Source: This article was originally published on The Medium
Introduction
The way the Bulls affected MJ’s legacy is a mixed bag. The way in which he acquired those rings thoroughly cemented him as the GOAT in many people’s eyes. Unfortunately, his time with the Bulls also made him susceptible to lazy and dishonest criticisms from media members and critics. In an attempt to water down MJ’s rings and his legacy, his detractors pushed heavy revisionist history to mythologize his teammates out of proportion and downplay MJs role on the team. If you think it’s just the mainstream media doing this, then you’re wrong. Several of his own teammates often get in on the action and throw shots at MJ once every blue moon.
Part 1: Define Carry
When Michael Jordan was actively playing the game with the Bulls, fans and analysts were acknowledging that Michael Jordan was carrying the Bulls to championships. It’s interesting. Because usually players don’t carry teams to championships-never mind 6. It’s one of the many reasons that Michael Jordan’s career was cemented as the GOAT. Overtime, his role on the team gets more and more watered down and the retrospective outlook on his teammates keep getting mythologized out of proportion. Nowadays, if you say that MJ “carried” the Bulls, people would backlash against you for “disrespecting his teammates”. Which brings me to my main problem.
First off. Someone carrying a team simply means that they’re doing way more for a team than a typical leader should be doing. This doesn’t mean that other players weren’t crucial to the team’s success. This doesn’t equate to everyone being “bums” or “nobodies”. It just means that compared to other leaders, this particular leader had way more on his shoulders. Secondly, what qualifies as “carrying a team”? What exactly do people typically affiliate with carrying a team.
How about carrying a scoring load?
-There are multiple seasons in the NBA where a team is sub par scoring wise. And the leader of that team has to take the majority of shots for his team in order to keep the offense going.
-Well, Michael Jordan had this scoring responsibility for his entire NBA career. Taking the majority of shots in order to keep the offense running.
-Not just that, MJ took on every scoring role the team had to offer (from being a slasher, to low post scoring, to shooting from a variety of different ranges).
-Also take into account that he still had to play elite defense on top of that. Being the team’s defensive anchor.
What about being the biggest offensive centerpiece in the league
-Obviously a team’s offensive plays runs through the leader. The majority of offensive plays are centered around them. Some teams have higher offensive plays running through them then anyone else.
-Luckily, there is such an analytic that measures how many team plays runs through a player: it’s called usage percentage. It dates back to 1977–78 and extends to the present day.
-Well Michael Jordan has led the league in usage percentage in the regular season 8x and the playoffs 6x (both are records).
-Jordan also has the highest usage percentage in NBA history in both the regular season and the playoffs.
How about overcoming injuries?
-Some players have to put up with injury prone players in the regular season and post season. Missing games and having reduced minutes as a result. This puts more emphasis on the leader to continue the team’s strategies while their crucial player is out.
-Well, through 5 of his 6 championships, MJ had to continue running the Triangle Offense while his crucial teammates were out. Especially during the 2nd 3 peat.
How about leading a team in 4+ categories in the regular season and the post season?
-There are 5 major categories recorded for a basketball team: points, assists, steals, blocks, and rebounds. When a player leads his team in at least 4 of the categories, then he’s seen as “carrying the team” in the season or series that year.
-Well MJ did this 2x in the regular season and 7x in the post season
How about being a closer?
-Usually when your team is struggling, you need someone to put the team on their back and lead you to the finished line.
-Well, that was so common on the Chicago Bulls, that they had a catch phrase for it: take us home, Michael.
-If the Bulls were struggling to finish a game or end a series, the coach, the players, or the commentators would utter the phrase “take us home, Michael”.
So again, I ask you “what qualifies as carrying?”
-He carries the scoring load of his team
-He has more offensive plays ran through him than any other player since it was recorded in 1977–78 season.
-He’s still expected to be the defensive anchor on his squad.
-He had to overcome injuries on his team
-When everything else failed, the Bulls expected MJ to put the team on his back and drag them to the finished line.
-That, in my opinion, is the definition of carrying a team.
Part 2: All Around Game
1980s
Throughout his 4 full seasons and 5 total playoff runs in the 1980s, Michael Jordan was constantly praised for his all around game. In fact, his all around game is why he was considered in the GOAT conversation to begin with. He had a more well rounded offensive and defensive game than anyone in the league, and was a prolific scorer on top of that.
