Can Magic said to be greater or atleast as great as Jordan w

[tmac4real]

without someone thining you were crazy?

I mean for 90% of the population it seems Jordan is GOAT hands down.

But can Magic atleast be considered as good, maybe neither is GOAT, but just in comparison to each other.

I mean I feel the 2nd best SG ever is closer to Jordan than the 2nd best PG is to Magic.

The 2nd best SG has been able to replicate all of MJ's skills (ofcourse not at the same level/intensity, but he's able to do whatever MJ did, but worse) while nobody till this date has matched Magic's combination of skills, or even come close doing so.

I believe when you consider this and also realize that Magic was no slouch himself in terms of championships and MVP's then the debate is really close...

[JordansBulls]

Well Magic is the only other player with 3+ Finals MVP's and 3+ League MVP's.

Magic is top 5 all time and anyone in the top 5 has a case for being GOAT. He may not have as much of a case as Jordan, but he does have a legit case.

[G35]

Well people can say Magic went to more finals and as much as people have been looking for the next Jordan they have been looking for the next Magic.

Magic's skillset at 6'9 is much harder to duplicate than Jordan's at 6'6.

Magic backers can point to his Lakers beating greater teams than any that Jordan ever faced; Ervings Sixers, Birds Celtics. They were eventually champions. None of the teams Jordan faced ever won championships.


Jordan backers can easily point to the defensive differences. More MVP's, Finals MVP's and Jordan being more of the defined leader of the Bulls. Magic didn't become the leader of the Lakers until later in his career and KAJ got older.......

[studcrackers]

my top 3 are:
wilt
mj
magic

so yes u can make a case

[tmac4real]

Well people can say Magic went to more finals and as much as people have been looking for the next Jordan they have been looking for the next Magic.

Magic's skillset at 6'9 is much harder to duplicate than Jordan's at 6'6.

Magic backers can point to his Lakers beating greater teams than any that Jordan ever faced; Ervings Sixers, Birds Celtics. They were eventually champions. None of the teams Jordan faced ever won championships.


Jordan backers can easily point to the defensive differences. More MVP's, Finals MVP's and Jordan being more of the defined leader of the Bulls. Magic didn't become the leader of the Lakers until later in his career and KAJ got older.......

I don't know about magic not being the leader. I think he was the leader the day he stepped on the court. If you watched him play, Kareem reacted to him, not the other way around. He was always the more assertive of the two and influencded other people.

[G35]

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I don't know about magic not being the leader. I think he was the leader the day he stepped on the court. If you watched him play, Kareem reacted to him, not the other way around. He was always the more assertive of the two and influencded other people.

Magic was always more charismatic and KAJ was an introvert and not always well liked by the media.

But the day Magic stepped on the court he wasn't even the Lakers starting PG. That was Norm Nixon. Nixon was also the Lakers assist leader with Kareem being their #1 option.

Kareem was also the MVP of the league that year. 1st team all nba. 1st team all defense.

I don't think Magic had quite taken the leadership mantle yet from KAJ.....

[Baller 24]

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I don't know about magic not being the leader. I think he was the leader the day he stepped on the court. If you watched him play, Kareem reacted to him, not the other way around. He was always the more assertive of the two and influencded other people.

Yup, by winning the NBA tittle as a rookie.

[tha_rock220]

A case could easily be made for saying Magic was better than Jordan. It's a hard argument to win, but it's certainly possible. I mean Magic might be the most versatile player in NBA history.

[Doctor MJ]

without someone thining you were crazy?

I mean for 90% of the population it seems Jordan is GOAT hands down.

But can Magic atleast be considered as good, maybe neither is GOAT, but just in comparison to each other.

I mean I feel the 2nd best SG ever is closer to Jordan than the 2nd best PG is to Magic.

The 2nd best SG has been able to replicate all of MJ's skills (ofcourse not at the same level/intensity, but he's able to do whatever MJ did, but worse) while nobody till this date has matched Magic's combination of skills, or even come close doing so.

I believe when you consider this and also realize that Magic was no slouch himself in terms of championships and MVP's then the debate is really close...

Well, when you put it like that, you sound convincing. However if I were to put it in terms of offense & defense, where Jordan led offenses that were comparable to Magic while taking a much greater scoring load with only a little less efficiency, and where Jordan's defense is light years better, it makes it pretty tough to pick Magic doesn't it?

Then add in that Magic has less accolades despite being blessed with a greater supporting cast.

I gotta take Jordan.

[tmac4real]

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Well, when you put it like that, you sound convincing. However if I were to put it in terms of offense & defense, where Jordan led offenses that were comparable to Magic while taking a much greater scoring load with only a little less efficiency, and where Jordan's defense is light years better, it makes it pretty tough to pick Magic doesn't it?

