Superteams will hurt NBA, says Jordan

RetiredNBA legend Michael Jordan has warned that the “superteam” era willcreate a league with 28 “garbage” clubs that will struggle. Jordan, whosparked the Chicago Bulls to six NBA titles in the 1990s, addressed thetopic in an interview with Cigar Aficionado magazine unveiled onThursday on its website.He also talked about his pal Tiger Woods, a14-time major champion golfer struggling to return after multiple backoperations, and said he himself might not have “survived in this Twittertime.”Jordan’s toughest talk was on the state of the NBA, whereseveral teams have stockpiled talent to try and dethrone the reigningchampion Golden State Warriors, who last season united stars KevinDurant and Stephen Curry to form a dominant squad that claimed a secondtitle in three seasons.In the past few months, the ClevelandCavaliers, Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder have added startalent to their rosters. “I think it’s going to hurt the overall aspectof the league from a competitive standpoint,” Jordan told the magazine. “You’regoing to have one or two teams that are going to be great and another28 teams that are going to be garbage, or they are going to have a toughtime surviving in the business environment.”Jordan, 54, also saidhe lacks the patience to be a coach, saying his biggest problem is thefocus level of today’s players. “For me to ask an individual to focus onthe game the way I played would, in some ways, be unfair and if hedidn’t do it, there’s no telling where my emotions would be,” Jordansaid.Regarding Woods, whose major total ranks second to the 18 wonby Jack Nicklaus, Jordan said the injured star is in a transitionalphase perhaps made more difficult by today’s social media. “I don’t knowif I could have survived in this Twitter time where you don’t have theprivacy that you would want.”Jordan would not be drawn into acomparison of Woods and Nicklaus in the Greatest of All Time debate.“That’s more for stories and hype,” Jordan said. “Jack and Tigernever played against each other. They never played with the sameequipment. I never played against Wilt Chamberlain. I never playedagainst Jerry West. To now say that one is greater than the other isbeing a little bit unfair.“How much did each one impact, change orevolve the game? Obviously Jack won more during the time he played.Tiger evolved it to where it crossed a lot of different boundaries,where it’s not just a white guy’s sport — black guys, African-Americans,all minorities play the game. He played it at a level to where itgenerated so much interest financially that it grew the game from afinancial standpoint. Now does that constitute him being the greatest?To say he’s any less than Jack, I think, is unfair.”Jordan moved theNicklaus-Woods win argument to the NBA level, comparing his title totalto the record 11 won by former Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell.“Yeah, Jack has got 18 majors and Tiger has got 14. And that’s howpeople are judging certain things,” Jordan said. “I won 6 championships.Bill Russell won 11. Does that make Bill Russell better than me? Makeme better than him? No because when you try to compare different erasand equate who is better than the other, it’s an unfair parallel, anunfair choice.”Jordan also praised Northern Ireland star RoryMcIlroy, saying he admires him but has yet to play a round with him.“Very talented. Never played golf with him yet,” Jordan said. “We’vetalked. I’m a big fan. For someone that small to generate that muchpower is truly amazing.”