Jordan, Barkley Share Disappointment on 'Big 3'

Fair enough. Still seems like calling it whining is a bit of a stretch.

But what else is it? It's not valid criticism. It's not based on anything logical or reasonable, it's meaningless emotional poppycock.

Does that Jordan quote even qualify as criticism though, valid or otherwise? Like I said before, it seems like it was more along the lines of "I wouldn't have made that choice myself back in the day, but times change and things are different these days". To me, to whine you have to complain and he's not really complaining about it.

Not Jordan, but all the people whining about "Lebron's legacy" and how "JORDAN WOULD HAVE NEVER DONE THIS!" Also how NBA players must never play with any others out of choice, only luck. All of that is just childish stamping their feet and being complete idiots.

Jordan was asked a question, he answered it, but he wasn't whining no, he was answering semi-truthfully.

Without MJ driving him, Pip might've topped off at a 90's Trevor Ariza for all we know, especially considering how unaggressive he was during his early years.

That's the trouble with 'might have beens', you really never know. We could also flip that and say Pippen could have made a name for himself as one of the marquee players of his day without Jordan by his side. So what if he was unaggressive during his early years, maybe he was deferring more to Jordan since MJ was already an established superstar when Pippen entered the league. There's also player development, Pippen could have developed to be more aggressive as his career went on. You can't really base a whole "what if" of a player's career based solely on his early years in the league and not consider the factors that could have contributed to it as to why he played that way.

here is a what if. the blazers draft jordan he sits behind clyde and never gets the motivation to be the best and ends up retiring with people considering him a bust as a 2nd overall pick

Teams do what they think is the best for them without having to say sorry. So did MJ and LBJ. Though, not many think the decision LBJ made was the best one, it's still an applausive action since it came with a big sacrifice(annoyed?), and strong dedication to the friendship.

Without MJ driving him, Pip might've topped off at a 90's Trevor Ariza for all we know, especially considering how unaggressive he was during his early years.

That's the trouble with 'might have beens', you really never know. We could also flip that and say Pippen could have made a name for himself as one of the marquee players of his day without Jordan by his side. So what if he was unaggressive during his early years, maybe he was deferring more to Jordan since MJ was already an established superstar when Pippen entered the league. There's also player development, Pippen could have developed to be more aggressive as his career went on. You can't really base a whole "what if" of a player's career based solely on his early years in the league and not consider the factors that could have contributed to it as to why he played that way.

haha Pippen was a project coming in. when he did finally mature/realize his potential- Pippen never had the scorer's mentality as Jordan did anyway. the first time around MJ retired, he "only" averaged 22ppg. he should have been mvp and defensive player of the year. but i digress. but seriously, read my sig...

i personally would have criticized James less if he went to Cleveland. but hey i grew up watching Jordan saying he wanted to be on the same level as Larry & Magic/earn their respect... clutching the Larry O'brien for the first time crying...later nab 3 rings and say "Larry & Magic never did a 3peat"...

Teams do what they think is the best for them without having to say sorry. So did MJ and LBJ. Though, not many think the decision LBJ made was the best one, it's still an applausive action since it came with a big sacrifice(annoyed?), and strong dedication to the friendship.

But as I said in the other thread, a lot of the criticism comes from the way it was handled, which was apparently Maverick Carter's idea. LeBron got some bad advice there. Sure, there's speculation on LeBron's "legacy" and whatnot and that's only natural, but he's got a lot of years ahead of him so if you'll excuse the cliche there's a lot of the story left to be written. How this works out and what LeBron's "resume" looks like when his career is over or in its twilight years is yet to be seen and there'll be ongoing debate and evaluation.

Since a lot of the columnists have been mentioning Jordan's supposed bitterness, it's worth noting that the more affable Magic Johnson shares the opinion held by his Airness and Sir Charles. And like MJ's comments, Magic's take stops short of actually blasting LeBron for it but runs along the lines of "That wasn't our approach back in the day".

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Magic's take stops short of actually blasting LeBron for it but runs along the lines of "That wasn't our approach back in the day".

Yeah, because you all signed contracts far longer than any contract today could be before any player today would even be out of their rookie contracts. As a result, you were never allowed to be free agents in anyway similar to today.

Sports journalism is so fucking stupid.

I am a fan of Magic but I am guessing Lebron would have stayed too if his team was the Lakers.

screw free agency

screw free agency

Why? Pro athletes should be able to do what every American does, to work where we want to.

Someone pass the popcorn, two old guys are about to fight.

I say the one with the cane wins.

Lebron would have stayed too if his team was the Lakers.

impossible for now