DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum High School kids say they would beat MJ in his prime

Maybe they're not old enough to remember how ridiculously good Michael Jordan was. Maybe they misunderstood the question. Maybe they were just joking around and it didn't come through in print.

Regardless, the answers some of the class 0f 2013's top high school prospects gave USA Today when asked how they'd fare in a game of one-on-one against Jordan in his prime are just plain bizarre.

Three of the eight players polled actually predicted they would defeat Jordan, though the comments by Duke-bound Matt Jones have enough false bravado to them that it appears he's kidding. There's no such obvious nuance to the quotes attributed to Kentucky-bound recruits Dakari Johnson and Andrew Harrison.

Said Johnson: "I’m taking him to the post every time. He’d stop me a couple of times, but I’d just keep going back down there. I’d just contest his jump shots and pray that he’d miss. I think in the end, I’d get him though. I’m too big down there."

Said Harrison: "I think he’d get a couple buckets here and there, but then I’d start to lock him down and give him buckets. Yeah, I think I’d get him."

A couple buckets here and there?! Seriously?!

Johnson is an elite center and Harrison is the nation's most coveted point guard, but the idea they'd get more than a bucket or two off early-90s MJ is laughable. After all, 50-year-old MJ reportedly had his way with Michael Kidd-Gilchrist recently, and I'd take my chances with Kidd-Gilchrist against either Johnson or Harrison in a game of one-on-one right now.

Again, I hesitate to be too critical of either of these players because it's possible the tone of their response failed to come through in print. But if that's not the case, they're going to be in for a rude awakening in college and at the professional level as the competition begins to get tougher.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab-the-...002--ncaab.html

I'm just gonna assume they were joking hopefully

I was never a huge Michael Jordan fan back in the day, but I didn't have anything against him, either.

In his prime, I'm not sure there was ever anyone better. Not even close. I seriously don't remember him ever having a bad game.

I like it.

What do you want them to say?

"Yeah, I wouldn't have a chance."


Every kid wants to be the next MJ. Why not have the confidence that you CAN be the next MJ?

why even ask them these questions?

kids cannot even joke anymore without people taking them too seriously.

I think it's a good mentality to have. Even if it isn't true.

That kind of attitude isn't good in other parts of life, but in sports, I think it's the way you should approach it.

If you stuck me out there with the Blackhawks, I plan on beating all of them, even though I won't.

I don't know. Some random dude beat LeBron in H-O-R-S-E a couple offseasons ago. It just matters how hard he's trying

This just in: My 4 year old twins claimed they saw Bigfoot while playing in the sandbox.

Lets get a report out there...

LOL. Drugs are bad.....

I'd be more interested in seeing how many of them remember Jordan's Bulls. Just from a quick look at the wiki, they'd be around 4 to 5 years old when Jordan won his final championship. I'm around that age, and the only basketball memory I have of him, is AI crossing him over. A better opponent for them would be AI/Kobe.

Watching the Jordan Brand Classic -

Andrew Wiggins is the most athletic kid I've ever seen in high school.

And yes, I wached LeBron in high school.

Yep and I'm tall,dark, and handsome (Waiting for those who no me to disagree really quickly lol)

Unfortunately he has the charisma of a pickle.

Hopefully when he goes pro he can get a cool friend to give him advice like Durant does with Westbrook.

This could be a prime example of that combination of ignorance and hubris that makes teenagers so- "charming."

Some years back, I had a talented but overconfident private student who was convinced he was the next Yo-Yo Ma. He'd just won a "challenge" (a one-on-one 'audition' in which two students vie for the same coveted spot in the section).

He came into his lesson jazzed, saying stuff like, "Man, Mr.C- I sliced her up! It was 'blood on the floor' time!"

After advising him that "pride oft goeth before the fall," he was still too jazzed to be receptive.... and started talking smack to me- in MY studio.

"Well- I notice that you don't really play much in my lessons.
"That's because they're YOUR lessons-"
"Yeah, but my old teacher used to play all the time...."
"I don't want you mimicking me... I want you to absorb the lessons, and put them to use-"
"Or maybe you can't... Maybe you're just too old now...." (His previous teacher is about 15 years younger than I am, and was the one to suggest to his mom that perhaps he should move on to lessons with me- a fact I'm not sure 'Jason' was aware of.)

______________________________

In 30 years of private instruction, I'd only once before been challenged like that. It didn't end well for that student, either. It was "Life Lesson" time.


