Michael Jordan is arguably the best basketball player of all time. And he has had 6 hard-earned NBA championship rings to boast of on that. For those who were born early enough to see him play live or on TV, he was so spectacular and have done whatever it takes to win the coveted NBA Championship on each NBA finals he was in. And for those who weren’t born yet when he was playing, the latest Michael Jordan documentary entitled The Last Dance on Netflix elaborately showed his journey on becoming the best.

But with all things considered, he was so good one could really hate him, including me. Read more to find out the reasons why Michael Jordan is one NBA player you would really love to hate:

He was so selfish

During his NBA career, he has had quite several rivals who played against him with the hope of taking the championship from him. He won 6 NBA championships at the expense of some notable NBA players:

• Isaiah Thomas and the Detroit Pistons’ Bad Boys
• Magic Johnson and the Showtime Lakers
• Clyde Drexler’s Portland Trailblazers
• Charles Barkley’s Phoenix Suns
• Patrick Ewing and the “No blood, no foul” New York Knicks
• Reggie Miller’s Indiana Pacers
• Gary Payton’s Seattle Supersonics
• John Stockton and Karl Malone of Utah Jazz

These NBA players have played so well in their own right during their careers, they even earned induction to the NBA hall of fame. They even have had great teammates that complemented them to be regarded to have somewhat earned a Championship ring or two (with the exception of Isiah Thomas, Magic Johnson, Gary Payton, and Clyde Drexler).

What Michael Jordan did was he deprived most of his rivals of a Championship – he took them all for himself and his team. In my opinion, if he hadn’t retired (or better stopped playing) from 1994 to 1995, he would have easily won two more and could have deprived Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler of a Championship as well. What’s even worse, he could have even won another one in 1999 if it weren’t for the circumstances that were mentioned in the Netflix documentary.

He has the strongest desire to win

Win at any cost.

“Win at any cost”. That is the motto that he took to heart during his NBA career and oh boy he really did all he could to win. One might have remembered the so-called Michael Jordan flu-game in which he was reportedly suffering from flu-like symptoms during Game 5 of 1997 finals. Had he decided to sit that game out, things might have changed in the favor of the Utah Jazz as they just lost by only two points and by four points on Game 6 that made the Bulls clinch the NBA title.

The Netflix documentary also showed that he tried some notorious ways for him to get pumped up and motivated to beat a particular rival. There was an instance during the 1996 NBA finals against the Seattle Supersonics in which he was “ignored” by the then Supersonics coach George Karl at a dinner. He took offense on that and used that to motivate for the Finals series. He and the rest of Chicago Bulls won the series 4-2 and Michael Jordan took home the Finals MVP as well.

Another instance of his great will to win is battling through a barrage of truly physical fouls against him by the New York Knicks specifically during post-season games. He got so battered up and deprived of scoring he took it to heart and motivated him to be stronger and build more muscle to keep up with them and retaliate accordingly. He ended up winning against all five playoff series against them from 1989 to 1996.

These desires to win at any cost was capped off with winning all six of his NBA Finals stints that he played in, never letting up to anyone who played against him during that time.

He had the strongest love for the game of basketball

He respected it so much that he played all-out almost every single time he is on the playing court. Aside from the playoff instances mentioned, he was also a respectable sportsman even during times of defeat. Before his magical Championship run in the 1990s, he was beaten by some of the great Eastern Conference Playoff Teams such as the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons. He was seen with pure admittance of defeat during those times and shook hands to those who beat them. It was then the same love and respect for the game that he did not like the gesture of Detroit Pistons walking out when they finally beat them during the 1991 Eastern Conference Playoff series.

Let’s just say that I don’t like him when he was playing because of all the right reasons I mentioned. But if you will ask me who is the greatest basketball player of all time, I would say Michael Jordan is the G.O.A.T. for all the same right reasons.

How about you? Do you hate Michael Jordan as much as I do?