Is Michael Jordan the Greatest Team Sports Athlete of All Time?

[|||-Abaddon-|||]

Overall - I think Jordan is the greatest athlete, period. It really is several factors that come into play when I think of this, predominately being (in exact order):
1) Consistent ability to perform in Clutch - where Jordan was lethal and is the undisputed closer of high-stakes games
2) Perfect finals record, with dramatic and iconic finishes/moments
3) Dedication to being most skilled and fundamentally sound player in the game, and using this prolong his resourcefulness as he got older
3) Countless accolades including MVP's and statistical achievements
4) Global impact and recognition
5) Redefined guard-play - Jordan's game was so smooth and artistic, and hasn't aged a day, in fact you can make a case for how guard-play has regressed since

Actually - above all, he tried so hard to compete in virtually every game. I really feel he played that way to ensure everyone saw him at his best, so that he was unanimously declared as such. As a fan of the game, this is the only conduct to expect from a person who gets paid extremely well to put a ball in a basket. Playing hard demonstrates that you care about the fans (that have paid hard-earned money to be there) being entertained at the very least, and Jordan did this even if he was an **** along the way.

Additionally, I kind of hate when athletes get too involved in political matters, it's the same with actors/movie-stars - and shouldn't be factored in. This is highly driven by context, as Ali was prominent during the Civil Rights movement, and was right there with Malcolm X and MLK in terms of bringing visibility major social/political issues...however, I would never compare his situation to someone like Kapernick's...

[Air Apparent]

messi is getting too much credit for "carrying" argentina lmao, aguero, higuain, martinez, di maria, lavezzi, some of them were man of the matches in a lot of those copa america games and were the ones scoring goals in numbers, the best outing messi probably had was the hatrick against PANAMA of all teams in a 5-0 win, he doesn't do anything against uruguay colombia chile brazil etc. when he is ACTUALLY supposed to carry them, his version of carrying is qualifying his teams against average teams he should be beating anyways lol

you wanna start taking his teammate's goals away too now and assign them to messi because he assisted some of them? thats some next level reach

ronaldo's (r9) 15 world cup goals, a whole bunch of them were perfect passes from rivaldo, or had rivaldo involved in some way, is rivaldo the goat and saviour for brazil? or is it the one who finished the job and put the team ahead in crucial games in pivotal moments by actually scoring the goal? no one even mentions rivaldo when you talk about r9s world cup goals, because he aint score them

i already acknowledged portugal is a decent unit, they are misfits but they play well together, i'm just saying to act like messi has had no help is ludacris, i never even said cristiano ronaldo is the ultimate saviour for portugal, its messi fans that wanna discredit his achievements by saying his team is winning without him, no **** sherlock, if you win entire tournaments your team is probably good - and if you can reach finals year after year, your team is probably good too in messi's case

again, bron gets the same excuses, warriros without kd were a good unit, klay isnt a 1st option, neither is iggy, livingston, draymond, etc - steph was the only superstar on that team, but they played unselfish ball and really well together - lebron had more than enough help as well but people act like his teammate's didn't help (the first year they were injured so we allow that), the one final he did win was not just because of his own numbers ,but because of kyries shot and kevin loves defense and the fact that he cried to media to get draymond suspended for 2 games - but people prop bron up like he carried the cavs, as if kyrie wasnt killing it in the final and destroying steph averaging 27ppg, he gets almost no credit for that chip.

[Jables]

I think it's unfair for Messi and Ronaldo in a way, they are in a sport where the best athletes go to the richest clubs that are bound to win all the time. There is no true glory in that nothing they can do will elevate themselves beyond every other athlete, when they leave they just replaced by the next big thing, just like Zidane and Brazilian Ronaldo did before them. Even the countries they play for, Argentina are good enough to win but realistically they can't carry Argentina and Portugal to the WC trophy. Am I being too easy on Messi?

Regardless, at the end of the day no one says you are the Messi of this sport, not in any country, **** in Argentina they probably worship Maradona over him.

[Suprasc1]

Who?

[koningcosmo]

its funny how americans think their sports, who are mostly watched/played there, have a big cultural/global impact when the rest of the world dont even care for the sport. Ask this globally and there wont even be an american in the top 10, it would probally be a top 10 of football players.

[Alize]

Exactly. You will probably see Ronaldo or Messi on top with other football players, depends on the country.

its funny how americans think their sports, who are mostly watched/played there, have a big cultural/global impact when the rest of the world dont even care for the sport. Ask this globally and there wont even be an american in the top 10, it would probally be a top 10 of football players.

