The case for Jordan as the NBA GOAT

Michael Jordan is a great professional basketball player. However, he is not the greatest player in the history of the National Basketball Association.

Everyone has an opinion. Everyone.

Some sports fans are also known to have poor memories. When I hear names talked about who are the greatest, it’s all subjective in terms of the position they played, the team they were on, or the championship they were associated with.

In the decades since the NBA was founded in 1946, many changes have occurred to help players and coaches succeed. Travel has gradually gotten better and teams used to fly commercial airlines and charter flights, providing all the luxuries players need to be as rested as possible in the next city.

Nutrition continues to have a huge impact on player performance. Everything from the meals, what was served, how and when it was served in the 1960s and 1970s to what is served by the personal chefs hired by teams today has a huge impact on the overall health of players. When it comes to health, advancements in medical care, and most importantly rehab programs that don’t require going under the knife after surgery or injury, have lengthened careers and made athletes stronger and faster than ever before.

The overall scoring and defensive abilities of players should improve with each generation, thanks in part to advances in technology. Introducing computers into the sport allows people to make good decisions faster and provides more data to achieve successful results.

To claim that one man is the best player to ever play in the NBA is to disrespect those who have laced up his shoes before him and those who have yet to join the greatest basketball league in the world.

So, having laid out the case for every generation in the NBA having a GOAT, let’s take a look at Jordan’s accomplishments and the superstars who regularly run around the courts in NBA cities outside of Chicago.

Michael Jeffrey Jordan established himself as the best player of his era. After 15 seasons in the NBA, Jordan collected six championship rings. Counting 10 scoring titles, boom, fans saw Jordan become the cultural icon he is today, and how could they imagine anyone else being as dominant as him?

Well, it’s the problem of poor memory again.

Also, keep in mind that when Jordan started his career, American cable TV was starting to take off. NBA fans no longer watch their home team’s games on local channels or wait until Sunday when TV networks air the week’s games. Before the house wiring explosion, the game’s greats didn’t regularly gain coast-to-coast notoriety.

Almost every day, when choosing your favorite sports social media account, some fans are asked to prove that their favorite player, LeBron James, is “better” than Jordan. While LeBron ranks first on the all-time scoring list, Jordan ranks fifth.

Jordan is not in the top 50 in terms of most games played in NBA history. Looking at the assists list, Jordan is not in the top 25.

If you judge “GOAT” status by winning championships, Jordan ranks second only to Hall of Famer and Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell. Russell led the Celtics to 11 NBA championships. However, the NBA game in the 1950s and 1960s was very different from the NBA in the 1980s and 1990s. That’s not to diminish Russell’s dominance. not at all. This is a different game than what Jordan was exposed to in 1984.

I also wonder what the criteria is when someone says “ever”. Just how far do they have to go to reach their all-time high?

Did fans in this camp look back at Rick Barry’s success before crowning Jordan the GOAT? Barry is a Hall of Famer and a scoring machine in two leagues – the NBA and the ABA (American Basketball Association). Have Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s statistics been thoroughly scrutinized? The Hall of Famer, who won championships with the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers, ranks second on the NBA’s scoring list.

In choosing Jordan as the “best of the best” the NBA has ever seen, I guess the excitement that Magic Johnson and Larry Bird created on the court can’t be overstated, right? Then, there’s Kobe Bryant. Would you tell Kobe Bryant during a pick-up game or the NBA Finals that he was not in Jordan’s league?

I have been a fan of the NBA since the New York Knicks won the championship in the 1969-1970 season, and it was an honor to watch so many All-Stars entertain the crowd. Each of them, including Oscar Robertson, John Havlicek, Allen Iverson, Julius Erving and Pete “Pistol” Maravich, has contributed to the advancement of the NBA. significant contribution. They dominate. They kept fans in their seats. They were “goats” before the word “goats” became popular.

No disrespect to Jordan. He had a great time before and after he hung up his sneakers, but so did many others.

Don Laible is a freelance sportswriter from the Mohawk Valley who now lives in Florida. He has covered professional baseball and hockey in print, broadcast and online since the 1980s. His column appears weekly on WIBX950.com. Don can be contacted via email at don@icechipsdiamonddust.com.