# The next 10 guys in the Jordan Era



## gi0rdun (May 31, 2007)

So Jordan was obviously pretty damn good during his time. Who were the next best guys in his era?


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## jericho (Jul 12, 2002)

Off the top of my head I'd say Olajuwon, K. Malone, Stockton, Barkley, Robinson, Ewing, Shaq, Bird, and Magic.

Honorable mention would be Pippen, Payton, Rodman, Grant Hill, Kidd, and (toward the tail end of the Jordan era) Garnett.

All in all, a pretty talent-rich era!


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## PauloCatarino (May 31, 2003)

(in no particular order)

Ewing;
Barkley;
Karl Malone,
David Robinson;
Hakeem;
Snaq O'Meal;
Clyde;
Payton;
Pippen;
Grant Hill.


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## SheriffKilla (Jan 1, 2004)

cant beleive you guys didnt mention Shawn Kemp he was pretty amazing during the 90s


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## jericho (Jul 12, 2002)

Kemp was very good for a while, but I wouldn't put him on a level with any of the players I mentioned above.


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## BEEZ (Jun 12, 2002)

In order

Jordan
Barkley
Olajuwon
Malone
Pippen
Payton
Robinson
Shaq
Ewing
Isaiah

I dont add Magic or Bird to that as they werent in they're prime


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## Luke (Dec 7, 2008)

BEEZ said:


> In order
> 
> Jordan
> Barkley
> ...


Barkley number two above Hakeem? Payton/Pippen over Robinson?


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## BEEZ (Jun 12, 2002)

VanillaPrice said:


> Barkley number two above Hakeem? Payton/Pippen over Robinson?


Hakeem's Chips came after Jordan was gone. Barkley dominated just as much as he did. Pretty interchangeable as far as impact is concerned.


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## BEEZ (Jun 12, 2002)

Im a lil biased on Robinson. I thought he was good but not this great Center that he was profesed to be


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## jericho (Jul 12, 2002)

BEEZ said:


> I dont add Magic or Bird to that as they werent in they're prime


If by "Jordan era" we mean the years spanning the Bulls' championships, then okay. But Bird and Magic combined for 5 MVPs during Jordan's career.


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## RollWithEm (Jul 16, 2002)

First, let's define when "Jordan's era" took place. Technically, Jordan started college in 1981 and didn't retire from the NBA until after the 2003 season. For the sake of brevity, I'll throw out his college and Wizards years and just look at the period between his rookie year (the 1985 season) and his 6th championship year with the Bulls (the 1998 season). My top ten will focus solely on guys who had their primes some time in that 14 year window.

Second, let's see what the numbers say. 

*Top 10 in all-NBA selections* (first team worth 3 points, second team worth 2, and third team worth 1 point)*: *Karl Malone (32), Charles Barkley (26), Hakeem Olajuwon (26), Magic Johnson (21), John Stockton (20), David Robinson (18), Patrick Ewing (15), Larry Bird (14), Dominique Wilkins (13), Scottie Pippen (12)

*Top 10 in PER:* Shaq (27.9), Robinson (27.8), Magic (25.1), Barkley (25.0), Malone (24.8), Bird (24.1), Olajuwon (24.1), Stockton (22.3), Ewing (22.2), Nique (22.1)

And third, I'll give you my best guess by tier. 

