With all this Last Dance hype it doesn’t seem right that Shea Serrano’s book Basketball (And Other Things) isn’t being brought back up. In it, he has a chapter completely dedicated to the greatness that is Michael Jordan. He went on a little quest to find the answer to a question people didn’t know they needed. In honor of him, I’m bringing that chapter to life on Bank On It! This ones for you Shea.
Let us concede one thing. Let’s all agree that Michael Jordan, widely regarded as the greatest basketball player of all-time, is exactly that: the greatest basketball player of all-time.
Maybe you don’t believe that, and if you don’t, then that’s fine. Perhaps you think it’s LeBron James, who along with Kareem Abdul-Jabar has been a great player longer than anyone has been a great player in the game. Maybe you think it’s Magic Johnson who is THE greatest point guard in NBA history. Maybe you think it’s Wilt Chamberlain who once averaged 50 points and 25 rebounds in a season. All those guys are great GREAT players. But at least for this piece, let’s pretend that like me you believe it’s Michael Jordan. So then when was the greatest player of all-time at his absolute greatest?
To do this project, Serrano looked at four different things:
- The Box Score Stats (points, rebounds, assists, blocks, and steals) —based on per 100 possessions. This helps take away most variations that might pop up because of changes in playing time or game pace.
- Advanced Stats—Player efficiency Rating (PER), Box Plus/Minus (BPM), Value Over Replacement Player (VORP), Win Shares (WS).
- Playoff Performances—Weighed more heavily then regular season games
- Any Additional Extenuating Factors— I’ll let Shea Serrano take this one:
Like the time he put up 38-7-5 in Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals when he had the flu, which remains iconic. Or the time when at the end of the game against the Nuggets in 1991 he shot a free throw with his eyes closed just to needle then-rookie Dikembe Mutombo, which remains cool. Or the time during a game against the Jazz in 1987 when a Jazz fan sitting near court side shouted at him to pick on someone his own size after he’d dunked on John Stockton (6’1”), to which Jordan responded by dunking over the nearly 7-foot-tall Mel Turpin on the next possession and then shouting “Is that big enough?” at the fan, which remains hilarious.
Shea Serrano
We’ll have to examine 13 seasons of data that Jordan collected with his time with the Bulls. We’ll throw his Wizards stats out, not because they’re not noteworthy but they’re just not even close to his Bulls numbers. We will eliminate the season when he came back from retirement (94-95 Jordan) and only played 17 games. So we’ll actually use 12 versions of Jordan. As Serrano describes it, one Jordan was Great, two Jordan’s were Very Great, six Jordan’s we’re Very Very Great, two Jordan’s we’re Very Very Very Great, and one was The Greatest.
THE GREAT MICHAEL JORDAN(S)—(1984-85)
Per 100 Possesions: 35.5 points, 8.2 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 1.1 blocks, 3.0 steals.
Team Playoff Success: Lost to Bucks in first round (3-1)
Advanced Stats: (WS: 14.0), (BPM: 8.2), (VORP: 8.1), (PER: 25.8)
*Jordan’s rookie season win shares (14.0) are eighth-most ever. Kobe’s WS his rookie year was 1.8. LeBron had a 5.1. He also had the highest VORP ever. It was evident to everyone in that era that this guy had a flotation to his game that wasn’t seen since the days of Dr. J. MJ took it to another level. He was a lethal scorer even as a rookie scoring 28.2 points per game (seventh-most all-time by a rookie). He was clearly heads and shoulders better than everyone else but he wouldn’t even scratch the surface of what he would soon become.
THE VERY GREAT MICHAEL JORDAN(S)—(1985-86), (1996-97)
85-86 Jordan
Per 100 Possessions: 43.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 2.2 blocks, 3.9 steals.
Team Playoff Success: Team Playoff Success: Lost to Celtics in First Round (3-0)
Advanced Stats: (WS: 1.5) (BPM: 4.7) (VORP: 0.8) (PER: 27.5)
*This is where Serrano and I have our first disagreement. In his book, he counted the 85-86 Jordan as just “great” and the 84-85 as “very great”. The 85-86 Jordan sustained the only serious injury of his career when he broke his foot three games into the season. He returned in March to help the Bulls make the playoffs, then went on to average 43.7 points per game in those playoffs (still a record). The same playoffs where he dropped 49 points against Larry Legend and the Celtics in Game 1, then followed it up with 63 in Game 2. Jordan had the Celtics shook even in a win. He worked Larry Bird like a dead end job. So bad to the point that the man called him Jesus after the game (Generation Z kids look it up, it happened). The Bulls had lost the series but Jordan was firmly on the map and put himself on a mantle all by himself as the best player in the game. Sorry Serrano. We will have to disagree on this one bruh. It’s cool though we can talk about it hit my line!
