Michael Jordan - The Greatest
Michael Jordan - The Greatest Basketball Player Ever
Roger Cumberbatch completes his series of pieces on the best basketball players of all time, and ends in the right way, with the greatest player of them all, Michael Jordan.
Opening Tip - Defining Greatness
Greatness is defined as the quality of being great in size, skill, achievement, or power. In basketball, fans and media alike tend to equate greatness with championships.
This obviously is a flawed method for evaluating the best talent to ever grace an NBA court. Shaq was the largest and most physically dominant player, yet he is not even the greatest center of all time.
Lebron James has competed in 10 NBA Finals, but only won 4. Bill Russell won 11 titles as a player, and 2 more as a coach.
All of these players could be named as the greatest of all time, but we have reserved the coronation for one player.
There exists only one player in history with; 6 NBA Finals appearances, a record of 6-0 in the Finals, and winning three in a row twice.
No player has had or ever will have, the overall impact globally on the sport of basketball the way he did.
Based solely on statistics, this could be a debate until the end of time, but whatever, Michael Jordan is the best of The 10 Greatest Players In NBA History.
Humble Beginnings
Born Micahel Jeffrey Jordan to mother Deloris, and father James, parents who probably would never have guessed that their son would become the greatest basketball player on Earth.
They Cut Michael Jordan?
Michael Jordan was only 5’ 11” in high school, and was actually considered too short to make his varsity team. That would not be the last they would see of Jordan.
Working relentlessly in the summer, stringing together a bunch of games where he lit up the scoreboard for more than 40 as a junior varsity player, and growing 4 inches, Michael would make the varsity squad the following year.
Averaging over 25 points per game in each of his last two seasons in high school, and being named to play in the Mc Donald’s All-American game (a game featuring the highest recruited and overall best players in the United States), all indications were that Jordan was coming.
College Days - Michael at UNC
Michael would continue to grow his game, which was a combination of smoothness and precision, while he waited for the certain flood of recruitment letters that would be coming his way. Jordan was sought after by some of the country’s best basketball programs such as Duke, Syracuse, and Virginia.
In the end, Michael chose legendary coach Dean Smith and the University of North Carolina Tar Heels.
Since this article is about NBA players and their greatness, Jordan’s career NCAA statistics are irrelevant.
There is one important piece of information from his college days, that is quite pertinent to his greatness, and that is hitting a game-winner in the 1982 NCAA Tournament against the Georgetown Hoyas.
After being cut from the team in high school, to winning the championship for his school in the biggest game in college basketball with one fateful shot, Michael Jordan was paving his own path to greatness.
The Draft 1984 NBA Draft
3 NBA teams will forever be linked to the drafting of Jordan out of college. Unfortunately for two of the teams, it is not in the manner that they would have imagined.
With the third selection in the 1984 NBA Draft, the Chicago Bulls took Jordan, while Hakeem Olajuwon went first overall to the Houston Rockets, and the Portland Trail Blazers wanted Sam Bowie more than they wanted Michael.
Hakeem would win back-to-back NBA championships (the years that Jordan retired from basketball). It was the Blazers picking Bowie over Jordan that would stunt their rise in the league for many years while fueling the legend of “His Airness”. Bowie suffered repeated injuries to his legs that would ultimately cut his career short.
Why did Portland take a busted, injury-prone, center over the bright and promising guard from Brooklyn, New York?
The answer is a fairly practical one actually.
The Trail Blazers already had a player in Clyde Drexler, who played Jordan’s position.
The front office in Portland demanded that the needs of the team were better suited by drafting a top center, Sam Bowie. In fairness, nobody could have foreseen that Bowie’s career would be marred by injuries.
All the same, they DID PASS ON MICHAEL JORDAN.
Michael Jordan in Numbers
Jordan’s numbers during his storied NBA career are jaw-dropping and truly the main reason he is widely considered the greatest of all time in the NBA.
