Of all the "next Jordan" guys out there Lebron is the only one that is actually on a path that could lead to him being as good or better than Mike. Guys like Grant Hill, Jerry Stackhouse, Vince Carter and Kobe Bryant were never a threat after 5-6 years in the league. Lebron is actually putting up the individual numbers, getting noticeably better each season, helping his team get better every season AND he has the physical tools. We can't really know if Lebron will match or surpass MJ until Lebron is close to hanging up his sneakers but he has a chance. Even then it will still be tough since Lebron and Jordan are such different players. I suspect that a best case scenario for Lebron would be if he does enough in his career to actually make the comparison a realistic one.
He is 31 and is already starting to decline. Does not have the rings or the stats. Jordan beats Kobe in literally every statistical category you can find and has twice as many Championships. He was also the best guy on the team where Kobe was second fiddle when he got his rings. Are you serious?
As we lead up to Monday's showdown between the Cavaliers and Lakers, we focus our attentions on LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. My feelings on the State of the NBA Superstars has been published 'round here before. Through my eyes, LeBron is clearly the best player in the world (and, ahem, Kobe's not even #2 right now). But at this late stage (Thursday night, to be exact), big-name analysts like Kenny Smith still name Kobe number one. That's fine -- you're entitled to your opinion, Kenny Smith. But I'm entitled to call that opinion ridiculous. So, um: that opinion is ridiculous. Follow me down the rabbit hole, from whence we shall never return. Again, I've been hip deep in this muck plenty before. I named LeBron the best player in the NBA this summer; I hear he donated the prize of 500 ZillerBucks to charity. To me, it's clear-cut. To science, it seems pretty clear cut. But for whatever reason, Kenny Smith and some of you -- all good people, I trust -- argue the opposite. John Hollinger's Player Efficiency Rating (PER) is the best summary measure we've got ... and it's damn good. Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain and Shaquille O'Neal own the top 10 list of highest PER seasons -- this isn't some crackpot measure that counts Dennis Rodman as the finest player in modern history or Allen Iverson as just another scrub. PER mixes the right level of unexpected surprise with a grounded, "smell test" accuracy. Almost every analyst working for a team these days knows and respects PER as a measurement of individual player performance. MJ has the best career PER, and the top four PER seasons of the modern era. He's the Greatest of All Time for a reason, that reason being that he is the Greatest of All Time. And of course, Kobe and 'Bron are inextricably linked to His Airness as potential usurpers to the throne. Kobe's been the Second Coming since '96, and James has settled into that spot over the past five seasons. But what I don't get is that if Kobe is a potential G.O.A.T., and if LeBron is a potential G.O.A.T., and Kobe is much older than LeBron ... shouldn't their performances to date at least be in the same stratosphere? Because they aren't. LeBron -- who just turned 24 -- has already had two full seasons statistically better than the peak of Kobe (who is now age 30). This season for LeBron looks to break MJ's high standard -- and Kobe's peak is a mile back. The realist's premonitions of LeBron's reign over Kobe date back to '06, when a 21-year-old 'Bron matched Kobe's season shot for shot, box score for box score, win for win. Last season, LeBron officially broke away from Bryant. The comparison was not close last year. This season, the gulf is much, much larger. And Kenny Smith is still arguing that Kobe's the best player in the world. It's absolutely hilarious. I'm not sure what LeBron needs to do in order to prove his mettle -- I imagine Kobephiles will point to his rings, but no one's arguing Kobe circa 2002 is the G.O.A.T. -- and I'm positive he doesn't care what Smith or I or you say. But for the good of the world, for the good of the children ... can we please take our heads out of [the sand] and admit reality? LeBron is the best player on this or any world, and there is no question. Come on, you can do it. Say it slowly, if you must. LeBron ... is ... the best. http://nba.fanhouse.com/2009/01/16/kobe-and-lebron-on-the-path-toward-jordan/
Bring up all of the stats you want but let's be real.....the era that both played (play) in plays a more pivotal role in their respective success. MJ played against tough, physical defenses that were allowed to manhandle him on a nightly basis (and also against some of the better defenders of the modern era I might say) and still did what he did. If someone coughs on Bron Bron it's a trip to the foul line. The rules and league commercialization now will probably set Bron up for a good run but that doesn't necessarily mean that he's better than MJ. Think KRS 1 vs Lil Wayne If you ask me it's not even close......MJ is the GOAT because he earned it. If Lebron, statistically beats him, it was partially given to him
This might be the most overrated and overstated topic discussed about MJ. Anyone here old enough to remember the "Jordan rules"? MJ got hit more than his share of times, but after his first couple of championships, let's just say the refs didn't exactly swallow the whistles on him. It's amazing how the same points people make against LeBron were used by Jordan-haters back in the day.
I agree...anybody who was old enough to watch Jordan play would know that people hated Jordan like anything and had the same exact type of excuses for Jordan. Everything bad said about LBJ was also once said about MJ.
