Michael Jordan is arguably one of the biggest athletes of all time. He has managed to cement his status as sporting royalty despite retiring more than two decades ago. Jordan won 6 NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls. What made him great was that all of these titles were three-peats. No other player has been able to do that apart from MJ, and his Bulls teammate Phil Jackson.
Recently, Colin Cowherd managed to get the spotlight on him when he came out with a unique take on MJ’s legacy. He said on The Volume, “He tried baseball, he failed. [Jordan] tried ownership, he was awful. He tried the Wizards, it bombed. Take out Take out Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson, this whole Michael Jordan mythology is sort of just that.”
“Take out Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson, this whole Michael Jordan mythology is sort of just that”
—@ColinCowherd on the reality of MJ pic.twitter.com/hfu58OIxr1
— The Volume (@TheVolumeSports) March 17, 2023
“Michael was always a bit of a selfish player. He’s a bit of a selfish guy, and he’s not great at building community. He’s great at building wealth for Michael Jordan. It’s not a criticism, it’s a reality of who Michael Jordan is,” Colin added.
The NBA world is aware of the fact that Jordan retired from basketball to try a hand at baseball. He was just 29 years old at the time when he played for the Chicago White Sox. However, Jordan’s baseball career was short-lived, which proves that Cowherd might have been correct with his latest comments.
NBA fans react to Colin Cowherd’s comments about Michael Jordan’s legacy
Cowherd claims that Jordan wouldn’t have been as successful as he was if it wasn’t for Scottie Pippen or Phil Jackson. The entire world is aware of the partnership His Airness had with these players, not to mention the great Dennis Rodman as well. There was no doubt that Jordan had some great players around him, but Colin claimed that they were the reason for the 6x NBA champ’s success.
This didn’t go down too well with fans. MJ is still widely regarded as the greatest player of all time by many. Fans came to MJ’s defense when Cowherd claimed “The Michael Jordan mythology is sort of just that.”
A fan put it simply on Twitter, “Such a dumb take – Call it what it is, anyone who’s listened to Cowherd knows for years he’s been a tear down Jordan legacy guy. Benefits from recency bias that most have forgotten how good MJ was.” It certainly looks like many believe that Colin has had a habit of invalidating Jordan’s success in the NBA.
Such a dumb take – Call it what it is, anyone who’s listened to Cowherd knows for years he’s been a tear down Jordan legacy guy. Benefits from recency bias that most have forgotten how good MJ was
— canaria (@worsleyt) March 18, 2023
Colin Cowherd is a less toxic version of Skip Bayless.
— Scott (@scott_peak) March 17, 2023
Another fan branded Cowherd as “a less toxic version of Skip Bayless.” Skip has made a name for himself as a LeBron James hater as fans tend to disagree with plenty of his controversial opinions.
Take out Jordan and we may not know Pippen and Phil like we do now.
— Dustin Markward (@Dustin_Markward) March 18, 2023
Take out Jordan and who exactly would Phil and Scottie be tell me
— KawHIM2 (@Crenshaw_White2) March 17, 2023
Some even pointed out that the NBA world might not know Scottie and Phil if it wasn’t for Michael Jordan. Whatever the case, claiming that Jordan has Scottie and Phil to thank for 6 NBA titles might be an exaggeration. The American was surely one of the greatest players of all time, and he has had a few failures.
As Colin mentioned, Jordan came back to the league with the Washington Wizards. He averaged 21.2 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 4.4 assists in 142 games for the DC-based team. They could not make the playoffs during Jordan’s time.
His reign as the Charlotte Hornets’ owner has also been dubbed as a failure. Recently, reports mentioned that Jordan was looking to sell his stake in the franchise. Many called this a business move. The NBA legend bought the franchise for $275 million in 2010. Now, the Hornets are worth around $1.7 billion according to Forbes.
Whatever the case, Jordan isn’t likely to respond to Cowherd’s comments. Fans have been going at the analyst for his opinion but it will not change or have an effect on the former NBA player’s career at this point.
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