Michael Jordan

Accolades

Hall of Fame, 6x NBA Champ, 6x Finals MVP, 5x MVP, 11x All-NBA, 9x All-Defensive, 14x All Star, 10x Scoring Champ, 3x STL Champ, 1987-88 DPOY, 3x AS MVP, 1984-85 ROY, 1984-85 All-Rookie, NBA 75th Anniv. Team

Biography

After hitting a late-game jumper to win the NCAA National Championship as a freshman, Jordan developed into the consensus best player in college hoops during his sophomore and junior seasons at UNC. Drafted third overall by the Bulls, he took the league by storm as a rookie, leading the league in total points scored and running away with ROY honors.

His second year in the league was marred by a serious injury and subsequent load management (although that term wouldn't even be invented for several more decades) until his breathtaking perfomance in the playoffs. He individually dominated the future champion Celtics - widely viewed as one of the greatest teams in NBA history - even as his team was swept. Larry Bird famously remarked, "That wasn't Michael Jordan; it was God disguised as Michael Jordan."

MJ's next four seasons firmly established him as the greatest shooting guard and most explosive athlete that had ever lived, but playoff success continued to elude Chicago. The Bad Boy Pistons had implemented their infamous Jordan Rules and basically beat the snot out of him at every chance they got, eliminating the Bulls four straight times. Many fans and pundits began to question if Jordan's undeniable brilliance as a scorer was actually an impediment to his team's success.

Any such doubts were definitively assuaged over the next three seasons as Mike led his team to the first threepeat since Bill Russell's Celtics, capturing his 5th, 6th, and 7th consecutive scoring titles in the process to match the record of the legendary Wilt Chamberlain. Jordan won Finals MVP all three years and was widely considered the GOAT already, at age 30.

Continued success seemed inevitable but in one of the biggest surprises in sports history, Jordan retired from the NBA to pursue a career in baseball. He had grown weary of the spotlight and was grieving the loss of his recently murdered father.

Luckily for the sports world, the baseball strike of 1994 spurred a return to basketball after over a year away and MJ reclaimed his mantle as the absolute best of the best, leading his team to a record 72-10 regular season mark and championship in the 1996 season. He followed this up by winning two more consecutive rings, locking up an unheard of second threepeat before retiring once again. He had won scoring titles and Finals MVP honors in all three campaigns.

Since his time with the Bulls, MJ has tried his hand at ownership and various other executive roles within the league, and also came out of retirement for two seasons with the Washington Wizards, setting numerous records for a player of such advanced age.

It is almost impossible to overstate Jordan's cultural impact and fame. He became the first billionaire athlete and his jumpman emblem is as iconic as the NBA logo itself. He's still the all-time leader in PPG and many advanced stats which were invented following his career rate him at or near the top of league history. His ten scoring titles and six Finals MVP awards are also records, among others. I love LBJ, but in my books no one has come close to matching Michael Jordan when it comes to basketball brilliance.