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Michael Jordan was still really good though.

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I definitely don't disagree, but his ultimate departure was totally inelegant relative to the way he COULD have gone out: shooting hand raised as the ball went through the net to secure the Bulls' sixth title in eight years. He obviously had plenty of gas in the tank and chose to take the car out of the garage >3 years later and instead wound his career up with a different team by missing the playoffs completely. Who talks about his last game with the Wizards?

Fact is, there are so VERY few elite athletes who have the chance to go out on top and ACTUALLY DO. Sandy Koufax (although I think they lost the WS that year, can't remember, he obviously still had game but was breaking down and got out largely on his terms), Jim Brown, Bill Russell, John Elway. One could argue that guys like Ray Borque do too because of the whole winning the title thing while still being able to contribute. MJ could have added his name to that short list but decided against it.