Chicago Bulls: Artest thinks MJ’s scoring would translate in modern NBA
The Chicago Bulls‘ all-time great shooting guard Michael Jordan didn’t have the same type of summer in the headlines this year as he did last. Thanks to the premiere of the hit 10-part docuseries “The Last Dance”, which premiered in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, Jordan sat in the midst of headlines throughout the summer.
The discussions will always remain, though, about the heyday for Jordan during the dynasty years of the 1990s with the Bulls. Since he is the all-time great in the NBA, Jordan will always remain in the midst of this type of discussion in the GOAT debate and reminiscing about his greatest playing days.
In the Club Shay Shay podcast this week, the former Indiana Pacers, Bulls, and Los Angeles Lakers small forward Ron Artest talked on the matter of how Jordan’s offensive skillset could translate to the modern NBA. And surprisingly, Artest (formerly known as Metta World Peace) noted that Jordan could still be putting up the same type of offensive numbers, if not better, in the modern-day that he did during the 1980s and 1990s.
Ron Artest has the respect for the Chicago Bulls’ legend Michael Jordan
Defense was stronger and fouls were often called much looser during Jordan’s playing days in the NBA than the league is like nowadays. Jordan still managed to statistically establish himself as one of the most offensively dominant players in NBA history.
Really the only NBA stars that came close to matching the production of Jordan in the scoring department since his final retirement were Kobe Bryant and James Harden. That’s a testament to Jordan’s production in a time where he always had a target on his back.
Artest does hit the nail on the head with this point, and he shows a good level of respect of a star that came before him. But it wasn’t long after Jordan left the Bulls for the second and final time that Artest joined the team.
Coming into the league as a 16th overall pick of the Bulls and former general manager Jerry Krause in the 1999 NBA Draft, Artest spent his first few years in the league with this team.
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Jordan and Artest also both had a good level of defensive grit to themselves. Artest was a four-time All-Defensive Team selection and Jordan was one of the best defenders in his playing days in the NBA.