Sent from my SM-G950F using RealGM mobile app

[koningcosmo]

Overall - I think Jordan is the greatest athlete, period. It really is several factors that come into play when I think of this, predominately being (in exact order):
1) Consistent ability to perform in Clutch - where Jordan was lethal and is the undisputed closer of high-stakes games
2) Perfect finals record, with dramatic and iconic finishes/moments
3) Dedication to being most skilled and fundamentally sound player in the game, and using this prolong his resourcefulness as he got older
3) Countless accolades including MVP's and statistical achievements
4) Global impact and recognition
5) Redefined guard-play - Jordan's game was so smooth and artistic, and hasn't aged a day, in fact you can make a case for how guard-play has regressed since

Actually - above all, he tried so hard to compete in virtually every game. I really feel he played that way to ensure everyone saw him at his best, so that he was unanimously declared as such. As a fan of the game, this is the only conduct to expect from a person who gets paid extremely well to put a ball in a basket. Playing hard demonstrates that you care about the fans (that have paid hard-earned money to be there) being entertained at the very least, and Jordan did this even if he was an **** along the way.

Additionally, I kind of hate when athletes get too involved in political matters, it's the same with actors/movie-stars - and shouldn't be factored in. This is highly driven by context, as Ali was prominent during the Civil Rights movement, and was right there with Malcolm X and MLK in terms of bringing visibility major social/political issues...however, I would never compare his situation to someone like Kapernick's...

so much wrong here, put of the MJ GOAT glasses and the USA only glasses please.

1: What all time great player in any sports doesnt do this??? its what makes them all time greats. he is not even more clutch then lebron, who people consider not clutch for some reason.
Game-tying/go-ahead field goals with under 10 seconds left in the postseason:
Michael Jordan: 7/15 (47%)
Kobe Bryant: 5/22 (23%)
LeBron James: 12/23 (52%)

2:so by your logic 2-2 is better then 2-6, because not getting to the finals is better carreer wise then losing in the finals??? Jordans perfect finals is a myth because he played more then those 6 seasons, what about his first round sweeps??? oh wait first round losses are better then losing in the finals, totally makes sense.

3: yeah other professional athletes are lazy and dont want to be the best! only jordan was like that! Its not like Ronaldo studied/trained every sport to gain something from it to use in football. you realise in any sports they do this right?? Arnold schwarzenegger did freaking ballet to be better when doing freaking bodybuild contests, so yeah the Greatest do everything to get there. Dont act like Jordan was the first/only to do that.

3: lots of playes have these, what makes Jordans better??? Messi and Ronaldo have more accolades, more prizes, more statistical achievments etc Jordan isnt even the best in basketball in that regard, what records did Jordan actually set?? Best PER and bigger ballhog then WB, Kobe or Harden??

4: What major global impact did jordan have that others did not have??? Kobe and Curry had bigger global impact then jordan ever had. Especially in asia. Plus compare global impact to football and american sports will always lose.

5: i can only laugh at this. Hasnt aged a day??? ask demar derozan how much people value his midrange game in todays game. Where are jordans hook spins in today's game?? the pushing of defenders before crossing them? were are the illegal defense he abused in today's game?? Todays guards face defensive scheme's that would have given jordan nightmare's but it was illegal back then. Like what the cavs did to Draymond so they could focus on curry? that wasnt allowed back then, or you would have to leave Draymond completely open. Doubling lebron because of the missmatch after the screen?? Triple team harden to force the pass and switch back?? cant do that aswell, imagine what superstars today could do with those rules.

[LeBird]

Basketball is nowhere close to being the world's most popular game, most people would probably name Messi or Pele over Jordan. Jordan is really only a strong candidate when you consider America because in terms of actual ability Gretzky is far superior in his field than Jordan is in his. Even in America, it is hard to state how big Babe Ruth was - back then, people didn't really have 100 different sporting idols. You're talking about a time when most people were on the same page and that was mostly on Ruth.

IMO, the GOAT sports athlete was probably Sir Don Bradman. He's like the equivalent of a basketball player averaging 43 ppg for 20 years, no joke. A century/tonne/100 in cricket is a big milestone for the batsmen to achieve in a match, like a hat-trick in football. That was basically his average.

