Would you agree that Michael Jordan was very overrated?

Question

To me jordan was not the best to play or the best winner. Bill Russell won 11 titles in 13 seasons. Magic Johnson made it to 9 nba finals and won 5 against teams that was dominant for 5-6 years and stood together such as detroit pistons, philadelphia 76ers, and boston celtics. The only team that probably had a chance to beat jordan bulls was the phoenix suns of 1993 and the jazz of 1998.

Answer 1

"Less competition"? Most teams in the 60's during Russell's time has multiple HoF's in their roster. You call the diluted 90's teams that the Bulls faced as TOUGH competition? Whats more during Russell's time, those 70-82 games they played in a season are divided into 8-9 teams, which means Wilt and Russ have the misfortune of facing each other 10-12 times a season; when theyre not facing each other, theyre fending off other HoF centers like Jerry Lucas, Nate Thurmond, Walt Bellamy, Willis Reed, Zelmo Beatty . . . the list goes on. They cant slack off against the competition.

"Faster teams today"? Stronger i could understand with the advent of modern training and nutrition but faster? Seriously? The fast break in recent times is all but dead. If it wasnt for the Suns, coaches wouldve probably forgotten how effective it is. In contrast most teams during Russell's time are using the fast break as their main offensive option.

Lets not harp too much on Jordan's "will to win". Remember, Russell's "will to win" carried his team to 11 championship rings on 12 Finals appearance in 13 years. Bill have an 11-0 record when it comes to do or die games. The guy has never lost a Game 7, with or without home court advantage.

Back in the '62 season, Russell took himself out for 4 games and the Celtics lost 4 straight games even with Red Auerbach, Cousy, Sharman, the Joneses, Ramsey and other HoF's.

Back in '69, Russell took himself out for 5 games because of an injury and the Celtics lost 5 straight even with HoF's Sam Jones, Havlicek, Satch Sanders, and Bailey Howell.

The instances that i mentioned are the two worst losing streaks of the Russell-era Celtics. The latter is the worst losing streak of the Celtics since Red Auerbach took over the helm.

When Russell retired after the '69 season, the Celtics went down from 48 wins to 34 even with HoF's such as Havlicek, Sanders and Howell. A huge 14 game drop (when Jordan "retired" in '94 the Bulls went "down" from 57 wins to 55. A pitiful 2 game drop.). And the modest 48 wins that the Celtics garnered during the '69 season is the lowest number of wins that the Celts have during the Russell -era and occured only because Russell spent a lot of time in the injured list and/or recovering.

Lets not even start making "What if" scenarios saying that Jordan could also win 8 straight games if he hadnt retired for 2 years because Russell wouldve won 13 rings in 13 years in more credible "what if" scenarios.

Back in '58, the reigning MVP, Russell injured his ankle in the Finals series, and the rest of the Celtics, Red Auerbach, Cousy, Sharman, the Joneses, Ramsey etc. could not contain HoF's Bob Petit, Cliff Hagan, Ed Macauley and the rest of the Hawks from winning the championship.

Back in '67, Russell and the Celtics lost Wilt and the 76ers in the eastern Conference Finals because Russell is still a rookie player coach. If Red Auerbach was coaching the celtics back then and Russell could concentrate on his duties as a center, they wouldve beaten that ballyhooed 76ers team. In 12 games during the 66-67 regular season, they beat Philly 7 times. At any rate, the Celtics beat the same 76ers team in the playoffs the year before and after (with Russell leading the Celtics with a come from behind playoff victory after being down 3-1).

Unlike Jordan's UNC, or Kareem' UCLA, or Wilt's KU or Magic's Michigan, or Bird's Indiana, Russell came from an unknown school, the University of san Francisco, with an insignificant basketball program. The USF team that Russell played with was described as a "playground pick-up team" since USF could not scout nationally or compete with other NCAA schools with its limited athletic budget for talent, the school was forced to play local boys only. 12 of USF's 15 players were from the Bay Area and only one was out of state. USF is so insignificant that Russell and his college teammates dont even have a gymnasium to practice. Despite of this handicap, Russ carried his unknown school to a 55 game winning streak, often playing on the road (USF' homecourt, iirc was Kezar or the Cow Palace which is are publicly owned by the city), and back to back NCAA championships and he won that last championship in style, going undefeated even with the "Russell rules", newly instituted NCAA rules that were designed to limit his effectiveness, in place and without the help of KC Jones, his future Celtic teammate, who was ineligible to play.

