People are forgetting all the calls or no calls jordan got. Lebron is just a superior athlete to mj. He is 6-8 260 pound guy who is as fast as a guard.
First of all I think Kobe is the only player worthy of comparison to Jordan. However, you cannot say because Kobe gets his 5th ring he is close to Jordan. Kobe needs 5 more Finals MVP's to be considered close to Jordan. By this argument, Horry is better than Jordan because he has 7 rings.
Exactly. Not only that, Jordan was deceptively strong (in proportion to his wieght) in his own right. Furthermore, what is being overlooked is the fact that Jordan had 10X the basketball skill that LBJ has. Lebron is phenominal, but he gets to the rim simply becuase most people guarding him are not strong enough to stop him, and he can flat out jump over the bigger guys. You can defend Lebron by collapsing and forcing him to shoot jumpers. He can shoot better than the average NBA player, you couldn't just say we will take our chances with Jordan shooting. Automatic 55 points.
If you want to go there lets talk about the hand checking rule. If I hate to keep bringing this up but it is a valid point. If Jordan had no hand checking rule he could have easily averaged 40-45 points a season in his prime. I think his best scoring average was close to 40 even while being hand checked and zoned all the way to the rim. But you are 100% right about Lebron's speed in relation to his size. He is Scottie Pippen in Karl Malone's body.
He better learn how to shoot lights out then. And it definitely woon't be scoring average he is number 1 in. To put it in perspective, Lebron has never had two consecutive seasons scoring over 30ppg. He has only had 2 seasons scoring over 30 ppg. Jordan average over 30 ppg for his career, even when you add his years with the Wizards. Even the year Kobe went berserk he only averaged 35.4 ppg. Lebron's highest is about 31 ppg, which is about Jordan's CAREER average. Jordan's best season scoring wise he average 37.1 ppg. His second best season, which separates him from Kobe and Lebron, he averaged 35.1 ppg..... BUT....HE WON DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR IN THE SAME SEASON! Not first or second team you would use to say Lebron is an "elite" defender. He won defensive player of the year for the whole league. And he dropped 35 on average EVERY NIGHT. 1 35 point game gets LBJ on Sports Center. For Jordan, it was another day at the office.
One last thing and I'll get off my soapbox. I thought about this while I was watching the Nuggets game the other night. Mello was killing us. They had him guarding Chuck Hayes. Jordan would have guarded Kevin Martin, wouldn't have needed help, and still would have dropped 45 on the other end. That's the type of player he was. Lebron can dunk, and he makes for great highlights. But he doesn't have the offensive or defensive skill and basketball IQ to ever be compared to Jordan. Nor the competitive fire and heart/refusal to allow his team to lose that Jordan had.
5 MVPs, 6 finals MVPs, 10 scoring champs, DPOY. I can go on and on. LeBron is not on the level of MJ yet and I doubt he would ever accomplish what MJ has done.
James to me is like a supped up magic in the way he dominates on the court. Jordan wanted to dominate you scoring moreso than everything else. James would be like 27-8-8 and jordan is more like 32-4-4. Now thats not to say james can't score more because we know he can when he wants, but there is something in him so unselfish that kinda cuts on when he sees teammates aren't in the game. Jordan had the same thing except he would keep killing you offensively until he felt like stopping. The only reason people compare him to jordan is because he's such a great athlete. If he was just a good athlete like paul pierce, those comparison would never happen.
Comparing players from different eras is never conclusive. Different rules, different cultures, different teammates, different opponents. If Lebron is overhyped, so is Jordan. (For the record, I am not a fan of either guy.) The claim that Jordan would have scored x more points if he played now makes no sense to me. How can you prove it? Defensive schemes are very different now than back then. Sure there is the hand check rule. But then the claim implies that Lebron wouldn't have been as great if he played in the 90's. That is also unfounded. If anything, Lebron being stronger than Jordan would not have been affected by hand check as Jordan would. These two guys are different kinds of player. Jordan is a pure scorer, probably the greatest scorer ever besides Wilt. But Lebron is probably the best non-PG play maker of all time. Being bigger makes Lebron slower than Jordan. But being bigger also gives him the abilities to overpower opponent, which Jordan could not. Physical attributes are as much a part of a player's talent as basketball skills. I am tired of the younger generation of fans who only know about Kobe, Lebron and Wade, and have never watched the great players in the 70s and 80s. But I would have to say that comparing Lebron to Jordan is NOT degrading Jordan. And PLEASE don't bring in the "rings argument." I am so tired of people using team achievement to measure individual greatness.
Exactly. I hate the rings argument especially when people bring it up when debating Kobe and LeBron. I think it's safe to say if Kobe played his whole career with the supporting cast that LeBron has played with he wouldn't have any rings.
Why am I hating or smoking weed? Lebron's game rely's very heavily on his athleticism and Jordan's game relied on skill and athleticism. There is a difference between the two. Perimeter defense, shooting, ball handling, weak side shot blocking, passing, court vision... those are all skill. I concede Lebron is probably a tad bit more atheletic, but Jordan was definitely more skilled by far. Even Lebron himself would admit that. When Lebron hits 30 and loses a step, will he still have the "skill" to dominate the league the way Jordan did even in his mid 30's when he could no longer dunk from the free throw line? Will Lebron have the shot or defensive IQ to be the league MVP when he can no longer jump out of the gym? Time will tell.
I think the Magic comparison is overstated too. He leans too far into the offensive side of the game to distance himself far enough from Jordan and into the passing side of the game where Magic is. Magic also had more skill in the post by far and a quicker mind on the floor. Magic is more comparable to Bird than anyone else (despite his darker complexion).
I agree with you. I even think LBJ is even more atheletic than Jordan The exception is that LBJ can be stopped over the course of a 7 game series. Case in point 0 titles. Jordan in his prime could not be stopped. And as far as numbers: LBJ's best season:29.9 ppg, 8.6 apg, 7.2 rpg, 1.7 spg MJ's best season: 32 ppg, 8apg, 8rpg, 2.77 spg LBJ's career average: 23.7 ppg, 5.3 apg, 6.3 rpg, 1.8 spg MJ's career average (even diluted by his years with the Wizards): 30.1 ppg, 5.3 apg, 6.2 rpg, 2.35 spg So this tells me that over the course of his career, Jordan would equal Lebron's production on the court and get you 7 more points and almost an extra steal per game on any given night they were to ever suit up.
I haven't given it much deep though, but my knee-jerk reaction is to say that Lebron is more skilled than Jordan in the bolded areas. Lebron sort of strikes me as what would happen if you put an elite PF into one side of the transporter machine in the movie The Fly, and put an elite PG into the other side. He's like Karl Malone with the ball handling and passing ability of an elite PG. He's missing a lot of the finer SG/SF skills at this point though. And I'm not sure I'm convinced that Jordan is definitively quicker than Lebron. There are times where Lebron gets to the rim scary fast; it seems inhuman.
