George Gervin doesn't think Michael Jordan is GOAT: 'He couldn't score like Ice'
Gervin is a four-time scoring champion and can undoubtedly identify a great player when he sees one. While many have hailed Jordan as the "GOAT," Gervin begs to disagree.
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In his final year in the NBA, 33-year-old George Gervin joined the Chicago Bulls team that was ready to put the keys of their franchise on a rising star named Michael Jordan.
However, the veteran guard was well aware that he was just an alternative for MJ, who was injured at the time the Bulls signed him.
The forgotten Bull
Nevertheless, Gervin didn't fail to deliver in his debut season with the Bulls, having played all 82 games with an impressive average of 16.2 points per outing. Simply put, "Iceman" was a commendable player. But for some reason, he didn't manage to leave a mark on Chicago and left the following season as if nothing happened. In fact, nowadays, not all are even aware that he was once a Bull.
Gervin is a four-time scoring champion and can undoubtedly identify a great player when he sees one. While many have hailed Jordan as the "GOAT," Gervin begs to disagree.
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MJ is great, but not the greatest
According to "Iceman," figuring out the greatest of all time depends on the "criteria" you are using. Gervin puts MJ up there alongside the late Kobe Bryant as far as scoring goes. However, he is confident he was a far more efficient scorer as he didn't miss too many shots in his career.
"I'd say, hey now, what criteria are using?," Gervin told ThePostGame when asked who the greatest player of all time is. "That's the only thing I can say. [Jordan] He's one of the greatest entertainers, one of the greatest winners, he could flat out play, his stats proved themselves, but he couldn't score like Ice."
"He had his own way of scoring," he continued. "He didn't score like me. I didn't score as many points as he did, but I didn't shoot as much as he did. Mike and Kobe shot more times than anyone in the history of basketball. So that means they missed a lot."
Undeniably, Gervin was a proficient all-around scorer during his playing years, but stats don't seem to back up his claim.
Based on the comparison of his and Jordan's career field goal totals, MJ was the more efficient scorer, though by just a very slim margin.
According to the stats, Jordan shot better than Gervin by two tenths, registering a career field goal percentage of 50.9, beating Ice's 50.7. The same goes with the pair's two-point field goal totals as "His Airness" tops Gervin, 51.0 to 50.9.
Indeed, this debate could go on for years no matter what metric we use, as fans have different ideas of a great scorer. One thing is certain, though, which is that both Jordan and Gervin will always top the list of the best natural scorers in NBA history.
