The thing I most take away from this film is how tough Michael Jordan was in how he went about his business. That moment when he had to say on film, “Break,” is how the film should have ended for me.
You could say he was a son of a bitch at times with his teammates, but that was his job. He was the franchise player. He was being paid to not only be the face of the Chicago Bulls, but in reality the player who took the torch from Bird, Magic, and Isiah to make the NBA what it is today.
What the NBA today is a league almost right there with the NFL as the premier sports league in America. Major League Baseball and the NHL aren’t even in the same hemisphere as far as fan interest and revenue.
From the moment Michael made the shot to defeat the Utah Jazz in 1998 it would be fair to say the Chicago Bulls became an anecdotal pro sports franchise. The numbers are staggering as to what the Chicago Bulls haven’t been from the instant Michael never played another game for the Chicago Bulls.
There was the MVP season with Derek Rose, but otherwise not much with all those lottery picks. I find it amusing some of the young Oklahoma City Thunder fans think it’s a given the Thunder with all their late first round picks recently acquired are going to be all that relevant without a lottery pick.
We hope they will be. But again Russell Westbrook and Paul George together were 3-8 in post season games played with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
And as I wrote previously on my blog…Russell Westbrook without Kevin Durant is 4-12 in NBA post season games played.
Without Michael Jordan around…Dennis Rodman’s basketball career came to an end. Scottie Pippen was traded and never returned to another NBA Finals, Steve Kerr left, and Phil Jackson eventually became head coach of the LA Lakers.
It was a glorious era for the NBA and David Stern.
To me…the Michael-LeBron argument isn’t one. It’s not close even though LeBron with his unique blend of size and ability to pass the ball is the best in the game currently.
ESPN ran a poll right after the conclusion of the film and this very question was put out there…and the results were not close. Michael basically smoked LeBron in every category by a minimum margin of 18%.
I have LeBron as No. 4 on my current all-time Pantheon list. I do not have him above either Bill Russell or Kareem. I don’t think LeBron brings to the table what these two players did on and off the court.
If LeBron wins two more rings in LA maybe I’ll rethink this question. But for now my lists goes 1 Michael, 2 Bill Russell, and 3 Kareem.
Hopefully, Adam Silver gets his league back together this summer and we get to see a four team tournament comprised of the LA Lakers, the LA Clippers, the Milwaukee Bucks, and the Toronto Raptors.
There’s going to be an asterisk attached to the champion regardless of who wins. So why waste everyone’s time with two rounds of play we don’t need to see? With all due respect to perhaps the Boston Celtics or possibly the Houston Rockets…I don’t need to see you playing in July this summer.
I do however want to see what LeBron, AD, Kawhi, Giannis, and Siakam can do with their ball clubs in an elite four team tournament.