Why Michael Jordan Is Not the Best Basketball Player Ever
Michael Jordan got himself elected into the basketball Hall of Fame. Imagine that.
It rekindles a debate over whether MJ is the best player who ever laced up a sneaker.
Iโll give Jordan this: heโs the best player I ever sawโwho stuck his tongue out while he played.
Beyond that, Iโm not so sure.
Iโm older than most of the Internet squonks who chatter on the Web about sports. I am, at age 45, on the cusp of being outside the main demographic of Internet usersโthat coveted 18-to-45-year-old person.
So, itโs natural that whenever one of the younger squonks touts Jordan as the best ever, they donโt have much of a response when I ask them if theyโve heard of Oscar Robertson. Or Elgin Baylor. Or heck, George Mikan.
But they do recall Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. And Wilt Chamberlain. Not all that well or with all that much respect, but theyโve heard of those guys, at least.
Iโll bottom line you here: if given a blank roster with 12 slots to fill, which player, throughout history, would you select as your No. 1 draft choice?
Youโd be a fool to start such a team with Jordan.
Stick Abdul-Jabbar in the middle, and NOW youโre talking.
Nobody scored more points in NBA history than Kareem, though Iโm not foolish enough to say thatโs reason enough to pick him as the greatest player ever.
After all, Jordan retired a few times and thus may have made up most, if not all, of the 6,000+ points deficit he has with Jabbar. But Kareem scored his 38,387 points without the benefit of three-pointers.
So it is fact: Kareem is the highest-scoring player in league history. And it sorta has to do with the fact that once he got the ball, you really couldnโt stop him.
Remember the sky hook?
Alcindor/Kareem, about to school Wilt
Kareem entered the league in 1969, a 7'2" beanpole from the streets of New York who went across the country to play for John Wooden at UCLA.
Finally, someone in the league that even the seven-footer Chamberlain had to look up to.
The Milwaukee Bucks were a typical NBA expansion team in 1968-69; read: awful. They won 27 games, lost 55.
Then they drafted Kareem No. 1 in โ69.
The Bucks won 56 games with the rookie Jabbar, then known as Lew Alcindor, playing center for them and confounding opponents who had no real clue how to defend him. Chamberlain was pretty unstoppable, too. Wilt averaged 50 points per game one season, scoring an even 100 in one contest alone.
But Wilt wasnโt very mobile, nor did he have the moves Alcindor possessed. One of Wiltโs former coaches, Butch van Breda Kolff, said that if the basketball court was made of grass, Wilt would have worn out a one square foot patch.
Kareem had the sky hook, about as unstoppable of a shot as youโll ever see. He could rebound and pass. It was essential, playing for Wooden, that big men be able to pass. Bill Walton, following Kareem at UCLA, was another great passing center.
This might be an apples and oranges thing, thoughโcomparing the guard Jordan to the center Jabbar. But itโs always apples and oranges when youโre going in search of the best player ever in any sport.
Jordan was fantastic. No question. Just because a player isnโt No. 1 overall in history, doesnโt mean he canโt play.
I just donโt think that Jordan, at 6'6", could have led the โ69 Bucks to a 30-win improvement, as the 7'2" Jabbar did.
The NBA is a tall manโs game, just like it's always been. Size and talent in the middle has been essential, for the most part, for every championship team thatโs ever played.
I could spend some time arguing that The Big O, Robertson, was as good or better than Jordan, in Oscarโs prime. In 1961-62, Robertson averaged 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds, and 11.4 assists. A triple doubleโaverage. And in two other seasons, Robertson came decimal points away from doing it again.
Oh, and he shot 48.5 percentย for his career and about 84 percentย from the free throw line.
But Iโll stick with Kareem if Iโm starting a team from scratch. The Big O and MJ have to have someone to pass to, after all. May as well be the best player whoโs ever graced an NBA hardwood.