*The Absolutes*
*Magic Johnson* had 7 prime-level years in the Jordan era. No other player had a 7-year stretch better than his during this time period. For me, he's the top non-Jordan player in the Jordan era despite the fact that his rookie year was 5 years before Jordan's.
*Hakeem Olajuwon's *prime basically coincided with Jordan's. He won two NBA titles (with Jordan playing for a White Sox farm club). He was one of the most dominant defenders in the era, and his dominance was never in question during his prime.
*Karl Malone* made 10 consecutive All-NBA First Teams during the Jordan era. He also reached two NBA finals during that time. At least one of his MVP trophies was questionable, but he's got a top 10 spot anyway.
*Charles Barkley* had a higher peak than Malone without the longevity. He was one of the top 2 power forwards of the Jordan era without question.
*The Definites
*
*John Stockton* led the NBA in 2 main statistical categories (assists and steals) during the Jordan era. He led his squad to 2 championship series and cemented a first ballot hall-of-fame career during these years.
*David Robinson's *entire prime occurred during the Jordan era. He was a statistical freak who made 4 All-NBA First Teams and later went on to win 2 NBA titles after Jordan retired.
*The Peakers
*
*Shaquille O'Neal* had the highest peak of any of these players statistically in the Jordan era. Despite that fact, Shaq's prime had barely begun by the 1998 season. He really had 4 seasons of overlap with Jordan in which he was a top 10 player in the league.
Similarly *Larry Bird* experienced 4 years of peak performance which overlapped the beginning of Jordan's career. In that time period, Bird won 2 MVP awards and made 3 straight NBA finals appearances including one championship.
*Gary Payton* had 4 really good seasons between 1995 and 1998. He finished top 10 in the MVP voting in all 4 of those years. He did reach one NBA Finals series where his Sonics were dispatched by one of the best teams ever assembled.
*Penny Hardaway* had an even shorter peak that was perhaps slightly greater than Payton's in the Jordan era. He finished top 10 in the MVP voting in 3 seasons (2 times in the top 3). The question is simply, did he do enough in that short time?
*Bernard King* also had 2 top 10 MVP finishes during the Jordan era (including 1 during his improbable comeback with the Bullets). His unfortunately short prime, though, occurred just before Jordan entered the league. He'll probably just a victim of timing in this discussion.
*Grant Hill *actually had 3 top 10 MVP finishes in the Jordan era, but those were also his only 3 quality years during that time. He basically has the same problem as Bernard King, just on the opposite end of Jordan's career.
*The Questionables
*
*Isaiah Thomas* is an interesting case in this argument. He really had 7 prime-level years during Jordan's time in the league. Also, his Pistons were 3-2 in Eastern Conference Finals and 2-1 in NBA Finals during Jordan's career. He was also responsible for knocking Jordan out of the playoffs in the 1988, 1989, and 1990 seasons. His statistical peak didn't really coincide with his years of team success, but I still think he deserves a spot in this top 10.
*Clyde Drexler* had the great misfortune of being the second best player in the NBA at Jordan's position during Jordan's prime years. Should that be good enough to make this list?
*Dominique Wilkins *was a one-way player whose teams never won much of anything. He was reaching his prime just as Jordan came into the NBA. Are there any better candidates?
*Patrick Ewing's* prime overlapped Jordan's almost perfectly. He made only one All-NBA First Team during that time due to the fact that Hakeem and the Admiral were just always a little better than him. Should the third (or maybe fourth) best center in the era make this list?
*The Sidekick
*
What can you say about *Scottie Pippen*? He provided exactly what Jordan and the Bulls needed to be successful. He defended 4 positions routinely and assisted in 6 NBA Championships. Was he good enough to be considered top 10, though? The competition is strong.
*The Not Quites
*
I'll quickly list the honorable mention guys whose primes occurred during this time but just weren't quite good enough to get top 10 love. So to Kevin Johnson, Mitch Richmond, Mark Price, Chris Mullin, Reggie Miller, Dennis Rodman, and Shawn Kemp, you have my heartfelt apology. You weren't quite good enough to get your own paragraph, so you're didn't quite make this list.
So I guess that just leaves my top 10. Here goes nothing:
Magic
Hakeem
Malone
Barkley
Stockton
Isaiah
D-Rob
Shaq
Pippen
Bird
That's how I feel right now, anyway. Ask me tomorrow... and you never know.


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## Jakain (Sep 8, 2006)

^ Now thats one hell of a rep-worthy post. Pretty solid list although I'd put D-Rob at the number four or five spot but these things can be argued either way.

And because I'm a homer and D-Rob is my favorite player, and the fact that this thread is kind of about Jordan too; here's this video again  :


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## VCHighFly (May 7, 2004)

by position i'll say

PG: Stockton, Magic, Payton
SG: Drexler
SF: Pippen
PF: Malone, Barkley
C: Robinson, Hakeem, Ewing


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## ChrisRichards (Jul 17, 2007)

Most talented era in the NBA history.


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## Luke (Dec 7, 2008)

VCHighFly said:


> by position i'll say
> 
> PG: Stockton, Magic, Payton
> SG: Drexler
> ...


Stockton over Magic? No thanks.


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## BEEZ (Jun 12, 2002)

Karl Malone was one of the biggest stat whores EVER. Carlos Boozer is Karl Malone version 2


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## Luke (Dec 7, 2008)

BEEZ said:


> Hakeem's Chips came after Jordan was gone. Barkley dominated just as much as he did.* Pretty interchangeable as far as impact is concerned*.


