"It wouldn’t have been fair but today’s media would have been like, ‘Can you win with Michael Jordan?'” - Nick Wright reflects on how hard the media would've been on MJ in the modern era

Michael Jordan posted jaw-dropping and historic numbers in his first three seasons with the Chicago Bulls. Despite the eye-popping numbers, “His Airness” hadn’t won a playoff series at that point in his career.

Jordan was mainly regarded as a solo act early into his NBA career. He admitted in "The Last Dance" that the pressure was mounting, but that he knew it was only a matter of when and not if.

Veteran sports analyst Nick Wright speculated that “His Airness” would have been unfairly hounded had today's media been present in those years.

“At that point in his career, it had been only three years. Boy, oh boy. If we had the modern media that we have now then. At that point Michael Jordan, three years into his career, was 0-3 in playoff series, was 1-9 in playoff games, and the Bulls were under .500.”

Wright continued:

“They made the playoffs, but were under .500 in every one of those years. It wouldn’t have been fair but today’s media would have been like, 'Can you win with Michael Jordan?'”

Michael Jordan made it to the All-Star team in his first three years and became the scoring champ in his third NBA season. His accomplishments, however, didn’t translate to team success as the Chicago Bulls exited in the first round in Jordan’s first three postseasons.

Chicago lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in MJ’s rookie year and was swept in back-to-back years by Larry Bird’s Boston Celtics. Boston at the time was neck-and-neck with the LA Lakers, featuring Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, as the two best teams in the NBA.

The Celtics’ overwhelming edge in roster construction annihilated the rag-tag Chicago Bulls.

Jordan’s Bulls made the playoffs in those years despite ending the regular season below .500. Chicago was 38-44, 30-52 and 40-42 in that span. Among MJ’s notable supporting cast in those years were the aging George Gervin, a young Charles Oakley and John Paxson.

Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant arrived together as rookies in 1987. Although they were far from the players they eventually became, it wasn’t a coincidence that Jordan won his first playoff series with both in the lineup.

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Michael Jordan turned doubters into believers

Michael Jordan never lost in the NBA Finals. [Photo: Sky Sports]

Starting with the 1988 playoffs, Michael Jordan slowly inched his way to the top of the NBA. The Chicago Bulls lost to their nemesis, the Detroit Pistons, in three straight postseasons but crept closer every time they were eliminated.

They lost to the “Bad Boys” in the second round of the 1988 playoffs in five games. The following year in the Eastern Conference Finals, Chicago bowed out to Detroit in six games. At the same stage in 1990, the Pistons were on the ropes but still won a bruising seven-game series.

With each heartbreaking playoff loss to Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars and the Pistons, the Jordan doubters continued to grow in numbers. Critics believed the Bulls didn’t have the mental fortitude to get past the Pistons.

In 1991, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls could no longer be denied. They swept the Pistons to emerge in the Eastern Conference Finals and then dispatched Magic Johnson and the Lakers in the NBA Finals.

“His Airness” went on to pick up six titles, winning every time he reached the NBA Finals. Many of the doubters who thought he was a solo act slowly converted into diehard followers.