Gustave Flaubert, the French novelist, once said, “There is no truth. There is only perception.” Edward de Bono, the famous psychologist, broke it down like this, “Logic will never change emotion or perception.” Then some dun who shall remain nameless spit, “Ninety percent of reality is perception.”
In other words, accordin’ to some neuroscientists reality is real, but what you see, that’s all in your head. They may as well add to that, what you don’t see as well. I’ve been havin’ the discussion with boyz for the past 6 years on who the GOAT is and their is confusion in that question. There is a difference between GOAT and best all-around player of all-time.
To answer the GOAT question, Michael Jordan is the GOAT because he’s revered by the people but most people can’t articulate that. When you ask them why ole boy is the GOAT they start repeatin’ the foolishness that they’ve heard on TV from cats like Stephen A. Smith, Rob Parker and Chris Broussard. They start talkin’ about Jordan bein’ 6-0 in the Finals and never goin’ to a Game 7 which makes absolutely no sense but that’s the answer. I’ll tell you why that makes no sense in a minute but let me tell you why Mike is the GOAT first.
Jordan is the GOAT because of his influence on the game of basketball from a global standpoint. He took the NBA and made it an international game of interest. The Jordan Brand revolutionized the shoe industry as his brand has become the Gucci or Louis Vuitton of sneakers. Also duns that have never even seen him play will argue to the death that he’s the GOAT when they’ve never put eyes on him. That’s power and influence right there bruh. That makes him the GOAT just like Muhammad Ali.
Ali wasn’t the greatest boxer of all-time but his influence outside of the sport of boxing made him the GOAT. The social consciousness that he inspired with his protests in the 1960’s took him to another level. It was his influence that made him the GOAT not his ability to box because we’ve seen better boxers. Just like we’ve seen better all-around basketball players than Mike.
Boyz are runnin’ around actin’ like Jordan is Jesus Christ himself. Some cats have never seen him play but will tell you that he’s never missed a shot, never had a bad game and won every championship by himself. Let them tell it, he was out there like Usain Bolt runnin’ the 100 meters without the best coach to ever coach in the NBA (Phil and Co.), without the best two way player in the game at the time (Pippen,Top 50 All-Time), without the best international player in the world at the time (Kukoc), without always havin’ a dead eye shooter (BJ, Hodges, Paxson, Kerr) and without the best rebounder in the game (Rodman). No he did it all by himself even though the Bulls were favored in EVERY Finals they played in. If they were favored they were the BEST TEAM every time they showed up bruh.
Mike is the GOAT because perception is reality. You can’t change the perception of emotional people. As long as nobody is willin’ to deal in reality, truth and facts the GOAT debate is pointless.
When boyz can stand on 6-0 in the Finals and because he’s won those 6 titles makes him the GOAT without acknowledgin’ that it makes no sense the debate is useless. When they’re willin’ to completely ignore that there are 12 additional people in the history of the NBA that have won 6 or more titles. Then they gloss over the fact that there are 9 people with more titles than Jordan.
I would expect that logic in the barber shop or on social media from cats that aren’t paid to know these things but cats that do this for a livin’ should at least know the truth. Perhaps they know the truth but refuse to share it with the people they’re tryin’ to influence.
How can you act like Bill Russell didn’t win 11 titles with 8 in a row from 1959-66 and then he won in ’57, ’68 and ’69? How can you skip over Sam Jones’ 8, John Havlicek’s 8, Tom Heinsohn’ 8, K.C. Jones’ 8, Tom “Satch” Sanders’ 8, Robert Horry’s 7, James Loscutoff’s 7 and Frank Ramsey’s 7. Then boyz wanna act like Pippen didn’t win the same 6 that Mike won and both Kareem and Bob Cousey have 6 as well? Perhaps because it takes the thunder out of their argument?
Now I get it bruh, if you think Mike is the GOAT then he’s the GOAT because your perception tells you he’s the GOAT whether you saw him play or not. I realize that emotion overrides logic and that emotion tells you that it makes sense and it’s easier to get into the car with everybody else.
I know that emotion tells you that because Mike scored more points per game (30.12) than anybody else in the game’s history that he’s suddenly the best all-around player to ever live. Emotional doesn’t allow you to see that he only played one position and when he played on horrible teams early in his career that he couldn’t get out of the first round.
Emotion doesn’t allow you to see or to remember that he was 1-9 in the playoffs before Scottie Pippen was drafted and that he was swept in the first round twice. However, emotion keeps tellin’ you that he made Scottie. I get it. Your emotions only lets you count six seasons on Jordan’s resume when he actually played 15. The fact that he didn’t get to the Finals 9 times never comes up. But I get it. Why? Because he’s your guy. Your emotions won’t allow you think what would have come of Jordan had Phil and Scottie never shown up in Chicago? He would have gone down in history as a hot head that fought his teammates, gunned every night and never got out of the first round of the playoffs.
