Michael Jordan recently touched on a topic of discussion that he is at the epicentre of in the NBA: the GOAT Debate. While he openly disregarded the significance of the debate, his ex-teammate from college and former NBA opponent, Kenny Smith, further reinforced why he believes Jordan is the “most complete” player the NBA has ever seen.
The Rockets’ legend recently appeared on ESPN’s First Take and discussed his opinions with Stephen A. Smith and Shae Cornette.
“It’s kind of like very similar to the rap debate, like ‘who is the greatest rapper of all time?'” said the two-time NBA champion while discussing Jordan’s recent comments on the GOAT Debate.
“However, there is a group of people who have been part of multiple eras of rap music that can articulate what it meant when this song came out, when this track came out, what was going on in an environment, because those things mean something as well.”
“So yeah, everyone has their favorite; it has a musical kind of feel. But in terms of what a basketball player should be, in terms of intensity, the ability to play both ends of the court, the ability to lead his team. There has honestly been no one better in the modern era,” justified the Rockets’ legend.
“I don’t even put Bill Russell and those 13 championships and all that, because we were too young to see it. I’m talking about in the lifetime of what I’ve seen, he’s [Michael Jordan] been the most complete basketball player that the earth has ever seen,” concluded Kenny Smith.
There is no statistical or objective basis for such an opinion, but Smith simply highlights the significance of what Jordan meant to the people, even years after his retirement.
Many players have higher scoring averages and more championships now, but that doesn’t diminish what Jordan did in his prime or how important he was in making basketball a global sport.
One could find multiple reasons to disregard the NBA veteran’s subjective opinion here, like the fact that he was teammates with Jordan in college, therefore his opinion may be biased towards the players he has seen or played with (thus also discounting Bill Russell from the discussion).
Or the fact that, since he has barely played with other players in the GOAT Debate in their primes, like LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. Smith retired in 1997, just one year after Kobe Bryant was drafted to the league.
Thus, to preserve the greatness of his own era when he played, he might be under the perception that he played with and against the greatest player of all time.
Stephen A. Smith spoke after Kenny Smith on the show and said Michael Jordan knows it, but he would never admit he is the greatest player of all time. And that is because he wants to promote the sport instead of stealing all the glory from it.
Similarly, the GOAT debate is also an essential part of the culture that finds its roots in the heart of the USA. In order to promote the game among the younger generation, it is important to give them an equal opportunity to produce their own players who stand among the greatest of all time.
Therefore, the GOAT debate is good for basketball, and bringing it up only serves the purpose that the Bulls legend wanted to fulfill in the first place, which is to promote the game across the world.
