Ex-Bulls teammates: Michael Jordan would rule NBA in LeBron James, Warriors era

Although impossible to configure without a time machine, former teammates believe Michael Jordan would rule today's NBA, just as he did in his own heyday to make him considered by many to be the greatest player of all-time.

“He would somehow find a way to beat you — somehow,” said former Chicago Bulls role-playing big man Will Perdue in a story with Bleacher Report. “I’m not sure how. He’s not sure how, but he would stay up weeks to figure it out. … You see LeBron say: ‘I’m playing hard, I averaged a triple-double, I’ll sleep well tonight.’ I don't think you would ever hear those words come out of MJ's mouth. Even if he had 60, (if) he lost and thought somebody had got the best of him, he would be pissed.

“ ... There are people that want to win and people that have to win. Michael had to win.”

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In a much less physical game than in the 1990s in which teams play smaller lineups, Jordan's former teammate and current Bulls assistant coach Randy Brown said Jordan would have excelled at getting to the foul line even more than he did back in the day, and that, defensively, the nine-time All-Defensive first-teamer who led the league in steals three times would be able to guard four positions and frustrate the game’s best players a la Russell Westbrook.

The defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors, fueled by Finals MVP Kevin Durant and two-time MVP Steph Curry, are potent offensively in large part due to their three-point prowess. That’s an area where Jordan was not as sound, only shooting 40% from beyond the arc once in his career. No matter. It’s Jordan’s competitiveness and unrelenting desire to win — at anything, including a board game of Monopoly — that give him a key ingredient to outduel Durant and Curry’s Warriors, ex-teammates argue.

“He’s got an elite competitive spirit and also has an elite IQ,” former North Carolina teammate Matt Doherty said. “Along with his talent, I think he would have been a better pro now than he was back then.”

PHOTOS: Michael Jordan through the years