I refuse to watch most EPSN and FOX Sports "talk shows" these days. Regardless if it's Skip Bayless, Dan Patrick, or Stephen A. Smith the chatter is all the same. Lebron James or Michael Jordan, who is the greatest of all time? The question has popped up thousands of times this year. Lebron, by far is the greatest athlete of the 21st century, but all this "all time" talk ruins the joy of sports viewership. As I stated in a previous post, the NBA has pushed storylines to increase viewership and revenue.
The NBA is not interested in competitve,exciting basketball, but high powered stars who drive ticket sales and merchandise sales through the roof. Basketball in the 1980's was a physical sport, centers were the most important players on the team beacuse they could control the post and stop guards from driving to the basket. The game has evolved and the rules have changed with that evolution. Physical defense is not allowed, and more focus is on shooting the three point shot than ever before.
My argument will be divided into two parts. First I will list the reasons why Jordan was great, but not the best ever. I will bold my main points and briefly elaborate on each one. Second, I will make a case that there are some basketball players who should be considered as great or even greater than Jordan ever was.
March Madness!
The media would like you to believe that Jordan was the "key" to North Carolinas 1982 NCAA Championship. But what most people forget is that Jordan played the supporting cast member to James Worthy! Here's a few fast facts about Jordan and Worthy at UNC:
- Worthy was an NCAA All-American, Jordan was not
- Worth was the ACC player of the year, the NCAA regional MVP, final four MVP, and the leading scorer of the NCAA championship game. (He scored 28, while Jordan scored 16)
- Worthy left for the NBA (and was drafted number 1 by the Lakers); Michael was left to lead UNC
- With Jordan as the leader UNC was ranked first and second for the NCAA tournament, but lost in the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 in consecutive years.
- He was a good player in college, but not the immortal the media makes him out to be.
The Media Chose Mike From The Start
Jordan entered the league as one of the top college players on his era, and he did not dissapoint fans during his rookie season. Averaging 28.2 points per game, he was named an all star. Even though he earned this, the media crowned him a star within a month of his first professional game. Sports Illustrated article "A Star is Born." Veteran players led by Isaiah Thomas were upset at the media frenzy surrounding Jordan during his first all star game, noting that the other players earned and deserved just as much attention. It got so bad the famous "freeze out" occured, where Jordan's all star teammates refused to pass him the ball during the game!
The NBA Rescues Jordan from the "Bad Boy" Pistons
Jordan lost in the first round of the playoffs in his first two seasons. His second year was injury plagued and the bulls finished 30-52 and still made the playoffs! This should go on to show how basketball has changed, no team today with a record that bad would even sniff making the playoffs.
Jordan's thirds season (1986-87) did cement himself as one of the best players of all time. He averaged 37 points per game, and recorded 200 steals and 100 block shots (which had never been done before). Even with all this, Magic Johnson won MVP, mainly due to the fact that his LA Lakers were the most dominating team the NBA had ever seen up to that point.
Jordan may have put up great numbers, but he was swept by Larry Bird and the Celtics for the second straight season.
Jordan's Bulls would lose to the Detroit Pistons, "Bad Boys" the next two years. The physical nature of the Pistons defense would have them be villified by the media. Isaiah Thomas was a central part of their prowess and would later argue that because of the beatings they gave Jordan and the Bulls the NBA changed the rules to make the league favor guard play.
Thomas said that after the Pistons defeated Jordan the leauge changed the rules to make the league not only less physical but more favorable to the small guards and less centered on post players. And this will become self evident to you if you watch Jordans games prior to the 1991 Championship season. Defenders were able to block his shots, match up with him, and play physical defense all the way to the post. But after the rule changes, Jordan drew more fouls than any other player in the league. Defenders were visibly frusterated because they could not do their job and play the defense that they've played for years.
Scottie and Phil Help Mike Breakthrough
Jordan and Pippen had one year to mesh with coach Phil Jackson before they went on to win the 1991-92 NBA championship in such dominating fashion. The Bulls ran through the East and went on to beat the LA Lakers four games to one. The Media hyped up his finals matchups with LA and Portland (the following year) as battles of titans, trying to build on the successful Bird-Magic rivalries of the 1980's. Jordan did win three championships in a row but needed an elite small-forward in Scottie Pippon, a dominating big man in Charles Oakley, and one of the greatest coaches of all time. Again this is similar to Lebron going to the Miami heat. Great players can win, but it's almost impossible to single handedly carry your team. And Lebron has carried worse teams to greatness than Jordan ever did.
