John Havlicek vs Michael Jordan: How Does Celtics Legend Match Up To His Airness?

NBA Twitter has had a field day in bringing down Michael Jordan of late. This time, they chose John Havlicek as their prop for this purpose.

John Havlicek was one of the first do-it-all forwards to ever play in the NBA. The 6’5″ player could play at either of the guard positions as well as at small forward.

Havlicek was immensely physically gifted as an athlete, becoming one of only 2 players to ever be eligible to play in both the NBA as well as the NFL. Havlicek was drafted by the Cleveland Browns of the NFL along with the Boston Celtics.

John Havlicek played 16 seasons in the NBA after foregoing his spot on the Browns’ training camp roster. He was instrumental in all of the teams that he represented the Boston Celtics in.

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NBA Twitter trolls Michael Jordan by comparing him to John Havlicek

Boston won 4 NBA championships in his first 4 seasons with the franchise. Havlicek quickly became an irreplaceable component of Red Auerbach’s team, bringing stupendous energy to their team.

Havlicek was said to be a workhorse of no ordinary stamina. His rivals would often take credit for just keeping pace with the Celtics’ forward, often only on one end of the floor.

Over the course of his career, Havlicek averaged 36.6 minutes per game. This was despite Hondo being a bench player for practically his entire career. Havlicek took pride in being the difference-maker off the bench and asked for that role even when he got good enough to be a starter.

Hondo averaged 20.8 points per game for his career, amassing over 26,000 points over 16 seasons. His 8-0 record in NBA Finals has led to some people comparing him favorably with the consensus GOAT – Michael Jordan.

Also Read – Jayson Tatum eclipses Larry Bird, John Havlicek with a scoring stat that may fuel 3-time All-Star’s MVP campaign amidst Celtics’ league-leading status

How good was Havlicek really?

John Havlicek is undoubtedly one of the 20-25 greatest players of all time. In terms of swingmen, only the likes of Jordan, LeBron, Kobe and Julius Erving can clearly be classed ahead of him.

In his best scoring season, Hondo averaged a whopping 28.9 points per game. He did so while also displaying All-Defensive Team level play on the less glamorous end.

Where Havlicek would lose out to the most elite swingmen in the game was his passing ability. He was undoubtedly a good playmaker, but he comes up short in comparison to the likes of Jordan and LeBron.