Coach Roy Williams is in the catbird seat this season. The unanimous preseason No.1, the Tarheels look to be the front runners this season, the hunted and not the hunter. If things go as planned, they may be cutting down the nets come April 2009. This team has the talent and experience to do so.

Coach Williams emphasizes an uptempo, high octane offense, that pushes the ball up the court at every opportunity. The players and fans love this style, it helps immensely with recruiting and it translates into victories. The Tarheels averaged over 85 points a game last season, second in the nation and are primed to do so again

Yet for all the hoopla and promise surrounding a potential national championship team, there's an ominous, unspoken cloud looming over the program.

In the past 2 NCAA Tournaments, Carolina has been known for something other than brilliance on the court. Dare I use the word, (gulp) choke? Like it or not, this class has an albatross hanging around its neck of not performing at their best when it counts most, in the NCAA Tournament.

In the Elite Eight of 2007, Carolina held an 11 point lead with approximately 5 minutes to go. They missed 22 of their next 23 shots and lost in overtime to Georgetown 96-84. Last year in the Final Four, they looked shell-shocked in the first half and at one point were down 40-12. Although they did rally to trim the lead to 5 points, it wasn't enough as they fell to the eventual national champion Kansas, Coach Roy Williams's former team 84-66.

But "OL Roy" freshly released out of Jon Amyx's barbershop bathroom banishment, is feeling frisky again after last season's disappointment and he has a considerable number of reasons to be so.

First and foremost Carolina returns the leading candidate for player of the year of the year in Tyler Hansborough. If he remains healthy, Hansborough will most certainly break Phil Ford's school record for scoring. He averaged 18 points and 9 rebounds a game. "Psycho T" as he is belovedly known on campus is the epitome of hard work and hustle on the court, the "Charlie Hustle" of the college basketball world. Considering the success he's achieved since stepping foot on campus it's a wonder he is still in Chape Hill, eschewing the cash calls of the NBA and becoming a four year starter on one of college basketball's most revered programs.

At point guard is junior Ty Lawson. Among the 3 UNC players who tried the NBA as underclassmen before removing their names from consideration, the 6'0 dynamo is the engine that drives the team. Junior Wane Ellington mans the shooting guard and Senior Danny Green is hands down the best 6th man in the country. Power Forward Deon Thompson returns and only figures to improve in his second season as a starter. 2 prized recruits have landed in Chapel Hill, Larry Drew II and Tyler Zeller look to gain experience coming off the bench this season. Yet everything is not coming up roses for the Tarheels. Defensive standout Marcus Ginyard will be out 2 months with a strained ligament in his foot and big man Alex Stephenson transferred to USC.

The Tarheels have a 31 game regular season schedule this season. This includes non-conference matchups with Kentucky, Penn and Rutgers. They'll travel to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational and in the Big Ten Challenge the Heels will face Michigan State. Of course, they play in the always tough ACC rumbling with the likes of N.C.State, Maryland and don't forget the biggest rivalry in all of college basketball, their 2 annual games with archrival Duke.

If North Carolina is able to improve a bit on the defensive end and cut down on their scoring lapses, the sky's the limit. Will they be able to rid themselves of their underachieving monicker? Possibly and they could go all the way to Detoit's Ford Field, site of the 2009 NCAA Final Four. Business may be down for the Big Three, but come April 2009 business will definitely be picking up in the Motor City. It's just a question of whether the Tarheels will be able to book their ticket to Michigan. I can hear Dickie V now...

Canadian Sprinter Ben Johnson amazed the world when he beat Carl Lewis in the 100m final, and shattered his own world record to 9.79 seconds. He would shortly remark that he could have gone faster had he not raise his hand in the air less than two meters from the line. However, two days later, he was tested positive for the steroid Stanozolol and would be disqualified a few days later, losing both his Olympic title and world record.

1960 Rome

Marathon runner Abebe Bikila was not supposed to run and was added only to the Ethiopian team at the last minute as a replacement for an injured athlete. Adidas, the shoe sponsor of the games, had only a few pairs of shoes left when Bikila went to try them, but none would fit comfortably. So he decided to run barefoot, the way he was trained for the race. Considering that it was only his third time to run the distance, he was able to win in world record time, thereby, becoming the very first runner from an African nation to win the Olympic gold in the marathon. He would repeat the same feat in Tokyo four years later, but this time with shoes.

