Before starting this article, I want to address my thoughts on LeBron. I was a LeBron fan before The Decision. For a long while into his Heat career, really up until the conference finals this year, I hated LeBron. Absolutely despised him. But from watching Dwayne Wade and other clowns continually make asses out of themselves, and seeing LeBron continuing to mature and playing the game the right way on the court, I revisited my feelings on the subject.
I don’t hate LeBron James. I hate the way that he left Cleveland. I hate the fact that this entire team was formed under the guise of collusion, with Pat Riley and the players coordinating an effort to make a mockery of the NBA free agent system. Most of all though, I hated that NBA fans around the world were cheated. Yes, you heard me right, cheated. Let’s face it, we all had bestowed the expectations upon LeBron that he was to be the next Jordan before he had even graduated high school. And when he left Cleveland, we realized that those expectations would not be fulfilled. What had the potential to be the most amazing career we had ever seen was now tainted by the fact that he had to leave his team to go team up with two other superstars in order to win a championship, despite the fact that his team was very close to winning one themselves. That’s what I hate the most.
Now, back to Thursday night. I sat at dinner at a sports bar tonight, and what do I see? I see people on TV talking about a dynasty, asking if one ring is enough, and comparing him to Michael Jordan. First off, we’re less than 24 hours since they held up the Larry O’Brien Trophy. We should still be enjoying the masterpiece of a performance the Heat put on, instead of finding ways to critique and draw ratings. But, I digress, for that is the media in today’s world.
The Jordan comparison is one that really hits one of my pet peeves. MJ is the greatest basketball player of all-time, bar none. I would argue greatest athlete ever (Although there are people like Michael Phelps, Jim Thorpe, Jesse Owens and so many more that deserve mention in that realm). He is truly one of the most incredible athletes to ever live. The other guys that are considered among NBA legends (I’m talking about Kareem, Magic, Bill Russell, Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain, etc.) don’t even deserve mention in the same paragraph as him. That’s how good he was.
It’s only natural that LeBron is compared to him. He is the most hyped high school athlete ever, and he is the premier player in his sport. Everyone wants him to be the next Jordan, just like Kobe before him, going on back with perimeter players all the way to the late Len Bias.
I mean this next sentence as no slight, insult, or anything of that nature to LeBron. He’s the premier player in the game, coming off of one of the greatest seasons in league history. He’s the most complete all around and most dominant player in the game today. But he doesn’t even deserve mention on the same page as Jordan.
For the purpose of this article, I will only be using the statistics from Jordan’s first 9 seasons (Since LeBron just finished his 9th), which coincidentally led up to his first retirement.
The Attributes
First off, I want to identify what types of players MJ and LeBron are.
Jordan: A 6’6 shooting guard. He was an athletic freak coming into the league, a player who amazed with his dunking and incredible leaping ability (which inspired the Air Jordan shoe line). He was an incredible scorer, and after coming into the league he developed into a shut-down defender, with underrated rebounding ability. In his later years, he developed a deadly mid-range game as his athleticism was decaying by age and one of the best post-games for a perimieter player in league history. His lone achilles heel was his three-point shooting.
LeBron: A 6-8, 270 pound monster of a human being. He’s one of the fastest players in the league, and has ridiculous athleticism that allows him to man all 5 spots on the floor with great success at each. He is an incredible passer, one of the best finishers at the rim that I’ve ever seen, a great roving defender (His man to man defense is extremely overrated, however his versaility - being able to guard the 1-5 equally well - and his ability to play centerfield and make plays is what makes him such a valuable defender), and a great rebounder. He’s the perfect definition of a point-forward, often running the Heat offense.
The Stats
Jordan:
(Jordan's totals are at the top of the page, for some reason it won't paste it here).
LeBron:
Basically, given the differences in play styles, it’s what you would expect: Jordan leads in field goal percentage, free-throw percentage, steals, and points, and this comes with Jordan also playing 22 less games, 2000 less minutes, while averaging a full minute less per game. LeBron leads in three-point percentage, rebounds, assists, and blocks. Despite playing less games, Jordan has 2,496 more points. For point of reference, that’s playing an entire 82 game regular season averaging 30.4 per game.
