Just about everything that can be said or written in appreciation of Michael Jordan has been said and written. So here are a few random secondary observations:
Jordan is by acclamation the greatest basketball player of all time. No argument here. You also could make a good case for him as the greatest athlete in any team sport. At the same time, I also would suggest that the acclaim Jordan is now receiving, while well deserved, is disproportionate to his standing alongside other all-time greats. Is he the
best NBA player ever? Sure. Is he that much better than Johnson and Bird, Russell and Wilt, Oscar and West? Not really, but the combination of performance, television, modern marketing and Jordan's suitability and willingness to be part of that
marketing has highlighted and amplified his greatness in a way that the greatness of others (especially in earlier eras) was not.
Even the greatest can benefit from some good timing. The best of Jordan's Bulls are among the greatest teams of all time. But here's a fact: None of the six teams the Bulls defeated in the NBA Finals was as good as the Celtics, Lakers or 76ers of the '80s. If Jordan and his team had peaked at a time when his near contemporaries and their teams had peaked, the Bulls would have won championships, but not as many. When at his best, Jordan had no sustained rival, the athletic or competitive equal of Bird or Magic.
Jordan's departure marks the end of an incredible run of excellence and good fortune for the NBA. Going back to 1980, 16 of the last 19 NBA Finals have showcased Magic Johnson, Larry Bird or Michael Jordan. So as the NBA soared in popularity, its most exciting and dramatic games almost always featured the three best and most appealing stars in the modern history of the league.
The NBA's marketing was terrific. David Stern's leadership was brilliant, but nothing mattered as much as getting the three most compelling players in the league onto center stage year after year. It was essential that the three greatest individual stars were ultimately about taking their teams to the championship. That's where the indelible images of true greatness and triumph are created. Individual exploits aside, more than anything else, it was team victories that served to validate and increase the stardom of Johnson, Bird and Jordan.
The league rode that stardom for almost two decades. Where does it go from here? One thing should be clear: The mere highlight reel, "SportsCenter"-making moves of many young players, no matter how dazzling, won't fill that void. Because it's not about '90s sizzle; it's about enduring greatness and authenticity.
It was Jordan's complete authenticity as a player and disarming likability as a person that allowed him to pull off the seemingly impossible. He was the most hyped, the most commercialized, the most lavishly rewarded athlete of all time. Yet, we never seemed to resent him or grow tired of him. He is likely the biggest celebrity in the world.
And although there may not be a more empty value than celebrity for its own sake, Jordan the celebrity was created and redeemed by Jordan the performer. In a style-over-substance world, Jordan had true style and (as an athlete) true substance. As Sandy Grady wrote in USA Today, "Jordan's art was pure."
Because Jordan was the NBA to millions of people, he helped disguise some of the league's problems in the process. To many people, the recent image of the NBA is the high-flying image of Jordan and the aesthetically pleasing style of the Bulls. But in truth, NBA games in recent years have often been plodding 87-83 affairs without the ball movement and total team involvement that makes basketball so pleasing. The NBA Showtime of the 1980s has not been much in evidence. The
average NBA game in 1985 was a more entertaining and fundamentally sound affair than the average NBA game of the late '90s.
At the same time, the crassness and mindless grandstanding of some current NBA players was overshadowed by Jordan's class and grace because his image dominated all the other images. Now some of these fraudulent characters will be further exposed.
The antidote to all this is not to await the arrival of the next Jordan because he isn't coming. And no one can pass the torch to Grant Hill, Kobe Bryant or anyone else just by wishing that it's so.
With the events of the past few months serving as a slap in the face, now is the time for everyone involved in the NBA to return to the spirit of partnership and perspective that served the league so well not so long ago. Already there are hopeful signs. The new collective bargaining agreement was not only a triumph for David Stern, but for common sense. Now in an atmosphere of relative stability, the league can get about the business of re-emphasizing what should be its lasting strengths -- the teams; the rivalries that can be developed or rekindled; the many talented and appealing players, who may not be Michael Jordan but still have a a lot to offer; and, most important, the game itself. That game has been plenty interesting and plenty entertaining for decades.
The NBA will never be the same without Michael Jordan, but even without him, it can still be great.
Bob Costas will call NBA games this season with Doug Collins for NBC Sports.
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