The Mt. Rushmore of the 4 major sports according to VaRK: Gretzky / Jordan / Ruth / Whoever you like in Football...that one may never have a consensus...and I don't really care...
I only saw Jordan play in person once...against the Shaq Magic in the playoffs. Nick Anderson picked his pocket to seal the victory for Orlando. That was Jordan's 1/2 season after coming back from playing baseball.
Jordan is still the best player I've ever seen play the game...
Gretzky/Ruth*/Rice
*Credible argument can be made that only post integration players can be considered the greatest, but I think Ruth was sufficiently great to get the nod over Mays.
For basketball it’s tougher, in my opinion. I personally go Magic, but the argument can be made for Russell and Jordan. And I do think LeBron will be in that conversation as well. I think LeBron would wipe the floor with Laimbeer.
I’m sure Jordan would have been a better 3 point shooter had he come up today. But the way he played would not have translated to today. But he didn’t play today, he played back then. He was great.