Why Michael Jordan Is The Greatest Of All Time - GOAT

He was single-handedly beating the Dream Team opponents. And Davis with him, he doesn't need him. Right. If Jordan wants to average 50, if he was playing his error, I think he averages 50. Ladies and gentlemen, Michael Jordan. If there's one player you need to be afraid of, it's Prime Michael Jordan. He was a cheat code, just unstoppable. And a defensive nightmare. There's no one who can catch up to Mike. Up to the point where he was hailed as the basketball god. He was a 10-time scoring champion. And had a ridiculous 41 points per game average in the NBA Finals. Jordan had no weaknesses. He can kill you either on his right or on his left. Just pick your poison. And of course, there's only a handful of brave men who can test Michael Jordan in the air. Imagine jumping over Michael's 48-inch vertical. This is the greatest shot I've seen. He came down the right side, took off. David Robinson took off. And he said, OK, I'm going to sit here in the air. David Robinson went to the ground. He 360'd and dunked it. Well, if you still weren't phased by his airiness, Michael surely does have one more weapon to demoralize his opponent. His trash talks. To all the NBA Hall of Famers who tried to best Michael Jordan in a war of words, all of them failed. And the worst part? MJ backed all of his trash talks. He backed it up with a legendary resume no one can match. 14-time NBA All-Star. 5-time League MVP. Rookie of the Year. And most especially, his 6-times Finals MVP. With these accolades in his closet, many hailed Michael Jordan as the greatest of all time. Without doubt. Still not convinced? Well, here's the story of the idol of your idols. The greatest of the great. Michael Jordan. And why MJ is the greatest of all time. Michael Jordan was picked third overall by the Chicago Bulls in the 1984 NBA Draft. It was like he was destined to play in the Windy City. And as a rookie, he already shone among the brightest stars in the NBA. A different breed of athlete. Just look at these stats. 28.2 points per game. And 51% field goal shooting as a rookie. If the Bulls were just a little bit better, he might have had a solid bid for the MVP. There's no other rookie in the history of NBA who has the confidence like Mike. Standing at 6'6". But his unbelievable athleticism and vertical make him feel like a 7-footer jumping over other giants. In just a short span, he turned the sorry Chicago Bulls into solid playoff contenders. But, well, even the Bulls were too heavy for Jordan. As they got ousted by the Milwaukee Bucks in Jordan's very first postseason in 1985. MJ's first two seasons became Michael's training ground. His taste of the postseason made him a different beast. Or, more accurately, a monster. In the 1986-1987 season, he was a bull on the loose. Doing whatever he wanted inside the hardwood. Acrobatic shots, high-flying dunks, mind-boggling layups, lethal mid-range jumpers, you name it. MJ could do it all. He became a phenomenon. Even at the home games of his opponents, fans would still watch and cheer for Michael. He averaged the league in scoring with a beastly 35 points per game in an efficient 53% field goal shooting. He was also hailed as the league's defensive player of the year. Notching 3.2 steals and 1.6 blocks per game. In the 1987-1988 season, Michael Jordan won his first MVP award. First of many. He was levels above the rest of the league. He also made history as the first MVP to win the Defensive Player of the Year award. But, despite all the accolades and all the greatness, he faced a huge roadblock in the form of the Bad Boys Detroit Pistons, led by the Hall of Fame point guard Isaiah Thomas. In the 1988-1989 season, Jordan elevated his game once again. He played as a point guard for Chicago, having the ball in his hands where he would create magic every single play. He became a floor general, also involving his teammates in Chicago's offense. He made history with 11 straight triple-doubles, becoming a focal point in Chicago and putting his game in another stratosphere. He proved in the entire league that whatever position he played, he would always be a monster, a maestro with basketball. In the postseason, Jordan's phenomenal once-in-a-lifetime play was born. Cleveland was up 1 in a win-or-go home game against Jordan and the Bulls. With the series on the line, Jordan hit an impossible shot against Craig Ello. And the rest was history. Everyone knew the ball was going to Michael, but the Cavs still couldn't do a thing to stop him. But all of these once again were for nothing, as MJ and the Bulls can't seem to get past the mighty Bad Boys down in Detroit. Detroit was the only team in the way of Michael for that elusive championship that continued in the 1989-1990 season. MJ was once again playing a generational season. He even exploded for 69 points against the Cavs at some point. But still, Detroit was once again waiting in the East Finals, throwing everything they could at Michael, notching up the physicality and wearing MJ down. In MJ's career, only the Bad Boys Pistons found a way to contain Michael. After a third straight playoff loss to Detroit, MJ just became hungrier than ever. He cannot wait until the day comes that the Bad