Was Michael Jordan the best ever in the NBA?
I will stand by the answer I have long given. Michael Jordan is the greatest individual TALENT the NBA has ever seen (LeBron James potentially could exceed Jordan, but has not yet). However, basketball is a team game and I don’t think Jordan was ever a transcendent teammate. He got teammates open shots because he attracted so much defensive attention. He also bullied some teammates into playing better through sheer force of competitive will. But he was also cruel and violent to teammates who couldn’t measure up to his expectations. So, if I were starting a team, I would pick Magic Johnson or Larry Bird over Jordan. Bird and Magic had ways of encouraging, cajoling, and working within their team structures to get the best out of all the players they played with. That puts them a cut above Jordan in my book.