The point im making here is that YES Russell was a perfect fit for the Celtics, with its plethora of Hall of Fame shooters and defenders complementing his rebounding and defense but at the same time Russell succeed, and DOMINATE in less than ideal basketball situations. This is what true greatness is all about. Ask MJ how many NCAA championships he has won without his upperclassman James Worthy.

Lets not forget that stats tell an incomplete picture of the player's contributiuon. They only measure the quantity NOT THE QUALITY of the player actions. Also, conventional stats fail to acknowledge valuable team contributions like help defense, picks etc. And besides, Russell's less than stellar scoring output is due to the fact that Red Auerbach put him in a defensive and rebounding role on the team. In college, Russ averaged somewhere around 20 pts. and 20rebs. As a Celtic, Russ averaged only THIRTEEN field goal attempts as the team 3rd scoring option.

Lets not forget that the reason why a player would pile up stats is to WIN and Russ did a lot of winning(11 for 13, hey thats one hell of a stat!).

Still, Russ have some pretty good stats. 2nd in average mins played, 2nd in # of MVP's tied with Jordan), 2nd in career total and avg. rebs (but #1 in playoff avg.) Too bad blocks werent counted (im saying it now, if blocks were counted, Wilt wouldve been number one NOT Russell. If its a stat, expect wilt Chamberlain to own that stat).


Going back to the question, YES, Jordan was over hyped by the media which lead a lot of people to OVERRRATE his greatness. He is GREAT yes but he's not the greatest.

Bill Russell: 5 MVP's, 11 rings
Kareem: 6MVP's, 6 rings
Jordan: 5MVP's, 6 rings

I usually put Russ and Kareem over Jordan (especially if we count their college careers) but i could accept Jordan snagging 2nd place in lieau of Jabbar in certain circumstances but MJ beating a guy who won 5MVP's and 11 rings in 13 (more like 12.5) playing years, NOT A CHANCE.

Answer 2

What kind of program are you watching? You must've lived under a rock for the past 20 years! Michael Jordan has been relevant since he came into the league in 1984 and even though he has since retired, he remains an ambassador of the league and is the one you look to and think of when it comes to excellence and going above and beyond to make it happen!

Bill Russell won 11 rings in 13 seasons. So what? It means one of two things: A. He was in the right place at the right time or B. He made that team as a one-man show in a league back then when all you had was one superstar and 11 scrubs! Now, things have changed and so have the times. You need at least two superstars to carry the load for your team!

Magic won five rings, but Jordan won six! Jordan can score at will from anywhere, but Magic needs help with a clear-out to get there. What made Jordan greater than Johnson was his indomitable will to succeed and follow through. When the chips were down, he simply refused to back down and take "no" for an answer!

The Suns (in '93) and the Jazz (in '98) both had chances, but they blew them! Come on, do you really think you can beat Michael Jordan in the playoffs? I don't think so!

Answer 3

Michael Jordan is and always will be the best player the game has ever had! There's never been a player that could be compared to MJ due to the fact that Jordan kept getting better and better and never gave up. For Jordan being the championship game and winning the titles it doesn't matter who was playing the Bulls they would have won because Jordan strived to be the best and even though he had too play tough teams such as the Bad Boys in Detroit he never gave up and eventually won those championships and for the teams Jordan was playing it wasn't because they were horrible teams in the finals it's because Jordan wanted it more and he dominated.

Answer 4

1. You could also make the argument that Jordan was so superior to the other players of his time that he made them look inferior. How about Karl Malone? Second leader all-time scorer in the NBA, played along a top 50 of all time point guard in Stockton, yet he wasn't able to beat Jordan. How about Barkley? Robinson? Ewing? Were those guys just cheese, or were Jordan and the Bulls so superior that they transcended them all? And "people just let him score because he had no second option to pass off to in that decade." makes zero sense. If Jordan had no second option, defenses would smother him and take away his shot. You don't "let people score". You let them shoot, maybe, if you see they're taking a shot they probably won't make. You don't let them score if you can help it. 2) Jordan had a better supporting cast the Magic, with Kareem and Worthy? Better then Bird, with Parish and McHale? I'll grant you he had a good team around him. To say his supporting cast was better than anybody else is wrong. And if the team around him was better, shouldn't Jordan get credit for making them better players? 3) Yes, the media makes him a hero. Jordan is a narcissistic, selfish ******. Most fans watch his commercials, see him in "Space Jam", and think he's a really cool guy He's not. However, what he's like off the court doesn't affect what he's done on the court. On the court, Jordan was the best of all time. I can admire MJ the player while still disliking MJ the man.

