'A few great 
teams and the
rest are gabbage', Latest Basketball News - The New Paper
Basketball

'A few great 
teams and the
rest are gabbage'

Chicago Bulls legend Jordan says 'superteams' will hurt overall competitiveness of the NBA

Retired NBA legend Michael Jordan has warned that the "superteam" era will create a league with 28 "garbage" clubs who will struggle.

Jordan, who sparked the Chicago Bulls to six NBA titles in the 1990s, addressed the topic in an interview with Cigar Aficionado magazine unveiled on its website yesterday morning (Singapore time).

He also talked about his good friend Tiger Woods, a 14-time Major champion golfer struggling to return after multiple back operations, and said he himself might not have "survived in this Twitter time".

Jordan's toughest talk was on the state of the NBA, where several teams have stockpiled talent to try and dethrone the reigning champions Golden State Warriors, who last season united stars Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry to form a dominant squad who claimed a second title in three seasons.

In the past few months, the Cleveland Cavaliers, Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder have added star talent to their rosters.

Carmelo Anthony and Paul George joined Russell Westbrook at Oklahoma City, while Chris Paul teamed up with James Harden at the Rockets.

That’s more for stories and hype. They never played against each other. They never played with the same equipment. Retired NBA legend Michael Jordan on whether Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus is better

"It's going to hurt the league from a competitive standpoint," Jordan told the magazine.

"You're going to have one or two teams who are going to be great and 28 teams who are going to be garbage, or they are going to have a tough time surviving in the business environment."

Jordan, 54, also said he lacks the patience to be a coach, saying his biggest problem is the focus level of today's players.

"For me to ask an individual to focus on the game the way I would, in some ways, be unfair and, if he didn't do it, there's no telling where my emotions would be," Jordan said.

Regarding Woods, whose Major total ranks second to the 18 won by Jack Nicklaus, Jordan said the injured star is in a transitional phase perhaps made more difficult by today's social media.

"I don't know if I could have survived in this Twitter time when you don't have the privacy that you would want," he said.

Jordan would not be drawn into a comparison of Woods and Nicklaus in the Greatest of All Time debate.

"That's more for stories and hype," said Jordan.

"They never played against each other. They never played with the same equipment.

"I never played against Wilt Chamberlain. I never played against Jerry West. To now say that one is greater than the other is being a little bit unfair.

"How much did each one impact, change or evolve 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 - African-Americans, all minorities play the game.

"He played it at a level to where it generated so much interest that it grew the game from a financial standpoint. Now does that constitute him being the greatest? To say he's any less than Jack is unfair." - AFP

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