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Michael Jordan question/discussion

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Montana81

Heisman
Aug 12, 2004
82,726
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I was born in 81 so i don’t remember much about Michael Jordan’s first few seasons in the league. i really didn’t start following the nba much until the 90’s.

My question is, at what point in his career did MJ become the undisputed best player in the league? Was it by his 2nd or 3rd year people were calling him the best or was it not until he started winning championships?
 
G

Gassy_Knowls

Hall of Famer
Mar 24, 2019
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Montana81 said:
I was born in 81 so i don’t remember much about Michael Jordan’s first few seasons in the league. i really didn’t start following the nba much until the 90’s.

My question is, at what point in his career did MJ become the undisputed best player in the league? Was it by his 2nd or 3rd year people were calling him the best or was it not until he started winning championships?
Click to expand...

Jordan is MK Ultra. "The Zone"

Same as Shaq and Kobe (Black Mamba)

His "switch flipped" when the govt needed it
 
G

GonzoCat90

Heisman
Mar 30, 2009
32,377
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There's a video from like 91-92 or so where Magic is on TV doing a pregame analyst thing and calls him the GOAT. Apparently that was a growing sentiment even then.

Which is interesting because he didn't have six rings or the all-time stat totals--things his fans use as a defense of his status as the best ever now.

So I guess the answer to your question is it happened whenever Nike and Gatorade and ESPN needed it to become the truth.
 
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king of cali

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I would say it happened during the 91 Finals. Up until that time he was seen as a great individual player, but not on the same level as Magic, Bird, and to a lesser extent Isiah Thomas, because he hadn’t won anything.

That all changed once he beat the Lakers in 91, and took off into the stratosphere in the 92 season.
 
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JohnBlue

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Jul 22, 2003
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He was there before 91, he just didn't have the paperwork to silence the critics. He was scrutinized pretty hard and with each accomplishment the critics would move the goal post and say he hasn't done this or that yet. He came into the league in the middle of the Bird/Magic era and most of the NBA didn't want to give credit to anything outside of the Celtics/Lakers.

His legacy might not have started until he beat the Lakers but he was packing arena's and wowing fans pretty much from day one. He was just a one man show until Pippen came along.
 
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JeepCSC_anon

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Nov 17, 2005
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I think his “God disguised as Michael Jordan” game in 1986 was the beginning of his reign. He went up against what was regarded even then as one of the best teams ever and forced them to double overtime almost singlehandedly. For peak Bird to anoint him was huge.

1988 cemented his prowess as an individual star without peer. By 1992, he was being called by some the best player ever. The gap between 1986 and 1991 was more over whether he could win, less about his individual greatness.
 
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Montana81

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Aug 12, 2004
82,726
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Aike said:
I can remember playground arguments about it during lunch at Bate Middle School, so 87-88 range. It wasn’t undisputed yet then, but it was becoming popular sentiment.
Click to expand...

yeah see by the time i started following the nba even casually in the 90’s it already seemed like he was the undisputed best. larry bird and magic were still around…and i remember a few people that would try and argue them as being better but they were clearly in the minority at that point.

thanks to all that responded. thinking about lebrons career…they’re always gonna be compared…got me thinking about it.

Lebron seems like from like…year 2 or 3 he has had the majority vote. maybe i’m off. kobe had a lot of supporters at times.
 
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Lempface

Heisman
Feb 16, 2009
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MJ had the charisma, showmanship, tenacity, work ethic, and ultimate competitive drive more than any athlete I've ever seen. Greatest of any sport IMO. May be some out there with more championships or stats but no one had it like Mike had it.
 
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RalphDaltonFan

Heisman
Apr 3, 2002
60,148
41,446
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MJ entered the league with aura too. I mean as a kid who wasn't a UNC fan, I used to tune into their games to watch him and hope wait for his breakaway late in game or when they were in four corners late and he'd throw down. MJ and Len Bias were the 2 guys that were must see tv if you weren't a fan of their teams for me as a kid. Bias was going to be MJ's rival--he had it all and was taller but just as mean and electric on the court.

But agree with takes above. For me it was the Playoff game at the Boston Garden when he dropped 63 on Celtics....you saw something that was unique and he didn't have the team around him at time that Boston/Detroit/Lakers had but it was only a matter of time because he was unreal.

