Michael Jordan - is He the Greatest?

Who is the greatest basketball player of all time? The debate is over, for now. Until another player comes along that wins and accomplishes as much as Michael Jordan did, his career and accomplishments are etched in stone. He has proudly taken his place in history. Regarded by many as the greatest player to ever play the game of basketball, Michael Jordan thrilled NBA audiences for thirteen seasons with his amazing athletic ability and fiery competitiveness that produced spectacular drives and dunks, above-the-rim offensive maneuvers, tenacious defense and championship performances.

During his career, Michael Jordan had many accomplishments. Although this list of accomplishments is not exhaustive the following facts from Jordan's The Love of the Game attest to his achievements: he has won five regular-season MVP's, six finals MVP's, and three ALL-Star Game MVP's (67). No other player has won this many MVP's in three different categories. Aschburner, a sports writer for the Star Tribune, also recognizes Jordan's abilities, stating that Jordan has won ten scoring titles. No other player has led the league in scoring ten times. Shouler states in his book Michael: Farewell to a Legend, "Jerry West, at thirty-one, was the only player close to Jordan's most recent scoring title at thirty-five years of age. No one else in NBA history has won a title after the age of twenty-nine" (57). In his autobiography, Jordan tells of how he won six NBA championships in his last six years in teh league and how he won two Olympic gold medals. He went to the Olympics once as a college player, and once as a professional. In his book, Jordan also states that he has been the steals champion three times, defensive player of the year once, and has made it on the All-Defensive First Team nine times and the All-NBA First Team nine times. Shouler states that during Jordan's thirteen-year career, there were thirty games in which he scored more than 50 points, four games in which he scored over 60 points, and 161games in which he scored over 40 points (45).