Michael Jordan Admits His Fault That Would Have Him Struggling in Today’s Era
If you’re on the LeBron James side of the NBA GOAT debate, this is good news. Michael Jordan and James have been the center of the best NBA player of all-time debate. James made things more interesting when the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Miami Heat for the NBA title, giving James four championships to Jordan’s six. James may have even gotten closer after a comment Jordan recently made.
The Michael Jordan vs. LeBron GOAT debate
The debate will continue forever. Who is the NBA’s GOAT? Usually, the top two candidates are Michael Jordan and LeBron James. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar sometimes makes his way into the conversation, but for the most part, it’s revolved around Jordan and James.
Jordan dominated the late 80s and 90s and James has been a force ever since he was the No. 1 pick in the 2003 NBA draft right out of high school. It’s an intriguing debate, but one that likely will never be officially settled. Jordan played 15 seasons in the NBA, retiring in the middle to pursue a pro baseball career. James has already played 17 seasons and is still going strong at 35 years old.
Jordan has six championships, two more than James. He owns one more MVP Award (5) than James. Jordan led the NBA in scoring 10 times and was named to the NBA’s All-Defensive team nine times. James wasn’t the scorer Jordan was, winning the scoring title one, but he did lead the league in assists this season. James, however, is on pace to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer when he retires.
Jordan seemed flawless on the court
Michael Jordan seemed to be the perfect basketball player. He made the NBA Finals six times in his 15-year career and went 6-0. Not only were the Chicago Bulls perfect in their championship runs with Jordan as their leader, but Jordan was also named NBA Finals MVP in all six series.
Jordan missed the 1993-94 season to try and make a run at a professional baseball career in the Chicago White Sox organization. He returned for the 1994-95 season but played in just 17 games. He played three more seasons with the Chicago Bulls and won the NBA title in each of those three years, closing out the team’s second three-peat.
Jordan then retired again. This time, his retirement lasted three seasons. He returned for the 2001-02 season with the Washington Wizards. Jordan finished his career by playing two seasons with the Wizards. In those two seasons with Washington, Jordan averaged 21.2 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.
Jordan unsure if he could’ve played in today’s era
Michael Jordan was a perfectionist. He was hard on himself and was hard on others. Winning was what was most important to him when it came to basketball. Jordan played in an era where basketball was more physical. He also played during a time when there was no social media where people always have a comment.
In a recent article in The Score, Jordan said he doesn’t know how well he would’ve done during the Twitter era. He said he saw his friend Tiger Woods struggle with it and he admitted he may have as well. “Tiger played at his peak somewhere toward the end of my career,” Jordan said. “Then, what changed from that time frame to now is social media, Twitter, and all those types of things that has invaded the personalities and personal time of individuals to the point where people have been able to utilize it to their financial gains and things of that nature.
“For someone like myself – and this is what Tiger deals with – is that I don’t know if I could’ve survived in this Twitter time, where you don’t have the privacy that you would want, and what seems to be very innocent can always be misinterpreted,” he said.