96-97 Jordan
Per 100 possessions: 41.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 0.8 blocks, 2.4 steals
Team Playoff Success: Beat the Bullets (3-0), Hawks (4-1), Heat (4-1), Jazz (4-2) for title.
Awards: Finals MVP, All-NBA First Team, All-NBA Defensive First Team
Advanced Stats: (WS: 16.9) (BPM: 8.6) (VORP: 8.8) (PER: 29.8)
*The Bulls got out to a fast start winning their first 12 games. By the All-Star break they were 42-6. Jordan led the league in scoring (29.6 ppg) for the ninth time, as the Bulls just missed becoming the first team in NBA history to win 70 games in back-to-back years. Karl Malone just sneaks past Jordan for MVP as well in 97. As you can imagine Michael didn’t take that very well. He truly believed he should’ve won MVP every year. Damn, nobody likes a bully though Mike (LeBron would never behave in this way). He’s a sick man. Literally. He wanted that damn ring so bad just so he could talk shit to Karl Malone in the off-season. He wanted it so bad he actually played through a flu during Game 5 of the NBA Finals. The series was tied 2-2 and heading to Utah. News was circulating that Jordan had “flu-like symptoms” and was extremely sick but would give it a go anyway. Jordan’s trainer Tim Grover cleared the air for everyone who thought it was fake news.
“So we order a pizza, they come to deliver it, five guys come to deliver this pizza. And I’m just … I take the pizza, and I tell them, I said, ‘I got a bad feeling about this.’ I said, ‘I just got a bad feeling about this.’ Out of everybody in the room, he was the only one that ate. Nobody else … then 2 o’clock in the morning, I get a call to my room. I come to the room, he’s curled up, he’s curled up in the fetal position. We’re looking at him. We’re finding the team physician at that time. And immediately I said, ‘It’s food poisoning.’ Guaranteed. Not the flu.” -Tim Grover, Chicago Sun Times April 18, 2013
This man.. he played 44 minutes and scored 38 points even though visibly you could see the toll it was taking on him physically. Imagine what Karl Malone is thinking watching Jordan giving him buckets while also looking like he’s going to throw up any minute. What kind of human being wants to win that badly? Michael Jeffrey Jordan.
THE VERY, VERY GREAT MICHAEL JORDAN(S)—(1986-1987),(1989-1990), (1991-1992),(1995-1996),(1990-1991),(1997-1998)
86-87 Jordan
Per 100 Possessions: 46.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 1.9 blocks, 3.6 steals
Team Playoff Success: Lost to Celtics in First Round (3-0)
Advanced Stats: (PER: 29.8) (WS:16.9) (BPM: 8.6) (VORP: 8.8)
*Jordan won the first of ten career scoring titles, averaging 37.1 points per game. Why is this significant? This was the first time someone not named Wilt Chamberlain averaged over 37 and scored over 3,000 points. Mike was changing the game. He had a stretch in late November where he scored at least 40 nine straight games. HE HAD 37 GAMES OF 40 POINTS (Kobe had 27 games of 40 or more in 05-06 and LeBron had 10 in 05-06. Just for context) and eight 50 point games. One full season removed from his devastating foot injury and finally heathy, Jordan was not fucking around. He also led the league in PER, WS, and VORP. Also an amazing and charismatic woman named Oprah Winfrey debuted her new talk show that fall. Felt like that needed to be said.
89-90 Jordan
Per 100 Possessions: 42.7 points, 8.8 rebounds, 8.1 assists, 0.8 blocks, 3.5 steals
Team Playoff Success: Beat Bucks (3-1), 76ers (4-1), then lost to Pistons in Conf. Finals (4-3)
Advanced Stats: (PER: 31.2) (WS: 19.0) (BPM: 10.6) (VORP: 10.1)
Awards: All-NBA First Team, All-Defensive First Team
*A lot to unpack here. Jordan had statistically, the most dominant game of his career when he dropped 69 on the Cavs in a regular season game in March of 1990. He also added 18 rebounds, six assists, four steals, one block, shot 23 free throws and made 21. And played 50 minutes in an overtime win. Remember in Kobe’s last game when he scored 60? It took Kobe 50 shots to get there. For comparison, Jordan shot 23-37 to get to 69. Just unreal shit. And to think it was all because of poor Craig This was also the first season Phil Jackson became head coach and the first season Scottie Pippen was named an All-Star. I led off with those two facts because Jordan would enjoy his biggest breakthrough in the playoffs this season. He came within one game of the NBA Finals after getting the shit beat out of him by Bill Lambieer and Rick Mahorn. They didn’t however, stop him from scoring 36.7 points per game in the 1990 playoffs, still the most in history by a player in a playoff run of 15+ games. It wasn’t Jordan’s fault the Bulls lost that game, he put up 31 points, 8 rebounds, and 9 assists in game 7. As chronicled on The Last Dance documentary, this would be the game Scottie Pippen suffered a migraine and only mustered a robust 2 points.