1976 Montreal

Having won medals in the 1968 Mexico and 1972 Munich games, Russian fencer Boris Onischenko entered the modern pentathlon as an athlete well esteemed by fellow Olympians. The Soviet team was trailing in fourth place after the first event. The second event was fencing, the one-touch epee tournament, which was Onischenko's best event. During the bout, a rival team lodged a protest that Onischenko's weapon had gone off without hitting his opponent. The committee confiscated the weapon and discovered that the grip was illegally tampered with. Onischenko was disqualified at once from the competition along with the Soviet team, and came to be known as "Boris the Cheat." It was supposed that he had been cheating for many years.

1972 Munich

Mark Spitz, the American swimmer with the big moustache, boldly promised that he would win seven gold medals in all the events he entered (the 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 200m butterfly, 4 x 100m freestyle relay, 4 x 200m freestyle relay and the 4 x 100m medley relay). True to his word, he won seven medals and set a new world record on every event. He still holds the record for most gold medals won in a single Olympic Games.

2000 Sydney

Eric "The Eel" Moussambani from Equatorial Guinea had just learned to swim eight months before the games, and gained his Olympic berth via a wildcard entry intended to encourage developing countries lacking in expensive training facilities to participate. After two other competitors were disqualified for false starts, he swam and won his heat of the 100m freestyle at an extremely slow time, gaining him fifteen minutes of international fame. His time was 1:52.72, which was more than twice the world record time of 47.84 seconds set by the eventual winner Pieter van den Hoogenband. Nonetheless, he had clocked in a new personal best and national record.

1992 Barcelona

With restrictions on professional players lifted by FIBA in 1989, the United States sent NBA players to participate in the Olympics for the first time. The twelve member-team, which included legendary players like Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Larry Bird among others, came to be known as the Dream Team. The team won the Olympic basketball event by blowing away all opposition with an average margin of victory of 43.8 points, without Coach Chuck Daly ever needing to call a timeout.

1932 Los Angeles

American Mildred "Babe" Didrikson is still considered by many to be the world's greatest sportswoman and the most versatile female athlete of all time, being quite adept basketball, baseball, track and field, diving and bowling. She won six out of the eight events she entered at the pre-Olympic trials, setting five world records in the process. But in the Olympics, she was limited only to three events, earning gold medals in the 80m hurdles and javelin. In the high jump, she was awarded the silver medal, even though she cleared the same height as the gold medallist, the jury judged her jump style to be illegal. She later became a professional golfer, winning many major titles.

1968 Mexico

American athlete Dick Fosbury revolutionized a new high jump technique that became known as the Fosbury Flop. His technique was to run diagonally toward the bar, then bend and dive backward over the bar. He won gold and his method rapidly gained acceptance and is almost exclusively practiced by high jumpers today.

1984 Los Angeles

British athlete Daley Thompson was the defending champion, having won the decathlon gold four years earlier in the 1980 Moscow Olympics. His main rival in the 1984 games was the current record holder with 8,798 points, West German athlete Jürgen Hingsen. However, Thompson would remain victorious after a superb all-around performance with a score of 8847, setting a new world record that would stand for eight years. By winning the 1984 gold, he became the first athlete to hold Olympic, Commonwealth, European and World titles in a single event concurrently.

1912 Stockholm

American athlete Jim Thorpe was awarded the gold for winning the pentathlon and decathlon events by the King of Sweden, who remarked "you are the greatest athlete in the world." However, he was stripped of his Olympic titles and medals when it was learned he had played professional baseball in a minor league for two years. He tried for years to have his titles restored to no avail as Olympic president Avery Brundage, whom Thorpe had effortlessly defeated in Stockholm, blocked his every attempt. In 1982, the International Olympic Committee overturned the decision, reinstated Thorpe's name to the record books and presented commemorative medals to his family.