He was known for leading his team in points, assists, steals, and blocks. While racking up a lot of rebounds for a guard (6). This was due to the fact that MJ was brought onto a team with no dominant big man (to handle the blocks and rebounds), no floor general (to handle the ball and rack up assists), and poor scoring. So the responsibility heavily relied on him.
-He led the team and the league in points in all 4 seasons. He led the team in points in all 5 playoff runs.
-He led the team in assists for 3 seasons. He led them in assists in all 5 playoff runs.
-He led the team in steals all 4 seasons. He led the team in steals in all 5 playoff runs.
-He led the team in blocks for 2 seasons. He led the team in blocks in 3 playoff runs.
Early 1990s
Unfortunately, over time, that image faded. In the early 1990s, from 1990–1993, his teammates improved their performance. Horace Grant developed into a suitable low post player (racking up respectable blocks and rebounds). While there was still no floor general teammate, there were 2 low post players to assist MJ with running the offense (Scottie Pippen and BJ Armstrong).
He eventually became known for leading his team in points, assists, and steals. While still averaging 6 rebounds a game as a guard.
-He led the team and league in points all 4 seasons. He led the team in points in all 4 playoff runs.
-He led the team in assists for 1 season. He led the team in assists in 3 playoff runs.
-He led the team in steals all 4 seasons. He led the team in assists in 3 playoff runs.
Late 1990s
When MJ returned from retirement, (during his last 3 seasons and last 4 playoff runs) he was no longer praised of his all around game. This was due to the complete reconstruction of the team. The team was the most talented and most elite defensively than any other team he’s ever been on. However, it’s also the a giant step down offensively and they were the least healthy team he’s ever had. Due to this, the offense revolved around him more than ever.
Having him in the low post to compensate from the offensive limits of Dennis Rodman. Having him shoot mid range more often to assist Ron Harper (who was never a career mid range shooter). Taking more 3s than ever (along with several of his starting teammates doing the same) to compensate for when Steve Kerr (a career bench player) wasn’t in the starting line up.
Also, unlike the 1st 3 peat, there were more teammates who needed the basketball in their hand to get into the rhythym of the Triangle. In the 1st 3 peat, it was mostly Scottie Pippen and sometimes BJ Armstrong. But during the 2nd 3 peat, Pippen, Ron Harper, and Toni Kukoc all needed the basketball in their hand in order to get involved.
Due to this, he became known for leading his team in points and steals. Only sometimes leading in assists. Though still averaging 6 rebounds per game.
-He led his team and the league in points all 3 seasons. He led the team in points in all 4 playoff runs.
-He didn’t lead his team in asissts in any season. But he did lead them in asisst in 1 playoff run.
-He led the team in steals for 2 seasons. He lead the team in steals in 2 playoff runs.
Part 3: Media Perception
Unfortunately, the 2nd 3 peat, was his most recent Bulls stint-and the last of his best years as a player. Due to this, he’s been given this revisionist reputation as “just a scorer”, when that couldn’t be further from thr truth. Falsely pushing this argument that MJs teammates “did all the other work” and MJ “just had to scorer”. Then capping it off with another falsel label as MJ being a “ball hog” who “refuses” to share the ball with others. Let’s go over the problem with each issue.
Just A Scorer
>MJ is definitely not just a scorer
-He’s one of the greatest ball thiefs in NBA history. His ability to rack up steals is difficult to match.
-H’es amongst the best at racking up blocks and rebounds as a guard.
-He’s one of the greatest off ball players in NBA history.
-In addition to his prolific scoring, he was a flashy and proficient passer. Either being a full blown floor general (see 1989 season and 1991 finals), playmaking from the top of the key, or using defensive attention to get his teammates wide open looks.
Ball Hog
>Michael Jordan is also not a ball hog. He passed way more often than most prolific scorers.
-he is one of only 4 players who retired averaging 25+ points and 5+ assists for his regular season career. One of only 3 players to retire averaging this in his overall post season. Also one of the only 3 players to retire averaging that in his overall finals career.
-He led his team in assists 5x in the regular season and led his team in assists 9x in playoff runs.
Time Of Desperation
It’s also important to note just how often MJ needed to close out games. He could have spend his time focusing on other stats throughout his championship runs. But that would be putting himself above his team. Why risk the team losing and affect his legacy when he could focus on getting his team the victory?
