MJ says "I would never would've retired in 93", so he didn't NEED to retire

[3ba11]

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MJ in 2001:



"If I was playing for the stats, I would never have retired in 93' and I would probably still be chasing Kareem's scoring record right now"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njN5M4rjoRE&t=08m23s


So he could've played in 1994, but his unprecedented modern 3-peat and subsequent goat status gave him the luxury of retiring to mourn his father.. Essentially, any notion that he was too burnt out to play is false - people act like he was physically incapable of playing, when he obviously could've played if he wanted to.

[Soundwave]

He said he was coming back and wanted to win a 4th championship during the post-game press conference after the Bulls beat the Suns in Finals.

It's always been obvious he retired because to grieve the death of his father, that's all the retirement was and that's what the baseball thing was about.

[Soundwave]

He said he was coming back and wanted to win a 4th championship during the post-game press conference after the Bulls beat the Suns in Finals.

It's always been obvious he retired as a way to grieve the death of his father, that's all the retirement was and that's what the baseball thing was about.

[sdot_thadon]

I get the whole nobility and sanctity route we take with Mj, but lets be real. If he wasn't playing for stats he wouldn't have cared about whether or not he was winning scoring titles or how many assists he needed for triple doubles. He wouldn't check back into games that are out of hand to get closer to his averages. Theres always more to the story than what we get to know.

[3ba11]

I get the whole nobility and sanctity route we take with Mj, but lets be real. If he wasn't playing for stats he wouldn't have cared about whether or not he was winning scoring titles or how many assists he needed for triple doubles. He wouldn't check back into games that are out of hand to get closer to his averages. Theres always more to the story than what we get to know.


He's talking specifically about Kareem's scoring record - he pointed out that it was never considered something worth chasing..... And he said that if it HAD been considered something worth chasing, he would've never retired in 93'

[sdot_thadon]

He's talking specifically about Kareem's scoring record - he pointed out that it was never considered something worth chasing..... And he said that if it HAD been considered something worth chasing, he would've never retired in 93'

Yeah because once upon a time, Kareem's record was deemed untouchable. Especially to a guy who'd already considered retiring before his 1st chip. It was decidedly out of reach, so why even try?

[3ba11]

Yeah because once upon a time, Kareem's record was deemed untouchable. Especially to a guy who'd already considered retiring before his 1st chip. It was decidedly out of reach, so why even try?


Thanks to quotes from Mike over the years, new fans like yourself can learn what 90's kids already know - that Jordan retired suddenly on a whim, and didn't NEED to retire - no one thought he was injured and couldn't play - everyone knew that he could obviously keep playing and went to play baseball for other reasons (like 3-peating, aka already reaching GOAT... and also family murder),

[sdot_thadon]

Thanks to quotes from Mike over the years, new fans like yourself can learn what 90's kids already know - that Jordan retired suddenly on a whim, and didn't NEED to retire - no one thought he was injured and couldn't play - everyone knew that he could obviously keep playing and went to play baseball for other reasons (like 3-peating, aka already reaching GOAT... and also family murder),

Far from a new fan, and enough of a fan to know Mike floated the idea of retirement before he ever won a chip and a fan long enough to know how insurmountable Kareem's record was billed to be. There was never talk of Mike or anyone else becoming the all time leading scorer, just talk of how unbreakable a record it truly was. And honestly, no matter what the truth of the matter is behind his 1st retirement.....it still happened and its time to recognize it as such. A missed opportunity to make his case insurmountable like Kareem's record once was.

[Da_Realist]

I get the whole nobility and sanctity route we take with Mj, but lets be real. If he wasn't playing for stats he wouldn't have cared about whether or not he was winning scoring titles or how many assists he needed for triple doubles. He wouldn't check back into games that are out of hand to get closer to his averages. Theres always more to the story than what we get to know.

MJ played to dominate his peers not to hoard cumulative career stats. That's pretty obvious. MJ often sat on the bench or took his foot off the pedal when the game was out of reach. Like scoring 35 points in the first half of a Finals game then only 4 more after that.

[guy]

He said he was coming back and wanted to win a 4th championship during the post-game press conference after the Bulls beat the Suns in Finals.

It's always been obvious he retired as a way to grieve the death of his father, that's all the retirement was and that's what the baseball thing was about.

To be fair, as it’s been pointed out before including in the Last Dance, he did mention to people that he would consider retiring after the 93 season even before his dad was killed.

With that said, you have to be completely delusional to think his father’s murder had absolutely no impact on his decision. It most likely swayed him more in that direction combined with the fact that with good reason he felt he had nothing left to prove.

[guy]

Yeah because once upon a time, Kareem's record was deemed untouchable. Especially to a guy who'd already considered retiring before his 1st chip. It was decidedly out of reach, so why even try?

Jordan retired with most people crowning him the GOAT. Whether that was deserved or not, that was the case. He measured himself against his peers, specifically Magic and Bird and by 3-peating felt like he surpassed them and most people did as well. There wasn’t a Kareem/Jordan comparison really made. I’m sure if he constantly heard he wasn’t as good as Kareem yet and he needed to surpass the record to do that, he may have went for it. But that wasn’t part of his calculation nor was it really anyone’s at the time.

[Da_Realist]

Jordan retired with most people crowning him the GOAT. Whether that was deserved or not, that was the case. He measured himself against his peers, specifically Magic and Bird and by 3-peating felt like he surpassed them and most people did as well. There wasn’t a Kareem/Jordan comparison really made. I’m sure if he constantly heard he wasn’t as good as Kareem yet and he needed to surpass the record to do that, he may have went for it. But that wasn’t part of his calculation nor was it really anyone’s at the time.

That's because no one cared about cumulative stats. That was just a trivia question. Players were evaluated by how they dominated their competition not what numbers they end up with after a long career. Career numbers have no context or meaning.

[sdot_thadon]

MJ played to dominate his peers not to hoard cumulative career stats. That's pretty obvious. MJ often sat on the bench or took his foot off the pedal when the game was out of reach. Like scoring 35 points in the first half of a Finals game then only 4 more after that.

Sure he did, and he also went back into games that were out of reach to Jack up a few shots to get his numbers. He also went to the scorers table to find out how far he was from triple doubles, hes famously quoted for breaking down how many buckets he needed a quarter to average 30. When the triangle was being implemented his initial reaction was "he's (phil) not gonna let me win the scoring title" I know the wheaties fairy tale sounds better for TV specials but if you were truly a Jordan fan you remember these things.

[sdot_thadon]

Jordan retired with most people crowning him the GOAT. Whether that was deserved or not, that was the case. He measured himself against his peers, specifically Magic and Bird and by 3-peating felt like he surpassed them and most people did as well. There wasn’t a Kareem/Jordan comparison really made. I’m sure if he constantly heard he wasn’t as good as Kareem yet and he needed to surpass the record to do that, he may have went for it. But that wasn’t part of his calculation nor was it really anyone’s at the time.

Exactly, the reason 6 rings was such a big deal when it happened is becauee it was one more than Magic had. Mj cared about his scoring titles in comparison to Wilt's. He did t care about Kareem's record because nobody thought it was possible to replicate it. If Mj was the all time leading scorer it would be a big part of the taglines we use when we run down his accomplishments. It just happens to be one of the few major things he couldn't pull off, and thats ok. He's still goat, 1a-1b or #2 for me depending on criteria.