Is Michael Jordan the NBA's Greatest Player of All Time?

Question

It seems that the majority of people on here THINK that he is. I'd like to see some VALID REASONS why YOU think he is or isn't the greatest player of all time.

Mr Basketnuts, I didn't want his bio, just whether ":YOU" think he's the greatest of all time and WHY! I'm sure you have an opinion.

Basketballchick.....WHY?????

Answer 1

Don't feel bad, BigBoi101...

NO ONE has any facts to back up the claim that Jordan is the greatest player ever.... other than the fact that some guys at ESPN said so.

Several weeks ago, I posed this very question here at Yahoo Answers...(it's the only question I've ever asked)... no one came up with a legitimate argument as to why Michael was the best player ever...heck, the first answer I got was 'because he scored a lot of points'...

Jordan is the most hyped and the most heavily marketed player ever, but that was just what it was, hype and marketing. He was the best player in the league during the decade of the 1990s, and ESPNs dominance of sports coverage helped his 'case' a lot.

Jordan is one of about eight players who have some argument to be called the best player ever... the group is :

1) Wilt Chamberlain
2) Bill Russell
3) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
4) Shaquille O'Neal
5) Larry Bird
6) Magic Johnson
7) Oscar Robertson
8) Michael Jordan

Wilt owns the record books... scoring is supposed to be Jordan's strong point, and MJ does have the highest scoring average per game in NBA history (30.11 ppg, Wilt is second with 30.06 ppg). However, Jordan's scoring average was higher because he took a lot more shots... I've pointed out in other answers that Jordan, incredibly, took 1,040 more shots than Chamberlain, even though Jordan played almost 7,000 FEWER minutes that Wilt during their careers...

Wilt was also the greatest rebounder in history, with Russell being #2. WIlt and Russell are the only players to ever pull down more than 50 rebounds in a game...Wilt holds the record with 55 (in a game against Russell), while Russell's career high was 51.

There have been twenty four 40+ rebounding games in NBA history, Wilt and Russell combined for 22 of the 24 - Wilt had 14, Russell had 8. Nate Thurmond and Jerry Lucas each had one.

Wilt has been retired for 33 years, and he still has more 60 point games than everyone else in the history of the NBA combined. There have been about 57 or 58 sixty-point games, Wilt had 32 of them...Jordan had only 4.... Wilt also did this 27 of the first 32 times it was done.

btw, Wilt was Rookie of the Year AND MVP...IN THE SAME SEASON.

Wilt also had six 70 point games, including his 100 point game... Jordan's career high was 69, his career high in a non-overtime game was 64.

Wilt had 122 fifty point games....Jordan is second on the list with 37. Wilt had 45 fifty point games in one season (1962), more than anyone else has ever had in a career. Even though Wilt retired in 1973, it wasn't until almost TWENTY years after that time that the 'rest of the players in NBA history' had combined for as many 50 point games as Wilt had by himself...

So as a scorer, Jordan's accomplishments pale in comparison with Wilt's... Jordan retired just before his scoring average dipped below Wilt's (Jordan had the advantage of knowing when to retire so as to remain in the number one spot...but the fact is that Jordan's last couple of years were a joke... Wilt retired while he was still a star, having led the league in rebouding during his final season (18.6 per game) and making NBA first team all defense at the age of 36)...

Wilt also has the four highest single season scoring averages in history... 50.4 and 44.8 were his two highs....the only 40 ppg seaons in history.

Wilt is also the only non-guard to ever lead the league in assists. And he would be the all time leader in blocked shots as well, but blocks were not an official NBA stat until 1974, the year after he retired.

Some Jordan fans claim that Wilt was only good because he was a 'foot taller than everyone' which is, of course, a joke... there were no players under 6 ft tall during Wilt's career, whereas there have been quite a few of them in Jordan's time... heck, during Jordan's career, even Michael Adams, at 5'10", made the all-star team! You had Spud Webb at 5'7 and Mugsy Bogues at 5'3, all three of whom played the same position as Jordan. In addition, Jordan got to compete against players who came right out of high school... Wilt never had that luxury.

The majority of centers that Wilt played against are actually in the Hall of Fame now... there were only EIGHT teams in the NBA when he came up, and the majority of them had Hall of Fame centers at one time or another...