Boys will fall and kneel before him. Luckily, he won't have to wait for long. The next season, the Bulls' glory days began. Jordan grabbed his second MVP award while leading the Bulls to the first seed in the Eastern Conference. In the postseason, the Bulls obliterated the competition, including a sweet sweep against Detroit in the 1991 East Finals and a gentleman sweep against Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1991 NBA Finals, which gave Jordan and the Bulls their very first championship. Michael also earned his first Finals MVP award, sending a message to the league that a new dynasty has begun. And when Jordan tasted what it's like to be a champ, he never looked back. In the next two seasons, Michael Jordan and the Bulls ran over the league and grabbed their three-peat, etching their names in the NBA's history books. Jordan, unbelievably, got better every single season. Much faster, much wiser. No one can stop the Bulls. If in high school he was undesired, now he's the most popular athlete in the entire world. He might have fallen short of making history by winning three straight league MVPs. He just made another one when he put up a historical performance against the league MVP, Charles Barkley and the Phoenix Suns. MJ cooled down the Suns and vanquished them in just six games, averaging a historic 41 points per game. But just how quick he rose to glory was also how quick he grew tired of playing basketball. After his third ring, Michael made the shocking announcement and retired from basketball to pursue his childhood dream, to play baseball. It also didn't help that his mentor and inspiration, his dad, died in that offseason. In 1994, the Bulls quickly hanged his jersey in the rafters as a sign of respect for one of the greatest players ever. But after one and a half years of playing baseball, MJ's itch to play and conquer in the NBA came back. As he returned to the league in March 1995, MJ was just back, like he never left. With MJ joining late in the season, the Bulls fell short against Orlando. But little did the league know that's all Michael and the Bulls need to get back to their championship form, and arguably even better. In the 1995-1996 season, the league saw one of the greatest basketball teams ever assembled, with Michael at its core, winning a historic 72 wins in a single season. MJ was once again the face and the MVP of the league. And well, not just that. MJ got a near perfect season, an all-star game MVP, the scoring champion, a 72-win season, and the Finals MVP. In the 1997 Finals, Jordan and the Bulls faced arguably their toughest test, the legendary duo of John Stockton and Carl Malone. But it took Michael just one game to prove against Utah that he's the best in the world, when he hit a game-winning buzzer-beater shot in Game 1. And from then on, Utah was just helpless as Michael and the Bulls grabbed their fifth championship. In the 1998 NBA Finals rematch, Jordan shone the brightest. He was still the best of the best, and that Game 6 performance proved it, and maybe solidified his claim as the greatest of all time, as he pulled up one of the greatest clutch performances in NBA history, including the greatest shot of his career. That step back over Byron Russell gave them their sixth championship, and their second three-peat in eight years. In January 1999, Michael Jordan announced his second retirement from the game, and assured the league that he wouldn't be playing inside an NBA court once again. But, well, we all knew how that went, as his playing itch wouldn't subside, and he played for the Washington Wizards at the tail end of his career, still displaying flashes of brilliance in why he was once the best player in the world. MJ still averaged 22 points per game in his two-season stint in Washington, including a historic 43-point performance in February 2003, making him the first player to score 40 points at the age of 40. At this point, MJ's resume is done. He has nothing left to prove in the NBA. In the 2002-2003 season, MJ announced that it was his last year playing in the NBA, and unlike his first and second retirements, his third one was definitely his last, the one that truly ended his legendary career. MJ's once-in-a-lifetime caliber as a player became evident in just his first season playing in the NBA. Even the Hall of Famer Larry Bird said that rookie Jordan was the best player he had ever seen. MJ tied Wilt Chamberlain for seven scoring titles and holds the record for regular season and playoff points per game, with 30.1 points and 33.4 points per game, respectively. He was also a nine-time NBA All-Defensive First Team, five-time MVP, and three-time All-Star Game MVP. He was the most decorated NBA player in history, and even though LeBron has some better stats than Jordan, MJ's legacy is still considered by many to be the greatest of all time. Even if he's your GOAT or not, there's no arguing. He's the most influential and fearless player to ever step foot on the hardwood. This is Michael Jordan. It's your turn to share your thoughts. Is Michael the greatest of all time? Is it possible for the Bulls to win eight straight championships if he does not retire? Share your comments down below. And as always, thank you for watching.