Your emotions tell you that LeBron was supposed to beat a team full of Hall of Famers in seven different Finals. He played San Antonio three times with Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli. Then he’s played Golden State four times with gang of Hall of Famers. Emotion doesn’t let you understand that he was only favored twice out of the 9 Finals. Meanin’ he was on the best team twice. Emotions doesn’t allow you see that Mike never faced multiple teams multiple times with a truck load of Hall of Famers in the Finals because he was ON the best team with the Hall of Famers. So it makes sense that he’s 6-0 if he was on the best team every time he showed up. Emotions can have you all messed up.
It’s like tryin’ to tell a boy that the girl he’s in love with has a past. He never believes that she was with someone else before him.
If tellin’ boyz that winnin’ 6 titles overrides every player to ever play this game makes sense to you. Who am I to argue with you? If a player that only played one position for 15 years is better than a player that has played every position and guarded every one of them for 15 years is better in your mind. I get it. If you want to keep actin’ like Kobe didn’t do Mike better than Mike because you’re so emotionally blind. I get it. You can also act like Kareem never played too because it helps your argument to some degree. And while we’re at it Magic or Wilt was never even born.
If LeBron is 7th all-time in scorin’, 11th all-time in assists, 16th all-time in steals and 59th all-time in reboundin’ playin’ every position on the floor isn’t in your eyes the best all-around basketball player you’ve ever seen. Who am I to argue with you? Did I mention that he’s a better shooter than Mike too? I know that your emotions tell you otherwise because you’ve been watchin’ the same highlight tape of him knockin’ down the game winner against Utah for 20 years but it’s true. LeBron’s field goal percentage is 50.4 percent and 34.4 percent from behind the arc and Mike only shot 49.7 percent and 32.7 percent respectively but your emotions tell you otherwise.
Sure, I know that Mike’s 4th all-time in scorin’ and 3rd in steals but that Philistine will surpass those numbers in the next couple of seasons. Mike was a beast but he wasn’t doin’ what this cat has been able to do with less.
And again, I can’t change you mind because perception is reality. Reality is real, but what you see, that’s all in your head right? All I want you to do is stop tellin’ folks that Mike is the GOAT because he won 6 titles. Why? Because it’s disrespectful to all of the people that have won just as many titles and those that have won more than he has. It’s also disrespectful to his legacy and to what he’s done for the game of basketball.
If he’s the GOAT in your mind then be able to articulate something that makes sense. In other words, at least have an argument that holds water. Stop me when I start lyin’!
Playas Thesaurus:
1) Dun: noun – the person in question, dude, guy, etc. It’s whoever I’m talkin’ about and its non-gender specific.
2) Ole boy: noun – the person that I’m currently talkin’ about.
The G is excluded from the endings of all words because the G is near and dear to my heart because I’m from “The G” which is Gary, Indiana. So I only use the G when I’m talkin’ about “The G!”
The caption under the photo isn’t real but its real talk!
Mostly agree with you. I’ll add if 6-0 makes MJ the goat then Rocky Marciano is the goat heavy weight boxer at 49-0…but we know thats not true. Any good boxing analyst knows that some the the big name boxers Marciano beat were past their prime. Also, list the greatest NBA teams of all time, how far down the list do you have to go to get to any team MJ faced in the finals. Truth is MJ and the Bulls beat some good finals teams, not great teams. Yeah Lebron got swept this time, but so did MJ when he had the sub-par team, but he didn’t make it to the finals. MJ’s 10 scoring titles, yeah, also led the league in fga’s 9 of those 10 times…usually not mentioned. And a lot of MJ’s (6’6″) fga’s were against a steady dose of under-sized 2 guards in his conference…Joe Dumars 6’3″, John Starks 6’3″, Dennis Johnson 6’3″…all under 200lbs. Oh, “The Shot” over Craig Ehlo, 6’4″/under 200 lbs was ah’ight! But I’m here to tell you Lebron would eat those dudes alive!(as would Durant and other greats today). I could go on, but lastly the so called great defense MJ faced in the 90’s and especially “hand-checking” is vastly over stated. Examples: go look at MJ’s “Shrug game” against Portland, most of MJ’s 3’s were open and one was barely contested. Go look at MJ’s 54pt game against the Knicks…a lot of open shots and being guarded by 6’3″ John Starks who couldnt bother MJ’s shot. Any fair person who saw MJ’s full career knows that when he became the sole star super star, after the decline of Bird/Magic, you couldnt lay a fingernail on Jordan without a foul being called. He wasnt being pushed, knocked, shoved and guided all around the court by all-powerful hand checking. Jordan Jockers want to define MJ’s whole career by a handful of teams that played him tough and physical at limited times. And every team was not the Pistons, Knicks or Celtics. There were around 22-27 teams in the NBA then…MJ faced some bad and soft defensive teams too!
Mike’s the GOAT because the world says he is. Not numbers,not the media’s perception. When everybody wants to be like Mike: that’s what makes you the GOAT.