It’s crazy to consider the timeline where Jordan doesn’t go play baseball.
As it stands, Houston has their back-to-back titles and Olajuwon is an all-time great but tends to be ranked on a second or third tier of all-time great centers (underrated in my opinion but anyway). Jordan is famously 6-0 in the finals, a key stat that has helped him make the GOAT case.
So on the one hand, imagine if Jordan stays and his dominance continues, and Houston does not win their titles, and Olajuwon now faces the same rough career arc as James Harden, generational performance cucked by a dynasty likely to largely fade into the white noise of great-but-not-all-time careers. Jordan is presumably 8-0 in finals, and his GOATness is on a Wayne Gretzky level of untouchable. LeBron begins his career knowing the best he can do is second all time.
Or…what if he doesn’t? First of all, there’s the strong possibility that the Knicks and/or Magic still make the Finals because even for a dynasty, winning the conference eight times in a row is unconscionably difficult. Rockets still presumably win the titles, and maybe Olajuwon’s legacy grows because they won titles during the height of the Jordan Era.
Or…what if the Rockets and Bulls meet in the Finals and Houston still wins? (It’s not impossible to consider that the Bulls’ weakness was at center and Hakeem would have feasted on Bill Cartwright, Luc Longley, and Will Perdue, as evidenced by Hakeem’s averaging 25/12 in 4 regular-season games vs the Bulls those 2 seasons)
If Hakeem was the guy who beat Jordan (especially if he does it twice), I think he definitely pushes into the top tier of centers like Wilt, Bill, and Kareem.
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Mad Max with the dagger!
It’s crazy to consider the timeline where Jordan doesn’t go play baseball.
As it stands, Houston has their back-to-back titles and Olajuwon is an all-time great but tends to be ranked on a second or third tier of all-time great centers (underrated in my opinion but anyway). Jordan is famously 6-0 in the finals, a key stat that has helped him make the GOAT case.
So on the one hand, imagine if Jordan stays and his dominance continues, and Houston does not win their titles, and Olajuwon now faces the same rough career arc as James Harden, generational performance cucked by a dynasty likely to largely fade into the white noise of great-but-not-all-time careers. Jordan is presumably 8-0 in finals, and his GOATness is on a Wayne Gretzky level of untouchable. LeBron begins his career knowing the best he can do is second all time.
Or…what if he doesn’t? First of all, there’s the strong possibility that the Knicks and/or Magic still make the Finals because even for a dynasty, winning the conference eight times in a row is unconscionably difficult. Rockets still presumably win the titles, and maybe Olajuwon’s legacy grows because they won titles during the height of the Jordan Era.
Or…what if the Rockets and Bulls meet in the Finals and Houston still wins? (It’s not impossible to consider that the Bulls’ weakness was at center and Hakeem would have feasted on Bill Cartwright, Luc Longley, and Will Perdue, as evidenced by Hakeem’s averaging 25/12 in 4 regular-season games vs the Bulls those 2 seasons)
If Hakeem was the guy who beat Jordan (especially if he does it twice), I think he definitely pushes into the top tier of centers like Wilt, Bill, and Kareem.