Michael Jordan might be the greatest player of all time, but he had his own unique set of challenges to overcome. In his early years, he had to get past the Boston Celtics, who had Larry Bird and Kevin Mchale, but probably his biggest challenge was the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons eliminated Jordan three times in the Eastern Conference Finals and they were nicknamed the Bad Boys because of their rough playing style.
But when he got a proper coach and another star in Scottie Pippen, he was able to get past them without much trouble. Obviously, some stars of the Pistons are still salty about the fact that Jordan beat them. They were so salty that after losing to the Bulls, they left the court without shaking hands. The Pistons were mocked and criticized for their actions and their players still take shots at Jordan to this date.
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“Kids Were Able to Be Michael Jordan,”
John Salley, a rival turned teammate of Jordan, had something to say as to why he became so popular and became the face of the league. He says Jordan wasn’t the only player with a killer instinct and other players had the same traits same as well. Salley said that Jordan became the Messiah only because of marketing.
Salley added, “Michael came to the NBA with David Stern. He came in with a brilliant agent, a brilliant lawyer who realized he had a product to sell. And in developing that product, we had to now make this product the Messiah. In order to get people to worship it, you got to make it a Messiah.”
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“Michael is the beginning of the video game age. So kids were able to be Michael,”
To be fair, he does have a point. The 90s were the time when video games became popular and normal people could play as their favorite players. David Stern is regarded as one of the best commissioners of all time and he took the league to new heights. He had a face of the league in Jordan and he took him and the league all around the world.
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But Jordan did have some unique traits. His win at all costs attitude earned him praise from fans all across the world. Jordan had an aura about him, and many players say that he was their favorite player to watch. Jordan also went on to win 6 championships and he never lost in the Finals, making him perfect.
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