Do you think Michael Jordan was overrated?

Question

I would say he was and heres why.

I think that when compared to their era Wilt Chamberlain was by far the most dominant player. He has about 70 individual records compared to Jordan 8 NBA records and these records are in other areas such as blocking shots, rebounding. Whereas only one of MJ record is in an area outside scoring which is in steals for a half. Many rules started to change because of Wilt Chamberlain and officials often allowed other opponents to grab or make contact with him due to fact he was so much taller, stronger, and faster than his opponents.

Magic Johnson to me in my eyes was better than MJ. He could play any position, He was argubly the best passer the game has ever saw and no one has come close to that not even stockton, nash, or paul can pass like him. He was a better rebounder than Jordan. He also played against tougher competition such as celtics which had bird, parish, mchale, 76ers who had dr. j, julius erving, and maurice cheeks. Pistons who had joe dumars, isiah thomas, dennis rodman, adrian duntley. Whereas MJ only started to get out of the east when alot of great players in 76ers, celtics, and pistons started to retire and was only able to beat teams which had just one superstar or at most two superstars. The Suns he beat in 1993 which had just Charles Barkley, Portland Trail Blazers which just had Clyde Drexler in 1992, Lakers only had Magic Johnson for whole series, Kareem and Michael Cooper retired, and Scott and James Worthy missed the last 2 games of the series. Supersonics had just Gary Payton who held MJ to only 26 points a game but had no other help. Jazz had Malone and Stockton which failed to beat Spurs even after Jodan retired and never saw another championship appearance.

Additional Details

Magic won 5 rings in toughest era in basketball and also played in a more physical era where flagrant fouls and ejections or suspensions due to them was rare whereas in the 1990's jordan was protected from fouls such as these and he often received alot of calls from refs.

Answer 1

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Your absolutely right.

Wilt Chamberlain dominated his era more than MJ did. Like what you said rules were changed for opponents to guard Wilt. And even the great Bill Russell could not stop him one on one it was just he had a better team. Whats amazing is he once led the league in passing even though he was a big man and for the most part of his career played with mediocre opponents. Magic was pretty good he made guys who would at most be just an above average player like scott and worthy score and did well even when Kareem was at the downside of his career in the later 80’s. Jordan played in a watered down erea with new expansion teams. There were many new teams like Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, Grizzlies, Hornets. Imagine if Shaq had teamed up with Reggie Miller or Barkley, or Alonzo had teamed up with Malone or Stockton, there is no way Jordan would have gotten 6 rings.

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Asker's Comment:

great

Answer 2

No he was just a great player. He just started to win ring when other players retired. I mean there still were a lot of legends playing when he won the 6 rings, he used to love beating Karl Malone in the finals.

Also he was great when Magic and Bird were in there prime in the 80's, but his team wasn't. So he is not overrated at all.

Answer 3

hey man u got a point but common man u kno that jordan is not overated if anythin hes under rated. hes the hardest working basketball player. he wasnt born to play the game he didnt make his high school team and proved to the world hes the best.

Answer 4

Absolutely not... Although I was a baby during the magic johnson era I still can say growing up in the Jordan era can never be replaced..

Answer 5

MJ wasn't overrated, he was good at everything you could be good at, and was the only player besides Oscar Robertson and Elgin Baylor to average 30+points , 8+assists, 8+rebounds.

If anyone is overrated, its Wilt Chamberlain. If your'e the tallest and strongest player of your time and you get all the offensive plays aren't you bound to do some great things?

And one more thing, championship rings have nothing to do with the ability to play basketball, championship rings is won through teamwork.

Edit: MJ was always fouled, WTF are you talking about?

Answer 6

no his not his a greatest player of all time

Answer 7

I didn't read one word you just wrote, but no, MJ wasn't overrated. :)

Answer 8

no he was not overrated .he made a lot of clutch plays

Answer 9

1st off- THANK YOU FOR A NEW ARGUMENT! Kobe vs MJ is simply too easy, but I'm ready to defend him.