Now, I want to point out some interesting notes right here. As a rookie, Jordan averaged 28 pts, 7 boards, 6 assists, 2.5 steals, and shot 51% from the field. As a rookie. Let that sink in, it’s one of the most incredible rookie seasons in NBA history. For comparisons sake, LeBron 21 pts, 6 boards, 6 assists, 1.7 steals while shooting 41% from the field. From the beginning, Jordan was among the greatest in the league.
One of the great notions that many like to make in this comparison is that LeBron has an edge because he’s a legitimate triple double threat every time out. Granted, he is. But Jordan is no slouch either. People just don’t realize that in 1987-88, Joran had a season that is still mentioned among the best of all-time. He averaged 32.5 pts, 8.0 boards, and 8.0 assists per game. Combined, it’s better than ANY season that LeBron has on record.
Jordan had 7 consecutive seasons of average 30+ points per game, including two above 35 points per game, and as well had 9 consecutive seasons coming into the league with 2+ steals per game (including one over 3). Comparitively, LeBron has two seasons with over 30+ points per game, and only 1 season with over 2+ steals. Now, the counter-argument to this would bring rebounds and assists into this, and Jordan was no clouch in that area as well, so I’m not even going to waste my time on it.
LeBron has put together some of the most incredible stats in league history, nearly video game like with what he does. While he does have some edges over Jordan due to differences in playing style, even he fails to measure up to what Jordan accomplished statistically.
The Accolades
Jordan: After 9 years, Jordan was a 3x MVP, 3x NBA Champion, 3X NBA Finals MVP, 1x defensive player of the year, 7x All-NBA first team, 1x All-NBA second-team, 7x All-Defensive 1st team, 9x All-star (Including starting as a rookie, an extremely rare feat), 7x scoring champion, 3x steals champion, and was rookie of the year.
LeBron: After 9 years, LeBron was a 3x MVP, 1x NBA Champion, 1x NBA Finals MVP, 6x All-NBA first-team, 2x All-NBA 2nd-team, 4x All-Defensive 1st-team, 8x All-star, 1x scoring champion, and rookie of the year.
No contest here. At the same age, Jordan had two more rings (and with that two more Finals MVP’s), the same amount of MVP’s, a defensive player of the year award (one of only 3 guards to ever win it, and the last to do so), 6 more scoring titles, 3 steals titles compared to none, more first-team all-defensive selections, more 1st-team All-NBA selections, and more all-star appearances.
State of the NBA
Jordan: Jordan entered the league when it was perhaps at it’s highest point in history. You had the Lakers/Magic & Celtics/Bird rivalry. He was battling against legendary teams like the those very same Lakers and Celtics, the Bad Boys Pistons, the Sonics, Trailblazers, Knicks, going up against players like Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jabaar, Kevin McHale, James Worthy, Robert Parish, Isiah Thomas, Hakeem Olajuwan, David Robinson, Joe Dumars, Patrick Ewing, Dkimbe Mutombo, Charles Barkley, Reggie Miller, John Stockton, Karl Malone, Gary Payton to name a few (Those last 5 are all hall of-famers, and are all ringless because they happened to play at the same time as Jordan).
LeBron: LeBron entered an NBA that was still looking to find an identity in the post-Jordan world. There was a drought of talent, but it would be James draft class that got things kickin’ again. He’s played against some good teams, such as the San Antonio ‘dynasty’ that denied him in his first finals appearance, the Celtics Big 3, the Lakers, and Pistons team that was great as a sum of its parts. He also played against great players such as Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade (until he teamed up with him), Kevin Durant, Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan, Steve Nash, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Derrick Rose, Paul Pierce, Dirk Nowitzki to name a few (all of which, are definite hall of famers).
Modern day fans would be quick to give the edge to LeBron here, but anyone who knows the history of the NBA has to go with Jordan’s era, no contest. It is the greatest and most revered era in league history. Jordan had to battle against some of the greatest players and teams of all-time, which led to him getting stonewalled in his bid for a ring until he was in his 7th year, when his Bulls squad finally vanquished that Bad Boys Piston team that was 2x defending NBA champs.
