Jordan vs. Rose

If the Bulls manage to win an NBA championship this year, that would give Derrick Rose one to six for Michael Jordan.  Comparisons aren’t really fair here.

Jordan was the only guard/forward/center in the history of basketball.  He may not have played all three positions at once, but he played each of them during the course of nearly every game.  The only equivalent I can think of would be Babe Ruth, pitching and hitting his way into the Hall of Fame, but you would need to add another 150 wins to Ruth’s career total of 94.  By contrast, Rose is a very good offensive player whose lost a half of step of lightning after three knee surgeries.  But even at the top of his game, it’s no contest.  Jordan was the better player by far.  Sorry, Derrick (and Babe).

I wonder what Jordan and Rose would have been in other lives.  With Jordan, that drive and on-court leadership would have translated nicely into a military career.  We’re not talking Patton here but more along the lines of Alexander the Great or Napoleon.  That last one would be an interesting matchup, if you could find a way to put the two of them on the same battlefield or add a foot and a half to the Little Corporal.

Rose is harder to figure.  He seems normal to boring off the court, rarely showing emotion in interviews and having no discernible interest in the decadent lifestyle available to pro athletes.  The tattoos may be a disguise for a regular guy who wants nothing more than to step out of the shadow of His Airness just once.