Bulls beat toughest competition

Showdown verdict: Bulls can be top NBA dynasty

Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls focuses on the rim as he dunks.

1.) Michael Jordan

2.) Michael Jordan

3.) Michael Jordan.

Simply put, Jordan is the greatest player ever to lace up a pair of sneakers. Not only is he capable of super-human feats under the most intense of playoff pressure, but he makes everyone who wears the Bulls uniform, from Cliff Levingston to Craig Hodges to Scott Williams, capable of feats beyond their limited capacity for greatness.

Jordan's presence alone makes the Bulls a great team. Now pair him with Scottie Pippen, the most versatile forward in the history of the game and the best defender of forwards since Bobby Jones and Dave DeBusschere, and you have the NBA's greatest dynasty of all time.

There is only one reason to cast aspersions on proposing the Bulls as the greatest dynasty ever: Jordan's defection for two seasons. It's simply not fair to surmise that the Bulls this season would be gunning for their seventh title in a row had Jordan not retired temporarily. Don't forget, though, that in the one full season he was gone, the Bulls went 55-27, with Pippen emerging as a superstar, in his own right, and they might have been in The Finals again had it not been for a horrendously bad call by referee Hue Hollins.

	ZONE POLL

Here's another reason to posit the Bulls as the greatest dynasty of all time: They are the dynasty of today, the era of dramatically enhanced athleticism and skill. Not even Wilt Chamberlain, whose imposing physical stature is matched in every dimension by his soaring ego, would dare suggest that the players of earlier eras could match today's players for athleticism and skills. Bob Cousy stunned the basketball world of the 1950s by dribbling behind his back. Today's players don't even trifle with that guileless maneuver. Better to execute a crossover dribble, tantamount to the same change-of-direction Cousy invented, except infinitely faster.

The Bulls are, without question, the greatest team of the 1990s, and that makes them the best ever.

Would they beat Bill Russell's Celtics teams of the 1950s? Like a drum. Which Celtic would stop Jordan? John Havlicek? Tom Heinsohn? K.C Jones? Get real.

Would they beat Magic Johnson's Lakers teams of the 1980s? It would be a tougher test, but it would happen because Jordan is the only player who could truly neutralize Johnson.

Jordan's two-year hiatus is the only reason there can even be a debate.

Mike Monroe, NBA columnist for the Denver Post, is a regular contributor to ESPNET SportsZone.