EXPANSION:
When Jordan's Bulls really started to take off it directly coincided with a period of expansion.
In 1988 the NBA added 2 expansion teams (Heat and Hornets). In 1989 they added another 2 expansion teams (Timberwolves and Magic).
Imagine if the NBA decided to add 2 new teams before the start of this season. That would be 2 new teams, who would get to pick at the top of the draft, thus making it harder for the existing bad teams to acquire franchise players, while hurting any franchise players the expansion teams selected by putting them in truly horrible situations.
There would also be an expansion draft, meaning that the 2 expansion teams would get to pick players from existing teams to fill out their roster. Existing NBA teams would get to protect 7 or 8 players, but the rest would all be up for grabs.
How would this benefit a team like the Heat, and a player like LeBron, for example?
Well, the Heat would easily be able to protect all of their top assets, and top young assets, and seeing as their role players are all comprised of veterans, there is very little chance any of their players get drafted in an expansion draft. An expansion team building for the future isn't going to want to select 38 year old Ray Allen, for example, even though he is a key cog for the Heat.
More likely than not, the players being drafted would be key reserve players from young up and coming teams that could potentially serve as threats to the Heat in the future. It would be a huge blow to a lot of those organizations and would stack the deck for a number of years for already established franchises, like Miami.
Now imagine that after there was an expansion draft this off-season, there was another expansion draft next off-season, that would further rob from the middle and lower tier teams, and again, Miami would remain untouched.
So not only are the Heat remaining the same, or possibly getting better by adding more key veterans, but Miami's competition is getting weaker, and talent league wide is getting further diluted.
This is basically what happened for Jordan's Bulls.
There was also another expansion draft in 1995, and it's no coincidence that the Bulls won an NBA record 72 games the year the Grizzlies and Raptors were introduced (even though, as Raptors fans will fondly remember, they beat the Bulls that year).
LUCK:
Now, imagine if the second best player in the NBA other than LeBron who also happens to play on a title contender (Durant) suddenly contracted a life threatening illness and retired well before his time like Magic Johnson did in 1992 (Granted, Magic was a bit older than Durant).
Also imagine the league's best point guard suddenly retired after an injury he could have come back from, well before his time like Isiah did, retiring at only 32 years old (Bye bye, CP3).
Also imagine if a 35 year old legend on a formerly great team's career fell apart due to injuries (Larry, Kobe) and retired.
Now, imagine if a young budding superstar, who might possibly have been LeBron's chief rival died suddenly and unexpectedly (Len Bias and Derrick Rose) before he got a chance to reach his full potential.
Also imagine if the best potential defender of LeBron died in a car accident (Reggie Lewis, Paul George).
So basically, imagine if 2 seasons from now the Heat are the exact same team, playing at the same level. Plus, Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, and Paul George are all out of the league. Combine that with 4 expansion teams in 2 seasons (soon to be 6 in a few more years, right as LeBron is hitting the downside of his prime), sapping a number of future contenders of valuable contributors, while also watering down talent league wide, and you have a mix for LeBron and the Heat to go on one hell of a title hording run.
CONCLUSION:
I think Jordan was GOAT, but no one can deny that he had a hell of a lot of luck on his side.
In a lot of ways he fell into the absolute perfect position. Granted, he had to make the most of it, and while the league was watered down as a whole, making his path to the finals somewhat easier (particularly during the 2nd 3-peat), there were still a couple of really good teams he inevitably had to beat, and he beat them all.
Still, if Magic and Isiah aren't forced to retire. If Larry Legend plays out the remainder of his career with health similar to Kobe, if Reggie and Len don't die, and if so many draft picks and role players weren't robbed from decent teams to fill up expansion squads, things might have been different.