1996 Atlanta

American sprinter Michael Johnson became the first man to win gold in both the 200m and 400m race, but it was his spectacular performance in the former event that surprised world audiences. At the 1996 US Olympic trials, he ran 19.66 seconds in the 200m, breaking the seventeen-year-old record of 19.72 seconds. However, at the 200m final of the games, he ran a world record time of 19.32 seconds, absolutely crushing his previous record by the largest improvement ever; and on this account, he was consequently billed as "the world's fastest man."

1972 Munich

Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut captivated the public's imagination through her dynamic acrobatics and emotional openness that somehow altered the world's impression of the stereotypically stoic demeanor of eastern bloc athlete. She won three golds (team, floor exercise and balance beam) and a silver (uneven bars), smiling and dancing her way into the hearts of the world. All the media frenzy that accompany her Olympic debut resulted in a tremendous increase of popularity of the once unpopular sport of gymnastics.

More articles on the Olympics:

• 12 Unforgettable Olympic Stories Part 1
• Unforgettable Moments of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games
• Michael Phelps: The Greatest Olympian of All Time

Articles on Greatest Athletes series:

• Greatest American Female Gymnasts
• Greatest American Male Gymnasts
• 10 Greatest Female Gymnasts in History
• 10 Greatest Male Gymnasts in History
• 10 Greatest Female Figure Skaters of All Time
• 10 Greatest Male Figure Skaters of All Time

Let Your Game Speak - Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan is the man, and this make me cry I was so happy. If you didn't get to watch him play, go watch his clips. The dude is the best.

Tiger Woods and his Bouncing Ball

This is one most amazing videos ever, it is just pure brilliance. I could watch this all day and still be impressed. I suggest you try to attempt this feet yourself. I did, and I got it, like three times in a row, twice.

Maybe - Michael Jordan

Another brilliant commercial, I have Michael on this list a lot. The dude was the man.

Nike Freestyle Basketball to a Beat

I love this commercial. It gets me in a good mood every time I watch it. It is basically basketball set to a beat. Perfection.

Failure - Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan on failure, enough said.

Nike “Football”

This clip is pretty impressive. I am not a soccer fan at all, but this made me immediately want to go play. Plus, I love the ending.

Nike Football School

This is a ridiculously awesome look at the Elite of the NFL in a “high school” environment.

Heart - Michael Jordan

This is a good ride. It is kind of nerve raking. My heart is beating so much faster than the commercial. I watched it twice.

It's All About Tempo -Tiger Woods

Tiger shows everyone just how easy it truly is.

In the movie, the bad guys steal the talent of some very gifted basketball players: Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Larry Johnson, Muggsy Bogues, and Shawn Bradley. By using their talents, they give the Toon Squad a run for their money.

My only problem with this aspect of the plot is what these five players inevitably agreed upon when they decided to allow this to happen: they unwillingly (or perhaps knew) agreed that Michael Jordan was the greatest basketball player at the time. I kind of feel bad for them, but it didn't take long for me to understand that they must have known what their roles represented in the movie. Surely they aren't as thick-headed as sportsmen are lead to be known as.

I'm by no means a basketball person or fan or buff or player, but I'd have to agree that MJ is the best of all time. He's the first name I think of when I hear "basketball." Go out on the street and people will tell you the same if you ask.

After we finished the movie, I knew in my heart of hearts that Space Jam is the definitive rock in the battle for Michael Jordan's supremacy in the scope of basketball. He's scored X amount of points, rebounds, championships--this is all well and good, and most impressive. However, it is the glaring fact that his appearance in this movie is the reason he's the best. If a normal human being can win against genetically enhanced aliens in an animated setting at a basketball game where literally anything is possible, then he is truly a master of the game.

I mean, how many other NBA players have stretched their arms six feet mid-air?

Firstly, the Bulls are the greatest team of all-time for one reason, Michael Jordan. Fresh from a 17 month leave of absence, Michael Jordan established his legend in the "95-"96 season. He averaged a remarkable 30.4 points a game, 4.3 assists, and 6 and a half boards per game, winning the League MVP. In all, Jordan had 5 regular season MVP's and won 6 championships with the Bulls. He is arguably the best player to ever play the game.

