Who else was sickened by the Jordan-biased All-Star?

Jordan's the best player of the 90's...no argument right?

What's wrong with sending him out the right way? No money was wasted, and it's not like NBA all-star games have ever been know for great halftime entertainment. This isn't the damn superbowl we're talking about.

"But what he said really ticked me off. 'I carried the torch. I am passing it on to these players. I can feel at peace when I go home knowing that I put basketball in a good place.' "

C'mon, you know he didn't mean it like that. He specifically mentioned his predecessors, who handed the torch to him(Connie Hawkins, Dr. J, and I think he mentioned Magic).

 

i have no problem with michael jordan..but it was TOO MUCH of michael jordan..in fact..thanks to the all-star weekend..i don't even wanna hear another "michael jordan" coming from anybody's mouth..it was TOO MUCH...for god's sake..giving him the starting spot is enough tribute already.....but the halftime show AND the way the game was lay out so he can be the hero ?..

 

ever heard of babe ruth? he saved baseball and maybe all professional sports after the blacksoxs scandal. have a sense of history dude

 

Give me a break. Talk about misinterpreting words. Carter was being bashed by virtually everyone in the press for being disrespectful, Jordan never blamed Vince for not giving up his spot. The only reason Jordan said that was to try and get the press off of Vince's back.

 

How much did Babe Ruth contribute to the financial state of the NBA as it is today?

Talk about bringing irrelevant information to the discussion.

 

go run for office or something

 

Drex22, your belief that MJ is the anit-Christ is well documented. But answer this, would the NBA be as big and popular as it is today if Jordan never played? The answer is no.

I think that is what drapg is referring to when he says the NBA is what it is today because of Michael Jordan. I don't know how you can argue with that.

 

Precisely. The NBA felt that Jordan deserved a grand sendoff, and I don't see how anyone can disagree, whether you love him or hate him.

 

drapg, in the post that DoitDickau quoted you said "He carried a professional league further, financially and popularity-wise, than any other athlete has done in the history of sport."

Now you may have meant "in the history of the sport in which case the Babe Ruth comparison is irrelevant. But if you meant "in the history of sport (in general)" then the Babe Ruth comparison was very relevant...

 

Would the NBA have been as popular if Dream never played? What about Clyde? Ewing? 'Nique? Probably not. Does that mean those players deserved the sendoff that Jordan did?

It's pretty easy to argue that. The NBA chose to market itself around Jordan. That obviously makes him pretty indespensible. But they could have chosen to base themselves off of other players or even try to advertise a more leage/team oriented image. I'm not saying that would have been better, I don't know. But I fervently believe that even without MJ the league would have thrived in the late 80's/90's as the drug scandals started to disappear.

 

And, somehow, you missed my point completely.

I never said the league would be as big as it is now if Jordan had never played. All I said was that Jordan was more than adequately compensated for his contributions. I said the Bulls got screwed because of the level of Jordan's compensation, in fact. $30 million a year, and two retirement tributes? No one owes him a third one. Did I say the league would be just as popular? No. I never said that, and I never will.

Additionally, though it's a less significant point, I agree with Dylan that other greats like Hakeem never playing would also affect the league's popularity.

Anti-Christ? No, he's not evil. It's just that he's one of the most selfish people I've ever seen, and that really irks me.

On a side note... didn't we just do this? Like, about a year ago?

Wrong. However, it's too much work to argue it over a message board. If you'd like to come to Sacramento and argue in person, that would be fine.

 

you said "He carried a professional league further, financially and popularity-wise, than any other athlete has done in the history of sport" I assume that you meant sports and that is a typo. so, is the mlb a professional league? last time i checked it was. so i don't see how that is irrelevant to your claim that jordan was carried A professional league further than anyone else in sportS. Maybe you can explain it to me

 

Yeah, I know not to get in a full-fledged Jordan discussion with you.

 

Hey, I agree with most of your post (your basic sentiment that Jordan may have hurt the league a little as well as helped it). I don't like Jordan either (newsflash, right? ), but I would have to say that teams are less talented today mainly because of expansion. Did Jordan's style and popularity contribute to the loss of fundamentals a little bit? Probably. But that isn't the main reason teams today are less talented. You can't blame the man for everything.

 

I think we have been over this. You wont convince me otherwise, and I wont convince you that he is...There's just no way.

But, how legitimate of an argument can you make for Jordan not being the best player of the 90's? Six of a possible seven titles is hard to argue with. Bird and Magic are 80's players. I love Dream, and I think he could have stolen at least one of those titles if it weren't for the Sonics, but, even as a center, he wasn't quite as dominant as Jordan.

So...Who are we talking about? Karla? Stock? Shaq? Or perhaps younger...Garnett? Duncan?

 

Like I said, I don't want to get into a discussion about it, but it's fair to ask who I'm talking about.

I may be biased, but honestly, Hakeem is one of them. I have a hard time believing that if Hakeem had a Pippen-esque caliber player in his prime for most of his career, along with and all-star level power forward, that he wouldn't have run off with more rings than he could fit on one hand.

The other one is... you're going to hate this... Stockton. Yeah he's dirty, yeah he flops a lot... but he was/is great. There never was and there never will be another guy quite like Stockton. A lot of players that people thought were great when they were with the Jazz have proven to be trash when they left. Malone's a nice player too, but Stockton made him more than he made Stockton.

And when I think about it... how about Pippen? I wonder how good he could have been if Jordan wasn't so domineering. After all, he is only the second guy ever to lead his team in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks over a whole season.

Those are the guys I'm talking about, though I haven't really given it a ton of thought. There might be one or two more. Again, I'm not necessarily saying these guys are all better, but they are at least contenders (and no, I still don't feel like debating it ).

 

I think it´s unbelieveble how some of you can blame Jordan for everyting. Some always find something about Jordan to criticise.

To say Jordan never was a role model is just wrong. I think he has always been a class act on and off the court, and compared to how some other nba superstars have behaved I think it´s safe to say that Jordan is a good role model.

The real reason for the Bulls breakup is not Jordans salary and that sure isn´t the reason for the lockout. Jordan never had a giant salary until after his first comeback. And because jordan got paid a lot of money some say that he´s the reason for the Bulls breakup. The Bulls sure wouldn´t have those championships if he didn´t play. And if you´re going to criticise Jordan for his contract think about the reason why Dream didn´t retire as a Rocket.
To say it´s Jordan´s fault that players today think to much about money and not about winning is just ridiculous. He is one of the most competitive players of all time and someone who has a huge will to win, and yet you say it´s his fault that players today aren´t competitive and that it´s his fault that teams aren´t as competitive as they were in the 80´s. Not everything that´s wrong with the leage is Jordan´s fault. It´s seems to me that alot of people try to find something, anything, to criticise Jordan. I agree that Jordan gets a lot of love from the media, and often it is way too much love, but you can´t blame him for that. Yet many do just that. I think Jordan has been great for the leage, he is one of the greatest of all time, he has been a class act and a good role model and shown a lot of players what it takes to win. I think some of you should recognise what he has done well instead of looking for something to criticize.

 

Fair enough.

They're all great players in their own rights.