Why Jordan is still the best NBA player ever...

"You cannot win a basketball game alone, unless you are Michael Jordan"
- Darvin Ham (Ex-NBA player)

"By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time"
- NBA

Kobe or Jordan?... After Kobe won his 5th NBA title just last week, the debate on "who is the best NBA player ever" was resurrected. Fans of Kobe are claiming that Bryant had already surpassed Jordan as the greatest basketball player of all time. This statement had raised the eyebrows of many basketball fans. They don't think that Kobe is great enough to dethrone His Airness, Michael Jordan. Kobe Bryant is really an exceptional player. His ability to create and make shot is superb. He has also been a great defender and passer this past years. Kobe is maybe the best basketball player today. But all time? I don't think so.

Jordan is just an unbelievable player. There are a lot of things that separates Jordan from other players. These are the things that made him the greatest of all time. So let's discuss about this stuffs...

Monster Statistics!

As they say, numbers don't lie. Michael Jordan has whopping career averages of 30.1 pts/game, 6.2 rebs/game, 5.3 asts/game, 2.35 stls/game, 0.8 blks/game, 49.7 FG%, 32.7 3pt FG%, 83.5 FT%. His stat line is really unbelievable. Aside from scoring a lot of points per game (he is the no.1 all time in scoring average), he can also pass the ball, grab rebounds, and play defense. Jordan is an all around player. He is excellent at both ends of the court.

Michael Jordan also has 6 NBA championship rings, 5 Season MVP awards, 6 Finals MVP, 1 time DPOY, 14 all star games, 10x NBA 1st team, 9x NBA defensive 1st team, 2 slamdunk titles, 2 Olympics gold medals.

Does his jaw dropping numbers are already enough to be coined as the best? Maybe not. This is just one aspect of his game. In fact, there are players who had almost the same stats as him. Like LeBron James' career averages; 27.8ppg, 7rpg, 7apg, 1.7spg, 0.9bpg. Anti-Jordans are also arguing that he only got those averages because there are no player before that can play defense to him. They are saying that if Jordan played today, he may not be able to put up those stats. Therefore, they believe that Jordan don't deserve the title (greatest basketball player of all time) given to him.

Miraculous Buzzer Beaters

Throughout his (Michael Jordan) 14 seasons in the NBA, Jordan has been able to beat a lot of teams with his heroic game winning shots. Many basketball geeks are saying; "Jordan is the only player whom you can create a top 10 buzzer beaters clip ". One of the most popular game winning shot that he made was against the Utah Jazz in Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals. This historical shot gave him and the Chicago Bulls their 6th NBA title.

So he is a great clutch player. Is this the main reason why he is the greatest of all time? Hmm... maybe. I think his ability to make shots in the dying seconds of the game is one of the more popular reasons why he was considered as the best. But shooting buzzer beaters are not enough to be dubbed as the greatest of all time. Because there are also a lot of NBA players who can sink game winning shots.

Great combination of talent and skill

MJ is one heck of a talent. High leaping ability, excellent midrange shooting touch, tons of confidence and aggressiveness, sick crossover moves, awesome fade away jumper and a great nose for the ball. His inborn talent combined with hard work made him an unstoppable player. He learned how to use those talent to become successful in the pro league. Aside from winning games, his talent also entertains the crowd. With his high leaping ability, he is able to dunk the ball from the free-throw line. And the crowd loves it.

We can fairly say that his talent and skill level are the reasons why he was tagged as the greatest of all time. There are only few elite players who have the same level of talent as Jordan has. But, I think there is one more reason why he is the greatest of all time.

If he's incredible stats, buzzer beating shots and tremendous talent are not the main reason why he was dubbed as the greatest of all time, then what is the main reason?

Based on my analysis and observations, the ultimate reason why Jordan is still the best NBA, or should we say basketball player ever, is because...

He Came First

If you will analyze the statements above, you will realize that there are players who are equally great as Jordan. They can produce monster stats like MJ, shoot buzzer beaters, and they also possesses great individual skills and talents. But what separates Jordan, is that he was the first player to revolutionized NBA and the basketball game itself. He was the first NBA superstar who can play outstanding offense and excellent defense. Before Jordan, NBA superstars are either great offensive players or tremendous defensive players. None of them was able to play excellent offense and defense at the same time like what Jordan did.

Jordan was the first NBA guard who can block shots in consistent basis. He was the first player to hit those high flying fade away jumpers. And the first player to promote that dunking is a fun thing to do.

Today, there are NBA superstars who could also play excellent offense and defense like MJ does. They are LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Kobe Bryant. But they still cannot dethrone MJ as the greatest player of all time. Because there is nothing special about them. People already saw Jordan doing those crazy stuffs that they are doing today. People only enjoyed watching them because they remember Jordan with those players. Fans were delighted to watch again those great moves that Jordan already did before.

Until they can show something incredibly new in the league, maybe that's the only time they can beat Jordan as the greatest player of all time.

If you would ask me who could be the next MJ, I will pick LeBron. He has the same talent and skill level of Jordan. And with his unbelievable physical attributes, he could revolutionize the game like what Jordan did. He is the first NBA player who can play almost all of the positions. From point guard, to power forward. He is a massive, wide bodied 6'8" guy who has strength of a center, and speed of a point guard. If he can win some championship rings, then he may be able to beat Jordan as the greatest basketball player of all time.