Ok so what is this debate about, FIBA or NBA? Fiba, so stop complaining already. It is not savvy seeing you go in circles. He sucked in FIBA and he was much better in the NBA. No duh sample sizes can be small, that doesn't mean the Finals MVP goes to whoever you feel like giving it to. Chuck was better than Jordan in this "Series" of games. Not only were you bringing up sample size, you were ALSO stating that within this small sample size, Jordan might have been better. Well you've moved away from this now that I've completely exposed his level of struggling in that tournament. If you want say that over a large enough span of games Jordan MIGHT have been better, ok. But he wasn't. The Finals MVP doesn't go to the more aesthetically pleasing player to watch, or the guy everyone likes personality-wise. It doesn't go to the guy with the best resume in the past either. You don't even know what you're saying anymore. The Coaches also picked the wrong starting lineup in the last olympics, so this is a weak excuse. So over an even larger sample size of FIBA games, Jordan continued to suck. In fact that does nothing to help your case. Actually it does. 1) First you complained about me and the "paint". Well this was clearly ignorant, because he was indeed not getting to the paint. 2) You brought up zero reasons why Jordan was better in this stretch of games. You bitched about Sample size, well sorry this isn't the career debate, this is about why someone gets a post-season award, or some other International recognition. 3) You recognize that FIBA can be terribly misleading in such a short span of games, yet believe this can somehow determine Rose is a superior basketball player. A contradiction to say the least. 4) You brought up some guy saying Jordan is just better, as your sole reason why Jordan was better. Again when you can form a coherent argument I'm willing to listen. Some guy chucking a bunch of shots and playing way below Kobe level is not what I expect out of Jordan. 5) When Jordan chokes in a small sample size, no one gives him a do-over. Nor should they. 6) It is ignorant then to continue to claim Jordan will be better than every player ever, over a small sample size. This is not the case, and there is evidence to suggest that the different role was the reason for his struggles. Jordan is not the best FIBA player ever or even close to it. There has been nothing said in this thread to discredit that, you're just asking for a do-over tourney to see if Jordan can make up for his lack of production. Fact is, he was inferior on the Dream Team and he did not even care enough to play in 1996. It just wasn't a big deal to him like the Finals. And I happen to agree, the Finals is much more enjoyable.
1.) [MJ] did not suck in FIBA 2.) I never said MJ was statistically better than Barkley over 8 games. I said the coach said he was the best player on the team. And quoted a sportwritter that said he was the best player. 3.) If the coaches picked the wrong starting lineup in the last olympics, should we ignore coaches? 4.) Just for kicks, please share your basis for MJ not getting to the paint. 5.) Has anyone in the history of sports called a major contributing starter on a team that won by 40 points a game a choker? 2nd leading scorer/2nd leading assist man/1st in steals (4.5 steals a game) == major contributing starter
The point is that, even though Barkley may have looked better over a brief stint in the Olympics, clearly Jordan was the overall better player in the NBA. This is why trying to use any exterior method to compare Rose and Rondo is flawed... they can really only be judged by their NBA careers (as Jordan and Barkley should be compared). Honestly though why is it taking 3 pages to get to this?
Did Barkley look better? Or was he the leading scorer in the blowouts such as Angola and MJ the leading scorer in the Gold Medal game. It's moot anyway...they played different positions and both guys played big roles on the team. Anyone claiming Rondo is clearly better and wants to totally discount the FIBA coaches decision, feel free. I'm thinking it's an early indicator of who is going to be the better player: Rose. Of course, we will have to see.
"Leading scorer" nonsense now. Yeah as a jumpshooter, on a different level than his NBA career. I'll give you a hint, it probably wasn't done too efficiently. Percentages are poor throughout the tourney. Thanks, it is so obvious to me as well. :]
You are right. You should publish a book documenting how that one never needs to watch a game and one can do a vigorous statistical analysis of 8 games and ignore that Barkey's best games were in the 80 point and 50 wins. You are well on your way to putting Hollinger out of business.
