One theory was that Jordan drew so much defensive attention that his teammates got to take wide open shots and benefited from Jordan. It sounds good on paper, but wasn't true in reality. Jordan played in 1993 and retired in 1994. Nine players played on these two teams, and these 9 players, as a whole, shot a higher percentage without Jordan than they did with Jordan, even though the defenses were focusing on them. This was not a fluke. this occurred over the course of 164 games. That is enough to determine a trend.
Furthermore, this was proven again in 2001, when Jordan joined Washington. Jordan missed a lot of games due to injury, and The Sporting News commented on their surprise that the Wizards shot better in games in which Jordan did not play. This is no surprise. This is a trend.
2007-08-28
08:00:39
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21 answers
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asked by
Alpha Wolf(Bringer of Rain)
5
in
Basketball