Nobody made anybody. The best a superstar can do is create an open look for a teammate and after that, it's up to the other player to make the best from it. Without Scottie Pippen controlling the offense, chipping in 22 points a game and defending the best perimeter player, Jordan wouldn't be free to shoot and shoot and shoot. You do realise that at one point that Jordan had the best perimeter defender in the league, the best rebounder (and best defensive PF in the league) AND the Sixth Man of the year, not to mention an all time Great Coach on his team? Yep, MJ carried them all the way. The Second Bulls team was an exceptionally well built team, How Pippen managed to carry a team that didn't feature Rodman or Jordan to 55 wins and the ECF's is a topic that does not receive enough attention due to the media's fascination with canonizing Jordan as a one man team when in fact, he was just like every other great player...he needed the freakin talent around him to get him there so he could close it.
Why Jordan was so great was because he did not have a dominant big man like 99% of other dynasties. He was the first Guard to completely lead his team.
Very true, except when he did face a DOMINANT big man without a decent post player of his own, he got bounced. I'll let you figure out when that was.
Sir Charles and Karl Malone were pretty dominant bigs. Those piston teams had some Hall of fame Bigs also.
Malone and Charles were great players, but you had Rodman defending Malone--who is a pretty infamous playoff choker, and then you have Charles, who i think is great, but not dominant. MJ has never faced a center like Hakeem, the one time he faced a truly dominant center his team was eliminated. Don't underestimate how good his team was, especially the '96 squad, he needed them as much as they needed him. This thread has been so derailed lol
Dream still wins his titles, more than likely. 1. The Rockets OWNED the early 90s Bulls. 2. The Rockets would own that Bulls team MINUS Horace Grant even more. 3. No team has won four consecutive championships since the 60s.
Sure Michael was the most clutch player of all time, but you can't take away from Hakeem either. Hakeem had his shots, and so did his teammates. And so did Michael, he had his teammates hit big shots too. Who hit the shot against the Suns to win the Finals in 1992? Hmm? It wasn't MJ, but John Paxson. Who hit the shot that won the 1997 finals for the Bulls against the Jazz? It was Steve Kerr, and not MJ. Jordan relied on his teammates at times to hit big shots, as did hakeem in relying on cassell, kenny smith, vernon maxwell.
I agree, Dream is my favorite player and a great player, but saying he's as good as Jordan, is wrong in my opinion... I think Dream is the best center of all time........ But Jordan is the best player...... All-time starting 5 Magic Mike Bird Dream Shaq
I believe each series would've went 7... Dream would dominate, but you can never underestimate Jordans greatness.... Resulting in the greatest series of all time.........
It's a difficult thing to gauge, i believe position rankings are the best way of comparing players since so much of a players skill is based on the position they play and the size of the player. Jordan, being a guard would be a better ball handler and shooter, Hakeem the better Post-up player and rebounder, but these things are a direct result of the training required to play their position. Comparing positions is the best way to go, and Dream is the best center.
I believe the league was more evenly distributed at that time and will disagree with you slightly simply because its too hard to tell. The East had like 3 expansion teams to pad everyone's win totals...But once Jordan's TEAM came together, they just simply beat whatever competition there was, East or West. Maybe he might have gotten to the finals once or twice more in the West. But he'da also had to face the ROCKETS in the playoffs, which by now we all know they gave him the most trouble in that era. Early to Mid 90's: Rockets-to-Bulls = Sonics-to-Rockets
I really wish Stockton didn't hit THAT shot, and we had the opportunity to play the Bulls in the finals. That would've definitely helped to settle this debate. It sounds somewhat contradictory to say you can't judge one's greatness by the amount of rings in his trophy display, but I guess it does hold a LITTLE weight here considering the easier path(s) the Bulls had to get to the finals compared to the Western teams. Plus match-up issues, lucky for Chi that they got Utah that year, cause Utah had noone to hold MJ and Bulls def had NO ONE to hold Hakeem. More importantly, basketball is a team game, so scrub players on great teams can't use the ring argument... but it is warranted in Jordan's case considering the impact he had on his team. The general consensus is Jordan is the GOAT, and that's hard to disagree with. But it's definitely interesting to hear the arguments for Hakeem, as most are quite valid... and me being slightly biased, I tend to agree with the sentiments of Hakeem's status. One thing is for sure, he doesn't get the credit he deserves. I think we can all agree on one thing, both these guys are the best players of all-time at their respective positions.
LBJ is a hype, he should play football rather than bastetball, look at how he plays on court, good body condition but ugly and without skill.
