Former Michael Jordan teammate makes his GOAT pick snubbing 'His Airness': "Top of that list"
Former NBA guard BJ Armstrong won three titles with Michael Jordan as a member of the Chicago Bulls, however, he doesn't believe MJ is the greatest of all time (GOAT). While many of Jordan's peers from that era who saw his dominance at both ends of the floor firsthand believe he's the greatest to ever do it, Armstrong isn't convinced.
On Friday, during an appearance on former NBA vet Jim Jackson's podcast, "The Jim Jackson Show", the two discussed the greatest NBA players of all time. In what may be viewed as controversial by some fans, the pair agreed that rather than Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the greatest player of all time.
To back up Kareem's case for the GOAT over Michael Jordan, the two pointed to his numbers from High School and college as reasons why "The Captain" deserves the GOAT title.
"If you look at the most accomplished player, perhaps, ever, you have to say Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. There hasn't been a player more accomplished than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. So when you say that, end of discussion. You can argue however you want to argue."
"Here are the numbers. If you just want to say accomplishments -individually, collectively, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is standing at the top of that list."
You can hear his comments in the video above beginning at the 17-minute mark.
"We didn't see the best of Michael Jordan" - BJ Armstrong explains why Michael Jordan never reached his true potential
Throughout his career, Michael Jordan managed to win six NBA titles, six NBA Finals MVP awards, five regular-season MVPs and a Defensive Player of the Year award. In addition, he also led the league in scoring 10 times while leading the league in steals three times.
Despite that and Jordan's 10 All-NBA First-Team selections, BJ Armstrong doesn't think we had a chance to see Jordan at his best. Back in April 2022, on an episode of "The Rex Chapman Show with Josh Hopkins," Armstrong spoke about how Jordan's sleep habits may have held him back despite his greatness.
“We didn’t see the best of Michael Jordan because he, literally, didn’t sleep for 14 years. My moment was watching him play 35-40 minutes, then come to practice with the same energy... I’ve never seen someone this competitive and he’s always on. In practice, you realized he’s different. Everybody else is a little tired.
"And all of a sudden, when Phil Jackson blew the whistle, this guy acts like he got 10 hours of sleep... You got a guy that didn’t sleep, he didn’t eat, he’s playing cardsror whatever he’s doing at night… And the guy is playing and you’re just like ‘Wait a minute, he just played 45 minutes the other night. How?'”
Armstrong isn't the only person to speak about Jordan's sleeping habits. Earlier this year, Hall of Fame coach George Karl spoke about MJ's sleeping habits, saying that he used to play 36 holes of golf on the day of a playoff game.