Basketball Commentary: A Bullish Debate on the GOAT Michael Jordan!

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By Ron Signore

Pride in one’s city, or hometown, is arguably never more closely defined as it is with sports. There is ZERO DOUBT that I hold Chicago near and dear to my heart and am very much a fanatic of most of the professional Chicago sports team. Despite my boyhood baseball idol, Frank Thomas not having much of a participating role due to injury, I have been extremely blessed to have seen my beloved White Sox win a World Series. I went through the depths of hell with terrible ownership in one generation of Wirtz leading the Blackhawks to a dynasty of hockey glory with another generation of Wirtz at the helm. And though I am not a Bear fan you truly cannot be a true Chicagoan if you are not a fan of the legacy of Walter Payton, Mike Ditka and the 85 Chicago Bears team that won Super Bowl XX.

With that preamble, in my lifetime, the City of Chicago was never prouder, more dominant, and taller than that of the 6 NBA Championships the Chicago Bulls won with Michael Jordan leading the way. By the end of the final championship run in 1998, the city had seen a young leader who arrived as a young pup in 1984, grow into one of the most iconic people in the world. Let me say that again… most iconic people.

Jordan arrived from the University of North Carolina to the pitiful Chicago Bulls in 1984. Like any other rookie, he came on ‘bullish’ with the intent of delivering the message of turning the Bulls into a championship franchise. In 1984, that was a huge message or promise to attempt to deliver on. Jordan came on when greats like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Julius Erving were the greats in the league.

While the accolades grew throughout his time in the 1980’s, the extended highlight reel of impossible shots, posturing dunks and seemingly an undying fire drew attention beyond Chicago. The Bulls had a phenomenon that they had no idea how to manage the attention.

However, being an iconic basketball player was not where it stopped with a growing Jordan. This is where he separates himself from the field to be arguably the greatest of all time (GOAT). His determination to rise to the top with his drive to not settle for failure became one of the most contagious attributes of his leadership that spread throughout the team, the organization, the league, the city, and the world.

Leadership means different things to different people. The many dichotomies of leadership can alter the course of paths one may be on. Leadership can have payoffs as much as consequences. But at the end of the day, those decisions either give you the trust to be followed, or the revolt to dethrone you.

The first instance where we can truly see leading change with Jordan was in 1986. Jordan had played a shortened season due to an injury that had an unknown future to it. How would it heal? How susceptible to re-injury? If re-injury occurs, how would it impact his career? Knowing the NBA is a business, the organization wanted to take a business approach. The Bulls were not at a point to really be considered for the playoffs, certainly not a championship, so management wanted to shut Jordan down for the season. Jordan would not settle for that. You play to win, always, no matter what. That is Jordan’s mentality. Jordan would not settle for the Bulls working to protect their best asset over winning or the concept of finishing worse gets a higher draft pick in the next year’s draft. After internal negotiations, Jordan would return on a limited minutes basis, and close the gap to help the Bulls land in the playoffs. This was the first instance we saw the power of trust land in Jordan’s hands as reaching that hopeful goal.

There was some interesting consequence to that event. He set the bar higher and that load of matching and exceeding the bar landed fully on Jordan’s shoulders. For the next few years, he would take that ball and run with it as best he could solo. He fought and fought to keep inching the Bulls closer to the promised land.

But being a leader by example of performance is not always going to gather results. Much like the business world, success reflects on scalability. The Bulls front office had brought in some surrounding pieces to help aid Jordan in the quest for a championship. This is where we see the growth of Jordan furthermore developed when he had to fail forward. Now, that could be interpreted as losing over and over again. Sure. The Bulls of the late 80’s went through some struggles that could align with that interpretation. However, the fail forward concept was the lesson Jordan had learned to unite and scale the team. He had to relinquish the unnecessary burden to do it all himself. He had to trust others to support his efforts. Common sense to most is the more people pulling the rope, the farther it will go in a shorter amount of time. This is a very difficult concept for a leader to grasp. Their pride in their skills seldom allows for faith in others.

Jordan had to trust another set of eyes in a general, er coach in Phil Jackson. He had to rely on his teammates to be in the right position, make the right choices in execution and align with that vision. The history of the Chicago Bulls from getting to their first NBA Championship to earning six in eight years people know. The story of Jordan leaving the Bulls to play baseball for 18 months, returning and driving the Bulls for the second 3 peat of the 6 championships is known. They get the team accomplishments, and the most common argument to Jordan being the greatest of all time has to do with his many accolades individually and as part of a team.

The arguable problem here for those of us arguing, that is not what makes him the GOAT. He has a variety of individual accolades for scoring titles, defensive categories, Rookie of the Year, MVP, the list can go on for a while. He has championships in the NCAA, NBA and he is a 2x Olympic Gold Medal winner in basketball. Guess what? Stats and accolades, or records, are meant to be surpassed and broken.

Since Jordan’s final retirement from the Bulls after their last championship, and beyond his final retirement overall, we have seen some basketball players that are a marvel on the court. While there continue to be great names to mention like Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook or Steph Curry, the attention for “GOAT” arguments revolve around two names: the late Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.

Both James and Bryant had, or are having, illustrious careers. Bryant traveled somewhat of a similar path to Jordan in the sense he started off on a mediocre Lakers team, though, he was right out of high school. His impact on the league was expected but did not come in an immediate fashion. His growth also revolved around getting to heights as an individual, but not be completed without a supporting cast and allowing himself to trust in his team to execute for success. While he wound up with 5 championships and too has accolades and states that are in top percentages of achievement in league history, his career reverted. After his final championship, the Lakers started to decline as an organization and individual Kobe Bryant went back to lighting up teams statistically with no real achievements as a team to brag about.

James on the other hand, also out of high school and into the NBA, made a direct impact as a player. He played for his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers, who by all standards were just awful. His path was much more like Jordan’s in the sense of he was a one man show for what seemed to be a long time. Though, his first stint in Cleveland ended without a championship, but most importantly, its where he lost the respect of many associated with the game.

Instead of building and driving his organization to glory, he chose arguably the most public display of immaturity in signing as a free agent with the Miami Heat. Now, perception of how was it bad, but the real point of criticism was the alignment of himself with Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade, two very outstanding talents in the NBA at the time. This alignment was looked upon as laughable with the concept of LeBron needing to team up and conspire with other MVP caliber type players to form a significant “super team.” It was at that moment; one can argue he forfeited any right to be claimed the greatest ever. I strongly believe that. The perception of his will to fight was that of a coward. Though despite that, people really keep him in this ongoing debate of being the greatest. His stats and accolades also keep mounting to some of the highest ranks in history. He has been in more NBA finals than Jordan and Kobe, though, not as successful percentage or quantity wise.

If it were up to stats, while Jordan ranks amongst the top in every related statistical category, it would continue to truly be an argument as to who the GOAT was and why. The deciding factors must go beyond that. They must measure the journey of the champion, successes, and failures. They must look at the adversity and how one drove through it. Reflection from day 1, Jordan solidifies that. His revolutionary play changed the game going forward and paved the way for stars like Bryant and James. But his leadership and journey top any that challenge him.

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