MJ is the GOAT. He's not a far and away GOAT like many want to believe, cir stances played on his favour to have this almost unbeaten aura, but you can't play what ifs on this. He's the GOAT.
MJ is the GOAT. He's not a far and away GOAT like many want to believe, cir stances played on his favour to have this almost unbeaten aura, but you can't play what ifs on this. He's the GOAT.
There can only be one GOAT, and LeBron is the GOAT.
Yea, so unbeaten. Like the time Bird beat him 14 straight, including two playoffs sweeps.![]()
n 1998, ESPN’s website had a profile of great NCAA tournament performances. They had players like Bill Bradley (56 points in a Final Four game), Bill Walton (21 of 22 shooting the NCAA Championship), Danny Manning (36 points, 19 rebounds in the 1988 championship), and such. Listed in these great performances was Michael Jordan in 1982. What was Jordan’s amazing performance? Well, he had a whopping 16 points. Wow. He hit the shot that put North Carolina ahead with 15 seconds left. Buzzer beater? Nope.
Who was the star of the 1982 tournament? James Worthy was. He was the first-team All-American. Jordan wasn’t even all-conference. Worthy led the team in scoring for the season, the tournament, and even the championship game (28 points). Worthy was also the tournament MVP, and the East Region's Most Outstanding Player. After Jordan’s shot, Worthy stole the ball from Georgetown to seal the victory. Where was Worthy on ESPN’s site? He was nowhere to be found. Instead Jordan makes it for one shot. Where was Keith Smart? Where was Scottie Thurman? They were also one-shot wonders.
This was yet ANOTHER example of how the media hypes Jordan to no end. Worthy led that team to the le, yet the history revisionists have tried to credit it to Jordan.
How did Jordan do for the remainder of his college career? Let’s look. In 1981, the year before Jordan supposedly led Carolina to the le, Sam Perkins, Al Wood and James Worthy led the Tar Heels to the National Championship game, where they lost to Isiah Thomas and the Indiana Hoosiers. Surely Jordan could carry on this streak of championship game appearances, right? Wrong.
In 1982, after winning the le, James Worthy left for the NBA. Jordan would go on to win The Sporting News’ College Player of the Year during the next two seasons. However, his teams never even made it back to the Final Four, let alone to the championship. Did he lack the teammates? No. He played with Sam Perkins (#4 pick in the 1984 draft…right behind Jordan), Brad Daugherty (#1 in the 1986 draft) and Kenny Smith (#6 in the 1987 draft). Yet, without Worthy, there’s Jordan leading his team to disappointing finishes, despite having a #2 seed and a #1 seed (loss in Sweet 16)…if it were anyone else, the media would call them "chokes." Yes, the counter-argument is that the NCAA tournament is upset-prone, but come on...what happened to Michael Jordan's overrated "will to win?" Don't tell me this was just another product of the media! Wilt Chamberlain was called a "loser" for losing to an undefeated team in the finals in triple-overtime, yet Jordan couldn't even lead a team to the Finals, let alone the Final Four -- and he's supposed to be the "best ever?" I think not. Funny how short Jordan comes up when you level the playing field and use the same standards to measure him that are used to measure everybody else.
A great college career? Yes. A winner? No. One of the all-time great college performances? No. One of the all-time great college players? No. Sports Illustrated wisely left Jordan off of their all-time college team. But then again, SI and Jordan haven’t been on speaking terms since 1995—so that makes them a little more truthful in their reporting.
NBA Commissioner & Marketing Genius David Stern has bent over backwards to promote his current superstars & sell his product. Jordan is easily David Stern's biggest prodigy. The NBA is now in the entertainment business more than being a pure compe ive sport.
Modern NBA officiating has become a joke. Big market superstars are given special treatment, they are allowed to travel and get away with fouls that the average player gets whistled for. Michael Jordan has been the most prominent beneficiary of this special treatment. Many sports writers insist that Jordan pushed off of Bryon Russel to get room for his last shot against the Utah Jazz in the 1998 NBA Finals. That game had 2 major incidents of blown calls meant to help the Bulls (bogus shot clock violation on a Howard Eisley 3 in second quarter: replays showed the shot ball was 8 feet from the end of Eisley's hand when the shot clock expired. No call on Ron Harper shot clock violation in 3rd quarter, total: 5 point swing to Bulls). Most people did not realize that Scottie Pippen's back was in such bad shape that he was doubtful for a possible game 7 if the Jazz won game 6, and since the Jordan led Bulls had a 1-11 record in playoff games without Scottie Pippen it was imperative that the Bulls end the series in 6. There are other less prominent incidents but I have made my point here.
