North Carolina Basketball: Ranking the Tar Heels' All-Time Best NBA Players | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

Stats: 30.1 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 5.3 APG, 2.3 SPG, 0.8 BPG, 49.7 FG%, 32.7 3PT%

Michael Jordan was the third overall selection by the Chicago Bulls in 1984. His Airness dominated the league from the jump, averaging 28.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 2.4 steals per game.

Obviously, Jordan took home the NBA Rookie of the Year award.

Due to his high flying and high scoring, people often forget how good a defender and teammate he was. Not only does he rank third all-time for steals, he also averaged 5.3 assists to go with his 30.1 points per game.

Through his illustrious NBA career, Jordan won six NBA titles and a Finals MVP for each. That was done with two "three-peats," separated only by his one-and-a-half years playing baseball after his father's murder in 1993.

I don't think it's out of the realm of possibilities that Jordan and the Bulls would have won all eight in a row. Jordan averaged 33.4 points per game during his career in the playoffs.

Michael Jordan is not only the greatest Tar Heel to play in the NBA, but he is the greatest basketball player in the history of the game. Don't tell him that, though.

This is what Jordan wrote in his book, For the Love of the Game: My Story:

There is no such thing as a perfect basketball player, and I don't believe there is only one greatest player either. Everyone plays in different eras. I built my talents on the shoulders of someone else's talent. I believe greatness is an evolutionary process that changes and evolves era to era. Without Julius Erving, David Thompson, Walter Davis, and Elgin Baylor there would never have been a Michael Jordan. I evolved from them.

A little bit of humility from a guy that wasn't known for being humble.

While I gave you the other players' best statistical seasons, that was pretty hard to do for Michael Jordan. There are just too many insane numbers to pick the best, so I decided to list his highest averages for each category.

Career-High Season Averages

1986-87: 37.1 PPG

1988-89: 7.2 RPG

1988-89: 8.0 APG

1987-88: 3.2 SPG

1985-86: 1.7 BPG

1990-91: 53.9 FG%

1995-96: 42.7 3PT%

Career Achievements

Six-time NBA champion: 1991-93, 1996-98

Six-time NBA Finals MVP: 1991-93, 1996-98

Five-time NBA Most Valuable Player: 1988, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1998

10-time scoring champion: 1987-93, 1996–98

Three-time steals leader: 1988, 1990, 1993

Three-time minutes leader: 1987-89

14-time NBA All-Star: 1985-93, 1996–98, 2002-03

Three-time NBA All-Star Game MVP: 1988, 1996, 1998

One-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year: 1987-88

11-time All-NBA selection: 1985, 1987-93, 1996-98

Nine-time All-Defensive selection: 1988-93, 1996-98

NBA All-Rookie selection: 1985

NBA Rookie of the Year: 1985

Two-time NBA Slam Dunk Contest champion: 1987, 1988