[DSRfan]

I rooted for the Jazz too. But IMO MJ is the greatest player ever. It's not even close.

I think Jordan was a great player. Perhaps the greatest individual
athlete to ever play. But if you define it as Greatest Player ever,
I don't see how people can make a case for Jordan. He was
a tremendous scorer, fantastic one on one defender; but
he wasn't particularly adept at overall team defense. His
overall court vision and seeing the whole game was subpar
compared to other greats like Bird, Magic, Robertson.
Despite being a fantastic leaper, he was no more than
a competent rebounder. And prior to his appearance
in the league, almost everyone said the thing that sepereated
the really good from teh truly great was, they made
the players around them better.

Jordan made the players around him WORSE. Or at the very least,
strictly defined them in to a one dimensional role that they
didn't dare stray from(Pippne being the lone exception).
2 plays always summed up to me why Jordan can't be considered
the greatest of all time. The first being Birds steal off Isaiah Thomas
and feed to Johnson for the layup that stole a playoff game
from the Pistons. The second being the palyoff game that
the Bulls lost to end the series againsts the Magic when
Jordan returned from retirement. He went up for a shot
and bounced a pass off the bakc of a wide open Wennington's
head under the goal.

The 2 plays show why he's great not greatest. He could only
beat you ONE way, while the truly greats could beat you in
MANY ways. Jordan was going to take(and many times hit)
that lat shot. But Bird, Robertson and otheres might beat
oyu by hitting that big shot, or by mamign the key pass
FOR that shot. Or getting the rebound you HAD to have.
Or getting a steal. Wenningto could have easily dunked that
balll and won that game, but he turned to look for the rebound
because that wsa the ONLY time in his history that Jordan
ever passed up that shot for someone else who was open.
And even if Jordan were to make an improbable steal like
Bird did by leaving his man and picking off Thomas(a HIGHLY
unlikely scenario as Jordan didn't see the court that way)
NONE of his teammates would ever be cutting to the basket
to get the pass for the winning shot. They would be watching
him take the shot from back court.

Maybe some day people will wake up and remember that
basketball is a TEAM game. And that while Jordan was a fantastic
talent, he wasn't adept at all, or even most, of the phases
of the game, as the TRULY GREATEST were.