Retirement
Many theorist on the web claim that Jordan abruptly retired because his gambling addiction was going to leak out into the media. NBA commissioner David Stern covered up all allegations to keep his super star from getting crushed like baseball great Pete Rose. The NBA needed Jordan more than Jordan ever needed the NBA. It's highly suspect that he "lost his desire to play the game." But was simply forced out temporarily so the media and the public could be distracted by his baseball career and Space Jam and forget about the controversy surrounding the public hero.
A side note is that Scottie Pippon had his best season of his career in 1994 without Jordan. The Bulls did go 31-31, but Pippon solidified his place as one of the best basketball players on the 1990's.
Second Three-peat
Go back and watch game three of Jordan's series with the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Bulls were seeking their third straight championship and were down 2-0 against a powerful Knicks team. Jordan was literally fouled constantly. No player could do so much as to raise their arms up and contest a shot. The refs were making sure their star was going back to the big dance yet again, and no better team was going to get in his way. The crowd can be heard chanting "bull-shit" at the end of the game, due to obviously frusteration that the refs were rigging the game in favor of MJ.
Big Picture
Jordan was a great basketball player, but the league needed a star to replace Magic and Bird. The league chose to crown him king (just like we are seeing with Lebron during the 2000's era). He needed immense amount of help from the refs and rule changes to keep him active and able to "score at will." Without his awesome supporting cast and great coach, he may have never won a single champsionship, and all the nonsense calling him the GOAT would have been avoided.
Players Arguably Better than Michael Jordan
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
- The NBA literally had to change the rules to try and make the game less easy for him, the exact opposite of what the league did for MJ. Kareem was the most dominate college basketball player ever, winning three straight NCAA championships. He has six NBA Championships, a 19-time NBA all star, he is the NBA's all time leader in points, minutes played, games played, field goals made and blocked shots.
- Kareem redefined basketball, and had no help from the refs or the league. He also played when basketball was pure, and didn't have the media pushing storylines or superstars. He would still be dominant today, as his post centric play style is timeless and his ability to score was like no other.
- Wilt Chamberlain
- A 7-footer who weighed over 330 pounds? The classic version of Shaq. During the 1961-62 season he averaged 50 points and 25 rebounds. Certainly the league wasn't as polished back then, but this guy could still compete today in his prime. He would have been more dominant than any center the modern age has scene except for maybe Shaq.
- Magic Johnson
- At 6'9 the point guard was the greatest ball handler and distributor the league had ever seen. Yes his career was cut short, but if it wasn't due to HIV, he may have never lost to Jordan in the 1991 Championship and history may have turned out differently. Aside from all the hype Magic was a much better pure basketball player.
- Lebron James
- Name one thing that Michael did besides "6-rings" that LBJ cannot do? Jordan may have the championships, but he needed lots of help and the league had to design rules to boost his stock. Lebron has now been to eight straight NBA finals, he has won when he had the right supporting cast, and carried a squad of average players as far as anyone in history could have taken them. He still has up to 7 good years left, and he is not slowing down. Lebron will continue to develop his game. He can do everything any of the other greats could, and with a 6'8 260 pound frame he may be the greatest pure athlete of all time.
- Kobe Bryant
- Kobe is a MJ clone, except Kobe was more consistent throughout his career. He started and finished with the Lakers, won as many champsionships, but dominated in a way that Jordan couldn't have. Kobe played against some of the greatest competition of all time. But there is reason to believe that the NBA helped him get to where he needed to be as well. Replacing the void that Jordan left when he retired, Kobe took the torch as the next "superstar."
So there you have it. Jordan couldn't win before he had his own "superteam." He needed the league to change rules to make defense less physical, and constantly was shown favoritism by the refs. He was one of the best, but should not be called the best by any means. The leagues formula is fixed and the NBA will continue to produce "superstars" who will drive sales and be promoted as the greatest of all time. It's all part of the show, the money-making show.