Former Blazers All-Star Says Michael Jordan Was Overrated

Yet another bold claim from this Portland vet regarding the Hall of Famer.

Mar 22, 1987; Portland, OR, USA: FILE PHOTO; Chicago Bulls guard Michael Jordan (23) shoots the ball between Portland Trail Blazers guard Clyde Drexler (22) and Steve Johnson (33) at Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: USA TODAY Sports / USA TODAY Sports

Retired former All-Star Portland Trail Blazers stretch four Rasheed Wallace is not one to shy away from hot takes on his new Underdog Fantasy podcast "Sheed & Tyler," alongside cohost TylerIAm.

During a recent episode, Wallace shredded the man generally considered the best basketball player in history, Hall of Fame former Chicago Bulls shooting guard Michael Jordan, for his play on one of the floor: defense.

"Mike wasn't all that good of a defender," Wallace posited. Even when Jordan's nine All-Defensive Team appearances and Defensive Player of the Year accolades were cited. Chicago was also known as one of the best defensive teams in the league during its title run, which is also a credit to fellow Hall of Famers Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman. "All that's NBA shit: 'We like Mike, we're gonna put him up there [on an All-Defensive Team.' I'm talking about being out there. I've seen this motherf---er get his a-- busted, where he couldn't stop a motherf---er. Against JR Rider, yeah probably against Clyde Drexler, shit don't forget the early Joe Dumars. I'm not saying that he didn't play defense, I'm just saying that his defense wasn't as high as most other cats at that time. I couldn't put him on like 10 or 11 consecutive First-Team All-Defensive joints, dog.”

Jordan also thrice led the league in steals. It's true that Pippen probably deserved more shine as a defender. The 6-foot-7 swingman, himself a seven-time All-Star (and former Wallace teammate), was the best perimeter defender of their generation (yes, better than Jordan), but he happened to have the misfortune of entering his prime when a rash of great big men were winning the award, including his then-rival and eventual teammate Rodman (twice).

This is hardly the first time Wallace has made a relatively outrageous statement about Jordan. Wallace also claimed that Jordan was better during his two seasons with the Washington Wizards, who went a combined 74-90 in that tenure, than during his MVP-winning Bulls run that is generally considered his prime. Jordan was incredibly crafty and still very skilled for Washington, where he remained an All-Star. And in fairness, Jordan wasn't exactly a charity case, he averaged 21.2 points on .431/.241/.805 shooting splits, 5.9 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 1.5 steals and 0.5 blocks per bout across 142 games — but only 120 starts. But he was not better than the Defensive Player of the Year-caliber two-way athletic menace he had been in Chicago.

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Jordan was also the lead's scoring league ten times, and currently boasts the best scoring average in the history of the NBA, at 30.1 points a game (on a .497/.327/.835 slash line).

Wallace clearly did not love what he saw in person against Jordan, but he's citing a handful of regular season meetings over the course of five shared seasons, four of which were spent playing for a different conference, and only three of which happened during Jordan's defensive prime. That's a minuscule sample size.

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