Would MJ be MJ in today's NBA?

Whenever I get upset watching the new NBA, I think back to my youth. I remember my idol, Michael Jordan. I often say things like, "Michael would never do that!" or "Mike would have dunked that!" or something else along those lines. In my mind Michael Jordan would destroy the modern NBA. I still believe that to be true.

If Doc Brown showed up in the Delorean, and we drove back to 1988 or 1990 and asked Mike to hop in and arrived just in time for the 2011 playoffs I think he would score 40 to 45 points a game. He would probably also get kicked out of every game with two technicals, but that is a different story. The modern NBA is just that different. No hand checking, no hard fouls and very little seasoning in College would have Mike's mouth water as his tongue hung out of his mouth.

But what if Michael Jeffery Jordan was born in 1993 instead of 1963? Would he turn into the same player? The answer is almost assuredly no. He was a high school all american back in 1981, so if he was the same thing today, we would have heard of him long ago. He would be the Next Michael Jordan!

Today he would have played tons of AAU ball in the summers. He would have gone to a big college for one year, and then left for the NBA. Without the three years with Dean Smith, would he have turned out like he did? Would early fame have changed him? Probably.

Just imagine if LeBron James was born in 1963. What if he wasn't on the cover of magazines as a teenager. What if he went to 4 years of College? What if he didn't have a huge entourage, or want to be a global icon? What if he had a post game that was refined from a young age? Maybe Cleveland would have won a title or two by now.

Thankfully, Michael was born when he was. All those kids born too late missed out.