Three-point shooting was undoubtedly the weakest part of Michael Jordan’s incredible overall game. When you exclude the 181 games he played when the line was moved up to just within his range, he is a career 28.8% three-point shooter. The year they moved it back and during his last dance with the Bulls, he shot 23.8%.
Performance Analysis
He was 23.8% that last year when he was still at the top of his game, the league MVP, and the scoring champion. Even when Jordan returned to the league with the Wizards and desperately needed a three-pointer to help buoy his aging game, he shot 24.1% in Washington. This was after decades of knowing he needed to add a three-point shot to his game as his peers around him always had them or added them.
Debating Jordan’s Potential in a Modern Context
I’ve often debated with others who claim he would have been a good shooter if he was born later, and I reject that notion. Some players just can’t shoot threes; that’s very obvious, and it doesn’t matter what era they were in. There are many more modern examples like Russell Westbrook, Dwyane Wade, Jimmy Butler, and DeMar DeRozan. Gee, I wonder if they ever thought they needed to add a three-pointer to their games. Butler and DeRozan are 84% free-throw shooters. Westbrook was an 80+% free-throw shooter for eight seasons. None of that mattered.
Counterpoints and Comparisons
My counterpoint is that there were certainly many players from his generation that could shoot threes or added a credible three-point shot to their game by the ’90s. Look no farther than his college teammates, Kenny Smith and Sam Perkins. The list is long, but to name a few:
Larry Bird
Dale Ellis
Danny Ainge
Trent Tucker
Sam Perkins
John Stockton
Terry Porter
Chris Mullin
Joe Dumars
Jeff Hornacek
Chuck Person
Kenny Smith
Dell Curry
Dražen Petrović
Mark Price
Reggie Miller
Steve Kerr
These are all guys from the same era that are 56 to 65 years old. Jordan is 59, many older. I completely reject the notion that the era had anything to do with his three-point shooting ability when so many others his age and older had no issue.
Jordan’s Exposure to Three-Point Shooting
Jordan himself had said he was an ABA fan growing up, and they had pioneered a three-pointer, and the NBA had one by 1980. It’s not as if he was never exposed to it growing up. Jordan’s heroes growing up were David Thompson and Dr. J, and he’s said his favorite team was the Carolina Cougars of the ABA. He would have had exposure from the start to a three-point shot back in the 70s. You don’t need a line painted on a court to understand how far out it is. They don’t have free-throw lines painted on most blacktops and backyard goals either, where he was practicing.
Collegiate Performance
Even if the lack of exposure to a three-point shot at a young age were true, in 1982-1983, the ACC had a three-point line. He was 34-76 and shot 44.7% from it at the age of 19. Not being exposed to a three-point shot at a young age was never the issue when you can shoot 45% from a college three when it is founded. No issue there, he was completely fine when that was the range or when they moved it up in the NBA.
NBA Range Challenge
Jordan’s problem was the lack of the actual NBA range he had. He was very good when the line was moved to just within his range. When the three was the real distance it’s always been, he was one of the worst three-point shooters. Both before and after when he had two decades of practice to improve, knowing he needed to add this to his game, he just couldn’t, in the same way, some modern Hall of Famers can’t. It’s just reality that some players can’t shoot threes no matter how many years they try to add to their game.
Determination and Limitations
This is a guy that got beat in ping pong by Christian Laettner and obsessed over how to get better at ping pong just to beat him. Do you seriously think after the humiliation of the 1990 three-point shooting contest, where he has the worst performance ever still to this day, he wouldn’t have tried to add a good three if he was actually capable to prove the doubters wrong? We know his mental make up and how he would have used this motivation.
Occam’s Razor. He didn’t because he couldn’t.
Legacy and Modern NBA
With all that said, Michael Jordan was clearly a great player and firmly first or second in the GOAT conversation. Regardless of where you stand, we all know the two. I had the privilege of watching all of Jordan’s championships and even remember the Bulls losing to the Pistons before any of them, before anyone accuses me of being a LeBron fanboy. I watched the shrug game and all the moments in real-time. I just think three-point shooting was the chink in the armor, and it would be really interesting to see how he would fare in the modern NBA as a 28.8% career three-point shooter. Obviously, he could still be great as Butler and DeRozan prove, but it would be something to navigate.
