Cavs sign Shawn Marion

Such a short response for nothing. MJ was the product of a different era, had Lebron come up back then, who knows how his personality would've been. It does not even matter, people did not tune in because of MJ's personality and neither do they with Lebron. You truly believe if MJ came back now, all those things would come along with it? Sorry but you are very short sighted and wrong.

 

No, Jordan was a sports icon and plenty of people tuned in just to watch him, his athletic skills as well as his personality. Kids and probably more than a few adults really wanted to "Be Like Mike," and he was by far the major reason that the NBA became so immensely popular in the US and around the world.

That said, if Jordan had played in the 21st century, I don't think Jordan would have been glorified to the same degree as he was back in the 80s and 90s. Everything is too analyzed and disseminated online for anyone to be so, and there would have been some off-color remark or personal scandal landing on YouTube or TMZ to take the sheen off the Jordan mythology.

 

Uhh yes. Yes, they absolutely did. People don't like mundane and boring. People are naturally drawn to controversial players and if said player/athlete happens to be the greatest person in their respective sport that's a recipe for a major draw.

If Lebron came up back then he wouldn't be nearly as popular as he is today because he just doesn't have that type of personality. It's not a knock on him. He's just very predictable and he's a good kid.

You look at the history of sports dating back to Muhammad Ali, Tyson in his Prime, Mayweather today in boxing. The numerous guys in baseball (Cobb, Rose, A-Rod). Maradona in soccer, Woods in golf... These guys were not only great at their sport but they were major draws because they were interesting.

Lets pretend Lebron had ties to a convicted drug dealer, had a gambling addiction, lost his mom and still beat the Spurs this past summer for a 3 peat and then all of a sudden retired to go play TE in the NFL. Yeah... that would be one of the most SHOCKING stories in the history of sports.

 

First it was Jordan vs Magic. Everyone is gonna watch that. Then Jordan vs Drexler when some thought Drexler was just as good. The Blazers also had a very exciting team. Then Jordan vs Barkley right after Barkley blew up after the Olympics. Then the Bulls after they set a league record and after the comeback, against a very exciting Seattle team. Then Jordan vs Malone after he beat him for the MVP, and a repeat. So while Jordan drives ratings more, let's not act like all 6 of those matchups weren't great matchups from both sides.

Compare that to LeBron playing the Spurs twice (no one cares about them), the Mavs with Dirk and a young OKC team. If LeBron and Kobe met in the Finals it would have gotten crazy ratings.

 

Jordan drove those ratings and they were great matchups because of Jordan. Nobody cared about tiny markets like Portland, Seattle and Utah.

If you put Jordan against the Spurs or Mavs and a young OKC team they would've been great draws as well. The Jazz team from back in the day that Jordan beat twice wasn't any more exciting than the Spurs team from the last couple years.

Young or not you would think a Durant vs Lebron matchup would be able to muster up more views. Also, Lebron vs. Kobe would have gotten a lot of views but I wouldn't go as far as to say "crazy ratings". There was Kobe AND prime SHAQ who was a major draw vs. Allen Iverson. AI was on top of the world and a huge draw back then and that did 12.1