In a one-on-one game, Lebron probably would "kick his ass" on a play or two. The problem for the King is, MJ would kick his ass on more plays lol! I'm a huge Lebron fan, but I would take MJ 10 times out of 10
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/04J2WMztZ0c?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Some of these plays are just unreal. Young MJ was so good.
MJ>LBJ any day, all the time. You type Michael Jordan flopping on youtube, you get Lebron- the art of flopping. Look what a Bulls player did to Lebron when he got tangled up, he flopped harder instead of facing the offender. MJ will go into your face and the whole Bulls team will follow him. Flopping, or not, MJ's intensity and fire is scary. With exception to Vernon Maxwell and Gary Payton, no players talked back. In a game, LBJ will win, but in a series, MJ will rule. If MJ was playing on the Heat, count 70 wins. Barkley, Reggie Miller, Stockton/Malone, Ewing, Dominque Wilkins, Iverson, Gary Payton, Dikembe Mutombo and Drexler (had he not hook up with Dream), all are in the HOF, or will be in HOF are ringless because of Airness. David Robinson got his ring because MJ retired the 2nd time with the Bulls. Defensively like blocking shots, or matching up against PG, SG, or SF, King James has it better. If LBJ continues to dominate with the Heat, he can come close to MJ, but there are too many great players who aren't champions is why Jordan is still king to me.
Uh what? You can make an argument being better skill and heart-wise, but no one is as talented as lbj. Mj played in an era of weak wings, bird was old, pippen became his sidekick and drexler/nique/dumars werent at his level.
Probably because he was going against Rik Smits and John Koncak and Joe Kleine just as often ( as he was against the Hornets or Cleveland. Can you show there's some statistical anomaly in this argument by anectdote..? I mean I can name all-star defensive big men from various eras in LeBron's career. (You left out Mutumbo here as well....) Duncan, Ben Wallace, Garnett, Camby - is the difference really statistically significant? I mean there's a Theo Ratleff for every John Salley and a Yao Ming for Kevin Duckworth. And finally I know the bad boys defense were revolutionary - for their time, punctuating the showtime era - but it's like saying that the 85 Bears would crush today's spread offenses - the game has changed. I'll take the late 2000's Celtics/Spurs or recent vintage full-strength Bulls and be happy. I definitely cherry picked it because I remember THorpe as you did - I remember him being a powerful force with a head of steam and difficult to stop. Now imagine him if he could dribble, jump, had a jumpshot, was one of the best passers in teh game, and was 30 lbs heavier, and you have LeBron. Did you watch the LeBron-era cavaliers? It's pretty much impossible to be any more central to your team's success than that. And you're right, it used to be Michael and the Jordanaires for a few years in which he did everything (The year he scored 37 ppg? They finished 40-42...). These were the years that they failed in the playoffs under Doug Collins. Then he got Phil Jackson and better help in Grant & Pippen, and they started threatening the Pistons, and the rest is history.
1. MJ never whined about 'not basketball plays'. The pistons would have eaten Lebron alive. 2. MJ was always clutch and willing to take the big shot.
Can't believe this unsolicited post regarding Lin (3rd post in thread ... comparing MJ and LBJ) was ignored for so long ... Why aren't LOFs jumping out to defend Lin? Why aren't LOHs following the lead and dumping it in? Could it be ... that ... nvm ...
You don't think a Heat team with Wade, Bosh, and a solid #3 to replace Lebron wins 50-55 in the east? Those crappy Raptors teams with Bosh were a solid 40-win team themselves.
Wade can't log 38 minutes a game as the lead dog anymore due to the cumulative effect of his style of play - his body would break down like it did 4 years ago and they'd end up drafting Michael Beasley again.
Well, I was against a thought where one would even considering comparing those two. I thought Wade was better than Lebron and that Lebron had TMac planted inside of him. I still think MJ was better, but question will be more legit when Lebron is done. Since there will never be agreement on who's better now, let us agree on some things for the future: 1. Number of championships is the only measure 2. If Lebron achieves what MJ did, there would be no excuses such as: Wade > Pippen and Lebron's supporting cast > MJ's supporting cast 3. If Lebron achieves what MJ did, there would be no excuses such as: MJ era > Lebron era
Your #2 and #3 are based on the assumption of #1, "Achieves" meaning "Wins championships." But "Number of championships is the only measure" is far from agreeable. There are so many other factors unrelated and uncontrolled by the player that contribute to winning championships. How does that the ONLY measure? If championships was the ONLY measure, then Bill Russell should be the indisputable GOAT. He would be kicking both Jordan's and James's collective asses, so to speak.