[Pg81]

Overall - I think Jordan is the greatest athlete, period. It really is several factors that come into play when I think of this, predominately being (in exact order):
1) Consistent ability to perform in Clutch - where Jordan was lethal and is the undisputed closer of high-stakes games
2) Perfect finals record, with dramatic and iconic finishes/moments
3) Dedication to being most skilled and fundamentally sound player in the game, and using this prolong his resourcefulness as he got older
3) Countless accolades including MVP's and statistical achievements
4) Global impact and recognition
5) Redefined guard-play - Jordan's game was so smooth and artistic, and hasn't aged a day, in fact you can make a case for how guard-play has regressed since

Actually - above all, he tried so hard to compete in virtually every game. I really feel he played that way to ensure everyone saw him at his best, so that he was unanimously declared as such. As a fan of the game, this is the only conduct to expect from a person who gets paid extremely well to put a ball in a basket. Playing hard demonstrates that you care about the fans (that have paid hard-earned money to be there) being entertained at the very least, and Jordan did this even if he was an **** along the way.

Additionally, I kind of hate when athletes get too involved in political matters, it's the same with actors/movie-stars - and shouldn't be factored in. This is highly driven by context, as Ali was prominent during the Civil Rights movement, and was right there with Malcolm X and MLK in terms of bringing visibility major social/political issues...however, I would never compare his situation to someone like Kapernick's...

No he is not. There were far more dominant athletes in their respective sport.

[rzzzzz]

Bill Russell is greatest Team Sports Athlete of all time. he played 13 years and his team won 11 times. (his team lost the year he was injured, didn't win until he joined the team, didn't win after he retired.) he also led his small college program to 2 NCAA championships, when they were allowed to compete, breaking the color barrier. he led his amateur Olympic team to a gold medal. he was not the most impressive athlete during those years. that would be Wilt. he is not an all-time individual stat leader, outside of winning. he was a large physical specimen, but it was his competitive genius and sheer will power that made the difference.

[twyzted]

Overall - I think Jordan is the greatest athlete, period. It really is several factors that come into play when I think of this, predominately being (in exact order):
1) Consistent ability to perform in Clutch - where Jordan was lethal and is the undisputed closer of high-stakes games
2) Perfect finals record, with dramatic and iconic finishes/moments
3) Dedication to being most skilled and fundamentally sound player in the game, and using this prolong his resourcefulness as he got older
3) Countless accolades including MVP's and statistical achievements
4) Global impact and recognition
5) Redefined guard-play - Jordan's game was so smooth and artistic, and hasn't aged a day, in fact you can make a case for how guard-play has regressed since

Actually - above all, he tried so hard to compete in virtually every game. I really feel he played that way to ensure everyone saw him at his best, so that he was unanimously declared as such. As a fan of the game, this is the only conduct to expect from a person who gets paid extremely well to put a ball in a basket. Playing hard demonstrates that you care about the fans (that have paid hard-earned money to be there) being entertained at the very least, and Jordan did this even if he was an **** along the way.

Additionally, I kind of hate when athletes get too involved in political matters, it's the same with actors/movie-stars - and shouldn't be factored in. This is highly driven by context, as Ali was prominent during the Civil Rights movement, and was right there with Malcolm X and MLK in terms of bringing visibility major social/political issues...however, I would never compare his situation to someone like Kapernick's...

so much wrong here, put of the MJ GOAT glasses and the USA only glasses please.

1: What all time great player in any sports doesnt do this??? its what makes them all time greats. he is not even more clutch then lebron, who people consider not clutch for some reason.
Game-tying/go-ahead field goals with under 10 seconds left in the postseason:
Michael Jordan: 7/15 (47%)
Kobe Bryant: 5/22 (23%)
LeBron James: 12/23 (52%)

2:so by your logic 2-2 is better then 2-6, because not getting to the finals is better carreer wise then losing in the finals??? Jordans perfect finals is a myth because he played more then those 6 seasons, what about his first round sweeps??? oh wait first round losses are better then losing in the finals, totally makes sense.

3: yeah other professional athletes are lazy and dont want to be the best! only jordan was like that! Its not like Ronaldo studied/trained every sport to gain something from it to use in football. you realise in any sports they do this right?? Arnold schwarzenegger did freaking ballet to be better when doing freaking bodybuild contests, so yeah the Greatest do everything to get there. Dont act like Jordan was the first/only to do that.

3: lots of playes have these, what makes Jordans better??? Messi and Ronaldo have more accolades, more prizes, more statistical achievments etc Jordan isnt even the best in basketball in that regard, what records did Jordan actually set?? Best PER and bigger ballhog then WB, Kobe or Harden??

