First, let's take another look at the exact quote from MJ: "There's no way, with hindsight, I would've ever called up Larry, called up Magic and said, 'Hey, look, let's get together and play on one team.'
Look, I love Mike, I learned to love the game because of the man, but his comments were kind of, ummm, what's the word, oh yeah, dumb. Of course he wouldn't have called Bird and Magic, by the time he was at the same point in his career as LeBron is now, Bird and Magic's careers were basically over. After the 1990-91 season (Jordan's 7th pro), Larry Bird and Magic Johnson played a combined 77 more games in the NBA, including Magic's failed comeback attempt in the 1995-96 season. Jordan and the Bulls had also just won their first NBA Championship in that 1990-91 season, so what use would he have had with them in the twilight of their careers while he was in his prime? So yeah, in hindsight I'm sure he wouldn't have been calling on Bird and Magic.
Hypothetically, let's say Michael did team up with either Bird or Magic after the 90-91 season. Do you know what that would've been like? It would've been like if LeBron had teamed up with Shaq at the end of his career. Oh, wait a minute, that really did happen. The guys in the Cleveland Cavaliers front office actually brought in Shaquille O'Neal, at age 37, to help LeBron win a championship. Hilarious! (Even more hilarious: A wise man once predicted that trading for Shaq would not only not bring a championship to Cleveland, but also would not help the Cavs keep LeBron this summer. I wonder who that wise man was??)
That brings me to my next point: Jordan's supporting cast was not only better than LeBron's, but it was waaaaaaaaay better than LeBron's.
The great part about this is that it can (and will) be proven as fact. After the 2010-11 season, we will be able to take the LeBron-less Cavs and directly compare them to the Jordan-less Bulls of 1993-94. The 10-11 Cavs are going to be virtually the same team, just minus LeBron, as the 93-94 Bulls were when Mike decided to retire the first time.
(Side note: Jordan retired in 1993 and cited a lack of desire for basketball as the reason, so he is really the right guy to be schooling LeBron? Yeah he came back, but like LeBron, Jordan is no stranger to abandoning his teammates.)
In actually, we don't even have to wait until the end this upcoming season, I can tell you right now that the 93-94 Bulls are better than the 10-11 Cavs. The 93-94 Bulls (without Michael Jordan playing one game) notched a 55-27 record and earned the 3rd seed in the playoffs, where they swept the Cavs in the first round, and took the Knicks (who went on to advance to the NBA Finals) to 7 games in the second. Let's see the Cavs do that next year. Not only will they not make it to the second round of the playoffs, but they won't make it to the first round either. The Cleveland Cavaliers will NOT play in the 2011 NBA Playoffs, I guarantee it.
In fact, I'm so confident the 10-11 Cavs won't make the postseason that if they do, I'll buy an authentic LeBron James Heat jersey and burn it live on the internet. Bet it! The Cavs, led by Mo Williams and Delonte West, will struggle to even win 20 games.
Anyway, what these older players (Jordan, Barkley, etc.) have to understand is that this whole LeBron-Wade-Bosh thing is a new and unique situation in a new and totally different NBA. Back in the day the game was MUCH more physical and rivalries and disdain were allowed to brew. Those guys weren't doing NBA Cares, they were doing white women and snorting the occasional line of coke. Now-a-days these guys are encouraged to be buddy-buddy and taunting and competitiveness is frowned upon by the guys in charge. You can barely even touch a guy without a foul being called. Oh, and don't let 2 players look at each other the wrong way or have words, that's an automatic double technical. Basketball has gone soft, so as far as I'm concerned, this kind of joining of forces was inevitable.
Lastly, everybody talking down about the new Heat need to realize they're just adding fuel to their fire. Of course they wanted to win before, but everybody coming at them (fairly and unfairly), is going to make them go that much harder to prove naysayers wrong. And don't look now, but Pat Riley has silently build a nice team around LeBron, Wade, and Bosh. Comments like Jordan's are only serve to make these guys mad, and they will take it out on the NBA this season, especially on the Charlotte Bobcats.