If they were not a great team with Jordan, then the Bull's were unmistakably a great team with his supporting cast; Dennis Rodman and Scottie Pippen were a 1-2 punch on defense. As the league's premiere rebounder, Dennis Rodman became a force to be reckoned with, winning the rebounding title once again, however his 95'-96' season proved to be his best. The 6'8” Pippen was definitely a player to be remembered as intimidating. The all-star defenseman was also a threat on offense, averaging nearly 20 points per game in the 95'-96' season. He was as fierce as he was talented and managed to scrap together multiple double-double's that season. With the always dependable Ron Harper, Toni Kukoc, and Luke Longley, the Bulls became the most talented team ever.

However, many people overlook this team because of the 1988-89' Detroit Pistons and the 1964-65' Boston Celtics. However, despite great seasons, they both fell exceptionally shorter in record, and in talent than the Bulls. First, their records of 62-18, and 63-19 did not surpass the best record ever of 72-10, set by the "95-"96 Chicago Bulls. The Celtics' best player, Bill Russell, is considered to be in the top 50, even top 25 of best players ever. However, Michael Jordan is considered the greatest player of all-time. For the trio's match-up with the Pistons and Bulls, the Bull's outweighed them on many accounts. Pippen, Rodman, and Jordan averaged more points, rebounds, assists, and blocks than the trio of Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, and Bill Lambier.

Next, the Bull's coach, Phil Jackson, is an immense reason for the success of the Chicago Bulls. Jackson honed the impossible balance between offense and defense. And despite many off season losses and injuries, he led the Chicago Bulls to their 4th championship title, (6 in all.) Jackson managed the highest season winning percentage ever with a .878 winning percentage. His best season came in the 95'-96' season with the Bulls. Jackson is one of the most highly valued coaches ever, and helped make the Bulls become the greatest team ever.

With everybody reaching their peak at their respected positions, the brutal Bulls were born. With everything in motion, nobody could outplay, outmatch, or even get lucky to defeat the Chicago Bulls. The monstrosity of the “Trio”, Coach Phil, and the undeniably consistent bench, the Chicago Bulls are the greatest team to ever play the game of basketball.

4x MVP / Rookie of the Year (Was MVP and Rookie OTY in the same Year!)

1,045 Regular season games (career) - Played less games than Jordan

54% shooting percentage (Career) - Higher than Jordan by 5%. Although Wilt has advantage of being a big man. (Center)

51% from the foul line (Career) This is the one negative about Wilt's career. (Negative is being nice) Imagine how many more points he would have had if he was even a 70% free throw shooter? Jordan clearly better here however.

22.9 Rebounds per game average for career. Best year 27.2 per game (LEAD league in rebounds 11 times out of 14 years played) These numbers are staggering. Wilt had 23,924 rebounds in his 14 years. At #2 Bill Russell 21,620. Kareem Abdil-Jabaar had 17, 440 but it took him 20 years to do it. He is 3rd on the list. Of course being a 7 foot Center gives Wilt an advantage over Jordan but there are plenty of great centers through the years that are not even in Wilt's league when it came to rebounding. Compare this. Dennis Rodman led the league in rebounding 7 straight years and average 13.2 rebounds per game for his career. He only had just 11,954 for his career. He also played 14 years.

4.4 assists per game average for career. Lead league one season! Now here is an area where Jordan had an advantage. Wilt is the only center to lead league in assists in a season. This is insane.

30.1 points per game average for career. Best season 50.4. Scored 50 + in 45 games that season. Once scored 100 points in a game. Lead league in scoring 7 times. (consecutive) This is mind numbing. He also played on a team in the last third of his career where he was the 3rd offensive option! He never complained. He gave his shots to others like Jerry West. There is no telling how many points he could have ended up with if he had continued to score like the first 7 years of his career.

2 NBA Titles. Keep in mind his biggest obstacle was the 11 Title winning Boston Celtics packed with Hall of Famers.

Wilt holds 63 NBA records by himself. He had more for many years until finally some were tied or broken.

Michael Jordan 5x MVP / Rookie of the Year / 1 NBA Defensive Player of the Year (they did not have the Defensive POTY award when Wilt played.)

1,072 Regular Season Games

50 % Shooting percentage 83.5% From the Free Throw line. For a guard 50% is a great shooting percentage.