4: What major global impact did jordan have that others did not have??? Kobe and Curry had bigger global impact then jordan ever had. Especially in asia. Plus compare global impact to football and american sports will always lose.

5: i can only laugh at this. Hasnt aged a day??? ask demar derozan how much people value his midrange game in todays game. Where are jordans hook spins in today's game?? the pushing of defenders before crossing them? were are the illegal defense he abused in today's game?? Todays guards face defensive scheme's that would have given jordan nightmare's but it was illegal back then. Like what the cavs did to Draymond so they could focus on curry? that wasnt allowed back then, or you would have to leave Draymond completely open. Doubling lebron because of the missmatch after the screen?? Triple team harden to force the pass and switch back?? cant do that aswell, imagine what superstars today could do with those rules.

you are so wrong
1.)
Lebron is 19-92 for shots taken with 5 seconds to go to tye or win the game. Not that cherry picked tweet that you lebron stans always refer to
2.)
Jordan is 6-15 of all seasons played 40% of season he played a game. thats with 38-39 year old seasons with the wizards they where 19-63 next season 37-45 thats a hell of a turn around by adding a 38 year old guy who was sitting around smokeing cigars the previous 3 years.
They were on the way to the playoffs with a good seed until jordan got injured and only played 60 games.
Lebron played 55 games last year and lakers went from 35-47 to 37-45 you cant say that the lakers were a worse team than wizards.
And yes 6-15>3-17 or 6-17 the only players who have better record are bill russells celtics teammates and Bill.
Horry is 7-16 which is ~the same as jordan.
So the only players who have a better record is the bill russels celtics

3.)
Who said other athletes were lazy? You did
But his work ethic is highly spoken about around sports.

4.)
Well he kinda made nba huge in the world. Nike would not be what it is today if bot for him. Nba most popular seasons happened when he was playing and it declined after he retired. Need to say more?

5.)
Yeah maybe derozan is not shooting over 50% of mid range? Different rules today vs then. Jordan was never double teamed never had to drive to a packed paint rest of your essay is rubbish

Take of your Jordan hate glasses and eVeRyThInG iS bEtTeR nOw glasses.

[D.Brasco]

its funny how americans think their sports, who are mostly watched/played there, have a big cultural/global impact when the rest of the world dont even care for the sport. Ask this globally and there wont even be an american in the top 10, it would probally be a top 10 of football players.

Perhaps but money does talk, the richest sports leagues and franchises are mostly US based

[Rust_Cohle]

messi is getting too much credit for "carrying" argentina lmao, aguero, higuain, martinez, di maria, lavezzi, some of them were man of the matches in a lot of those copa america games and were the ones scoring goals in numbers, the best outing messi probably had was the hatrick against PANAMA of all teams in a 5-0 win, he doesn't do anything against uruguay colombia chile brazil etc. when he is ACTUALLY supposed to carry them, his version of carrying is qualifying his teams against average teams he should be beating anyways lol

Holy cow, there is so much wrong with this. If he didn't do anything against Chile and Brazil, then who else did for Argentina? How many games for Argentina do you see where you say "Man, Messi needs to pick up slack since the rest of his teammates are busting ass" like you would think there would be the Argentina "Aguero game" or "Di Maria game" or even a lavezzi game. Just because other players got MOTM doesn't mean Messi wasn't comfortably the best performer for them. He was player of the tournament 4 straight times, and has a higher player rating average on the NT than any other Argentina player. He is Argentina's #1 scorer of all time. You know who also has never scored in a tourney against Chile? Ronaldo, where Chile eliminated Portugal. You know who also didn't score against Uruguay and got knocked out? Ronaldo

And Messi has done just fine against BRazil:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_international_goals_scored_by_Lionel_Messi

If Messi's teamamates were so good we would have so many more games of his attacking teammates bailing out the team, but ARG's biggest wins involve either a Messi goal or assist. He has no help, if he did they wouldn't be on the cusp of missing the world cup just because he missed 3 games. Meanwhile Portugal was wreaking having in Nations League when Ronaldo wasn't playing.

[Rust_Cohle]

I think it's unfair for Messi and Ronaldo in a way, they are in a sport where the best athletes go to the richest clubs that are bound to win all the time. There is no true glory in that nothing they can do will elevate themselves beyond every other athlete, when they leave they just replaced by the next big thing, just like Zidane and Brazilian Ronaldo did before them. Even the countries they play for, Argentina are good enough to win but realistically they can't carry Argentina and Portugal to the WC trophy. Am I being too easy on Messi?

