michael_nielsen

MJ versus LeBron: I know what you mean. For me, LeBron looks like massive force applied to a problem. MJ is smoother (though still incredibly forceful). It's a bit like Federer vs Nadal.

In most sports, looking at clips from the 80s it's obvious today's top athletes would be much better. But after a brief period to adapt, MJ would clearly just destroy the modern NBA, same as in his own time. Otherworldly.

It’s exactly that, I think about this in a lot of things. People can be great, but how does it look? That look can often make you feel a certain way. Like Westbrook vs Harden is similar too. I Harden in that he looks slow and smooth, but is unguardable.https://twitter.com/udayrsingh/status/1119845590194692097?s=21 …

I can see Harden is amazingly skilled, but find his foul-oriented game a real turnoff. I'd much rather watch Steph or LBJ or Westbrook or Giannis or KD. Westbrook is so fun to watch, even when he's playing in a way that's arguably bad for his team.

I think within that, however, is why people often miss the mark. I usually describe as the hacker’s hooper. He finds the loop holds and exploits them so close to the margin that it’s a direct turn-off. But... if it were so easy, why isn’t it more exploited? It’s easy, but hard!

If you're a player or team, Hardin's approach is great. As a spectator, I'm less interested in who is winning than enjoying the beauty of the game. And there Harden is of less interest to me. It's certainly _clever_ and he's astoundingly skillful. Just not what I want to watch.

100% agree in spectator vs team. I watched him drop the most painful 61 in the Garden, and yeah... it’s brutal. He’s better to look at on your fantasy team than in person, but he does these things where you’re like... that’s annoying, why doesn’t anyone do that? Oh? I get it.

Drawing the foul like that is... not easy. You watch Steph do it - he's another who's great at it - and you realize Steph is not in the same class as Harden when it comes to picking up that extra point.