Wilt:

1. I'm not sure what you define as an nba record, but including playoffs and nba finals, MJ certainly has more records than Wilt Chamberlain. I counted 84 in here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_car…

2. Only major rule change involving Wilt was the rule that prevented the FT shooter from taking off until it made contact with the rim.

3. You don't seem to make a very strong argument for Wilt. He didn't win the amount of championships as MJ, he played in a worse era with less competition, hell there where only 9 teams in most of the 50s and 60s. He had a 300% high chance to win and he didn't.

4. It's not like Wilt didn't have the team for it. He played with many all stars and HOFers throughout his career, especially with the Lakers, where it took him 3 tries to win a final despite having Jerry West and Elgin Baylor.

Before I move onto Magic, I want to disclaim your statements about the 90s finals:

1. Jordan faced some great teams in the 90s (not as good as the 80s, but certainly elite teams) In 91 Magic was an elite player, this one was unfair, but it shows that when you have no teammates, you can't be successful. So isn't it unfair for you to be critical of Michael Jordan in the 80s when he had no teammates, if the same fate happened to Magic in 91.

2. Clyde Drexler and Tracy Porter where both all stars. Cliff Robinson and Buck Williams where both all-defense. And it was a very similar team that went through the WC in 1990, when almost all the 80s stars where still in their prime

3. Phoenix had Kevin Johnson and Dan Majerle, two all stars, and MVP Charles Barley. On top of that, they had a very high powered offense that featured 7 double digit scorers

4. Seattle had all stars Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp, and Detlef Schrempt and beat both Hakeem Olajuwon's Rockets and Karl Malone's Jazz to face MJ

5. Utah had 3 all stars (including 2 HOFers, one of which was the MVP) and a fierce defender in Byron Russel, and I don't see where your getting this lost to the Spurs nonsense. They lost to Portland in 99 and 00 and Dallas in 01. They, like the Bulls, were just too old, but unlike Chicago, didn't freak out and tear down the whole franchise.

Every team MJ faced had at least 1 HOFer (or future one in payton) multiple all-stars, and lock down defenders.

Magic:

1. Magic entered the league with a 6 time MVP to run the show. He added the 1st overall pick 2 years later, and found always had solid role players, whether it was Bob McAdoo in the early times or Scott and Copper in the later parts.

2. Michael Jordan played in the 80s too, and was subject to the physical play and harsh fouls that it contained. And he ended up averaging almost 34 points in that era, at over 50% from the field. And as I proved earlier, when you don't have teammates, you can't win, even with MJ or Magic.

3. While he faced some serious competition in the finals, the WC was a pretty weak division. Outside of Houston, all other teams where on the rise teams, with nowhere near the talent level to compete with LA.

4. Plenty of 80s stars where in their late 20s in the early 90s, such as Joe Dumar, Isiah Thomas, Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Dominique Wilkins, ect.

5. All that said, MJ was able to win more championships, MVPs, and simply dominate, which is why he is the GOAT

BTW, Magic and Bird both said MJ is the GOAT

Answer 10

Jordan was never overrated. The best to ever play the game. Jordan played in thee toughest era. Yes he did play Magic and Bird in their prime because they were great players from beginning to the end of their career. He also played against Kevin Mchale, Moses Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon, Dominique Wilkins, Charles Barkley, Clyde Drexler, Patrick Ewing, Isiah Thomas, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Shaquille O'Neal, David Robinson, James Worthy. All 50 greatest. Not to mention guys like. Alex English, Tom Chambers, Ron Harper (When he was actually good), Joe Dumars, Xavier McDaniel, Chris Mullen, Reggie Miller, Kevin Johnson, Bernard King, Mitch Richmond, Tim Hardaway, and so many other very very good players. Jordan played thee toughest competition. And DOMINATED averaging 30 per game every year. Overrated. Yeah anybody is overrated its Kobe Bryant. Great scorer but, everything else about him is mediocre.