In the Era of Air, Michael Jordan Is at Pinnacle

History has a way of labeling time periods. Art, architecture and politics figure into those studies of style. The effects are of global significance that ultimately transcend normal strains of time and talent.

Coming down several thousand notches in global significance, you have sports. Basketball to be specific. Byzantine this is not. The Jordanian Era, this is.

To underestimate Michael Jordan’s skill level and effect on basketball would be akin to ignoring the impact of Monet’s paintings on French impressionism or putting Frank Lloyd Wright’s signature on the blueprints of a log cabin.

The past decade, the lords of the NBA have been trying to find players to compare with Jordan, Magic Johnson or Larry Bird. It just doesn’t work. So when Jordan and the Chicago Bulls play the Seattle SuperSonics on Saturday night in the Seattle Coliseum, don’t expect him to do everything he wants to do. Just most things.

Sonics coach K.C. Jones, one of the top defensive guards in the NBA 30 years ago, has seen the great ones. He defended Oscar Robertson and Jerry West. He has coached Dennis Johnson, practiced with Bob Cousy. All four are shorter, slower and have less jumping ability than the 6-foot-6 Jordan. And every year he pumps up another category, whether it’s field-goal percentage, blocked shots or assists.

“Jordan? There’s never been anyone else like him,” Jones said. “He’s like more than one player on the floor. He’s a one and two guard at the same time. That’s most unusual. He does both equally well. Oscar was close. Magic is close. West was just a two-guard.

“And the most underrated thing he has is charisma on the floor. Every great thing he does lifts up the whole team.”

Then why hasn’t he won any championships? Robertson, West, Cousy, and Dennis Johnson did. Magic Johnson might begin putting rings on his toes because he has run out of fingers.

The supporting cast seems rather elementary. It spells it all out, too. Jordan just can’t do it alone.

“A lot of people have mentioned to me that you really can’t expect to have a leading scorer in the league on a championship team,” Bulls coach Phil Jackson said. “That it just don’t happen. When a team depends on one guy to score too much, and when the other team can shut that individual down, they win.”

Simple. Jordan has led the NBA in scoring the past four seasons, has averaged 32.8 points a game for his career and, still, the Bulls are without a division title.

“I know what Michael goes through,” Philadelphia’s Charles Barkley said. “You can’t do it all by yourself every night and expect to win the championship. But we can’t do everything on the floor and make the personnel moves too.”

But the Bulls are making progress, having taken the Detroit Pistons to seven games in the Eastern Conference final last season. Still, it is the drive to win that keeps Jordan going.

“Each year, we’ve been getting closer and that’s what keeps me positive,” Jordan said. “We’re bound to get there sooner or later.”

The development of teammates Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant has been steady. But the big guys they need to produce -- Will Perdue and Stacey King -- have been tortoise-like in their development. B.J. Armstrong needs to take over as point guard, but isn’t ready. Yugoslavian superstar Toni Kukoc, drafted by the Bulls this year in the second round, might be the answer to all their woes ... if he signs.

“The best thing for us is to move the ball around, so we’ll be a threat all over the court,” Jackson said. “But when you’ve got a guy like Michael, you’re still going to go to him at the end of the game.”

The difference now is defenses have adjusted. Teams have picked up on trapping techniques on the wings and basically allow the other players open shots as opposed to permitting Jordan to touch the ball and ignite a fire.

“No defense lets me get to the basket anymore,” Jordan said. “Every defense makes me take the outside shot. Three or four years ago, no one was really sure if I could continue my pace of driving and going to the hole.

“But then Detroit started knocking me on my butt and everyone started to play that same kind of defense which doesn’t allow me to get to the basket.”

The Sonics have been one of the five NBA teams to prevent Jordan from averaging 30 points a game. It might or might not work Saturday. It didn’t last year because Pippen tore up the Sonics with unusually sharp perimeter shooting.

Chances are it will require more of the same.

Jordan, 27, is counting on his teammates.

“Teams are going to come up and eliminate me as an important factor,” Jordan said. “So we have to show we have other players who can step up and give us the contribution. Basically, we have what I would call an equal-opportunity offense that everybody’s going to get a chance to score.”

Which is fine, as long as they win. If not, the Jordanian Era will end without any Jordanian rings. Long live the legend.