In 1993, Michael Jordan was sitting at the top of the NBA world. He had just won a third consecutive championship with the Chicago Bulls and clinched his third straight Finals MVP, putting him in the conversation with the game’s greatest-ever players. MJ would retire after that run, largely thanks to the devastating loss of his father, but in 1993, the questions were already pouring in about if he was the GOAT and if the Bulls were the greatest team ever.
Then, the Boston Celtics were considered to be NBA’s greatest franchise by a long shot. Having won 11 titles in the Bill Russell era and then added 5 more to the tally, the Celtics were widely thought of as league royalty. However, they won a lot of their titles when the league was still small, there were only between 8-10 teams in the league for many of the titles that the Celtics won. And when talking about where the Bulls ranked all-time, MJ was quick to bring that point up.
Michael Jordan Implied That The Boston Celtics’ Championships Didn’t Hold The Same Weight Because Of A Lack Of Competition In The Era
This criticism is often leveled against those teams and the stars of that era, the fact that the league was not as developed as it became by the late 1980s. By 1989, there were 27 teams in the NBA, more than thrice the number that had been there during the 50s and 60s. And that’s what Michael Jordan spoke about in his press conference.
“I know there’s going to be a lot of opinions about who’s the greatest team but forever. When you look at the Celtics, they got 16, 18, I don’t know how many championships they got. But they never won the championship when they had 28 teams and so much parity in the league. In this era. So that means something to win three in a row, knowing there’s so much talent in this league now. So much parity in this league… We feel we must be considered one of the greatest teams ever.”
Comparing across eras is always difficult, and the younger generation almost always feels like they have it more difficult than their predecessors. There is some merit to MJ’s point here, although his winning another three-peat more or less cemented his and the Bulls’ legacy. There have been many amazing teams in the league’s history, but no one would say that MJ and the Bulls aren’t among the top teams on that list.
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