Pahlayoffs people can suck it. If playoffs were the only thing that mattered - we would not pay attention to basketball till June and not bother giving out regular season awards and pretty much nobody would be on this forum now, it would be about as active as the NCAA tournament thread. But we do, because - oh yeah, it's not the only thing in NBA basketball that matters. There is joy in playing and watching the game and not just whoever "wins" the postseason tournament. There is actually even joy when you lose. Life is about the process, ****ers.
Great find @adeelionaire This was an awesome interview and I could have listened to it all day. I don’t understand that Morey hate by some, dude is brilliant, ahead of the curve and passionate about what he does. Yes I understand winning it all matters, there are just so many variables to consider. Sounds like he would love to own a team, I would actually like to see his approach as the Rockets owner, though I’m sure it’s a bit of a pipe dream. “Pretty much all agents are a**holes” love that he was so candid and unafraid to say this. Why are people worried about Morey saying that Harden is a better one on one scorer than Jordan? If that data shows it, then so what. He didn’t say Harden is a better all around player than Jordan. He didn’t say that Harden has that cut your heart out mentality like Jordan. He’s just stating statistical facts. Was surprised he was open about Butler, but cool to hear. Hope Morey gets run here for many years to come, still totally believe that he can bring a winner to the Rockets.
Per 100 in the playoffs so far..... MJ 32.5 FGA and 12.8 FTs for 43.3 points which is 56.78 TS% JH(in Houston) 26.7 FGA and 12.1 FTs for 36.5 point which 56.99 TS% I’d say when I look at the numbers I see a distinct volume advantage for MJ. Almost identical scoring efficiency.
Morey: "Harden is a better scorer than Jordan, it's just a fact" Also Morey: "why does the national and social media always hate on us for no reason?"
That would be an idiotic question, since Morey was strictly talking about Harden vs. Jordan as scorers. If you don't think Morey values non-scoring contributions, I present to you Shane Battier and P.J. Tucker.
What does it matter? They're not going to like Harden regardless, that's pretty clear by now. Don't cater to their whims.
When Jordon provides almost 17 more points on the same efficiency(especially in an era where the three pointer was not emphasized) than yea I can confidently say Jordon was a better scorer than Harden.
It's literally a fact. Having said that I tend to agree with the counter argument of MJ on a team in current NBA..
That’s about 7 more points on 5.8 more FGA and 0.7 FTs. volume advantage on nearly identical efficiency, that yes would most likely lead me to say in the playoffs Jordan has the advantage. Regular season Harden trumps in efficiency with Jordan again having much higher volume. Just by the numbers overall regular season and playoffs combined it’s hard to argue either is all that much better than the other at scoring as a stand alone thing. As has been said, there are plenty of other factors you could consider and it does seem Morey was referring to a stat that measures how efficiently your team scores once said player touches the ball not how much one player score per 100 possessions.
Jordon by a sizable amount in the POs which at the end of the day, is what matters. And yes we all know Harden breaks regular season scoring records, every year. But the POs for better or for worse are where it matters, this where the best teams are scheming for you repeatedly. Regular season is great, hes amazing no doubt but post season stats are whats really important. Harden has more to prove. Then its not the best scorer, if thats Morey what is basing it off, like hp said, he needs to do a better job of clarifying what he means. As far the ability to put the ball in the hoop, Jordan is better as of right now.
Then he says that tmac was the best player he's ever seen. Like this guy is channeling his Kellerman hot takes.
Beautiful post. Sports is about experience, community, adversity. People just want to turn it into glamor and status, like everything else in life. All they know how to do is compare and complain. Anyway, I really enjoyed the useful segments of this interview. Thanks for sharing. It's obvious that Morey was being playful / semi-serious when he suggested Harden Vs Jordan (he heavily qualified it) but knew that it would set the internet on fire "out of context". He was even self-deprectaing about his favorite "we have the 2nd best record over the past ten years" stat (saying: "there is no award for that.") And thus the mob makes the prophecy true. I doubt more than 10% of the people arguing about this listened to the clip to get the tone.
When asked about watching college ball, I like Morey's unfiltered first reaction, it can be a chore to watch. The skill and system gap between college ball and the NBA is night and day.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rocketscast-live-episode-32/id943463985?i=1000447060654 Craig Ackerman’s pod Rocketcast had Morey on!
not disagreeing with the idea that jordan was a good/great passer, but harden is the best passing SG of all time
Your post put a thought in my head: if there were no salary cap and players could be paid whatever they're worth, would Morey still have said this? Or would he negotiate under the pretense that Harden has some competition out there and not to get too carried away because of one season with big numbers. Another thought: did I dream that or did Harden average 36 points per game? And how long was that 40 point streak!? What a player..