Michael Jeffery Jordan. Michael Jordan. Air Jordan. MJ. People went even as far as calling him Black Jesus. The man was simply a unicorn in a basketball uniform and didn’t disappoint. Entered the league at the age of 21 in 1984 and dominated with the Chicago Bulls until 1998 at the age of 35, even though he left the sport for nearly two years. People have and will always try to compare players like LeBron James or Kareem Abdul Jabbar to him, deep down in their hearts knowing that the true goat is indeed, Jordan. Comparing him to players nowadays in a league that has gone soft, doesn’t allow any physicality and referees giving out technical fouls for breathing, is a disgrace to Jordan anyway. Looking at what Michael went through during his time with the bulls, the public should be surprised how the man produced the way he did.
In 1984 Jordan got drafted by the Chicago Bulls third overall behind Nigerian Centre Hakeem Olajuwan, who was the first overall pick for the Houston Rockets and Sam Bowie who went second by the Portland Trail Blazers. Pretty sure the Blazers regretted that. Obviously because they were one pick away from changing their entire franchises history and reputation. Well the Bulls did and decided to go for Jordan and didn’t look back once. The man came into the league and took it by storm. In his rookie season with the Bulls in 1984/85 Jordan averaged a stunning 28.2 points per game, at the same time he also registered 6.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 2.4 steals per game. The man did all of this in his rookie season and of course won rookie of the year. Let’s compare it to the other so called “goat” of the game. When James entered the league in 03/04, he averaged 20.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.6 steals per game. Interesting.
Now of course fans of the game would say, its their rookie season so its not fair to compare them during that time and would be irrelevant when making the GOAT case. That’s not a problem at all. In his first five seasons in the league, Jordan was named ROTY, won multiple scoring titles and won the NBAs Most Valuable Player trophy. Not bad for someone who also only played 18 games in his second year in the league, right? In his third year in the NBA the man that grew up in North Carolina averaged 37.1 points per game and became the second player to score 3,000 points in a single season. All of this Jordan did in a bad team. Lets not forget please when Jordan was drafted, players from the league didn’t believe he would be able dominate the league like he did, due to him being 6’6 although people truly believe he was rather 6’4. Knicks legend Walt Frazier said in 1984 before Jordan entered the league that Jordan couldn’t “carry a team” due to him not being seven feet tall. Well, he was definitely proven wrong. Time to put into perspective what Jordan did in his time in and for the NBA.
Due his spectacular style of play, his significant athleticism and clutch gene, the Chicago Bulls and especially the NBA gained a lot attention worldwide. Television ratings went through the roof and the NBA became a must watch league. Fans of the game don’t factor popularity and importance to the game when making the goat case. They should. Greatness is not only something what you do in your field, in this case on the court, but also what you can do around it. To this day, in the world of social media and television and all sort of things, the 1998 NBA finals between Jordans Bulls and the Utah Jazz still have the most views in NBA history. The series averaged 29.04 million viewers per game. Knowing that Jordan would most probably play his last game with the Bulls in the finals, Game 6 of the 1998 NBA finals is the most watched NBA game ever. With 35.9 million viewers. I mean we are talking about someone that brought attention from the whole world to an entire league. Journalists, media and even players that covered the league around that time, understand the league wouldn’t be where it is today if Jordan didn’t step foot in the NBA. His Robin Scottie Pippen who played 10 season with Jordann said: “ Michael took it to another level, He made it global. Without him, who knows how long that would’ve taken?”.
Sports analyst, Skip Bayless said: “ Without Jordan, the ‘90s Bulls dynasty never happens, and the NBA doesn’t explode worldwide the way it did.” Of course the 1992 Olympic games with the dream team also played a role in the NBA becoming a worldwide brand and gaining the worlds attention but who was also the vocal point of that team? Correct, Jordan.
Back to the Court, that’s what the people are interested in right. Now, take a look at what Michael Jordan achieved and accomplished whilst playing for the Bulls from 1984-98.
Michael Jordan is the only player in history to be voted All NBA Defence 1St team, MVP, All star, scoring champion, All NBA 1st team, NBA champion and Finals MVP all in one season and not only that he did a whooping four times ( 1991, 1992, 1996 and 1998). He has also won the MVP trophy five times, Won the NBA Championship six times and at the same time won finals MVP in each final appearance which no one has ever done. Michael Jordan was crowned scoring champions 10 times, he is the only player with Pippen to have three peated twice, Yes, he won the NBA championship three times in a row, twice in eight years. He also took a break for nearly two years, keep that in mind. Also he has the most PPG average in the history of the sport with 30.1. He is the only player to have ever averaged 41.0 PPG in a finals series and did that in 1993 against the suns and Charles Barkley. Jordan is also the only player in history to have won MVP, DPOY ( Defensive player of the year) and the scoring title in one season. Last but not least Michael Jordan has the most trophies in NBA history and crowns it of with winning every finals he has appeared in being 6-0, putting on display how much he wanted to win and at what cost. By the way LeBron has lost six NBA finals just to put it out there. And in writing all of this I didn’t even factor in the Jordan shoe.
So now, who is the GOAT?! By now you should know.