus far in his career. He doesn't take risks with the basketball and puts the pressure on his teammates. He's like a Volvo, safe, reliable, efficient and boring. Kobe is like a Ferrari. High performance, risky and entertaining. I'll go with the Ferrari.
