When Wilt Chamberlain was asked if Michael Jordan was the G.O.A.T, he gave Jordan his credit for being a spectacular player, and then just laughed. He could have brought up a few examples of his many records as 'proof', but he did not. Chamberlain simply said, "When I played they came up with rules designed to stop me. Today the NBA makes up rules to help Jordan."
Oddly, the interviewer immediately changed the subject. I was confused because that was a bold statement. I decided to check to see if any rules had been created to slow Wilt down. Chamberlain was 100% correct. Goal tending, 3 seconds, and believe it or not, no jumping from the foul line on foul shots were all created to slow down Wilt Chamberlain. In addition, the lane was widened, and inbounding rules were revised.
Next I checked to see if there were any rules created to help Michael Jordan. There were a few. The most egregious change occurred when a technicall foul would be called for double teaming. Michael Jordan would routinely receive the basketball on the left side of the court. All of his teamnates would then run to the opposite side of the court. This would leave Jordan one on one with a defender who was guarding him, or one that had switched onto him. Whenever one of the defender's teammates would slack off in order to help their teammate, his teammates would alert a referee, and the referee would call a technical foul, which put Michael Jordan on the foul line. The Bulls would then get the basketball back, and they could do the same thing over again if they chose.
This went on for years!!! That is why there are so many pictures of a 6'6" Michael Jordan being defended one-on-one by a 5'3" Mugsey Bogues. I made sure to put examples of Michael Jordan wearing different numbers in his 'Mugsey Matchups' within the post picture. You can clearly see that this rule was in effect for several years.
Imagine the type of advantage today's players would have if double teaming was illegal, or if a defender using their arms was banned. For example, every NBA team literally double teams Steph Curry as soon as he passes half court. If not, then he goes crazy, and the Warriors will blow the team out. This is reality and undisputable for the past 8 seasons. With the 'Jordan Rule' Steph Curry would be LITERALLY unstoppable, and it would be unfair. Teams could only hope that he missed, because a single defender would be all alone on an island with no help coming.
Further, Curry is much more deadly than Jordan if you put him on the foul line, so getting technical fouls would not be an option. Also, it would be completely unfair if defenders could not use their arms when attempting to keep Steph "The Chef" out of the lane. Curry already gets where he wants when they do double team him. Bottom line, those rule changes were an incredible advantage for Michael Jordan. Now you know why Jordan fans conveniently forget about these real 'Jordan Rules' in favor of the JORDAN RULES that are really just defensive instructions.
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