Michael Jordan vs. Analytics

The battle of Michael Jordan vs. Analytics

Transcript

00:00Michael Jordan defied gravity and analytics,

00:08as Air Jordan could have been called Mid-Range Michael,

00:11though that sounds way less cool.

00:13However, for all of his skills,

00:15perhaps MJ's best trait was his ability to score

00:18from the toughest parts of the floor.

00:20In fact, during the Last Dance era,

00:22he shot nearly 50% from those spots on the court

00:26at a rate that hasn't been equaled since,

00:28which is probably why Detroit Pistons champion

00:30Rip Hamilton recently said, MJ told him,

00:33add that to your game.

00:34That's the hardest play in the game of basketball to guard.

00:37Now, I don't mean this as a pot shot at analytics.

00:40Even the Houston Rockets let Chris Paul shoot from there

00:42because he could hit them.

00:43But the general consensus is

00:45those are the shots defenses want to surrender,

00:48which in Jordan's day, players knew intuitively as well,

00:51keep them away from the rim and put a hand up,

00:54kind of like Craig Elo did.

00:55Sorry, Craig.

00:56It's just while Michael's acrobatics were awe-inspiring,

00:59there are plenty of high flyers.

01:01What he was able to do otherwise was the true outlier.

01:04And it's also a formula that has worked

01:06for the likes of Kobe Bryant and Kawhi Leonard

01:08in route to championships.

01:10And adding that kind of shot, along with a three,

01:12also took LeBron James' game to another level

01:15and into a certain conversation.

01:17So while it might not quite lead to a

01:19spectacular move by Jordan,

01:21it was what MJ did by the numbers

01:24that truly separated them,

01:26even if usually the numbers disagree.