In Defense of Jordan
When writing about the greatest of all time of anything (person, place or thing) it is difficult to not get pulled into certain traps. For Michael Jordan, the one true king of basketball, the classic trap is to try and identify ‘the next Jordan’ or to argue that another player is ‘better than Jordan.’ Trying to find ‘the next Jordan’ is fool’s gold as there will never be another quite like him; it’s borderline blasphemy.
Jordan means a lot of different things to different people (just ask a random sampling of people in both Chicago and in Salt Lake City what they think of Jordan and you will most likely hear contradictory statements). What do you associate with Jordan? Is it:
- Six rings (with six finals MVPs)?
- Five regular season MVPs?
- Clutch shooting?
- Slam dunk contests?
- Fourteen all star games?
- Style (tongue wagging or the fist pump)?
- Killer instinct?
- Money ($93,772,500 in salary and a small country’s GDP in endorsements)?
- The flu?
Or maybe someone will talk about his career averages of 30.1 points on 49.7/32.7/83.5 percent shooting, 0.5 threes, 6.2 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 2.3 steals, 0.8 blocks, and 2.7 turnovers. Or maybe his best season? Hard to decide but from a fantasy perspective, I would probably take the 1987-88 season. In that year, Jordan played all 82 games and averaged 35.0 points on 53.5/13.2/84.1 percent shooting, 0.1 threes, 5.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 3.2 steals, 1.6 blocks, and 3.1 turnovers per game. His only real flaw was that he hadn’t yet developed his range out to the three point line. What is really striking though is his defensive production and his field goal percentage (anything above fifty percent from a guard is gravy).
Which begs the question: how often do you hear about Jordan’s defense?
Defense is what separates Jordan from all who have come after him. Half of what made Jordan the greatest of all time is that he played with such incredible intensity and passion on both ends of the floor. After all, he didn’t make nine All-Defensive teams for nothing. Or lead the league in steals in three different seasons (also second in career steal totals after only John Stockton).
Consider ‘the shot’ in Game Six of the 1998 NBA Finals. Heading into that game in the United Center in Salt Lake, the Bulls led the series 3-2. The score was 86-85 in favor of the Jazz, who had the ball and the last shot. Karl Malone had the ball in the post… Well, just see for yourself.
Every basketball fan (especially the Utah Jazz fans) remember that moment very clearly. It was to be Jordan’s lost shot as a Chicago Bull. It capped Jordan’s legacy as the greatest of all time. It is a shot for the ages. But what about his defense and hustle? Nobody talks about how Jordan came baseline in the low post and stripped the Mailman of his final precious delivery of the game (and ultimately of the season). Nobody talks about how Jordan recovers the loose ball, which ended the Jazz’s possibility of scoring on what would prove to be the second-to-last possession of the Jazz’s season.
Everybody remembers the devastatingly clutch shots Jordan hit along the way and the dreams of other greats that he personally crushed. Ironically, few remember the tenacious defense that gave him the opportunity to take the shot and crush the hopes and dreams of others. Remember, if he doesn’t steal the ball from Malone, he never has the opportunity to hit ‘the shot.’ To this day, no one has been able to impose his will on the game of basketball like Jordan could in his prime. And it all started on the defensive end of the floor.
Do Michael justice; remember him for both ‘the shot’ and the steal.