91-92 Jordan
Per 100 Possessions: 39.4 points, 8.4 rebounds, 8.0 assists, 1.2 blocks, 3.0 steals
Team Playoff Success: Beat Heat (3-0), Knicks (4-3), Cavs (4-2), then Trailblazers (4-2) for title.
Awards: League MVP, Finals MVP, All-NBA First Team, All-NBA Defensive First Team
*The Bulls won 67 games this season. You might also recall this being the year he completely went no lube on Clyde Drexler just because a reporter compared him to Michael. A career 32.7 percent 3-point shooter, he shot 27 percent from during the 1991-92 regular season. He would proceed to drain six deep balls in the first half alone (at the time it was tied for the most 3s in a half in the NBA Finals until 2010 when Ray Allen hit 7 in the Finals for the Boston Celtics). After swishing the sixth 3 in defender Cliff Robinson’s face, he turns to the scoring table and starts shaking his head. Then as he jogs down the court, he simply shrugs it off as if to say “I don’t know why it keeps going in” making for an iconic Jordan moment. Jordan finished that game with 39 points; 35 coming in the first half; which you guessed it, is another record that is still standing in 2020.
95-96 Jordan
Per 100 Possessions: 42.5 points, 9.3 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 0.7 blocks, 3.1 steals
Team Playoff Success: Beat Hawks (3-0), Knicks (4-1), Magic (4-0) then Super Sonics (4-2) for the title.
Advanced Stats: (PER: 29.4), (WS: 20.4), (BPM: 8.6), (VORP: 8.3)
Awards: League MVP, Finals MVP, All-Star MVP, All-NBA First Team, All-NBA Defensive First Team
*This was the first full season since his retirement and he was back like he never left. This man took a whole year off and played a completely different professional sport. All he did was lead the league in scoring for a record eighth time, passing Wilt Chamberlain, and win all the MVP’s. What else uh… oh right this is the year they set the NBA record with a 72-10 record. That year the Bulls made 544 three-pointers. When the Warriors won 73 games in 16-17 they made 1,057. Jordan didn’t miss a game the entire year and averaged over 30 points for the last time in his career.
90-91 Jordan
Per 100 Possessions: 42.7 points, 8.1 rebounds, 7.5 assists, 1.4 blocks, 3.7 steals
Team Playoff Success: Beat Knicks (3-0), 76ers (4-1), Pistons (4-0) then Lakers (4-1) for the title.
Awards: League MVP, Finals MVP, All-NBA First Team, All-NBA Defensive First Team
*Listen to the names Jordan had to body to win his first ever championship: Patrick Ewing, then Charles Barkley, Isiah Thomas, and Magic Johnson. All Hall of Famers. All apart of the 50 greatest players of All Time. He averaged 31 points and 11 assists in the Finals, something that is more impressive when you realize Jordan never averaged more than 10 assists in any postseason (not coincidentally he was going against the master assist man in Magic Johnson). This had to be right around the time the rest of the league was like “Well, fuck.”
97-98 Jordan
Per 100 Possessions: 40 points, 8.1 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 0.8 blocks, 2.4 steals
Team Playoff Success: Beat Nets (3-0), Hornets (4-1), Pacers (4-3), then Jazz (4-2) for the title
Awards: League MVP, Finals MVP, All-Star Game MVP, All-NBA First Team, All-NBA Defensive First Team
Advanced Stats: (PER: 25.2) (WS: 15.8) (BPM: 4.6) (VORP: 5.3)
*This wasn’t his best statistical year but he was at his most theatrical. This was the year he crossed Bryon Russell and sank the game winning shot. The season the Last Dance documentary chronicles, Jordan went through a trying year with Scottie sitting out half the season and Dennis Rodman taking a mid-season trip to Vegas. In the six years the Bulls won the title, this was the lowest scoring average he had (28.7). It didn’t matter as he collected his record 10th scoring title. You want defense? The Bulls had a 99.8 defensive rating, the best of all their championship teams. They held Utah’s league leading offense to 54 points in Game 3 of the Finals– the fewest of any playoff team in the 24 shot clock era. He would end his playoff career as the greatest playoff scorer ever, averaging 33.5 point per game– an NBA record. The 1998 NBA Finals remains the most-watched finals series in the league’s history. On average, the series sported a 18.7 TV rating and drew in 29 million viewers, while the championship-clinching Game 6 had a 22.3 rating and 35.6 million viewers—making it the most-watched NBA game ever.
