Michael Jordan’s status as the greatest basketball player of all time comes off the heels of numerous amazing achievements throughout his NBA career. Among those is winning 72 games in a season with the Chicago Bulls.
The Bulls achieved this phenomenal record in the 1995-96 NBA season. Speaking of that season, when the Bulls clinched the 70th win of the season, Michael Jordan was asked about his thoughts on what it meant for his status as the GOAT. Jordan had a very humble response to the question.
“No. I think that’s something that I really can’t say can be established,” Jordan said. “Each of us played in different eras, with different teams, with different levels of success, and to compare all of them and say one’s better than the next is an unfair justice to the art or to the artists. You know, being that Magic Johnson, Wilt Chamberlain, and all the guys before me were the artists of this game of basketball, and we’ve all learned from them, and we’ve improved the picture to a certain extent and to say that one improvement is better than all of it? It’s an unfair assessment.”
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Michael Jordan could have easily claimed that he has now become the GOAT after leading the Bulls to the 70th win of the season. After all, that never happened in the history of the league.
Instead, Jordan had a humble response to the reporter’s question and talked about how it’s impossible to compare players from different eras.
Michael Jordan Has Always Hated Comparisons Between Different Eras
When it came to dominating his era, Michael Jordan did a thorough job. It is evident from his record against NBA legends and superstars of his era.
But when it comes to getting compared to players from different generations, MJ has always responded cleverly to such questions. Jordan once did so by using an example of the difference between the number of championships between him and Bill Russell.
“I won 6 championships. Bill Russell won 11. Does that make Bill Russell better than me? Or make me better than him? No. Because we played at different eras.”
While Jordan may not believe in comparing players from other generations, the same cannot be said for NBA fans.
Fans will always find a way to compare superstars of the older generation with modern superstars. If that wasn’t the case, we may never even have had a GOAT debate, to begin with.
Source: fadeawayworld
