There is no way Jordan wins 6 championships in the modern NBA. Jordan had 4 major boosts that modern players do not have (in reverse order of importance):
1) Pre-Analytics - The 90's Knicks team are the perfect example of how teams were assembled before analytics. Teams were assembled by position back then rather than by skills. No modern GM would create a backcourt of Rivers, Starks and Anthony today. All 3 were solid players, and there is no way in hell that all 3 should have been in the same backcourt.
2) Zone defenses - The zone defense has completely changed NBA basketball. Teams used to leave players on islands against Jordan, and he would light them up. When teams can double off the ball, it forces teams to play more of a team offense. The Bulls would not have been able to run all those ISOs today.
3) Expansion - 4 teams were added right before Jordan's first run, and 2 more before his second run. This diluted the league significantly. Imagine if Shaq was on the 1990's Suns and Mourning was on the 1990's Knicks instead of on expansion teams.
4) European Invasion - If Arvydas Sabonis goes to Portland in the late 80's like he was supposed to, Portland has somewhere between 3 and 6 NBA titles now. Beyond that, the Europeans were just beginning to produce top talent in the early 90's, and the Bulls got one of the best in Toni Kukoc. Jordan was able to win his titles before the trickle of European talent became a tidal wave.
C'mon this is silly. One can certainly make a case against Bill Russell's championships as there are quantitative statistical reasons (fewer teams/players/drafting rules), this reasoning is largely subjective (despite ironically starting with analytics?!).
Analytics - Should no titles prior to 2017 or so count & we assess the current analytics as definitely best ever? Competition is competition - everyone uses their best edge & analytics have not made perennial suckless teams like Sacto any better.
Zone - I see your Zone and raise you Hand-Checking
Expansion - Shaq made the finals in his only 4 years in Orlando and then multiple titles with Lakers, putting Shaq on the 90's Suns doesn't create more titles for him & Shaq served a shorter apprenticeship on crappy teams than Jordan endured. Mourning is a strange anecdotal choice as well, facts are those expansion teams were given crappy draft picks so you can't cite Big Country's Vancouver teams diluting the league. Early expansion teams were really terrible & all finished bottom of league with very little talent on their rosters (hence Zo rare elite player found). Jordan burned 6yrs in the league on a pretty crappy bulls team (esp 1st 3 seasons <.500), If you put Jordan on Houston or Portland instead of the Bulls he probably wins 9 titles.
European Invasion - Jordan very arguably CREATED the worldwide popularity of basketball so you don't get to ding him for it.
Analytics Part Deux - the best way to view players historically is to analyze them vs their peers. Paradoxically, at times is also used as an argument against Jordan b/c he had no peers and was statistically so much better than everyone else. It is way more logical to assume that happens regardless of the era of Michael Jordan.
