Before I post Mr. Fortuna's letter, I just wanted to say that should you as a reader ever vehemently disagree with anything I write about, do not hesitate to e-mail me a response (or comment on the article) and I will re-post it. I'm always open to criticism and debate. It makes this blog even better.
Dear 4-1-1 On Sports,
The Editor-in-Chief of the 4-1-1 on Sports Charles Klein recently posted an article expressing his opinion on Michael Jordan’s comments regarding LeBron James and his “Decision” to take his talents to South Beach. What some people are getting confused about is if Jordan was comparing Wade and Bosh to Magic and Larry. The answer is no because Wade and Bosh are completely different from Magic and Larry. The only comparisons you can make with Wade is that he’s the lead dog, has won as the lead dog and is a top 3 player in his prime. On the other hand Chris Bosh is not even close to being a legend so his name should not be coming up like that. What Jordan means was that when he played against Magic and Larry Bird is that if he had the chance to he would not team with any one of those two because he wanted to beat them and he wanted no confusion on which the real alpha dog was. In Miami right now it seems to be Wade’s team and LeBron hasn’t said anything to indicate he wants to be the alpha dog there. In short, Jordan was saying if you wanted to ever be considered one of the all time greats that it won’t ever happen now because LeBron turned in his alpha dog license. In response to Jordan’s comments this is what Charles Klein had to say.
“What Michael appears to be heavily implying through his comments is that he did it all by himself in Chicago when in fact that is a bit too much revisionist history. Jordan did not win anything with the Bulls until they brought in Scottie Pippen, voted by NBA players as one of the 50 best basketball players of all-time. Not only that, Jordan had the best rebounder in the game with Dennis Rodman, one of the best foreign players in Tony Kukoc, etc. etc. The point is, as much as other analysts may try to claim otherwise, basketball is a team game."
What I plan on doing is breaking down this quote by Charles Klein piece by piece. First Jordan wasn’t implying that he won six titles by himself; instead he was implying that he won six titles as the lead dog, as a guy who didn’t leave when he could have and as a guy who knew how to lead. Nobody ever mistook Pippen as the top guy because Jordan wouldn’t allow it and he let his actions on the court defend him. There were a couple times when he was faced with free agency in the 80’s and 90’s but he did not bolt. This was before and after Jordan had a championship caliber team. A lot of people forget that the Knicks were targeting and trying to persuade Jordan to play in NY back in ’95.
Charles then states that Jordan didn’t win a championship until they got Scottie Pippen who was voted in as a top 50 player all-time. I agree with that statement to a certain extent, I agree with it to the extent that you need a good running mate to win especially when trying to build a dynasty. This is where I disagree; Jordan didn’t win his first championship until the ’90-’91 season when the Bulls beat the Lakers in the finals. Was Scottie Pippen drafted in 1990? No, he was not; actually he was drafted in 1987 with the 5th overall pick by Seattle. The Sonics then traded the rights to Scottie Pippen to the Bulls for Olden Polynice. When the Bulls traded for Pippen, they had no clue they would be getting a future Hall of Famer. Pippen was a star at Central Arkansas but that wasn’t even a Division 1 school, they were a NAIA school. Chicago was assuming that the type of player that Pippen would turn into would be one of a decent role player. How did he do his rookie year? Forget stats for a minute, he didn’t start a single game! He didn’t become a full fledge starter until his third season. After his third season he was considered to be an upcoming player in the league. The next season is when he and Jordan captured their first of six titles. Now this is where everyone says Jordan had Pippen, well he had him there but according to the NBA he wasn’t even a star yet. His numbers for the ’90-’91 season were as followed: 82 games played and started, 17.8 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 6.2 apg, 2.4 spg and 1.1 bpg. Those are some pretty impressive all-round numbers. So with those numbers how he was not even considered a star yet? There are three all NBA teams and since Scottie Pippen was a forward there were six forward spots to fill. The guys who claimed the six spots were Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, Chris Mullin, Dominique Wilkins, James Worthy and Bernard King. Yes, I’m well aware Pippen broke out in the playoffs for 21 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists per game but that was a “playoffs breakout”. The fact is to state “Jordan had Pippen” is absurd due to the fact that the statement makes Pippen look like a 10 player when he wasn’t even a top 6 forward. The next season in ’91-‘92 he made the NBA all second team with Barkley as the other forward. Karl Malone and Chris Mullin had the first team while on the third team was Dennis Rodman and Kevin Willis. Rodman and Willis were both good but not star Power Forwards which showed the lack of depth at the Small Forward position due to Dominique Wilkins missing half the season. The following season in ’92-‘93 Pippen makes third team with Derrick Coleman? Ahead of Pippen were Wilkins, Malone, Barkley and Larry Johnson who just got done with second year in the NBA. That’s their first 3-peat right there while Jordan was always on the first team. Right before the ’93-’94 season, Jordan left and Pippen led them to the Eastern semi-finals and lost in 7 games to the Knicks. The season after in ’94-’95 the Bulls were in danger of missing the playoffs until Jordan returned and led them to the playoffs in the final 17 games. Charles Klein and everyone makes the “Jordan had Pippen” claim look like the “Kobe had Shaq” claim for Kobe’s first three rings. You can’t compare, Jordan was the lead while Kobe was the second in command. You could use the “Jordan had Pippen” claim for their second 3-peat as Pippen truly became a star once Jordan left for a bit to play baseball but then you don’t have a defense for the first 3-peat.
When Charles then proceeds to say Jordan had the best rebounder in the game in Dennis Rodman, he is kind of right but not really. Jordan’s first 3-peat he did not have Rodman or one of the top rebounders. The second 3-peat, Rodman was on the Bulls but technically Rodman was only the best rebounder during the ’97-’98 season. The previous two years belonged to Dikembe Mutombo and David Robinson. A more accurate statement would be Jordan had one of the best rebounders in the league. My response is that I agree with the more accurate statement but in the ’97 and ’98 finals Karl Malone outplayed and out rebounded Dennis Rodman but yet the Jordan-led Bulls won both of those finals.
With stating Toni Kukoc was one of the best international players and maybe the best at the time wasn’t stating very much. He was definitely a great 6th man with averages of 13 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists for the second 3-peat. However, back then there were no star international players except Olajuwon but he played college ball in America so you can’t fully consider him “international”.
The last part I will argue is that basketball is a team game. Now, I’m not going to say flat out that it’s not because team chemistry and players being accepting of their roles are very important. My argument is this, when the game is on the line with 5 minutes to go, you can’t really consider it much of a team game anymore. What you want is for your star player to take over, if he takes over and how he finishes not only determines one game but it can also determine the ability to compete for a title. Jordan loved to take over, that’s what he loved best. LeBron James on the other hand fears it, that’s why there have been plenty of times where LeBron folds and loses. It’s the reason why he decided to play the mega Pippen to Wade’s Jordan. In conclusion, Jordan didn’t have Pippen, instead Pippen had Jordan.
Sincerely Yours,
Phil Fortuna
Northport, New York
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