Some people 'argue' that Jordan is the best because he won six rings... (at least two other answers here have stated '6 rings' as their reason for MJ being the greatest) but anyone who knows anything about NBA history knows that this is not an earth-shattering acheivement.... Bill Russell won 11 championships during his 13 year career to become the winningest player in the history of any sport. When Russell retired, the Celtics fell apart...

Finally, the NBA kept changing its rules in order to try to hinder
Chamberlain's dominance (e.g. widening the lane, revising goaltending rules, etc)... whereas the NBA kept changing rules (and enforcement of rules) in order to help Jordan get "better"... (e.g. they moved the three point line in after Jordan was an under-20-per-cent three point shooter for his first several years... and everyone knows that traveling and palming suddenly became legal whenever Jordan had the ball).

Russell was also 10-0 in game sevens... I won't post his game by game 7 stats, but he was ridiculously dominant in those games...I've posted his numbers in other answers of this question.

EDIT: Yeah, I'll go ahead and post Russell's game 7 numbers anyway...

57 NBA Finals - 19 pts 32 rebounds
59 East Finals - 18 pts 32 rebounds
60 NBA Finals - 22 pts 35 rebounds
62 East finals - 19 pts, don't have rebound number (this was against Wilt..he also held Wilt to 22 pts, after Wilt averaged 50 ppg during the regular season)

62 NBA finals - 30 pts 40 rebounds (some sources list 44 rebounds, but I think most sources list 40.)
63 East finals - 20 pts, don't have rebound number
65 East finals - 15 pts 29 rebounds 9 assists (against Wilt)
66 NBA finals - 25 pts 32 rebounds
68 East finals - 12 pts, held Wilt to 14. Also had 26 rebounds
69 NBA finals - 21 rebounds vs. Wilt...won his 11th title in a 13 year NBA career... that was his final game

Kareem Abdul Jabbar also won 6 rings, in addition to being the NBAs all time leading scorer... he also held most playoff records, until the # of rounds was expanded...when Jabbar started his career, only 8 teams made the playoffs.

Jabbar also won six MVPs, the most in history... Jordan and Bill Russell each won five, with Russell competing directly with Wilt, who won four. (Jabbar also won Rookie of the Year).

Magic and Bird dominated the 80s, with Magic winning five rings and Bird three... they both would have won more, but they developed a habit of running into each other.. Any player who played during that time will tell you that they'd rather have Magic or Bird as a teammate than Jordan, any day of the week...

Oscar Robertson was perhaps the finest all around player ever to play the game... his mistake was, that he didn't play during the ESPN days... over his first five years in the NBA, Oscar averaged over 30 ppg, along with 11 assists, and over 10 rebounds... he avearaged a triple double for a five year period... he ended his career as the number two scorer in NBA history behind Wilt... Jordan scored more points than Oscar, but MJ also took five thousand more shots...24,000 to 19,000... Oscar averaged about 26 ppg over his career.

Shaq's argument is that, in the history of the NBA, there has never been a time during which the best (and most dominant) player was THAT much better than the second best player (Tim Duncan)... Even now, Shaq is getting old, and he's only 30% of what he used to be, but that 30% is better than 100% of Ben Wallace, Yao Ming, or any other center in the NBA today...

It is a fact that the quality of centers in the NBA is at an all time low, but we certainly can't blame Shaq for the fact that there aren't any other centers in the league who know how to play basketball.

Bottom line is, there are really no valid reasons to rank Jordan as the absolute best player who ever played the game... most fans, particularly younger fans, when asked, who's the best basketball player ever, will answer "Jordan" without even thinking... and of course, the operative words are, 'without thinking'...

I've always said that anyone who thinks Jordan is the best player ever has obviously grown up watching too much ESPN sportscenter and not enough basketball. People who saw Wilt, Russell, Kareem, Magic, Bird and Oscar know that Jordan wasn't the best... of course, a lot of young people who answer 'Jordan' today, never even saw Michael play, really...

The argument that today's players are better than players 20 or 30 years ago is also probably not true... 30 years ago, a team had two guards, two forwards and a center... the job of the guards was the bring the ball up, be able to hit from outside, and play defense...today, you have point guards and shooting guards... point guards bring the ball up, but most of them can't shoot (Jason Kidd)... shooting guards set up to shot a jump shot, but they can't put the ball on the floor (Steve Kerr, I know he's retired, but he's a great example)...

Forwards used to have to shoot outside, rebound and play defense... now, small forwards shoot three pointers...and power forwards rebound. Power forwards, for the most part, can't shoot, and small forwards can't rebound...