"OK, 'Jason' (not his real name)... here's what we're going to do for this lesson. We're going to take a piece from your lesson folder- any piece of your choosing... and we're going to have a "Throwdown."

He picked this piece called "Capriccio"... a fast-moving showpiece written to dazzle the audience. It's flashy and has a few 'tricks,' but it really does follow a formula... a formula that 'Jason' hasn't figured out yet. He's still playing it note-by-note, and getting by on raw talent alone. Unlock the code to this piece, and it becomes easy. I've been giving him hints about "the code," but refuse to spoon-feed him the info. This is something he must figure out for himself, if he is ever to own this type of "knowledge-based practice."

I set the metronome for 120 beats per minute (think "Starts & Stripes Forever, and you've got the speed...)

Kid played in down pretty damned well. Only missed a few notes, and played some clunky-looking string changes in the bow. At the end, he was pretty pleased with himself. I left the metronome where it was, and played it down, with half the effort... and maybe missed a note or two. Hey, I wasn't warmed up, you know?

Next, we upped the stakes. I reset the metronome to 132 (noticeably faster), and invited him to play it again. Kid brought game, but visibly struggled in the same places that tripped him up in the first playing. He got through it, though.

Lesson time. I re-set the metronome for 144. Closed the music... and played it from memory- with my eyes closed. (What this kid didn't know was that I first learned this piece when I was a year younger than he was, and kept it in steady rotation in my practice studio).

The look on his face was priceless. He was actually blushing.

When I finished, I reached over, picked up my dust rag (used for cleaning the instrument after practice sessions), and calmly handed it to him.

"What's this for?"
"Folks who talk smack in my studio wipe up their own blood when they get punk'd...." Then, I started chuckling, good-naturedly. Kid got the joke, AND the message... and tied an imaginary tourniquet around his wrist! He was a funny kid... very bright.

After we stopped laughing, I pulled a line from a conversation I had with My Pops years ago. ["You might be the best player of your age that you know... but kid- you don't know anyone yet.] You're a big fish in a little pond here. Once you leave HS, you'll be swimming with sharks. My job is to get you ready. Do you now trust that I know what I'm doing?"

The rest of that lesson, we didn't play another note. We just talked- about who's out there, how advanced some of them were, and how much he needed to work to be able to hold his own once he left my studio. All the hubris was gone at the end of that lesson... and he really came around over the next 2 years. (Getting his own arse handed to him a few times after that helped, as well)

I live for "watershed lessons" like these. They can change a student virtually overnight.

___________________________

As you mentioned, Candyman, we really don't know the tone in which these kids answered.. BUT- if there was even a hint of 'Jason' in them, it would be truly fun and interesting to see some of their first lessons after making those statements. And a pick-up game with MJ would most probably be a good one to see-

.02

Excellent story Clem, and well written as usual. Thanks for sharing it.

Quote:

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Yep and I'm tall,dark, and handsome

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You obviously take after your mother then.

Thanks for the props, Dawg.

Kid deserved the beat-down he got, jfan.

It was actually fun.

Maybe someday, I'll tell the story of the 'Original Badazz Encounter'... that one was epic! (I just got a fb PM from him about a year ago, apologizing for his behavior- almost 30 years ago! Nice to know he turned out OK...)

These are High School kids who are probably 17 or 18 years old so i doubt any of them have even seen MJ play other then maybe a few highlight videos. When MJ retired in ' 93 none of these kids were likely even born and when he played in ' 95 ' 96 ' 97 ' 98 they were still in daipers.

I think I could take Michael Jordan in his prime also. He doesn't look all that athletic.

My hobby used to be Muay Thai… (Thai kickboxing)

I trained 4 days a week for about 5-6 years. I competed as an amateur in local, national tournaments and random smokers. I honestly thought I was unbeatable, in my head I thought I could successfully fight a in K1 or some really cool tournament as a Super Heavy weight.

Well one day at the gym a professional mma fighter came in just to train and of course we had to spar.

Results?

He beat the crap out of me lol. It was fun and awesome but very humbling, I was hanging there until his pure god given athleticism just overwhelmed me. I had nothing on the guy but a hard chin for his hard punches. It as very humbling and I realized why I was an amateur and he was a pro. It took a beating to bring me off my high horse. Good times.

Now if I can just convince my wife to let me fight and train again.