Bron, Bird, Simmons are all great passers
but they're all a notch or 2 under Magic.
He is THEE phenomenon when it comes to court vision/passing/flair.
Nobody has ever been that maxed out in ability
Why you using a gif of him making a basic no-look pass on the fast break though? Do you notice that virtually every time Magic's passing skills are bragged about, clips of Magic on the fast break dominate the clips?
This is prime Magic in the half-court. Don't focus on the fact that he makes mistakes (obviously those are picked for the clip), but focus on how much he struggles to set up the pass he wants, how he's standing in one place, telegraphing everything, taking 5-10 seconds to try to set up a single play. which leads to the clock running out in one instance, a turnover in another instance, and a few badly missed forced jumpers in-between.
I really want to know what ya'all think Magic is going to do in the half-court to set up all his shooters and ballers in 2018. What will his main go-to move be?
Also, why isn't he shooting when they give him all that room? Larry had no problem shooting the three in that era, Magic had teammates his own age - Coop, Byron Scott, Mike McGee - who developed the three in the early-to-mid 1980s. So why is it that Magic KNOWS it's a problem when he's stuck in late game situations and other teams are just daring him to shoot the outside shot....yet he doesn't develop an outside shot?
Yeah, no way Magic Johnson's dribbling style would be different if he came up in this era instead of the early 70's
That's a moot point, though. The 3-pointer wasn't a thing when Magic came up and a rarely-used gimmick for most of his NBA career. had he come up now he'd already have a 3-point shot.
I love how people playing these games give all the old-timers new skills they never had, but don't take anything away.
What's ya'all narrative about today's players? That they weak, have no heart. that sort of thing? So if Magic would automatically be an elite ball-handler and shooter just because he was playing in 2018, why wouldn't he gain all the supposed deficiencies of today's players too?
And if Magic could just develop a three like that, why are there so many elite players in this era (D-Rose, Westbrook, Wade, now Simmons and Giannis) who remained struggle shooters from deep in their prime?

gonna do the bu bu if he came up today he would automatically be elite at ball handling and shooting
Today, he would still most likely be an average ball handler and mediocre shot creator in the half court. Magic in his prime was 6'9 230 lb., he had doughy stocky build he didn't have the fluidity as a dribbler, at that height you are naturally gonna have a high dribble. No, he wouldn't just turn into Kemba Walker with the handle if he came up in this era. Coming up in the early 70's didn't stop Pearl Washington, Pete Maravich, Isiah Thomas, Calvin Murphy as ball handlers.
At least y'all realize ball handling has improved exponentially from the 80's.
I'd really love to know what they see in Magic's dribbling ability that leads them to believe any sort of GOAT ball-handling skills gonna develop from that base.