Regardless, at the end of the day no one says you are the Messi of this sport, not in any country, **** in Argentina they probably worship Maradona over him.

What absolute rubbish, Messi is the gold standard of football as is Ronaldo.

https://www.persources.com/lebron-james-is-the-nbas-lionel-messi/

Kobe was also a massive Messi fan:

https://www.sportbible.com/football/football-news--legends-when-ronaldinho-introduced-kobe-bryant-to-17-year-old-lionel-messi-20200128

[ILOVEIT]

We talking "athlete" or having the most team success? How on earth is Babe Ruth included?

Federer is the greatest tennis player in history and is still top 3 at the age of 36. He's the most graceful athlete I've ever seen. His has elite level hand eye coordination, lateral movement, anticipation, clutch performance, stamina...and yes some hops. I would put him up there with Gretzky, LeBron, Jordan and over guys like Vince Carter who have incredible vertical games but, but not the soft hands, dribbling etc.

Djokovic and nadal can both make arguments against federer. Strong chance both overtake his GS totals as well.

And then perhaps THEY should be considered.

But for me it's more about that amount of talent. Both Djokovic and Nadal are more likely to out beast their opponents. Nadal is a bad match up for Fed because of the high topspin forehand to Feds one handed back hand. Djokovic is a bad match up now for Nadal because he has the two hander AND he is also a stamina beast.

But if you ask me to pick the most gifted athletic overall athlete...I'd pick Fed every time. Be real...there are shots he makes that all others can't imagine. And I think if you ask 90% of the tennis elites they would have Fed at the top. (yes yes...and he may get overtaken...I actually think in the end Nadal will hold more grand slams)

[In SVG We Trust]

Messi is an alien of any sports' history. Props to Cristiano who has been competing him face to face even with half of his talent. That's something to be considered.

There's no american athlete who has the worldwide recognition Messi or Cristiano have.

Go to South America, Africa, Asia, wherever you want. There's a lot of people who doesn't know who Jordan or LeBron are. How many people ignore the existence of Messi?

[Suprasc1]

I think it's Mike Tyson

[Rust_Cohle]

We talking "athlete" or having the most team success? How on earth is Babe Ruth included?

Federer is the greatest tennis player in history and is still top 3 at the age of 36. He's the most graceful athlete I've ever seen. His has elite level hand eye coordination, lateral movement, anticipation, clutch performance, stamina...and yes some hops. I would put him up there with Gretzky, LeBron, Jordan and over guys like Vince Carter who have incredible vertical games but, but not the soft hands, dribbling etc.

Djokovic and nadal can both make arguments against federer. Strong chance both overtake his GS totals as well.

And then perhaps THEY should be considered.

But for me it's more about that amount of talent. Both Djokovic and Nadal are more likely to out beast their opponents. Nadal is a bad match up for Fed because of the high topspin forehand to Feds one handed back hand. Djokovic is a bad match up now for Nadal because he has the two hander AND he is also a stamina beast.

But if you ask me to pick the most gifted athletic overall athlete...I'd pick Fed every time. Be real...there are shots he makes that all others can't imagine. And I think if you ask 90% of the tennis elites they would have Fed at the top. (yes yes...and he may get overtaken...I actually think in the end Nadal will hold more grand slams)

I don’t argue that as of today Fed is still #1 all time

He’s also a bigger icon than either Novak or nadal.

I just find Djokovic is still one of the most underrated athletes in the world considering his accomplishments

[Pg81]

its funny how americans think their sports, who are mostly watched/played there, have a big cultural/global impact when the rest of the world dont even care for the sport. Ask this globally and there wont even be an american in the top 10, it would probally be a top 10 of football players.

Perhaps but money does talk, the richest sports leagues and franchises are mostly US based

Richest country has the richest sports club. Yeah that sure means something in terms of world popularity when like 75% of the worlds countries do not even have a 10th of the US wealth which it accrues by exploiting them.

