It only took six months after our last fact-checking session for a basketball-related ripple absurd enough to warrant another.
This edition’s subject: Channing Frye. On his podcast “Talkin’ Blazers with Channing Frye,” which is produced by our good friends over at NBC Sports Northwest (who we hold in no way responsible for this tomfoolery), Frye had this to say:
“He only had really one job. And that was to just score. And he did that at an amazing, amazing rate. But I don’t feel like his way of winning then would translate to what it is now. Guys wouldn’t want to play with him.”
-Channing Frye on Michael Jordan
— NBA Central (@TheNBACentral) May 15, 2020
(NBC Sports North West) pic.twitter.com/ouPbLEbuMr
Yeesh. Alright. Maybe that’s unfair. Let’s put the quote in its full and proper context.
Asked if he’s had any revelations watching “The Last Dance” compared to what he remembered about Jordan’s playing days:
I’m not gonna lie, I wasn’t a Jordan fan. I’m from Phoenix. So, I’m a (Charles) Barkley guy, I’m a Kevin Johnson guy, I’m a Thunder Dan (Majerle) guy. So, as much as everyone is shocked, I never had Jordan on my top player of all-time anyways...
I have LeBron (James) above Michael all-time. And people are going to get upset at me, ‘Oh, he’s not a winner.’ But I think if you look at his body of work, other than the championships, which we cannot use in this argument, because if we used championships, then… Bill Russell should be above them. So we can’t use that argument, so we have to use everything else. I think the game was 1,000 percent different than what it is today.
So, like, Jordan is amazing, and this is not an argument to say he’s lesser, it’s just my opinion. So I think Jordan’s job on that team was the score, right? He had one of the first teams with two what we call tweeners, Dennis Rodman and Scottie Pippen. Right. Dennis Rodman and Scottie Pippen, and we can throw in Toni Kukoc, we can throw in Ron [Harper], who does not get enough credit…
He only had really one job, and that was to just score. And he did that at an amazing, amazing rate. But I don’t feel like his way of winning then would translate to what it is now. Guys wouldn’t want to play with him.
I think you have to adjust and adapt, and to say, ‘Jordan would average 50.’ No he wouldn’t. No he wouldn’t. Everyone would double-team him.
Holy hell, it’s almost worse. Alright, everyone. Roll up your sleeves, fire up Basketball Reference and let’s get down to brass tax. This will not stand:
“He (Jordan) really only had one job, and that was to just score…”
Fact-check: Mostly false
Of course Michael Jordan’s job was to score. In a lot of ways, he was the Bulls’ offense. But to suggest that putting the ball in the hoop was his sole function on a basketball court is to overlook so much of what made Jordan special.
If you like numbers: Jordan led the NBA in steals three times. Jordan made nine first team All-Defense teams. He once won defensive player of the year, MVP and the slam dunk contest in the same season. And beyond points, he averaged 6.2 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game. For a guard taking 22.9 shots per game? Come on.
If you like anecdotes: In the culminating effort of the Bulls’ most arduous test of the second three-peat (and possibly any championship season), Jordan seized defensive responsibilities on (Hall-of-Famer) Reggie Miller in Game 7 of the 1998 Eastern Conference finals. Miller went scoreless in the period, mustering only one shot, as the Pacers flubbed away a Finals berth. (Jordan had more offensive rebounds than Dennis Rodman in that game, by the way.)
He leaned on his teammates when he had to (see: Scottie Pippen checking Magic Johnson in the 1991 Finals) -- but in some ways, that was a marker of his all-around game. The Bulls clinched their titles in 1991, 1993 and 1997 on shots not taken by Jordan -- two of which he assisted on.
Watch him command the floor, especially on the fastbreak, for evidence of his facilitating artistry. Talk to anyone who played against him for evidence of his defensive fortitude. Jordan did it all.
“... And he did that (scored) at an amazing, amazing rate…”
Fact-check: Absolutely, 100 percent true
So, it’s not all bad. Indeed, Jordan’s career average of 30.1 points on 49.7% shooting is unprecedented for a guard.
Michael Jordan averaged 30.1 ppg on 49.7% shooting for his career
30+ ppg on 49%+ shooting in *one season* has only been done by a guard 14 times in NBA history. Seven of those instances are Jordan pic.twitter.com/lNySxrRxP8
— Rob Schaefer (@rob_schaef) May 14, 2020
And even those gaudy figures are sullied by his misbegotten Wizards seasons. Counting only his Bulls tenure, Jordan’s 31.5 points per game average on 50.5% shooting has been done by a guard in one season only four times in NBA history. Four of those were Jordan.
Ten scoring titles. Eight years over 30 points per game. Five seasons over 30 points per game and over 51% shooting. From his third year until his first retirement (1986-1993, seven seasons), Jordan averaged 33.2 points on 51.8% shooting. He missed seven regular season contests in that 574-game span.
Need we go on? He’s the greatest bucket-getter of all time. Frye probably agrees there.
“... But I don’t feel like his way of winning then would translate to what it is now. Guys wouldn’t want to play with him.”
Fact-check: Demonstrably preposterous (but with a hint of truth)
Frye certainly has a point that Jordan’s demanding leadership methods are a bit of a relic in the current NBA. In terms of ruthless, tyrannical leadership (from a team’s alpha) translating to wins, the current league’s list doesn’t go much farther than Jimmy Butler, who it should be noted, is title-less. In the age of player empowerment, if a team situation isn’t agreeable, players are wont (and able) to forge their own path -- and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. It’s just the way the league has evolved, and the pros far outweigh the cons.
But to insinuate that -- if you were to drop Jordan onto a team comparably staffed to the 1990s Bulls -- his abrasive nature would hinder him from winning at all? Obviously ludicrous. Kobe Bryant, after all, reached three Finals in a row (winning two) in the late aughts leading the Lakers in a style molded from Jordan.
To be fair to Frye’s point, the champions of the 2010s have been led by top dogs either cerebral or affable in nature. Down the line: Dirk Nowitzki (2011); LeBron James (2012, 2013, 2016); Tim Duncan (2014); Steph Curry (2015, 2017, 2018); Kawhi Leonard (2019). Whoever the champion would have been in 2019-20 (James, Leonard and Giannis Antetokounmpo were the leading candidates) would have likely followed suit. But there’s room for balance -- just ask the Bulls, who reached the heights they did in no small part thanks to the guiding hand of Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson offsetting Jordan’s bloodlust.
Getting into the nitty gritty of exactly how much Jordan would have won in a completely different era is a fool's errand. We'll concede a nugget of Frye's point here, but mark the statement mostly false.
That's all this round. See you next time.
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