My favorite MJ story is the one Reggie Miller tells about his rookie year with Pacers in an exhibition game played in Cedar Rapids, IA. Reggie said he was having a good game and MJ was quiet just getting up and down and not taking things serious had about 4 pts. Chuck Person egged on Reggie to talk **** to MJ so Reggie starts talking....."I thought you were the baddest man.....etc...." and MJ comes out in 2nd Half and scored and scored and scored on him and ended up with 40+ pts and told Reggie "Don't you ever talk to Black Jesus again". LOL
 
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Ron Mehico

Heisman
Jan 4, 2008
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I moved to America from a 3rd world country as a 6 year old in 1987 and knew who Michael Jordan was and was excited to watch every game he played in, and was one of the things I knew about America before moving here. I had no idea who Larry bird or Magic Johnson were, if that gives you an idea. He was the worlds first true international sports superstar and rarely, if ever, disappointed in entertainment value. Truly a once-in a lifetime icon.

In his second season when he played against the arguably best team of the decade at their arena in the playoffs after missing almost the entire season due to a broken leg and scored the most points in playoff history Larry Bird called him god. So he was pretty good at that time.
 
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J_Dee

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When I was in seventh grade -- 1990 -- pretty much every single guy in my school sported either a Batman t-shirt, a Bart Simpson t-shirt, or a Michael Jordan t-shirt, and everybody wanted Air Jordan IVs or Vs. Good memories. :)
 
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JohnBlue

Heisman
Jul 22, 2003
188,376
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Never forget the first time I saw him play. I was up late watching the ncaa tournament and I think it was IU vs unc, I wouldn't have watched unc without them playing a team I knew of. Anyway, somewhere during that game there was a missed shot and there was only one guy left on that end of the floor to get the rebound. All the sudden out of no where Jordan comes down and I swear to this day it looked like he jumped over the rim to get that ball before it come down to the other player. I was like wth was that?? Been a fan of his since, there is so many things he has done that just made you do a double take. He and Secretariat were to two most sure things in sports.

When they said he could fly, they weren't kidding. I've seen him jump in a game along with initial defender and then the first defender come down, the second defender go up, come down and third go up before Jordan came back down. They tried every single thing they could from elbowing him, hard fouls, throwing him to floor and any other dirty play you could come up with to stop him from scoring and he would just pour it on even more. It took some time for the league to get that under control and when they did the Jordan rules were born. The league knew he was too valuable to allow him to get hurt.
 
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kennyskywalker34

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Jan 22, 2013
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ralphdaltonfan said:
MJ entered the league with aura too. I mean as a kid who wasn't a UNC fan, I used to tune into their games to watch him and hope wait for his breakaway late in game or when they were in four corners late and he'd throw down. MJ and Len Bias were the 2 guys that were must see tv if you weren't a fan of their teams for me as a kid. Bias was going to be MJ's rival--he had it all and was taller but just as mean and electric on the court.

But agree with takes above. For me it was the Playoff game at the Boston Garden when he dropped 63 on Celtics....you saw something that was unique and he didn't have the team around him at time that Boston/Detroit/Lakers had but it was only a matter of time because he was unreal.

My favorite MJ story is the one Reggie Miller tells about his rookie year with Pacers in an exhibition game played in Cedar Rapids, IA. Reggie said he was having a good game and MJ was quiet just getting up and down and not taking things serious had about 4 pts. Chuck Person egged on Reggie to talk **** to MJ so Reggie starts talking....."I thought you were the baddest man.....etc...." and MJ comes out in 2nd Half and scored and scored and scored on him and ended up with 40+ pts and told Reggie "Don't you ever talk to Black Jesus again". LOL
Click to expand...
I despised UNCHEAT when Jordan played there and still do today. So nope not every kid was a UNCHEAT fan.
You're a good poster and I enjoy reading your posts. But I disagree with this one 100%
 
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JeepCSC_anon

Sophomore
Nov 17, 2005
178
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I decided to rewatch most of the ‘86 God game. Woolridge was atrocious with his bricks, Ainge was on fire late. But something I must have forgotten is the Bulls were down 2 as time ran down in regulation. Jordan shoots up a prayer three (after stripping the ball from Parrish on the other end) as time runs out and was fouled by McHale. Jordan calmly goes to the line and hits both free throws to send the game into overtime. Because it wasn’t until 1994 that the NBA started allowing 3 free throws on fouled 3-point shots. In another decade, he would have hit that last free throw (he hit over 90% for the game) and left with a walkoff victory.

Jordan took a team with a 32% winning percentage without him to the cusp of beating a Boston team that went 49-1 at home (including playoffs). It was a season in which the Bulls tried to shut Jordan down for rest but he famously refused and cajoled his way back into the lineup. The most surprising thing about the game is it seemed effortless. There were some drives of course, but much of his scoring was just quiet mid-range jumpers. They just kept coming. Sneakers made him popular perhaps, but he was great on the court nearly from the beginning.
 
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