{"id":284680,"date":"2025-09-15T11:50:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T11:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/284680\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T11:50:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T11:50:14","slug":"his-dominance-on-the-offensive-end-took-over-anything-he-did-on-the-court-brandon-jennings-didnt-view-mj-as-a-great-defensive-player","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/284680\/","title":{"rendered":"“His dominance on the offensive end took over anything he did on the court” – Brandon Jennings didn’t view MJ as a great defensive player"},"content":{"rendered":"

For fans whose strongest recollections of the NBA came after the turn of the century, their understanding of old-school players often relies on the accolades those legends accumulated. In Michael Jordan’s<\/a> case, his nine All-Defensive First Team selections and DPOY award naturally suggest that he was as feared on the defensive end as he was offensively. Yet, according to Brandon Jennings<\/a>, that perception does not fully tell the true story.<\/p>\n

In a bold proclamation, Jennings argued that Jordan’s defensive reputation was mainly inflated because of his unparalleled dominance as a scorer, which only encouraged the NBA to glorify his defense as part of his overall mystique.<\/p>\n

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Jennings on Jordan’s defensive reputation<\/p>\n

There was no denying Michael’s defensive skills. His quickness, instincts and acumen allowed him to anticipate plays and make timely steals to ignite fast-break offensive opportunities. Perhaps that ability helped MJ to lead the league in steals on three occasions, registering as high as 3.2 steals per game in a particular season.<\/p>\n

However, while Jennings admitted that Jordan was definitely a defensive pest, he emphasized how his repeated inclusions in the All-Defensive First Teams were only a source of his offensive, league-leading-scoring dominance. This is validated by the fact that MJ was handed an All-Defensive First Team nod in ’97 and ’98 despite not being that good of a defender anymore at that age.<\/p>\n

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“I just feel like his dominance on the offensive end just took over anything he did on the court,” Jennings said<\/a> on an episode of “Gils Arena” with a subtle smile on his face. “If it came to defense, guys like Kenyon Martin, Rasheed Wallace, all these guys who are really defensive players, Imma take advice from them. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t play defense or anything like that. I just feel like the first person I’m going to talk about defense would be Gary Payton. So I don’t consider him a ‘great defensive player.'”<\/p>\n

Related: Larry Bird on how ’80s Celtics would adapt to the modern game: “We probably wouldn’t have played as big. We might have gone smaller”<\/a><\/p>\n

Was Michael as good defensively as his stats reflect?<\/p>\n

Over his 15-year NBA career, MJ even logged two seasons with more than 100 blocked shots, showcasing how he used his leaping ability to protect the rim, often producing highlight-worthy chasedown blocks well before the play became a celebrated staple in the modern-day game.<\/p>\n

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Still, advanced considerations such as defensive win shares or box plus-minus indicate that other Bulls players may have had a more prominent overall defensive impact. For example, many would argue that Scottie Pippen, MJ’s best-known teammate, was the unquestionable #1 lockdown defender on the squad and tasked with the most challenging matchups night in and night out.<\/p>\n

Jennings does not argue that Jordan was a poor defender. In fact, he fully acknowledges the latter’s toughness and versatility on that end of the floor. However, Brandon’s argument centers on how Michael’s GOAT candidature might have gotten a fair push given the defensive accolades he earned.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, such arguments are often based on personal opinions. While Jennings clearly stands on the other side that most Chicago Bulls fans would not appreciate, others who played in that ’90s era would double down on how Jordan deserved each and every All-Defensive nod.<\/p>\n

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Related: \u201cI like to be known for my defense\u201d – Why Michael Jordan preferred to be recognized for his defense rather than his offense<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally reported by Basketball Network<\/a> on Sep 15, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News<\/a> section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For fans whose strongest recollections of the NBA came after the turn of the century, their understanding of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[13468,7,2140,920,5713,46978,46977,935,3825,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-284680","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-all-defensive-first-team","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-brandon-jennings","11":"tag-bulls","12":"tag-defensive-end","13":"tag-defensive-impact","14":"tag-defensive-skills","15":"tag-michael-jordan","16":"tag-mj","17":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115208167456092958","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}