5.3 Assists per game (career) Best season 6.1. This is very impressive for a shooting guard. But Wilt was a center and had comparable success.

2.35 Steals per game (career). Shows his defense ability. This stat was not counted in Wilt's years.

6.2 Rebounds per game (career) Best season 8.0. Incredible for a scorer and the fact that he was a guard.

30.12 Points per game (career). Him and Wilt are deadlocked here on average. Both let their average drop by end of career. But honestly he wasn't even close to doing the things Wilt did. The highest scoring average in a season that Michael ever had was 35. Wilt had 6 seasons where he average 35 or more points! One season with 44.8 and another at 50.4! How do people have the audacity to even put Jordan in this discussion?

Lead league in scoring 10 teams. (7 in a row) Compared to anyone not named Chamberlain he was an awesome scorer.

6 NBA Titles (3 in a row 2 separate times) This is the argument people make that is valid. But consider again that Chamberlain always came up against the mighty Celtics. Which by the way if great stats and titles make you the best ever, than Jordan holds second fiddle to Bill Russell. He of 11 titles in 13 seasons! 8 in a row! Russell was also a 5 time MVP.

Or take Oscar Robertson who almost averaged a triple double for his career. A triple double in points, assists, and rebounds are one of the most coveted achievements in basketball. He did average a triple double in one season and just decimal points away from doing it 3 years in a row.

I am a huge Michael Jordan fan but I also am an NBA fan. All things considered there was not anyone more dominant than Wilton Norman Chamberlain. The numbers don't lie. He was and always will be one of kind! Michael Jordan was 1 in a million, Wilt is 1 in a trillion.

Oh and the urban legend that Wilt was 9 feet taller than everyone else is absurd. For example Russell was just shy of 6'11" and wilt was 7' 1". Wow a whole 2 inches. Beside if you want to factor height advantage in Jordan was an average of 4" taller than his guard counterparts.

Consider also concerning the big man "lie". During Wilt's career he was 1 of 7 of the top rebounders in NBA history. The notion that Wilt Chamberlain played against inferior talent is absurd.

Wilt also was a phenominal athlete. He ran track at Kansas he ran the 100-yard dash in 10.9 seconds, threw the shotput 56 feet, triple jumped more than 50 feet, and won the high jump in the Big Eight track and field championships three straight years. He high jump over 6'6''. He also could bench press 550 pds.

Sorry Michael you are one of the best ever but there was only one Wilt and there will probably never be another.

The Iron Horse was 6 feet and 200 pounds of pure muscle. Gehrig was strong and tough enough to play fullback and linebacker at Columbia during the 1920s, and his sheer durability, was shown during his consecutive games streak.

His ability to pound the ball is very well known, but some little-discussed aspects of his game are rarely shown. He had good speed and led the AL in 1926 with 20 triples. On top of all that he could also pitch. He was Columbia's ace, going 6-3 his sophomore season before signing with the Yankees. In a game against Williams College he struck out 17 batters.

Gordie Howe

Howe could do it all on the ice skate, shoot, pass, fight and score. And he could do it for much of his life, having entered the NHL in 1946 as an 18-year-old rookie and not retiring until 1980, as a 52-year-old icon. Among Howe's accomplishments upon retirement, most lifetime goals (1,071), most lifetime assists (1,518), most All-Star appearances (29) and most MVP awards (7).

If you think those hockey skills aren't transferable, consider this. Howe often took batting practice with the Tigers, and was so good that Al Kaline thought if he had put his effort into the American pastime, he would have been great at it.

Michael Jordan

We've seen so much of Jordan on the basketball court, he was extremely-quick, probably high-jumped six feet without even trying, long-jumped 20 feet, and he could see things nobody else could. This is why he remains the greatest basketball player of all time.

People will remember Michael Jordan's high-flying dunks forever. But don't forget what he did in baseball, after not playing since high school, he spent a season with the Double-A Birmingham Barons and hit .202 with 51 RBI and 30 stolen bases in 127 games.

Some people mocked him for this performance - MJ couldn't hack it even in the minors, they said - but putting up those mediocre numbers is pretty impressive for a 31-year-old Southern League rookie. And, proof of what he could simply will himself to do.

