It’s like young Black men with extraordinary promise in the NBA are sacrificed at the altar of Jordan’s legacy, the knife is expectations and sports media is the executioner.
Rather than letting these players organically create their own legacies they have to be set to a ridiculous standard that both alienates younger fans from Jordan because their era of superstars are constantly delegitimized and alienates the older fans because they aren’t given a chance to actually move on from that era.
I know they’ve already begun, but I really hope they leave Ant alone and let him be himself. In general, they need to quit comparing young players to Jordan. End rant.
This is the very definition of Jordan Propaganda. ESPN, Nike, Gatorade, Stern/NBA, Hanes, sports mags, and all of these other major conglomerates shifted Basketball Culture into a Jordan thing, rather than basketball...
So somehow a guy who doesnt have the most championships ever, or the most points, or the most MVPs, or the most All-Stars, or the longest career, or the most game winners, or the best playoff record, etc etc etc....
He didnt have the most of any of these things at any of his retirement points, and yet somehow the person with this description became the standard for greatest basketball player ever. It was manufactured and intentional, and obviously he had the game and persona to super charge the narrative----->but it was manufactured and intentional nonetheless...
Because of you were gonna manufacture a guy as the gold standard of basketball why not someone who actually has the most in all the categories of relevance?
This is why its crazy when mf's complain about any stars "media campaign" today, there literally isnt a single athlete in American history who benefitted more from having media in their pocket than Michael Jordan. Jordan Propaganda was a real thing, it was intentional, and 21 years after his final retirement, we are still seeing its manifestation, now in Anthony Edwards, though I do think we've seen it taper off some with the rise of All-Time great Euros that have changed conventional thought on what the standard should be, and with specifically LeBron's career before that, who whether you think LeBron is the GOAT or not, he's absolutely challenged the idea of Mike as GOAT without looking like Mike, playing like Mike, or mirroring Mike's career...
So Jordan Propaganda is tapering off but it wont disappear until the persons in charge who funded, AND/OR benefitted directly from Mike's career, are no longer the mf's with the deep pockets and influence of basketball narrative...
Michael Jordan never should have been upheld as the standard, its one thing if hoopers aspire to be like him but the creation of his narrative as the best there is and ever would be, should have never existed, and the monster created ~35 years ago is still playing out today when a 22 year old in Y4 can't ascend on his natural journey because nikkas concerned with comping him to the image of a player who retired almost before fam was even born. He never watched Mike play a single game in real time. And yet the guy who doesn't have the most of any of the legacy metrics is the GOAT...
Jordan Propaganda always been bullshyt and cant wait until its no longer the driving narrative of The Culture...
It won't end till the old hack reporters retire. Its their gimmick.
This is 100%. As long as Wilbon and Bayless types are still around with influential voices in NBA Media, it won't die...
Somebody needs to put up crazy numbers and start winning titles by 21 if we being honest. We know the true peak is 27 but no way you winning more than 6 if you start that late
Bruh "6" is a bullshyt standard to begin with, how the fukk did 6 become the standard when it's not the most championships ever? It's manufactured as fukk...
Unless dudes gonna all agree that 11 is the standard of championship greatness, the ring counting has to go. You gotta win multiple championships to be in the convo but a specific number is nonsensical unless that number is the most ever. Everything else is deceitful and biased...
All-Timers become All-Timers for dominating in their eras. When comparing across era you gotta have a broader perspective, nobody is winning 11 championships again. And no one is winning 6 as The Guy again (we'll probably see someone else like a role player KCP or Kerr or Horry type win that many)...
So since no one else is winning that many titles again you gotta have a more nuanced discussion, because if Russell played today, he is NOT winning 11 championships, and it wouldn't mean he's an inferior player. The climate of basketball is no longer set up to allow that kind of hoarding...
And we got knuckleheads here who grew up on Mike who can't acknowledge that the climate no longer allows for 6 championships. If Mike played today he ain't winning 6 either, the composition of team building is different, the talent is orders of degree better, there were no Jokic's or Kawhi's, et al, sharing the court with Mike during the 8-year run he won 6 titles...
It's a different league. So as these new guys craft their own legacies, they have to win championships but it can't be based on how many guys won in bygone eras that no longer are applicable to today's game...
In truth, it's almost impossible to replicate what Jordan did from 1988 - 1998.
100,000% because both the basketball and social climates of that era are antique and no longer exist. Kill the Jordan comps because no one has the runway of advantages that Jordan had in his favor, that time period cannot be duplicated to even allow someone to match Jordan's narrative ..
