I think MJ is underrated defensively on this board...

[GimmeThat]

his defense is also the reason why a guy like Steve Kerr doesn't get the starting nod

[kuniva_dAMiGhTy]

Hard to imagine MJ is underrated in anything basketball related lol

Guess because Pippen's help defense was so instrumental to those Chicago teams, you kind of forget Mike was the best man defender, which is also easy to forget because he is the greatest volume scorer of all-time.

[SamuraiSWISH]

Hard to imagine MJ is underrated in anything basketball related

True, especially with the advent of the internet and Kobe stans, then LeBron trolls but ultimately:

doesn't help is that its hard to believe someone was just THAT great at multiple facets of the game to the point that he was possibly the greatest offensive AND defensive player ever (maybe saying he was the GOAT defender is extreme but at the very least he's arguably the greatest perimeter defender ever). I think that's a big reason you find people so easily able to automatically assume certain things like Pippen was a better defender, Wade was a better shot-blocker, Kobe was a more skilled scorer, Nique was a better dunker, etc. People have a hard time thinking that someone was possibly the best and better then all these other great players at that many things.

I truly think it's hard for young fans, stans of other players who didn't get to see Jordan ...

Their ability to conceptualize this is REALLY difficult. As it should be, because it speaks to how absurdly great Jordan was at the best of his abilities.

Then in turn they get all defensive when these arguments are made, and they retort with strawman "oh yea, Jordan was the best at everything, right?" ... not necessarily, but he's the absolute closest we've seen to basketball perfection.

And no one is ever going to be perfect.