The heated conversations amongst those in the NBA circle of whether or not LeBron James has passed or can pass Michael “Air” Jordan as the widely renowned greatest basketball player of all-time is a highly debated topic these days. Some point to his overall basketball intelligence, his unique basketball skills accompanied by his unique blend of size speed and agility as the measure as to why he has passed Jordan. Others point to his statistical achievements, many of which no one has ever accomplished.
At this juncture of his career, LeBron has concluded his 15th NBA season at age 33. He now has reached 8 straight finals appearances and in the process winning 3 titles. His resume also is comprised of various record-breaking achievements, including 8 straight seasons of 2000 or more points, 500 hundred or more rebounds, and 500 plus assists. He is also the oldest player to accomplish this feat. He is also the oldest player to average a triple-double for a month, the only player in NBA history with 30,000 career points, 8k rebounds and 8k assists in a career.
He is the only player in NBA history to have over 35 points, 15 assists, and no turnovers in a single game. This season, he also broke Jordan’s 866 consecutive regular season game scoring record of at least 10 points scored. In the playoffs, he broke Scottie Pippen’s all-time playoff steals record. James also has many other statistical accomplishments that could be used as valid points of support to argue him as being the greatest player to ever grace a basketball court.
The Michael and LeBron comparison has been minimized by some, arguing that they play two different types of games. LeBron is stated to be more of a facilitator, closer to a bigger faster version of Magic and Jordan is highly regarded as the most dominant scorer in basketball history. While these points have validation, the fact is that if dig into their perspective games deeper, we can see more similarities than differences.
For starters, they are both wings. However, LeBron’s build and height makes him able to play the PF position and in small ball lineups the 5 as well. He also initiates the offense more than Jordan had to but the offense ran through MJ, and his duty was to score. The notion that LeBron is not a pure scorer is overstated because the truth is that he would not be able to average the point totals he does if he was not a pure scorer, he just happens to be much more.
What separates LeBron from Michael is one very important thing, on court character. This is not to say anything is wrong with LeBron’s character on the court, but he does have blips on his resume that Jordan never had.
Jordan never left Chicago to learn how to win. He never left the court with the balance of the game in hand, without exhausting everything he could to win. He did this to a fault sometimes, but he always took it upon himself to ensure that he was going to win the game. He never gave up or left the mind to wonder whether or not he played to the best of his abilities. He didn’t relax, he played defense consistently, never saving himself for games at a time to rest. He never took games off.
He just didn’t.
That’s the one thing that LeBron lacks that Michael never gave anyone cause to express. Jordan did not hold the teams he played on hostage by signing deals that would hamper the front office's ability to attract big name free agents, especially in a city that is not a prime free agent destination.
LeBron physically and statistically is Jordan’s equal or superior. His talent is indisputable. However, the grit and determination and how he utilized that talent, in the most trying circumstances, no matter if he succeeded or failed is the difference. No matter what you can say about Michael’s career, one thing that you can’t say is that he ever left bullets in the clip after any contest. Whatever the challenge, he went out blazing and in LeBron’s case; we have often been left wondering on more than one occasion.
Comments