Former rapper and current media personality Joe Budden is not a big believer in the greatness of Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan. As a matter of fact, Budden claimed that Jordan was nothing but the product of the NBA’s marketing machine.
Right place, right time
Budden argued that when Jordan entered the league in 1984 there weren’t many dominant guards, as it was an era defined by big men such as Hakeem Olajuwon, Ralph Sampson, Patrick Ewing, Bill Laimbeer, and Kevin McHale, to name a few.
“Michael Jordan is the greatest marketing trick to ever happen. Pre Michael Jordan, who are the dominant guards in the league all time? Magic, Oscar, Pistol Pete. You can probably name them on one hand. You probably can’t get past 10 dominant guards all time. The reason for that is, in my opinion, the league always highlighted the big man,” said Budden.
Handed the spotlight
Budden even added that Jordan had the luxury of playing in a weak Eastern Conference, which only had the Boston Celtics as a real threat, while the West was stacked with teams like the Los Angeles Lakers, who had plenty of talent to offer.
“Enter Michael Jordan, he comes into not only a weak Eastern Conference but an Eastern Conference where everybody is on c**e, and they admitted to this. While he was over there doing that, Bird and Magic was fighting it out; they had to fight it out for the best players,” said Budden.
Budden argues that once Jordan got his rhythm going in the NBA and was subsequently given the spotlight by the league, players like Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas were already getting up there in age.
“By the time he started taking the spotlight from them old heads, they were just that, old heads. And then marketing takes over because you need a face to the league, David Stern genius. Michael Jordan now becomes the f***ing face of the league,” Budden concluded.
Source: si.com