What you also had to remember is after the first championship, Jordan got treated like Dwyane Wade. You couldn't sneeze on him without a foul call.
i always love the whole "MJ played against epic defenses" argument. he played a good 6 seasons in the 80's, when games were much faster paced and defenses weren't nearly as sophisticated or as good as they are now. sure he occasionally got a bad boys pistons game thrown in there but to listen to some everyone had chainsaws and billy clubs when they played defense back in the day. and part of this argument seems to be that defenses were so physical and jordan wasn't getting calls. uhh, jordan not getting calls? yeah, right. if any of the 3 got screwed on their era in terms of D, it was kobe. basically games got slower and defenses better and more physical for about 20 years from when jordan came in until the handchecking rules after 03-04 (or was it 04-05?). but kobe got every bit of the worst part of it for the first 8 years of his career until the new rules happened. jordan caught the end of it with his last 1 or 2 bulls years and those wizards years. lebron didn't get the uptempo of jordan's day, but he's at least mostly played in a handcheck-free league his whole career. none of that changes any of the facts though: 1. kobe is not in the lebron/mj conversation. they're a level above all of the rest. he doesn't have the stats or team-carrying accomplishments they do. he just didn't/doesn't have the same level of physical superiority of the other two. jordan was even stronger and more athletic than kobe and kobe was doing it against 15 years of extra athletic evolution. and lebron is just the freak of all freaks. because of this, kobe doesn't match them in terms of blocks and steals and can't put up the assists and rebounds as effortlessly as either lebron or mj. kobe is kobe because he developed the most ridiculously complete scoring repertoire of all-time and honed it to perfection. and he works extremely hard and has a good bball IQ. 2. all of these "lebron isn't even close to mj" comments are ridiculous. are y'all looking at the stats he puts up? the finals appearance and possibly another one coming up? lebron is the only guy to have a realistic chance at catching mj, and at age 24, he's ahead. we'll just have to see if he has MJ's finishing kick. his dominance into his 30's was pretty amazing. 3. **** michael jordan.
What I dont get is this. Mike is old he isnt coming back, before lebron we had kobe. Kobe can never be the goat why? because we have already seen a better version of kobe. His name was michael jordan, they played the same position, kobe adopted his moves but could never catch mike. Now we have never seen a Lebron james, weve seen penny, he was good, weve seen allen iverson he was really good, we saw grant hill he was okay, but never a force like lebron james. He plays nothing like michael jordan the way he affects the game is something we never seen before. Fast like a guard, similar in size to karl malone, point guard like ball handling skills, bullies himself though the lane, magic like court vision, unbelievable athletic abilites its ridiculous. I think people should be happy that the league has somebody capable of pass jordan, do you want spend the rest of your life talking about how jordan was the best long ago? or would you rather see someone being the best now? In my opinion even if he doesnt win 6 rings, he will still be in the conversation of the GOAT. But ultimately I think he will pass michael jordan by season 11
It all depends on how Lebron will develop his game. I believe his first 6 years are just as impressive (if not more inpressive) than the first 6 years of Jordan. However Jordan took it to another level after that (his 6 championships). Will Lebron also be able to do this? I do not know. But there is only one way to find out. So saying he is not even close to Jordan is not true, it depens on the rest of his career. The brilliance of Jordan was that even though his altheletic abilities were uncanny, he developed an game which was not dependent on this abilities (like his mid range fade away jumpers). If Lebron is able to do the same he might be able to become just as good or better than Jordan. Only time will tell.
Most. Hilarious. Post. Ever. You're bashing someone else by saying they got more calls than Jordan? Jordan practically invented the get-breathed-on-then-go-to-the-line strategy. "MJ is the GOAT because he earned it." Right. By that logic, go back to the old era when there was no such thing as a flagrant foul, or ask Wilt's rivals how much they were allowed to hack on him constantly because the refs were trying to "equalize the game" due to Wilt's dominance. *If* the Cavs win the title this year, to me that makes Lebron the third guy to win a title practically by himself... Hakeem and Rick Barry being the others. Those guys both won titles without another superstar next to them.
Those rocket teams were solid. They might have one super star, but they had a solid 5 and bench. Cle. is a 15 win team without bron.
I realize the 94 Rox were very solid. Max was a very good player, ditto Smith and rookie Cassell, ditto Thorpe, ditto Horry... but my point is that you can't classify any of those guys as a star-level player, maybe not even a legit all-star (kinda like Mo Williams is supposedly an "all-star" this season... yeah right). And history has shown that it's very difficult to win it all without at least two stars, two guys that other teams just have no answer for. In 94 we had a broken-down Drexler, but even when everyone thought he was over the hill, he was still a difference-making star. He beat the Jazz almost single-handedly when we had no other answers for them. But really, getting back to 94... it really is funny to watch old games of our Rockets in 94, because it's easy to foget just what a HUGE percentage of the time Hakeem touched the ball on offense. We posted the guy up like 80% of the time down the floor! The ball certainly didn't always stay there, but it always started there. You just don't see that anymore today, period. No one gets the ball that much anymore... except Lebron... because Lebron is that good.
Ever heard of the Jordan Rules? Sure he got the usual superstar calls but fouls back then are nothing like the touch fouls now. A flagrant foul in this era, would be just a plain hard foul back when MJ was still playing.
Well, to be fair, "The Jordan Rules" didnt exist until after he won a few championships. He was beat up like nobody else by the bad boy pistons. Anyone know what MJ's stats were against the Pistons in early 90s? Imagine a younger MJ playing in the league now. By the time the jordan rules were in effect, MJ wasnt nearly the aggressive player he was in his younger days.....
Another over-looked aspect about the MJ vs Lebron comparison is their defensive. I think Lebron being first team all defensive team is a complete joke. Sure the guy gets some spectacular blocks, but he isnt a great defensive player by any means. Jordan, on the other hand, was a dominant defensive player.
