yep. If Jordan had played the bulk of his career during prime healthy Magic/Bird/I Thomas days he would be just another guy
Way overboard but I don't think he would have had the same championship success, no.
To me he isn't the far away best ever like some say but he could certainly be the best ever. I find getting to that level of specific ranking rather pointless as there are so many facets to the players themselves and their situations.
That's always been my argument. You list the top 10 players of all time, and Jordan is the only who was in his prime during the '90s. Magic and Larry were on their way out and the likes of Shaq, Duncan, and Kobe (if you wanted to include them) were too young.
I suppose you could bring Hakeem into the discussion, but he never actually faced Jordan in a playoff game...ever.
I mean how many titles would Larry Bird have won if there was no Magic to play against? Or how many titles would Wilt have won if Russell played in a different era?
So I think there's really a good argument to be made about Jordan being overrated. He's still a top 10 player and potentially the greatest ever, but if he played 10 years earlier or 10 years later, I'm not sure he'd stand out in people's minds as much as he does now.
I have no idea what you're talking about. Jordan competed directly with Barkely, Ewing, Dumars, Thomas, Rice and Drexler, most of them in their prime. I'm not saying he had an equal in that list but come on. Those guys are all HoFers and most first-ballot.
Jordan was just better than them. He willed his teams to win through sickness and injury sometimes with little to no help.
The man took 2 years off and then came back to lead his team to the best single season record in NBA history and a title.
Overrated is never a word that should be used to describe Michael Jordan as a player. Ever.
You have no idea what he's talking about? I think he pretty clearly said it:
The only top 10 player who didn't face other top 10 players in his prime.
Yep.
That's pretty much it.
None of those players you mentioned are really elite, elite players. If Barkley was truly a transcendent player, he would've made it to the Finals more than once.
And that's the problem. Bird has to contend with Magic's Lakers and vice versa. Both were perennial contenders. Who was a perennial contender in Jordan's era?
No one. The closest thing we get is the Utah Jazz, who managed to string together two Finals appearance in a row.
Again, my point isn't that Jordan isn't the greatest player ever. I said in my last post that he quite possibly could be. I simply think he's overrated when people say that his status as the all time great player is unquestioned.
If he had played 10 years earlier or later, it's quite possible he'd have won far fewer titles and would've been viewed as simply a top 10 player and not the unquestioned greatest player of all time.