"The myth is real" - Ethan Strauss highlights inaccuracies in Nick Wright's analysis on Michael Jordan's 1987-88 DPOY honor

The Athletic's reporter, Ethan Strauss, came to the defense of the Chicago Bulls' Michael Jordan after Nick Wright's analysis of the legend's 1987-88 Defensive Player of the Year claims. According to Wright, the Bulls padded Jordan's defensive stats during the 1987–88 season to help him win the DPOY award.

This started after analyst Tom Haberstroh broke down why Jordan's defensive stats were inflated in his article. Wright doubled down on the claim regarding the tactics used by the Bulls. This urged Strauss to publish his defense of MJ's case for being the rightful winner of the 1987–88 DPOY award.

"The issue, at the bottom, that all attempts at Michael Jordan 'myth busting' run into the following: The myth is real," Strauss wrote. "Do people exaggerate? Do they ignore flaws? Yes, but the actual human being performed beyond the theoretical capabiliries of human beings.

"I'll tell you what was apparent to NBA people, regardless of home box score data: How scary it was to conduct offense in Michael Jordan's midst," he wrote.

Jordan only won the DPOY award once in his career but he was named to nine All-Defensive Teams and wreaked havoc on the defensive end. However, his former teammate, Scottie Pippen, shared an interesting note that he included in his book "Unguarded."

Pippen claimed that the Bull's scorekeepers would give Jordan credit for more steals during home games.

"Here’s how it worked: Say I deflected the ball and tapped it over to him. I should get credit with the steal, right? Nope. More often than not, the steal went into his column on the stat sheet, and I could do nothing about it," Pippen wrote.

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What did Wright say about Michael Jordan?

The article from Haberstroh was a complete surprise, as no one saw it coming. However, Wright admitted that he saw it coming as he was part of the behind-the-scenes analysis and breakdown of the case study. According to the longtime analyst, this may add to the GOAT conversation.

"There was a game where they credited Michael Jordan with more steals than the other team had turnovers. Might put a little different hue on the old GOAT conversation," he said on his show.

Wright is one of the people who have constantly talked about the GOAT debate between Jordan and James. He has brought up a few arguments against MJ's GOAT status lately.