Re: If he wore green and white?

[wfcooper@tiac.net (Bill Cooper)]

On Sat, 30 May 1998 17:11:10 -0400, Bentz wrote:

>I would say that Jordan is in the class with Russell, Chamberlain, Bird, Magic,
>Kareem.  I am not sure that anyone else is in that class.  But to say Jordan is
>the best.  Well, I just can't buy that no matter who he played for.  The league
>talent is watered down from the old days.  The shooting skills have diminished as
>the athletic dunking has increased.  I am not convinced that this Bulls team
>could beat the great Celtic team of the 50's if those players came along today
>and developed the same skills.  Unfortunately, they would not develope the same
>skills.   They would play today's game.  So, as we know it is all hypothetical.

This is a little bit thick.  The Russell Celtics were not a good
shooting team, measured by the standards of the time, or compared to
todays teams.

Year              FG%               Rank           Avg FG%
56-57           .383                     3                  .380
57-58           .387                     3                  .383
58-59           .395                     4                  .395
59-60           .417                     3                  .410
60-61           .398                     8(last)         .415
61-62           .423                     5                  .423
62-63           .427                     9(last)         .441
63-64           .413                     9(last)         .433
64-65           .414                     8                  .426
65-66           .417                     8                  .433
66-67           .447                     4                  .441
67-68           .440                     7                  .445
68-69           .431                     9                  .441

Bentz's claims about shooting skills are somewhat exagerated.
Despite there being no reward for shooting long jumpers, the FG% in
the 60's were lower than today's (FG% today,  would probably be close
to 50%, were it not for the 3 point shot).  And the Celts were clearly
the worst shooting great team ever (all three of the years they
finished last in the league in FG%, they won more than 70% of their
games, and of course, won the title).  

Interestingly, there doesn't seem to be much of a correlation between
expansion and FG% (and, if anything, it's positive).  By 1968-69, the
league was up to 13 teams (from 8 in the early 60's), and the league
had also lost a substantial number of players to the ABA, but FG% were
at their highest level ever. 

Bill Cooper

P.S. As for dunking goes,  if it leads to higher FG% is IS a shooting
skill.