ANd those shooting percentages dropping are due to better defense and not a drop in the fundamental ability to make shots? or the lack of quality big men getting buckets for 8 feet and in?
To the extent one could see Bulls games in Northern NJ (my cable package as a kid actually had the Chicago equivalent of MSG for the Knicks) I saw every game Jordan played from a rookie until I left for college in 1991. My memory is fine.
Who is guarding the paint in today's game like Hakeem, Ewing, Parish, Jabbar, Lambier, Mahorn, etc? What teams have 6 or 7 HOFers like the Celtics and Lakers?
The raw athletic talent of the league is better. It's better in every successive generation. However, the skill of players as actual basketball players--and not athletes--is not close. Somebody like Kyle Korver--a guy who can consistently make shots--is an anomaly in today's game. In the 80s and 90s every team had a guy like that--sometimes two.