Answer 5

I have one question for all of yall and its the best answer....Who is the most talked about NBA Player of all-time, Michael Jordan...thank you....he's not overrated. He might have 6 rings to Russell's 11 rings but his Era was the best and most competetive Era in NBA History. No one remembers when Bill Russell was playing, people only can remember when Magic, Dr. J, and MJ til today's New Era played. Jordan mastered in everything: Defense, Offense, Rebounding. Jordan retired 2 twice while in his prime and he only played in 18 games during 85-86 and only played in 17 during the 94-95 season. I believe and yall know if Jordan played atleast 75-82 games in both of those seasons all of his career averages would be up: right now they are...

30.1pts, 6.2rebs, 5.3asts, 2.35stls, .80blks

If he had'nt retired they would be something like:

32.5pts, 7.1rebs, 6.3asts, 2.82stls, 1.37blks

I dont know how anyone could say Michael Jordan is overrated. He's said by most greats to be the G.O.A.T.

Answer 6

Okay first off Bill Russell won his titles in a league that had much less competition then when Jordan played. Second Magic and his Lakers basically did what Jordan's Bull's did, they made it to more titles but won fewer. And so what about who had a chance of beating the Bulls. Do you honestly think that any of the teams against Bill Russell's Celtics had a chance to beat his team. So no I don't think the Bulls or Jordan were overrated. I believe the term you are looking for is dominant.

Answer 7

Derek, I agree with you to a point. I do think Micheal is somewhat overrated. To me Micheal was really no better than Bird or Magic. To me the three of them are in a class of there own. I understand what your opinion is about Russell is too however Wilt was even better than Russell -Wilt just didnt get the opportunity to play on as good of teams as Russell did. And Im not knocking Russell at all. Ithink Russell and Wilt had a great rivalry but really Wilt was better-Russell was a better defender and was surrounded by better scorers so he won 11 chanpionships.

Back to Jordan. He never had a Rival-Like Bird-Magic or Russell-Chamberlain. It should have been Lynn bias but he overdosed in 86' and the rivalry died. As for the comparison, Bird and Magic both won championships in their rookie seasons where Micheal had to develop his team ,game and leadership for 7 years. Also Bird and Magic's notorious careers were winding down as his was just heating up. Where Bird and Magic had to play against each other, Micheal never had an equal. Furtermore, when Micheal started taking over, the league brought in 8 more expansion teams where each team had to give up talent on their team and donate it to the expansion teams. This weakened the league throughout the 90's-no matter how much Bulls fans dont want to admit it. THE UNBELIEVEABULLS and the bulls incredible run through the 90s were more caused by the influx of expansion teams than anything else.

Taking all that though, I dont argue that Micheal is the greatest player that has ever played the game. Numbers dont lie.
*******FG FT RBG APG SPG BLK/G PTS/G

Bird 49.6 88 10 6.3 1.73 .84 24.3
Magic 52 84 7.2 11.2 1.90 .41 19.5
MJ 49.7 83 6.2 5.3 2.34 .83 30.1

Now obviously Micheal was the better scorer but he had areas where Magic and Bird were better-Rebounding and passing being two big ones. Its hard for me to say any of them is really a better clutch player than either of the other guys so they are all pretty equal when it comes to that.

Larry and Magic created Showtime back in 80s and before they hit the scene basketball was dead for about 10 years. They brought it back to life with their excitement. They made the league better and everyone around them became better. Dont get me wrong Micheal eventually made it to that level to but he never had that rival to make him better. Micheal may have heightened it a little but he gets to much credit and is looked at as too good of a player apart from everyone else

In the end I feel like Larry,Magic, and Micheal are in a class of their own and their might be a few guys from the 60s like Wilt and Russell that belong as well.

Answer 8

no1 can really say who the best player ever was. however i do say that michael is better than magic. remember michael's team did beat magic and his team in the finals. bill russell was deffinately good too but i still say mike is better. russell was on the celtics after all who were at the time an incredibly good team. plus there wasnt much competition besides philly. anyway the game has changed over the years as well. rules r different and evrything. wat bout pistol pete? he shot from 3 point range wen there wrnt such thing as 3 pointers and he would still score a lota points. the game changes and evrythin so u cant really say whos the best...in my opinion athletes r only gona get better in the future. we got ppl now like lebron whos so young and has many years to develop yet hes alredy this good. u got wade who jus keeps gettin better and better evry year and he got his ring in only 3 years i believe. and u also got ppl like carmello. ppl r only gona get better and better

Answer 9

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Answer 10

dude just look at the stats and the 6 rings he has and that he retired for 2 years in his prime to play baseball he could easily have 8 rings. yeah he isnt the biggest winner but he still won a lot and he changed the game.

Answer 11

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