You know why it’s a post merger list? Because there’s not enough footage for him to do a in-depth video on pre-merger players.
He put Jordan's peak (starting from 1989 when he didn't win it) at the top in a world where Wilt averaged 50. But of course he has a whole video about why it isn't supposed to be impressive.
It's good that you bring up the free throws. The reason you can see why the Harden "choking" or being worse in the playoffs narrative is false, is by looking at the FT%. It's actually slightly higher in the playoffs.Bird is an odd comparison because I point out repeatedly that Bird shot like shyt from outside in the playoffs.
It's amazing that Bird is considered a great playoff scorer. He not only has mediocre playoff numbers, but he played especially poorly in a ton of critical games and doesn't have a great resume of amazing games. Most of his image as a clutch playoff scorer is based on reputation more than results.
But overall your point is fair. Harden kept his eFG%/TS% respectable by spamming threes and trips to the line, and by beating up easy first-round opponents. To understand how bad he was in the playoffs, you do have look a little bit deeper and see how much worse he played in big series, especially in games 4/5/6/7 in big series.
That season Wilt average 50 isn’t looked favorably by types like him. They prefer Wilt’s 67 more.
What is the truth though? Put up everyone’s numbers/accolades/accomplishments/impact in their respective eras and let’s get to the bottom of it
Well that's the point. The greatness of players depends on context. But MJ as undeniable undisputable general GOAT is usually not a contextually nuanced claim. It's a lot of nostalgia and wanting-to-be-like-Mike too. He's obviously one of the main candidates but you can argue plenty of different ways.
Jordan has the highest peak ever and if you pace adjusted he’d average between 45 and 50 points a game in 1962 without even taking into consideration how much more athletic and skilled he’d be than anyone in that era although there would be things he wouldn’t be able to do then such as carrying, lowering the shoulder on drives, pushing off, traveling would be called more off his drop step but still overall his midrange accuracy, first step, acrobatics and athleticism would be devastating in that era he would have been better than Oscar and Elgin Baylor statistically it would be hard to imagine him winning too many rings with Russell’s Celtics though
Eye test, box score stats, analytics god, success and accolades.
Why play the what if games though, let’s look at the players and what they did in their era and compare their greatness. Let’s look at what the greatest players earned since this is basketball and not a pageant
Ok. So Bill Russell earned 11 rings in 13 seasons. What can MJ put up against that?
Russell is the greatest winner in NBA history, do you think Russell is the goat?
No, I think Wilt is probably the GOAT (especially in terms of peak). I value ability more than resumé/success. MJ has a case. Bron too. And Hakeem. I'm not the biggest Kareem fan, I would put him in a tier below. Shaq as well.
