Athletic vs. Good Jumper (as in person who jumps)
This is a response to an ill-informed Youtube video comment.
He's not overrated - as a player. Just because he's a good dunker doesn't make him a good basketball player. I understand where you're coming from. First of all, I would like to address the incongruity of "athletic" and "good jumper". You can be athletic without being a good jumper, but as far as basketball players go, everyone who can jump is considered "athletic", and that's retarded. Michael Jordan shifted the paradigms by which basketball excellence was measured because he was skilled, as well as a good jumper. However, many fans think, and even general managers now will draft a player with a good vertical but with little basketball skill, over a bad jumper with high basketball skill, because they think a player can gain skill with practice, whereas a player can not gain much vertical, even with practice. A good vertical leap is considered genetic, like height. Whether or not this is completely true remains to be proven. So Michael Jordan set the bar higher. Now you have to be skilled, and be able to jump. That's why people never talked about Shaq as "the best player in the NBA", even in his prime. They just said stuff like "most dominant" and "most physically dominant", although he had great dribbling skills (but poor shooting). Nowadays, when people think about best player, they think about players that are the closest to Jordan holistically: Bryant, James and Wade, because they are complete basketball players, as well as jumpers, like Jordan was. You can't compare James White to those guys because although he can jump, he sucks at the game of basketball. Similarly, Vince Carter is a great dunker, but his injuries and lack of lateral quickness prevented him from being as good a one-on-one defensive player as Jordan or Bryant, despite the fact that he was gifted in the offensive aspect of basketball.
james white is so overrated if he is so good why didnt his team go anywhere except down the drain
He's not overrated - as a player. Just because he's a good dunker doesn't make him a good basketball player. I understand where you're coming from. First of all, I would like to address the incongruity of "athletic" and "good jumper". You can be athletic without being a good jumper, but as far as basketball players go, everyone who can jump is considered "athletic", and that's retarded. Michael Jordan shifted the paradigms by which basketball excellence was measured because he was skilled, as well as a good jumper. However, many fans think, and even general managers now will draft a player with a good vertical but with little basketball skill, over a bad jumper with high basketball skill, because they think a player can gain skill with practice, whereas a player can not gain much vertical, even with practice. A good vertical leap is considered genetic, like height. Whether or not this is completely true remains to be proven. So Michael Jordan set the bar higher. Now you have to be skilled, and be able to jump. That's why people never talked about Shaq as "the best player in the NBA", even in his prime. They just said stuff like "most dominant" and "most physically dominant", although he had great dribbling skills (but poor shooting). Nowadays, when people think about best player, they think about players that are the closest to Jordan holistically: Bryant, James and Wade, because they are complete basketball players, as well as jumpers, like Jordan was. You can't compare James White to those guys because although he can jump, he sucks at the game of basketball. Similarly, Vince Carter is a great dunker, but his injuries and lack of lateral quickness prevented him from being as good a one-on-one defensive player as Jordan or Bryant, despite the fact that he was gifted in the offensive aspect of basketball.