Centers used to score in the paint, rebound, and play defense, shutting down the middle so that opponents don't spend the game shooting layup drills... today's centers are a joke... Shaq is old and out of shape, and he's dominating the league, still... Yes, Wilt did that when he was 36 as well, but Wilt was never out of shape... Wilt also averaged over 45 min/game over his entire career... one season, he averaged 48.5 minutes per game, because he only sat out 8 minutes during the entire season (result of being ejected) while playing many more minutes of overtime.

Bottom line - there is no valid reason to rate Jordan as the best player ever... but he was among the 8 best of all time... he has a lot less of an argument than several other players on this list.


EDIT (my responses to some other posts): as to Jordan being the all time leader in steals, that record is also dubious... steals were not an official stat until 1974...had they been tracked throughout the history of the league, Walt Frazier or Jerry West would have been the all time leaders.

redhotchilipeppers, Stackhouse was never that good to begin with. Just a lot of hype, but unlike Jordan, Stackhouse never delivered anything BUT talk. You think Stackhouse is the only player ever to trashtalk and have it backfire on him?

Somewhere in that copied and pasted article it mentions that Jordan made first team all defense nine times...however, the all defensive team only originated in 1969, so Wilt and Russell did not have the opportunites to be on that team as many times... had there been an all defensive team in the 60s, we all know Wilt and Russell would have broken all records in that department. Of course, Jordan has a built in advantage over centers, because only one center is selected, vs. two guards.

As for Jordan playing with the flu...please... Bill Russell played in championship games with an eye that was hemmoraging after being gouged, as well as playing on a broken ankle in 1958 (the only NBA final he lost in 12 trips)... I'm sure Jordan played some other games when he had the sniffles, and scored over 40!!!! Amazing!!!

Answer 2

Michael Jordan is easily the best NBA player of all-time. Ya know, Larry Bird, Wilt the Stilt, Malone etc. those guys were great too, don't get me wrong, but MJ is easily the best of them all, all-time. He has won 6 NBA Championships, 5 MVP awards, 5 or 6 scoring titles, ROY, 2-time slam dunk champion. Also, he leads all-time in steals. What more could you ask for?

Answer 3

The best basketball player does not always do the things that Michael did. Wilt Chamberlain did more to put basketball on the map than Michael did. Jordan owes his success to those like Wilt the Stilt

Answer 4

I think he is the most entertaining player of all times.
I also think he is the greatest but I dont have any facts to back that cos I'm not a big fan of Basket ball. Ask me about soccer (football) then I'm there!!

Answer 5

Yes, by far. If you don't want stats (I'm sure you know them) then check this out;


When Stackhouse was with the Sixers, he talked trash about Jordan. The next time they played against eachother, Jordan guarded Stackhouse.
Stackhouse scored 4 points, Jordan scored 36 points.

Jordan played with the flu against Utah in the finals. Jordan scored 38 points

George Karl, when he coached the Seattle Supersonics in the playoffs, said that, "Jordan just drives to the hoop, no jump shots." In the next game, Jordan scored 44 points - all jumpshots.

When the media asked Karl about Jordan, Karl said, "I have
nothing to say; I don't want to give him no more motivation".

Answer 6

I agree, but he has done so much with his team like get 6 rings with the Bulls I mean '6' and most teams haven't even gotten 1 in their whole franchise! and then you look at his amazing talents, He is one of the greatest players ever but I think that there were better players who were before him with even better accomplishments such as Bill Russel if you look back on him he was a great player on the court and off the court, but really when you look at it MJ is THE greatest player ever because look at all he has done I mean you can barely even mention a flaw in his career, except for he played with a freak, Dennis Rodman!

Answer 7

1

Answer 8

I don't like to use the phrase "of all time" because the future can not be predicted.

I beleive he is the greatest player "to-date"
His competetiveness and drive compelled him to do things that no one else had done. In doing so, he renewed public interest in the game and elevated its popularity WORLDWIDE to where it now is close to rivalling soccer(football) in popularity.

Answer 9

yes. great offensive player and great defensive player. 6 rings.

Answer 10

no, too indiviualistic...i hate how basketball rewards individualistic players,....like the guy above me says, ask me about football(aka soccer) and i will respond with more enthusiasm thaan foul-ridden, stat-obsessed basketball

Answer 11

no,Larry Bird,his inside outside skills and leadership make him the best,or at least my favorite.