Second Team: G – Michael Jordan
1980s Resume: Five seasons, one regular season MVP award, one NBA Rookie of the Year Award, one Defensive Player of the Year award, three-time All-NBA First Team, one-time All-NBA Second Team, three-time NBA leader in scoring, one-time NBA leader in steals, five-time NBA All-Star, 31.1 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 5.5 APG and 2.7 SPG, 29.1 average PER
I know, I know. I must have some nerve putting the greatest basketball player of all time on the All-Decade Second Team, right? Wrong. Though MJ quickly proved himself to be the best player in the league during his first five years in the NBA, he only played for half of the 80s. However, that doesn’t stop him from making the Second Team and seriously challenging the guards on our upcoming First Team for their spots.
Though he only played 18 games in his second season due to injury, that didn’t stop His Airness from returning for the postseason and dropping a playoff-high 63 points on Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics. The next three seasons, Jordan averaged 35 points, six rebounds and six assists per game. Can you imagine if social media had existed back then? “Michael Jordan” would’ve been trending on Twitter for three years straight.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a player who achieved more individually in his first few seasons than Michael Jordan. He didn’t win his first title until 1991, but Jordan racked up an MVP, a DPOY and a ROY award in his first five years in the league. He submitted a season in which he averaged 37.1 points per game (and still didn’t win MVP that year) and led the league in Player Efficiency Rating in three of his first five seasons. It’s no wonder he quickly became the greatest player in the history of the sport.