Then add in that Magic has less accolades despite being blessed with a greater supporting cast.

I gotta take Jordan.

When you dissect it like that in terms of offense/defense it doesn't sound close, but it can also make it sound like someone like Kobe Bryant being better than Larry Bird in the sense that they are both comparable offensively while Kobe has what 9 all d team?

But we all know that the overall impact of Bird was still greater than Kobe's, hence hes' considered the better player.

Also MJ didn't have any team a close to as good as Bird's in his era. Their may have been good teams, but neither at that level. I mean who exactly? Malone-stock? Barkley? None of them are considered legendary "teams" per se.

Magic won 5 rings (one less than Jordan) LOSING some to Bird, Jordan didn't have a team good enough to challenge him.

And some Jordan fans may not like this, but that's not becaue he was "too good" but because the other team weren't as far. I don't think hi team would have won 6 rings playing in the same era as Bird or Magic, or Erving/Malone for that matter.

For the record I am not taking away form Jordan for winning 6 rings the way he did, he can't contorl his opponents or the teams, i was just mainly making a case for Magic in this one.

If magic had lesser accolades (not by much either) he also fought with superior opponents too

[Harmless]

Magic backers can point to his Lakers beating greater teams than any that Jordan ever faced; Ervings Sixers, Birds Celtics. They were eventually champions. None of the teams Jordan faced ever won championships.

That's a double edged sword. It can be argued that the reason why Jordan's opponents never won 'chips was because of Jordan.

Anyway, Magic definitely ranks in my top 10 all-time.

[Warspite]

Magic has more value and I would most likely draft/sign him over MJ but if your talking 1on1 or a simple talent comparison MJ is just better. After 88 Magic won MVPs but we all knew MJ was the best player in the NBA.

If you want the most talent you take MJ
If you want to win you take Magic.

The dropoff between MJ and Kobe is alot less than Magic to Oscar IMHO.

[Silk Wilkes]

Magic has more value and I would most likely draft/sign him over MJ but if your talking 1on1 or a simple talent comparison MJ is just better. After 88 Magic won MVPs but we all knew MJ was the best player in the NBA.

If you want the most talent you take MJ
If you want to win you take Magic.

The dropoff between MJ and Kobe is alot less than Magic to Oscar IMHO.

If there even is a dropoff.

[shawngoat23]

The dropoff between MJ and Kobe is alot less than Magic to Oscar IMHO.

I'm not sure about that statement, and I know it's your opinion.

MJ is #1-3 player in everyone's book, whereas Kobe is generally between #10-25. Magic is a #1-5 player, whereas I've seen Oscar between #3-10.

Pretty much everyone except Laker fans think Jordan is the greatest SG ever. (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime ... reatestSGs)

Almost everyone will tell you that Magic is the greatest PG ever, but some will say it's Oscar. In ESPN's sampling, two people opted for Oscar, which I strongly disagreed with, but the point remains nonetheless: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime ... ointGuards

[Jordan23Forever]

The dropoff between MJ and Kobe is alot less than Magic to Oscar IMHO

That's just silly. Especially using words like "alot." Never mind the fact that Jordan is better than Kobe to a greater degree than Magic is better than Oscar.

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If there even is a dropoff.

[studcrackers]

Magic has more value and I would most likely draft/sign him over MJ but if your talking 1on1 or a simple talent comparison MJ is just better. After 88 Magic won MVPs but we all knew MJ was the best player in the NBA.

If you want the most talent you take MJ
If you want to win you take Magic.

The dropoff between MJ and Kobe is alot less than Magic to Oscar IMHO.

i can agree with this logic, if i had my choice of any player doing an alltime draft i think magic would be my first non-big taken over MJ

[KNICKS1970]

I could see the argument of drafting Magic ahead of Jordan. After all, Sam Bowie was taken ahead of Jordan. When starting a team, PGs and Cs are a premium. Jordan would be off the board early, simply because he's Michael Jordan.

But if you do the Fantasy Draft scenarios, I think you also have to look at the Bill Simmons patented "Trade Value" scenarios. In that case, I think Jordan would go #1, Bill Russell would go #2, Bird would go #3 and Magic would go #4.

[studcrackers]

russell and bird would not go before wilt, i dont care if they did win more titles then him

[KNICKS1970]

russell and bird would not go before wilt, i dont care if they did win more titles then him

Sure, if you completely ignore the fact that Wilt WAS traded. Twice.

Also the fact that Red Auerbach has said that he wouldn't trade Bill Russell for anyone in history except "maybe Michael Jordan"

[D.Brasco]

I don't know. I think larry bird would have be brought into this argument because there's not even a consensus that magic was better than him or vice versa.