Before I begin, let me be perfectly clear from the on-set…the Greatest of All Time Conversation is rooted in opinion. Regardless the information you may use to support your opinion (which having strong arguments and valid information is a plus and should definitely be present to make any argument credible and as a result your opinion validated) it is ultimately still…an opinion. With that being said, this blog has been spawned out of a great social network debate about the Greatest Player of All Time in the NBA.
Facts: To even be mentioned in the conversation for G.O.A.T. there are a few “must haves” that legitimate players had to have. Those facts are: Statistics or as the layman would say “Numbers”, they must be a multi-champion, and they must pass the consensus test (when you say their name, there should not be much doubt as their ability to have that crowned place on them). Based on this criterion, the list is very short. You will hear names such as, Russell, Chamberlin, and West…but those guys are too early for what most of us in our mid to late 20’s and early 30’s can speak on. Our generation would include really two names Magic and Michael.
Numbers: Jordan’s numbers far surpass that of Johnson…if we were to measure them side by side, it ain’t even close. But if we did that we would be comparing apples and oranges. It would be imperative to compare their numbers to others who played their position; and without doing the research, I believe that they would fare well in most of the standard scoring and defensive categories by position with others who played during their eras (not to mention that Magic had his career shortened by the virus that causes AIDS and MJ retired for 2 years and then came back and then retired again…only to come back again.)
Winners: Mike won 6 rings to Magic’s 5. Easy to see right; but we have to look deeper. When you are a pivotal cog on your team and you are winning championships, you are usually in your prime. On average a player is in their prime mentally and physically between the ages of 27-30. So to really get a glimpse of the championship impact we must look at the titles won during these players prime, compare other great players who played against them in their primes and then we can draw a closer comparison. Using the 27-30 as the age definition of prime, then we can narrow the championship sample size to 3 for both greats (and I am not discounting Mike winning 3 straight two times but I would like to highlight that Magic went to the title game 7 times before facing Mike in 91 for his 8th time to the big dance).
Consensus Test: Now it is evident that both Magic and Michael played against great talent, but I think it is also just as evident that Magic Johnson, “during his prime”, played against better teams composed of better players than Mike did. See people will look at the individual talent of the Jordan Era during his time and automatically assume that he played against the tougher opponents and this is just not the case. The NBA was a different league during the Johnson’s prime years and the collection of talent top to bottom was on those teams were better…it just was.
In conclusion: One of my colleagues will argue Magic played with arguably the greatest center of all time; what he won’t tell you is that center was 39, 40 and 41 during Magic’s prime. What he would also tell you is that Mike came in playing with Oakley and Hodges, but again he won’t tell you that in Jordan’s prime of winning titles, that the other primary figures at that time were either heading into their primes as well or just coming out of them (see Paxson, Hodges, Pippen, and Grant). I will always say that Magic is the greatest to lace them up; but I will also never poo-poo on the Jordan homers who add to their argument, Jordan being the greatest by bringing up his shoe dominance with Nike along with their broad basketball opinions (need I remind you that the NBA was on tape delay before Magic got to the league..just saying). So while most of the people argue Jordan, just understand that while I won’t fight you on your opinion, the argument when you start to compare apples to apples, is much closer than you think.
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