There are a lot of great players and different types of greatness. Was Abdul Jabbar or Magic Johnson better? As a rookie Magic was the leader of the Lakers … Kareem wasn’t. Then again Kareem had a whole Hall of Fame career before going to LA. Jabbar had the long career and Magic just kind of won. Either way - I know that Magic and Kareem were both better than Kobe Bryant, who wasn’t even the best player of his own generation - Duncan was better. Jerry West? Underrated at this point, was better than Bryant too… Elgin Baylor? Wilt was the most dominant player ever, at this point he is underrated- had he been a Celtic instead of Bill Russell, we would say Wilt invented greatness… but, would the Celtics have won more titles with Wilt? I’m not so sure, so is Russell better though? LeBron James is like the modern version of Kareem- just absolute greatness from the beginning until the end. Greatness… However - LBJ isn’t the best player I have seen. At his peak Olajuwon was better but not for as long…. But the overall best I have ever seen is Michael Jordan and it honestly isn’t close. If LeBron at his best and Jordan at his best matched up in the Finals…. Jordan wins every time. I have never seen a person that had the level that Jordan was on. I’ll throw in that Bird at his best could compete against LBJ when it comes to lead a team in the playoffs. So many great players- so many memories… lots of all time greats not even listed- but at the absolute top of the pyramid ahead of Wilt/Kareem/LBJ is Michael Jordan.
No body would go see their “no bull” tour if it wasn’t for Michael Jordan. Horace Grant would be Buck Williams… Longley would be long forgotten and Pippen would have been traded for being mentally weak - Pippen doesn’t reach his level of greatness without Jordan everyday telling him he could play harder and better…. Steve Kerr never is in the Suns front office or the Warriors coach because Kerr would have bounced around the league and not gotten opportunities…. Phil Jackson would just be Phillip Jackson…. and everyone would be forgotten. So these guys can go on tour and complain and cry - but no one would give a **** about what they have to say if they didn’t play with Jordan…. Luc Longley? Are you ****ing kidding me? Maybe they can add Bill Wilmington, Stacy King and Jason Caffey.
