Aug 22, 2013
It seems as though anytime a player or sports personnel leaves Michael Jordan off the list of greatest of all time, the headlines start to roll out. Michael Jordan is basketball royalty, how dare you not mention him when speaking of the top 3 players of all time.
Whether you know anything about basketball or not, you know who Michael Jordan is and what he has accomplished in the branding of the NBA.
But…
News Flash: There were other great players in the NBA before Michael Jordan and we are seeing players such as Kobe Bryant and LeBron James turning heads today.
The latest headline has Gary “The Glove” Payton selecting his top three players of all time and leaving off “basketball royalty” in MJ off his list. Check out his top 3:
But are we seeing a pattern here? Nowadays players (past and present) are afraid of disrespecting the Jordan brand and the backlash that it presents.
Even LeBron James was sure to pick Jordan in his top 3. Whether he was being honest or not, or just trying to save face.
LeBron James is no stranger to scrutiny and is just having the haters die down so of course he will not go against “basketball royalty” and risk making SportsCenter and every other news circuit headlines for all the wrong reasons AGAIN! He wouldn’t dare be caught not selecting Michael Jordan in his top three.
Don’t get me wrong, Michael Jordan should be in the top 5 of all time but he is not untouchable as David Stern and the top hats made him out to be.
Jordan was very marketable during his time in the NBA and Stern and the superiors rode that train long and hard, but to discount the doings of Magic Johnson, Bill Russell, Julius “Dr. J” Erving, Oscar Robertson, Wilt Chamberlain and Larry Bird is somewhat disrespectful.
Karl Malone, one of the greatest power forwards of NBA, was in the spotlight for leaving his basketball nemesis name off the list of his all-time starting five. We all remember the NBA Finals (1997, 1998) against the Utah Jazz and Chicago Bulls and how Jordan prevented Malone from ever holding up the Larry O’Brien trophy so he is not going to give the guy any love.
Yes, Malone maybe salty for not being able to beat MJ and the Chicago Bulls but maybe he also has a hidden message in his selections because he did count one of the Bulls stars in his all-time starting five.
In an interview with Dan Patrick, Malone revealed his all-time starting five as: Wilt Chamberlain (center), LeBron James (power forward), Scottie Pippen (small forward), John Stockton (point guard), and Oscar Robertson (shooting guard).
But afterwards in another interview, did Malone too try to “save face?”
Like the title of the article says “How Dare You, Disrespect Basketball Royalty.” Who will ever stand up to MJ?
