Who’s the best NBA player ever?…Michael Jordan Thats Who

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The best NBA player ever...Michael Jordan. This may very well be the emcee’s spiel come April when the inductees to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame is announced to the public during the Final Four of the NCAA to be held in Detroit, Michigan. Earlier this February, it was announced that the Air Jordan headed the roster of 16 candidates to the illustrious award named after James Naismith, a Canadian PE teacher who invented the game in Massachusetts during the early 1890s. To be eligible for nomination to Mr. Naismith’s honors list, a basketball personality has to be retired from the game for at least 5 years. Jordan permanently shed his playing jersey after his 2002-2003 season spent with the Washington Wizards. Hence, he became eligible for nomination only this year. To pass the honors selection committee and be enshrined in the Naismith Hall of Fame, a nominee will need to garner at least 18 votes from the 24 committee members.

Considered by many if not most basketball aficionados as the best NBA player ever, Michael Jordan, now general manager for the Charlotte Bobcats, has all the credentials to capture all of the 24 committee members’ votes. In fact, in the opinion of many sports commentators, Jordan has reinvented Naismith’s brainchild with his dazzling slam dunks from the free-throw line and his last-second fade-away jumpers that sealed the victory in both collegiate and professional NBA games and championships. He became so dominant in the sport of basketball that much of his earnings came from commercial endorsement of various consumer products ranging from fast food to shoes.

Even early in his career, Michael had the markings of a rising international icon of basketball. While playing in high school for the Emsley A. Laney High School, he was already hitting triple-double game performances in points, assists and rebounds, a record that helped his team figure in championship games. Prior to his high school graduation, Jordan’s stellar playing record made him among the top choices in the All-American Team search sponsored by the fast food chain McDonald’s. His collegiate basketball career with the University of North Carolina Tarheels is even more predictive of Michael’s eventual iconic status. In his freshman year with the team, he was trusted to be a starter by the illustrious North Carolina coach Dean Smith. Michael capped his three seasons with the Tarheels by helping his team bag the 1982 NCAA championship, via a last-second shot that became one of his trademarks in the NBA.

Picked up by the Chicago Bulls in the 1984 NBA draft, Jordan steered his team through three straight championships in 1991, 1992 and 1993. After a short-lived shift to baseball, Michael reunited with the Bulls in 1995, paving the way for yet another three NBA championship rings which they won in 1996, 1997 and 1998. Individual honors heaped on Jordan for this extraordinary record in the pro league included six Most Valuable Player awards in the NBA Finals, 14 appearances in the NBA All Stars, an All-Defensive Award on top of an MVP. In leading the American Dream Team of professional basketball players that copped two Olympic gold medals, Michael even had teams from opposing countries queuing for photo opportunities or seeking autographs from him. After all, theirs was the honor of playing in the same court with the best NBA player ever…Michael Jordan.