Jalen Rose: “Two unstoppable forces in the history of the NBA, and two guys who basically have their own record book are Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan. Wilt averaged 50 points and 25 rebounds one season, youngsters, and played every minute of every game. Michael Jordan would have been the modern day version of that. In an era of physicality, and an era where players were just larger out on the floor – today we’re playing a lot of ‘small ball’ and players that were wings in high school are playing power forward in the NBA. The body types are different. James Harden is an amazing three-point shooter and scorer and he’s averaging late 30’s [in points per game]. Michael Jordan was doing that in the 80’s. I say he gets at least one more basket per quarter and one more free throw attempt per quarter, and gets around 47.5 points today. He’s also a dominant defensive player that would get steals, that would be getting blocks, that would be catching lobs, and scoring in transition… That’s my number.” (Full Video Above)
Listen to former NBA player Jalen Rose, who played in the league from 1994-2007, explain why he thinks Michael Jordan would average ‘around 47.5’ points per game if he played in today’s NBA.
ESPN’s ‘The Last Dance’ documentary has opened up a lively dialogue discussing how players past and present would have performed if they played in different eras.
Check out the video above as Rose details why he thinks Jordan would thrive in a modern NBA that has a lot less size out of the floor, and one that overwhelming favors ‘small ball’ now, with the goliath centers and power forwards of the past having almost completely gone extinct in 2020.