How so? Hakeem's defense was about as important as Barkley's offenese, but whereas Hakeem was one of the best scorers in the league aswell, Barkley was one of the worst defenders. Are you saying that Barkley should be considered a top ten player or so of all time? Because that's where Hakeem is typically ranked.


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## BEEZ (Jun 12, 2002)

Barkley is right there on the cusp of that top ten. There was only a span of four years where hakeem avg over 25 a game and that was 92-96 and that was @ 26.8 for that time period.


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## gi0rdun (May 31, 2007)

I guess by Jordan Era I mean guys that can be considered part of Jordan's generation, similar to how guys like Kobe/Garnett/Duncan/Iverson/T-Mac are a generation. I mean Kobe has been an MVP candidate every year of LeBron's career but I wouldn't really put them in the same generation of players, but then things like these are hard to define since you have guys that come straight out of high school and maybe a college senior coming out the same draft class and that's already a 4 year difference. But regardless of that, very rep worthy post from RollWithEm.


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## RollWithEm (Jul 16, 2002)

BEEZ said:


> Karl Malone was one of the biggest stat whores EVER. Carlos Boozer is Karl Malone version 2


While I won't argue that Malone cared about stats, he was much better than Carlos Boozer.


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## PauloCatarino (May 31, 2003)

RollWithEm said:


> First, let's define when "Jordan's era" took place. Technically, Jordan started college in 1981 and didn't retire from the NBA until after the 2003 season. For the sake of brevity, I'll throw out his college and Wizards years and just look at the period between his rookie year (the 1985 season) and his 6th championship year with the Bulls (the 1998 season). My top ten will focus solely on guys who had their primes some time in that 14 year window.
> 
> Second, let's see what the numbers say.
> 
> ...


Very well done, sir.

Still, if the "Jordan era" should begin in 1985, the OP's question is skewed, because Jordan wasn't the best player around during the "Jordan Era"'s first years.


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## RollWithEm (Jul 16, 2002)

PauloCatarino said:


> Still, if the "Jordan era" should begin in 1985, the OP's question is skewed, because Jordan wasn't the best player around during the "Jordan Era"'s first years.


The original post mentioned the time when Jordan was "pretty darn good." I would say he was pretty darn good since his sophmore year at UNC.


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## PauloCatarino (May 31, 2003)

RollWithEm said:


> The original post mentioned the time when Jordan was "pretty darn good." I would say he was pretty darn good since his sophmore year at UNC.


Well, then i'd say Jordan was #3 in the "Jordan era" (and i'm not even couting the fact that Worthy was the better player in the NCAA championship team)


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## VCHighFly (May 7, 2004)

PauloCatarino said:


> Well, then i'd say Jordan was #3 in the "Jordan era" (and i'm not even couting the fact that Worthy was the better player in the NCAA championship team)


You think he was the 3rd best basketball player from 1982 to 1998?


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## PauloCatarino (May 31, 2003)

VCHighFly said:


> You think he was the 3rd best basketball player from 1982 to 1998?


Nope. I think Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were better players than MJ in the beggining of his NBA career.


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## PauloCatarino (May 31, 2003)

PauloCatarino said:


> Nope. I think Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were better players than MJ in the beggining of his NBA career.


What? No challenge from all the worshipers of false Gods?


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## VCHighFly (May 7, 2004)

PauloCatarino said:


> Nope. I think Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were better players than MJ in the beggining of his NBA career.


Not to beat a dead horse, but how does that make him 3rd best in the Jordan era?


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## ChrisRichards (Jul 17, 2007)

Jordan was regarded as the best player in the league already by his 3rd season in the NBA.

In 87-88, MJ won the scoring title, league MVP, and defensive player of the year, all in one season. This was during Bird and Magic's prime.


When Jordan dropped 63 in the playoffs vs the eventual champs the '86 Celtics, Larry Bird is quoted as saying "That is God in disguise as Michael Jordan"

Don't let the revisionist people lie to you. Jordan was an amazing talent right out of the gate.



Don't let these Laker fans fool ya.


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## kflo (Jun 28, 2002)

ChrisRichards said:


> Jordan was regarded as the best player in the league already by his 3rd season in the NBA.
> 
> In 87-88, MJ won the scoring title, league MVP, and defensive player of the year, all in one season. This was during Bird and Magic's prime.
> 
> ...


of course, you're ignoring that magic was mvp in '87, '89 and '90. there were split camps basically up to '91. noone can possibly deny that jordan was an amazing talent right out of the gate.


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## ChrisRichards (Jul 17, 2007)

Magic is the greatest Laker of all time, just above Kareem.


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