No other major sport propagandizes that one particular player is the best ever. Why is Basketball so different? Because David Stern is trying to sell his current game by calling Jordan "unquestionably the best ever". The late Wilt Chamberlain said it best: "If Michael was here right now, I would say to him: When you are so great that the league tries to change the rules in an attempt to stop you then you can claim you are the best ever. Every rule change I have seen during your career has been meant to enhance your game (such as shortened 3 point line, hand checking rules & well defined rules regarding illegal defenses)."
From 1994-95 to 1996-97 the NBA shortened the three point line to near the college level in an attempt to help offensive players score more. A rule change like this would certainly bolster a perimeter oriented team that has the greatest shooting guard ever. In a great coincidence the new shorter line was just inside the outer rim of Michael Jordan's "respectable" shooting range. The Bulls' mega superstar (who had a career 3 point percentage in the mid 20's before the change) shot 43% from 3 point range in 1995-96. Jordan also set career highs in 3-point attempts and made 3 point feld goals. These career highs were nearly double Jordan's previous career highs. The shortened three point line was certainly an additional weapon to any team that had a perimeter based offensive attack and the 1995-96 Bulls used it big time.
The truth in basketball is that if you give a team 2 or 3 extra points every night over the course of an 82 game season it will translate into at least 4 or 5 more wins. The Bulls used this boost to put them over the 70 win plateau in 1996. The shortened 3 point line also helped to inflate the Bulls win percentage in 1996-97. What proof do I have? well the fact is Jordan's 3 point percentage took a nose dive and the corresponding Bulls win total dropped by 7 games (62-20, see table above) in the first season immediately after the league moved the line back (1997-98). Now that is a pretty darn good one. Why don't we give Shaq 3 to make 2 every time he gets fouled and then drool at how many games the Lakers win this year.
6/6 >>>>>>>>>>>>3/5, therefore:
1) Jabber
2) MJ
Sup Rummpd? How's the Mrs?
This thread will end well, with everyone agreeing in peaceful harmony.
Not.
MJ never lost in the finals, 3peated twice, played great defense and had many legendary performances.
Bron is extremely versatile, good teammate, great both sides of the court and won on different teams.
Kareem is a monster of a player in his own right.
Hard to argue against MJ though.
Who si the GOAT for you?
Kareem belongs nowhere near this conversationIf anything Magic should be in this discussion way before Kareem.
Lemme guess, _irk > KAJ? FH son
Bird and then Duncan, tbh. Lebron probably third; though I'd put a steroids asterisk next to his name. I highly doubt he's on the level.
Damn son, you trully are racist.![]()
The 6/6 in the Finals argument is lame tbh
LeBron faced better teams in the Finals
1991 Lakers : TOSB Magic with AIDS, Worthy and Scott were already injured before the Finals started, they missed the last game
1992 Blazers : Jordan had Pippen and the referees.
Drexler had..eeeeeer....role players and wasn't allowed to play D on Mike while MJ was allowed to karate chop, grab etc.
Just go watch highlights of MJ vs Clyde before they changed the rules for him in 1990.
Different story
1993 Finals : Majerle and KJ were guarding MJ
Suns had no perimeter D no interior D.
Ceballos missed the Finals, he matched up well vs Pippen.
Also all those and 1s calls in the 55 pt game were BS
And the Knicks got robbed by the refs in game 5 of the ECF, and I'm not even talking about the Charles Smith sequence
1996 : Rodman was the Finals MVP tbh
1997: I'm pretty sure the NBA orchestrated the NY Heat brawlKnicks were looking good tbh, they had a legit shot at beating the Bulls that year
1998 : lol tosb MJ needing all those bailout calls vs NJ in the 1st round.
Also what Clipper Nation said about the Finals
You're the one who feels the need to race shame based on my choice.
And then some.
It's the only explanation I find to selecting Bird as the GOAT, tbh.
And this is coming from a guy that ranks Bird above Magic in the all-time list, tbh.
Bird himself has said that MJ is the GOAT. C'mon son.
If you replace LeBron with Jordan on 2007 Cavs, 2011 Heat, 2014 Heat, 2015 Cavs, 2016 Cavs and 2017 Cavs you take the chip 2011 and get blown out in the other five.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)