Bulls and Hot Air

[Joe Hironaka <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

Dan Forant wrote:
"Jordan is the all time great of all time. There is absolutely nothing
the man can't do. There is Michael
Jordan, then comes the other icons at a lower level."


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Hey:

C'mon, Larry Bird on a lower rung than Michael Jordan?  Fuhgettaboutit.

Imagine if the greatest rebounding, scoring forward of our times (Karl
Malone) and the greatest passing, scoring forward of our times (Scottie
Pippen) were just one guy, and you'd have a complete package
statistically comparable to Larry Joe Bird in his prime. It is in this
sense IMO that Larry Legend stands head and shoulders above the greatest
players in the game today. I just doubt I personally will ever see
another scoring forward lead his position year after year in both
rebounds and assists. It's never happened before or since. Add to that
the most devastating and gorgeous outside shot of any NBA era, add
heart, add hustle etc.

IMO if the "Bulls Dynasty" had occurred in the 80's, they'd have been
the third runner-up pretty much every year and we'd be ranking MJ's
great talent not that far above that of Charles Barkley, Moses Malone
et. al.  I don't think I'm being a fuddy-duddy by asserting that there
was simply a higher level of top echelon teams way back in the 1980s.

Just compare the rosters of any of the '80-'87 Celtics teams vs. the '98
Utah Jazz.  Or juxtapose the notion of "MJ vs Drexler" with "Bird vs.
Magic".



P.S. While I'm at it, where does some of the media get off comparing the
Bulls Dynasty to our 11 rings in 13 years? Puh-lease.

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