The media have dubbed him Air Jordan or His Airness, close friends know him as Michael Jordan, but everyone knows him as the greatest basketball player in the history of the game.
Michael Jordan: The Greatest Basketball Player of all Time
Michael Jordan, a 14-time All-Star, six-time MVP and the man who single-handedly won Chicago six NBA titles and boosted the sport’s status worldwide, was a basketball legend who became a cultural icon. “God described as Michael Jordan” was how another great, Boston’s Larry Bird, once described him after a 63-point masterclass against the Celtics back in ’86. Amen to that!
Michael Jordan: The GOAT
Each and every generation produces its world-class, box-office sports stars and arguments abound over who is the best. There was no debate in hockey when Wayne Gretzky hung up his skates. Some people just defy comparisons and he was one. And the same is true in basketball where in a sport literally full of giants there is one man who stands above them all.
A third overall pick in the 1984 draft – (another legend, Hakeem ‘The Dream’ Olajuwon was first out that year, since you ask) – after a superb college career, Michael Jordan was a big ticket item even before he suited up at the Chicago Stadium for the first time. The Bulls had made one play-off campaign in seven seasons going into the 1984/85 season and they needed someone who was going to put them on the map; they needed a new hero. Safe to say they found one.
Michael Jordan: Decade of Domination
With Jordan in a young team soon to be bolstered first by the arrival of Charles Oakley, then Scottie Pippen, the Bulls quickly started making progress. Play-off absenteeism was replaced by a perennial postseason slot, though they did not reach the final for the first time until 1991 when they beat the LA Lakers, Jordan winning the Finals MVP accolade. Twelve months later they did it again. Twelve months after that, they pulled off the three-peat.
Jordan retired after the third of those and went to try his hand at minor league baseball amongst other things. He returned to the NBA in 1995 and wouldn’t you just know it, Chicago won the title again in his first season back. Twelve months later they did it again. Twelve months after that (does this sound familiar?) they did it again. Not one title, but six. Not one three-peat, but two. This truly was the stuff of legends and Jordan was just that – a legend.
Michael Jordan: Record-Breaker
US sport is all about the numbers, all about the stats. Consider Jordan’s and they are out of the park. When he did finally retire, for a third time, in 2003, he did so with records and accolades that defy belief. A 6-time NBA champion and the MVP in all six, a 14-time All-Star, a 10-time NBA scoring champion and a two-time Olympic champion.
He had scored over 32,000 points and in the 1987-88 season managed a remarkable double by winning the scoring title and the Defensive Player of the Year prize. He always lamented that his defensive skills never quite got the recognition they deserved, upstaged as they were by those flying feats of scoring which earned him the Air Jordan nickname. Anyone lucky enough to see Michael Jordan play witnessed a sporting genius at work. The greatest of all time? Does the question even need asking?
By Adrian Mills
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