Fun Stat
Mike scored 49 points in a game on the same night that his traditional number 23 Chicago Bulls jersey was stolen, and instead hadto wear the number 12.
His 49 points is still to this day, an all-time NBA record for the most points scored by any players who wore the number 12.
Here are Jordan’s career stats:
● 6x NBA champion (1991-1993, 1996-1998)
● 6x NBA Finals MVP
● 5x NBA MVP
● 14x NBA All-Star
● 3x NBA All-Star Game MVP
● 10x All-NBA First Team
● NBA Defensive Player Of The Year (1988)
● NBA Rookie Of The Year (1985)
● 10x NBA Scoring Champion
● 3x NBA Steals Leader
● 2x NBA Slam Dunk Contest champion
Let us revisit some of those statistics shall we?
Jordan won the league scoring title 10 times, led the league in steals 3 times, and won the award for being the Defensive Player Of The Year.
Michael Jordan’s dominance was on both ends of the basketball court.
Offenses had to base their plays on where Jordan was on the court defensively. Ponder that for a moment.
The NBA has long seen the player who could tear up the association on offense or defense, but not both, not quite like the way Jordan did it.
Imagine a team that is so concerned about the location of one player, a guard, that their entire offensive schematics involves avoiding him at all costs.
The NBA never saw a player who could intimidate entire organizations simply by what he did on the hardwood. That was Jordan's greatness at work and this was no better personified than with the 95-96 Bulls Team, possibly the best-ever team in NBA History.
Off-Court Dominance
Other greats on our list have done some outstanding things off of the court. Philanthropy, Acting, and Humanitarian efforts, are a few of the ways that these players have earned respect, but none of their off-court ventures can come close to Jordan’s effect.
Make no mistake about it, Michael Jordan was about growing his brand and making himself money. How is this related to his greatness? Jordan attacked the business world like he attacked a defenceless player who had the misfortune to stand under the basket, and subsequently end up on a Jordan poster.
Jordan had many investments, sponsors, and endorsements, but his signing by Nike would pave the way for the company to be one of the most successful globally.
Jordan signed a 5-year endorsement contract with Nike in which he would earn $500,000 per year. Nike’s stock in 1984 went from $40.7 million, to $2.5 billion.
Today, the Jordan symbol is worn by professional and amateur athletes all over the world. Various sports, and numerous high-profile athletes, all consider it to be an honour to represent the Jordan Brand. No other athlete can make that boast. Baseball, basketball, football, soccer, and other sports, all have players who wear Jordan shoes, uniforms, and accessories during competition, and now the world of women’s sport is getting he Air Jordan treatment as well.
Michael Jordan’s signature moves are credited with shaping the careers of many of the NBA’s greatest players. Countless numbers of players recount watching highlights of Jordan so vividly, all wanting to rush out and copy his moves, while wearing his jersey, and his shoes.
Jordan and The Dream Team
Last, but certainly not the least of Jordan’s great accomplishments, was his selection to the 1992 Dream Team. Although the team was loaded with the NBA’s best, everyone still wanted to “be like Mike”.
Players in the same locker room as Jordan, international players on opposing teams from Jordan, fans, and international media, all were struck by the aura of Jordan’s greatness. and his reputation as one of the most clutch athletes in any sport.
The Dream Team would win the gold, largely without Jordan being the best player in every game. That was the point though. Jordan could dominate, or do precious little during the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympic Games, media and fans were in the palm of his hand.
Final Buzzer
Michael Jordan is considered to be the greatest among his peers, fans, and media. His perfect record in the NBA Finals, multiple scoring titles, dominance on defense and offense, and overall career statistics, should be the only evidence needed to define his greatness.
Jordan, however, also influenced the business world, and grew the sport of basketball internationally like no other professional athlete ever has. In 2021, Michael Jordan is worth over $2 billion but has not played a game since 2003. Off of the court and on it, men lie, women lie, but numbers do not. Michael Jordan is the greatest player among The Greatest Players In NBA History.
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