Part 4: Watering Down Impact
You would think with all of the hard work MJ did, people would be more appreciative. Yet, ironically, people back then and to this day have been trying to water down his impact on the team. When Michael Jordan was losing to other teams in the early stages of his career, people had no problem throwing all of the blame on him. Ignoring the poor performances of his teammates. But now, when MJ starts to win (and even puts the team on his back in order to secure the victory), everyone wants to jump on the bandwaggon and get equal credit for the team’s success.
1994
Jerry Krause tried his hardest to prove that it was his mastermind basketball IQ that helped the Bulls become champions. Scottie Pippen also wanted to “no longer be in MJ’s shadow” and wanted to create his own legacy as an individual. In order to prove it, he kept the core 3 peat team, made Pippen the new leader, and tried to stack up the bench with talent (Steve Kerr, Toni Kukoc, Luc Longley, Bill Wennington, and Pete Meyers). Well here are the results.
-With MJ as the leader they were one of the best offensive and defensive teams in the league. With MJ retired, they were one of the worst offenses in the league, but still had elite defense.
-With MJ as the leader, they won 3 straight chips and led the team to 5 straight conference finals. Making them a competitive regular season and playoff team. With Pippen taking over, they lost in the 2nd round. Still competitive in the regular season, but not the playoffs.
-With MJ leading the team, they beat the Knicks 4x (1989, 1991–1993). With MJ retired, the Bulls lost to an injury prone Knicks team.
1995
The assumption for the failure landed on the core 3 peat squad. So the team was scrapped (excluding Pippen, Armstrong, and Will Purdue). The stacked bench (Kerr, Kukoc, Longley, and Wennington) were given larger roles. Ron Harper was added to the team as the new starting shooting guard, with Pete Meyers being the back up. Well, the results were even worst.
-Last year, at the All Star Break, the Bulls were 34–14. This year, at the All Star Break, they were 23–25.
-Last year, 65 games in, the Bulls were 43–22. This year, 65 games in, the Bulls were 34–31.
-From 1989–1993, they were competitive the regular season and the playoffs. In 1994, without MJ, they were only competitive in the regular season. Now they weren’t even competitive in the regular season.
1998
In a last ditch effort to renogotiate his contract and prove that the Bulls needed him, Pippen got surgery, missing half the season.Unfortunately, this stint was short lived, as the Bulls were 34–15 at the All Star Break. They ended the season 62–20, the best record in the league.
1999–2003
By 1999, Krause got rid of Phil Jackson, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, and Luc Longley. This situation became so toxic, that MJ chose to stop playing for the Bulls organization and announced his retirement.
>Krause again tried to prove that it was his great basketball IQ that put the team together. Again, this was a failed attempt.
-In 1999, the Bulls finished the 50 game shortened season as 13–37.
-In 2000, the Bulls finished the season with a 17–65 record
-In 2001, the Bulls finished the season with a 15–67 record
-In 2002, the Bulls finished the season with a 21–61 record
-In 2003, the Bulls finished the season with a 30–52 record
>Pippen on the other hand was trying his best to win a championship without MJ.
-In 1999, he joined Barkley and Hakeem Olajuwon on the Rockets, assuming they would make a deep playoff run. But they lost in the first round.
-While the Rockets were losing in the first round, the Blazers went to the conference finals, but lost.
-Pippen trying to jump on the bandwaggon and get himself a chance for a championship, ended his contract with the Rockets and joined the Blzaers. But they lost in the conference finals again to the Lakers.
-In 2001, they got swept in the first round by the Lakers.
-In 2002, they got swept in the first round again by the Lakers.
-In 2003, they lost in 7 games to the Mavericks.
-He then went back to the Chicago Bulls, finishing the season with a 23–59 record.
Conclusion
Just a big recap. The Bulls had no consistent winning history before the arrival of Michael Jordan-and none since he’s retired. Playing his early career on such a horrible franchise had people antagonizing him and calling him “selfish” and questioning his “understanding of the team concept” (something that was never questioned prior to him joining). Yet, MJ continued to carry the team further and further, taking up more roles. Eventually, he improved the players on the team and turned them into a dynasty. Constantly sacrificing his overall stats (by doing roles that don’t show up on the stat sheet) in favor of helping his team win. Yet, that wasn’t enough. They had to spend their entire career downplaying his role and impact on the team-and they still do this today. For that reason, the Bulls are by far the most toxic organization in NBA history.
