I'd hate to take the high road on basically every single poster in this topic who doesn't think MJ is in the top 3, but I question if people really think MJ isn't top 3 material as opposed to just wanting to slam ESPN. As in, ESPN said MJ's top 3, so you wanna argue he isn't in order to prove ESPN overhypes him because some of you clearly don't like ESPN.
And seriously? Enough about the refs. That's just a slippery and slipperier slope; all the great players in the league have gotten their fair share of calls that they shouldn't have. I don't care if you don't think MJ is even top 10 all-time, but if you involve the refs in your argument, you need to disqualify everyone else in the
exact same fashion. Chakfu, I
am at least talking to you. Besides, if you didn't specify you were talking about MJ in your first post concerning the refs, I would've thought you were talking about Lebron. SCBirdman, same thing as far as "hanging your tongue out, spreading your legs and dunking.".
And eja, SABONIS? I understand the other players to an extent, but Sabonis? You're insulting more players than simply MJ by putting Sabonis at MJ's level. Come on....
Also, what is all of this about MJ not being able to score in different eras or what not? Wasn't he averaging 20 points with the Wizards at ages 38-39, after being away from the game for
four years?! Oh, oh, the Wizards aren't a contending team, that doesn't count, huh?
Anyways, why have we forgotten to talk about defense on a Celtics board when discussing MJ? As good as he was offensively, he was also a great defender. He was on the 1st all-defense team 9 times and even won a DPOY award.
Magic, Bird? Sure, they averaged more assists and rebounds than MJ, but they didn't come close to averaging MJ's scoring. On the defensive end, I just said MJ was on the 1st all-defense team 9 times, while Bird was only on the 2nd all-defense team 3 times, and Magic Johnson never even made a defensive team! Sorry, Jordan over both of them.
Kareem? Sure, He made the 1st defensive team 5 times and the 2nd defensive team 6 times, but MJ still made that 1st defensive team 4 times more than Kareem. Additionally, MJ averaged more points and assists. Also, even though both 6 titles, Kareem was only Finals MVP for two of them, while MJ was the Finals MVP for all of his. Sorry, I'll have to go with MJ here, too.
Shaq? Shaq's my boy, there's no doubt about that. Thing is, MJ averaged around 6 more points than Shaq, and MJ's averaged nearly twice the assists that Shaq has. On the defensive end, Shaq has never made a 1st all-defense team, only the 2nd all-defense team trice (no typo). MJ's made the 1st all-defense team nine times. Also, MJ has 6 Finals MVPs in 6 titles to Shaq's 3 Finals MVPS in 4 titles. Shaq's still my boy, but I have to take MJ here.
Bill? Well, [dang], I can't use defensive accolades to counter what Bill's done on the defensive end. : ) No doubt Bill Russell's on the of the best defensive players in NBA history. But, as far has offense? First of all, MJ's offensive stats simply destroy Bill's in points and assists. While Bill wasn't ever really the vocal point of the Celtics' offense, MJ was always the #1 offensive option for the Bulls. I take MJ over Bill on this.
So, this leaves Wilt and Oscar Robertson that could arguably be better than MJ. The other players that were mentioned above aren't that worse off than MJ by any means, but I will take MJ over them and I do think MJ is definite top 3 material.
Again, I do feel like most of the people who've argued that MJ isn't top 3 just wants to do that to they can say ESPN overhyped him.
Topic: Ever notice how ESPN is just absurd sometimes? (Read 9925 times)