Last, and maybe least, there's MJ's golf game. As far as we can tell, he's got between a four and seven handicap, can drive the ball a mile, and is a formidable opponent against good amateur golfers.

Jackie Robinson

Robinson, who would eventually settle on baseball as his career sport, was the first UCLA athlete ever to letter in four sports. As a Bruin, Robinson was an All-American running back, a point guard who twice led the Pac-10 in scoring, and the 1940 NCAA champion in the long jump, flying 25' 6 1/2". And in baseball, he could do it all - hit for power, hit for average, steal bases with the best of them and stretch doubles into triples.

We could say more about Jackie's strength, speed, stamina and extraordinary character, but geez, you know it already. If you don't, that's a shame.

Rafer Johnson

Johnson won the silver medal, despite an injured knee, in the 1956 Olympic decathlon. Four years later, he won the gold medal in Rome, in a thrilling finish against his friend and training partner C.K. Yang. Back in 1960, the Olympic gold in the decathlon really meant you were the world's greatest athlete. And Yang, a former world record holder, was incredibly tough competition. But we need more to bolster Rafer's case for this list.

He ran for nine yards a carry in high school, which earned him a football scholarship offer from UCLA. This he turned down, because his eyes were already on the decathlon, in which he set a world record as a college freshman. While a prep, he also excelled in basketball, and even though his eyes were clearly on the track and field prize, he did play hoops for UCLA - under John Wooden.

Wilt Chamberlain

Wilt's hoops bona fides are so well known that we'll skip them, except to note that in addition to all of his scoring marks, he remains the only center to lead the NBA in assists. But on to his other athletic exploits (yeah, yeah, we could mention his 20K as proof of his athleticism, but this is a family site).

If you couldn't tell Chamberlain was strong, fast and agile from his basketball playing, you could look to his track and field performances. As a prep, he set Pennsylvania state records in the shot put and the 110-meter hurdles, and his scholarship to Kansas was for both basketball and track. He earned the track portion by winning three straight Big Eight high jump titles.

Wilt Chamberlain put up some hoops stats that nobody could dream of duplicating today. After he retired from basketball, the Dipper transformed himself into a world-class volleyball player. For fun, he ran marathons. He also turned down offers to play pro football and box professionally.

Bo Jackson

An MLB and NFL all-star, he could climb tall walls with spectacular catches and could win the Heisman at his "hobby" sport. To be more precise: in eight major-league seasons, Bo hit .250 with 141 HRs and 415 RBI, and was so good that he returned after surgery, and playing with a prosthetic hip, hit 29 homers in his final two seasons.

In four part-time NFL seasons with the Raiders, he played only 38 games but ran for 2,782 yards, an average of 5.4 yards per carry. Bo's best baseball season came in 1989, when he hit .256 with 32 homers, 105 RBI and 26 stolen bases. He was named MVP of the All-Star game, and five months later, after he rushed for 950 yards in just 11 games for the Raiders, was named to the Pro Bowl team.

Dave Winfield

Jim Thorpe

Jim Brown

Brown was one of the greatest NFL running backs of all time, an All-American lacrosse player who was one of the finest ever, averaged 38 points per game in high school basketball and lettered in hoops at Syracuse, finished fifth in the 1956 national decathlon championship, was offered a minor-league deal by the Yankees, and could have been a pro boxer after he retired.

Jim Brown was one of the greatest running backs ever, and tops our all-around athlete list.

MVP:4
MVP Voting: 10 years in the top 5
NBA Titles:2
All-NBA First Team:7
All-NBA Second Team: 3
Career Scoring Average: 30.1
Career Rebound Average: 22.9

2. Michael Jordan

MVP:5
MVP Voting: 2nd Three Times
NBA Titles:6
All-NBA First Team:10
All-NBA Second Team: 1
Career Scoring Average: 33.4
Career Rebound Average: 6.4
Career Steals Average: 2.1
Career Assists Average: 5.7