[|||-Abaddon-|||]

Overall - I think Jordan is the greatest athlete, period. It really is several factors that come into play when I think of this, predominately being (in exact order):
1) Consistent ability to perform in Clutch - where Jordan was lethal and is the undisputed closer of high-stakes games
2) Perfect finals record, with dramatic and iconic finishes/moments
3) Dedication to being most skilled and fundamentally sound player in the game, and using this prolong his resourcefulness as he got older
3) Countless accolades including MVP's and statistical achievements
4) Global impact and recognition
5) Redefined guard-play - Jordan's game was so smooth and artistic, and hasn't aged a day, in fact you can make a case for how guard-play has regressed since

Actually - above all, he tried so hard to compete in virtually every game. I really feel he played that way to ensure everyone saw him at his best, so that he was unanimously declared as such. As a fan of the game, this is the only conduct to expect from a person who gets paid extremely well to put a ball in a basket. Playing hard demonstrates that you care about the fans (that have paid hard-earned money to be there) being entertained at the very least, and Jordan did this even if he was an **** along the way.

Additionally, I kind of hate when athletes get too involved in political matters, it's the same with actors/movie-stars - and shouldn't be factored in. This is highly driven by context, as Ali was prominent during the Civil Rights movement, and was right there with Malcolm X and MLK in terms of bringing visibility major social/political issues...however, I would never compare his situation to someone like Kapernick's...

so much wrong here, put of the MJ GOAT glasses and the USA only glasses please.

1: What all time great player in any sports doesnt do this??? its what makes them all time greats. he is not even more clutch then lebron, who people consider not clutch for some reason.
Game-tying/go-ahead field goals with under 10 seconds left in the postseason:
Michael Jordan: 7/15 (47%)
Kobe Bryant: 5/22 (23%)
LeBron James: 12/23 (52%)

2:so by your logic 2-2 is better then 2-6, because not getting to the finals is better carreer wise then losing in the finals??? Jordans perfect finals is a myth because he played more then those 6 seasons, what about his first round sweeps??? oh wait first round losses are better then losing in the finals, totally makes sense.

3: yeah other professional athletes are lazy and dont want to be the best! only jordan was like that! Its not like Ronaldo studied/trained every sport to gain something from it to use in football. you realise in any sports they do this right?? Arnold schwarzenegger did freaking ballet to be better when doing freaking bodybuild contests, so yeah the Greatest do everything to get there. Dont act like Jordan was the first/only to do that.

3: lots of playes have these, what makes Jordans better??? Messi and Ronaldo have more accolades, more prizes, more statistical achievments etc Jordan isnt even the best in basketball in that regard, what records did Jordan actually set?? Best PER and bigger ballhog then WB, Kobe or Harden??

4: What major global impact did jordan have that others did not have??? Kobe and Curry had bigger global impact then jordan ever had. Especially in asia. Plus compare global impact to football and american sports will always lose.

5: i can only laugh at this. Hasnt aged a day??? ask demar derozan how much people value his midrange game in todays game. Where are jordans hook spins in today's game?? the pushing of defenders before crossing them? were are the illegal defense he abused in today's game?? Todays guards face defensive scheme's that would have given jordan nightmare's but it was illegal back then. Like what the cavs did to Draymond so they could focus on curry? that wasnt allowed back then, or you would have to leave Draymond completely open. Doubling lebron because of the missmatch after the screen?? Triple team harden to force the pass and switch back?? cant do that aswell, imagine what superstars today could do with those rules.

...you might be 15 so I won't spend any time answering any direct points. People like DeRozan are nowhere near as sophisticated offensively as Jordan. Jordan evolved into a pinch/post player with immaculate footwork in his late career (not just mindless mid-range shots), the fact that he was in his mid-to-late 30s and was still unanimously the best player in the league is a testament to his mastery of the game, physically and mentally/strategically. So yes, he did redefine guard-play but that doesn't mean anyone has done it better than him since, but the influence is there. I'd like to see how players today would cope with an extended 3-point line and more aggressive and physical play, rest assured Jordan's game was timeless because the style of play today is considerably softer.

Additionally he really is a sum of his parts, collectively he is a more complete basketball player with untarnished accomplishments, if we are talking about comparing him to LeBron or Kobe. There isn't anything those players have done that Jordan didn't do better, quite simply...

Also I don't think my view is strictly with an American lens (I'm not even American). Gretzky was a phenomenal player, but when I think of the best athlete I'm kind of looking for someone with the perfect amount of flair, fear-inducing dominance, success, leadership traits, and impact on the game and outside of it as well: to me Jordan has that perfect blend. Not to mention this is a basketball forum so yes my view might be skewed due to lack of exposure to other sports, but that doesn't mean I don't watch them, and I'm still not blown away by any of the other players mentioned either...kids these days, dawg...