THE VERY, VERY, VERY GREAT MICHAEL JORDAN(S)—(1987-1988), (1988-1989)
87-88 Jordan
Per 100 Possessions: 43.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 2.0 blocks, 3.9 steals
Team Playoff Success: Beat Cavs (3-2) then lost to Pistons (4-1)
Awards: League MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, All-Star Game MVP
* Jordan would win his first MVP this season. He led the league in scoring (35 ppg) and led the league in steals (3.2). He also became the first player ever to win MVP and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season. MJ and Dominique Wilkins would put one of if not THE BEST dunk contest in NBA history. Playoff wise this would be the first of three straight years they would fall to the Pistons before breaking through in 1991. His VORP and BPM were the highest ever recorded to that point. He had the best PER of anyone who’s name isn’t Wilt Chamberlain. Its STILL the only season someone had 100+ blocks and 250+ steals. Just a nightmare.
88-89 Jordan
Per 100 Possessions: 40.0 points, 9.9 rebounds, 9.9 assists, 1.0 block, 3.6 steals
Team Playoff Success: Beat the Cavs (3-2), Knicks (4-2), lost to Pistons (4-2) in Conf. Finals
Advanced Stats: (PER: 31.1) (WS: 19.8) (BPM: 12.6) (VORP: 12.0)
*You can make a very compelling argument for this being Jordan’s greatest statistical season. He almost averaged a triple double per 100 possessions. He led the league in scoring and set career highs in rebounds and assists. No surprise that he also had the most triple doubles this season with 15 ( The one thing LeBron has Jordan beat in. LeBron had a career-high 18 triple doubles in 17-18). He became the first player since Oscar Robertson to average 30-8-8. This also happened to be the year “Bloodthirsty Jordan” was born according to Serrano. He hit a legacy defining shot over Craig Ehlo to beat the Cavs to avoid being eliminated in Game 5. It is now simply referred to as “The Shot”.
THE GREATEST VERSION OF MICHAEL JORDAN EVER
1992-93 Jordan
Per 100 Possessions: 43.0 points, 8.8 rebounds, 7.2 assists, 1.0 blocks, 3.7 steals
Team Playoff Success: Beat the Hawks (3-0), Cavs (4-0), Knicks (4-2) then Suns (4-2) for the title
Advanced Stats: (PER: 29.7) (WS: 17.2) ( BPM: 9.5) (VORP: 8.9)
Awards: All-NBA First Team, All-NBA Defensive First Team, Finals MVP
* Here’s a story. The Bulls were down 0-2 to the Knicks in the East Conf. Finals. This was troubling because not only did the Knicks have home court advantage, but they took the Bulls to seven games the year before. So the Knicks were not afraid of having to go through the Bulls. The Bulls probably should’ve lost that series. It didn’t even go to a Game 7. They would win the next four games. To close it out: 54 points in a win or go home Game 4, 29 points and 14 assists in Game 5, and 25 points and 9 assists in Game 6. Here’s another one. Jordan averaged 41 points per game against the Suns in the Finals, and 46.1 points per 100 possessions in the whole playoffs, which is the highest he ever had during a championship run. The only time he averaged more points per 100 possessions was the 1986 playoffs: the “God disguised as Michael Jordan” series. Which makes it even more impressive because that performance was only three games long. In 1993 he did it for 19 games. He was the rarest of scorers unlike we’ve ever seen and probably ever will see. MJ is my GOAT. I love LeBron James. LeBron IS the reason why I have such love for the NBA today. But I was born on the south side of Chicago ok? MJ was my first jersey. My favorite movie is Space Jam. That being said I can easily set my Bulls fandom to the side and be as fair and balanced as possible. But as of right now for me, it’s Michael Jordan at the mountain top and everyone else is struggling to meet him at his pinnacle.
Bank On It! 
Leave a comment