3. Shaquille O'Neal

MVP: 1
MVP Voting: 7 years in top 4
NBA Titles: 3
All-NBA First Team: 7
All-NBA Second Team: 2
Career Scoring Average: 25.5
Career Rebound Average: 12.1

4. Bill Russel

MVP: 5
MVP Voting: 10 years in top 5
NBA Titles: 11
All-NBA First Team: 3
All-NBA Second Team: 8
Career Scoring Average: 16.2
Career Rebound Average: 24.9
Career Assists Average: 4.7

5. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

MVP: 6
MVP Voting: 14 years in top 5
NBA Titles: 6
All-NBA First Team: 10
All-NBA Second Team: 15
Career Scoring Average: 24.3
Career Rebound Average: 10.5
Career Assists Average: 3.2

6. Larry Bird

MVP: 3
MVP Voting: 2nd four times, 3rd once
NBA Titles: 3
All-NBA First Team: 9
All-NBA Second Team: 1
Career Scoring Average: 24.3
Career Rebound Average: 10
Career Assists Average: 6.3

7. Earvin "Magic" Johnson

MVP: 3
MVP Voting: 9 years in the top 3
NBA Titles: 5
All-NBA First Team: 9
All-NBA Second Team: 1
Career Scoring Average: 19.5
Career Rebound Average: 7.2
Career Assists Average: 11.2

8. Oscar Robertson

MVP: 1
MVP Voting: 9 years in the top 5
NBA Titles: 1
All-NBA First Team: 9
All-NBA Second Team: 2
Career Scoring Average: 25.7
Career Rebound Average: 7.5

Career Assists Average: 9.59. Bob Cousy

MVP: 1
MVP Voting: 3rd, 6th, 4th twice
NBA Titles: 6
All-NBA First Team: 10
All-NBA Second Team: 2
Career Scoring Average: 18.4
Career Rebound Average: 5.2
Career Assists Average: 7.5

10. Bob Pettit

MVP: 2
MVP Voting: 5 in top 3, 8 years in top 5
NBA Titles: 1
All-NBA First Team: 10
All-NBA Second Team: 1
Career Scoring Average: 26.4
Career Rebound Average: 16.2
Career Assists Average: 3

Other Notables

• Jerry West
• Elgin Baylor
• Moses Malone
• Julius Erving
• Hakeem Olajuwon
• Karl Malone
• David Robinson
• Charles Barkley
• Tim Duncan
• Kobe Bryant

one name though jumps to the top of my list when your talking about close to his Airness and that's Kobe Bryant. Yes, Kobe got into some trouble with the law in the past but on the court no one is better. He hates to lose just like Jordan. Can score at will just like Jordan. He also can carry a whole team on his back if that's what is needed. Just like Jordan use to do. Bryant is the closest to Michael Jordan and maybe it's best if we never have another Jordan. If we did it would make us forget just how special he really was.

Behind the lines with Michael Jordan

As a kid Michael Jordan was always just an average basketball player. He would tie up his shoes and play like everyone else. As a teenager, Michael Jordan got cut from his varsity basketball team, but that didn’t stop him to being the best that he can be, that’s why Michael Jordan’s determination got him to where he is now.

Michael Jordan is a determined man. Jordan knew he had the skills to play and the eventually proved it in the gym.

After moving from Brooklyn New York, Jordan moved to Willingham North Carolina where he played three sports. Once he got cut from his team, it gave Jordan more motivation. Every morning before school, Jordan would practice in the gym, working on his skills. The schools varsity coach soon realized that he had potential to be great, and his coach started to train him for Jordan’s junior year. Although his coach would beat Jordan on “one on one” games, Jordan had grown 6 inches in the off-season making him a confident player going into next season.

Jordan’s favorite number is 6. That’s the number of rings he has from winning the NBA finals. Jordan was an all around athlete, he was great defensively, he was great a shooting the ball, and he was also clutch as anyone. Jordan would go on to win the MVP four times. He would win NBA finals MVP six times, and would win defensive player of the year once.

Michael Jordan proves to any young kid that he can do what ever they set their mind to. Jordan’s famous quote is, “I can accept failure, but I can't accept not trying,” and Jordan proves that. With his dedication and willingness to never give up, Jordan would go on to be the best basketball player to ever live the game.