Michael Jordan

It's kind of funny how the conventional wisdom about Jordan has never really been spot on, IMO. He was clearly the best player in basketball for several years before it became a consensus opinion. It was the same crap that you hear now -- good in the regular season, but can't get it done in the playoffs. He was considered a sideshow highlight-film dunker rather than a legitimately Great Basketball Player. It took a long time for people to starting thinking of him as being in a higher category than Dominique Wilkens. By the time the Sportscenter crowd started grudgingly accepting that yes, he was clearly the best player in the world, you could already make a good argument that he might be the greatest player EVER. And it took several more years before people were willing to consider it. I remember watching an ESPN talking-head debate about "Is Jordan the GOAT?" that was pretty clearly two titles too late. Yet a couple of the TV guys seemed surprised to find themselves considering it.

But once everybody went in, they went ALL in. Now he's retroactively considered to be Superman, first by a long shot, how could you ever even think about anybody else. People describe him as having almost mystical powers; they talking about him winning titles with sheer willpower like Verne used to talk about Tim Tebow. Jordan was great; he was obviously the greatest player I've ever seen. But he wasn't a whole order of magnitude better than lesser mortals like Bird and Magic and other great players like people now believe he was.
 
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Vercingetorix said:
It's kind of funny how the conventional wisdom about Jordan has never really been spot on, IMO. He was clearly the best player in basketball for several years before it became a consensus opinion. It was the same crap that you hear now -- good in the regular season, but can't get it done in the playoffs. He was considered a sideshow highlight-film dunker rather than a legitimately Great Basketball Player. It took a long time for people to starting thinking of him as being in a higher category than Dominique Wilkens. By the time the Sportscenter crowd started grudgingly accepting that yes, he was clearly the best player in the world, you could already make a good argument that he might be the greatest player EVER. And it took several more years before people were willing to consider it. I remember watching an ESPN talking-head debate about "Is Jordan the GOAT?" that was pretty clearly two titles too late. Yet a couple of the TV guys seemed surprised to find themselves considering it.

But once everybody went in, they went ALL in. Now he's retroactively considered to be Superman, first by a long shot, how could you ever even think about anybody else. People describe him as having almost mystical powers; they say he won titles with sheer will like Verne used to talk about Tim Tebow. Jordan was great; he was obviously the greatest player I've ever seen. But he wasn't a whole order of magnitude better than lesser mortals like Bird and Magic and other great players like people now believe he was.
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I am in deep lament of this bygone era.
 
Scotty's Flat Top said:
Huh? The officiating alone swings the pendulum to the 80's and 90's. Not to mention the era of superstars sucking each other off and joining forces.
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Some things suck but the basketball today is pretty dang good.

Also only like three built super teams have actually won a title in the last ten years.
 
ScHoolboy Z said:
Some things suck but the basketball today is pretty dang good.

Also only like three built super teams have actually won a title in the last ten years.
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If you were a true Piston fan, you'd be with me. I remember the Bad Boys. I was shooting in the gym with them. They wouldn't last 3 quarters in today's world.

NBA is very healthy right now, I just prefer the old version.
 
Scotty's Flat Top said:
Huh? The officiating alone swings the pendulum to the 80's and 90's. Not to mention the era of superstars sucking each other off and joining forces.
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The quality of play is much higher than it's ever been before. There are far more good players and way, way more good teams. The Western Conference playoffs provide more drama every year now than the whole NBA used to in three or four seasons.

If you grew up thinking that watching Bill Laimbeer clothesline guys was great basketball, then I can see how you'd disagree.
 
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