The state of the NBA is strong today and growing stronger by the minute. There has been a large influx of talent and the league is finally starting to bounce back to the levels of the late Jordan era.
That said, it deserves mention how much the rules have changed. Back when he played, Jordan got the crap beat out of him. Do yourself a favor and read up on the Jordan Rules defense, devised by Bad Boys coach Chuck Daly. Best described by this Daly quote: "The other rule was, any time he went by you, you had to nail him. If he was coming off a screen, nail him. We didn't want to be dirty—I know some people thought we were—but we had to make contact and be very physical."What are flagrants and ejectable today would pass as a good foul back in those days. There weren’t the intense restrictions on defenders that there are today, where they can’t hand check and can’t play with any semblance of physiciality unless they want to risk a foul.
The league was much more stacked and difficult to get through, and the rules made it much tougher in Jordan’s day. That’s not to take anything away from what LeBron has accomplished, but the edge goes to Jordan here by a longshot.
The Moments
Jordan: Set an NBA record with 63 points in a playoff game against the 1986 Boston Celtics, one of the most legendary teams in NBA history. The Shot. Hitting 6 three’s against the Trailblazers in the NBA finals after Clyde Drexler said he couldn’t, and dropping 35 points in the first half of an NBA Finals game in the process. The incredible layup that is still replayed to this day in his first finals. Scoring 69 points in a regular season game against the Cavs. 42 in Game 7 to beat the Knicks in 92.
LeBron: 29 of the last 30 Cavs points and the game winner to end the game against the Pistons in 2007. 45 points in an elimination game 6 in Boston this year. 48 points, 9 boards, and 9 assists in a losing effort against the Celtics in 2009. The game winner to beat the Magic in Game 2 in 2009.
No offense to LeBron, but this one ain’t even close either. When it comes to great and lasting moments, once again no one touches Jordan. And this is leaving off moments like The Shot II, The Flu Game (the greatest performance I’ve ever seen), double nickel in the Garden against the Knicks, and many others. As well, its hard to shake the memories of LeBron quitting on the Cavaliers in 2010 against the Celtics, and his complete disappaearance against the Mavericks in 2011.
When it came down to it, Jordan sat at a very similar point in his career in 1990 (6 years in) that LeBron was in in 2010 (7 years in). He was regarded as a player that could do everything except win a championship, because the team around him wasn’t good enough to get him past some of the teams that they were facing. He took a ton of heat for it (Obviously not to the same point that LeBron has taken it, but that’s a reflection of the difference in media in this day and age).
When it came down to it, LeBron took his ball and left Cleveland to go team up with all-stars Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, where he did win a championship in year two. Jordan, on the other hand, stuck it out in Chicago, taking the Bulls to a championship with a still-developing Scottie Pippen and a team full of role players against Magic Johnson and the Lakers.
Conclusion
Thus far, through 9 years, LeBron James has had an incredible career. He has 3 MVP’s to his name, finally got a ring, and for the love of God, he took a team who’s other 4 starters were Drew Gooden, Big Z, Larry Hughes, and Sasha Pavlovich to the NBA Finals. That’s incredible in itself.
But, even for all he’s accomplished, he pales in comparison to Michael Jordan, as does everyone else who is measured up against him. All that I’m saying, is that when you compare what he’s accomplished now, to what Jordan had accomplished at the same point in his career, Jordan has had by far better career.
Right now, LeBron cracked the Top 25 all-time of NBA players in my opinion. Many today would disagree, stating that he is among the best of all-time because of what he’s done. 10 years from now, maybe that will hold true. But today, when measured against what some of the greatest players in NBA history have done, an act appreciated by only those who know the history of the league at it’s core, he’s not quite there yet. He’s accomplished a lot, but when you compare what he’s done to what guys in the past have done, he’s got a long ways to go. For instance, think of how long it took Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan to crack the Top 10 all-time. Nearly the end of the their careers.
Jordan retired after his 9th season, only to come back and play four more years, then took a couple of years off before coming back for 2 more. LeBron could play another decade and then some. He’s got a lot of time ahead of him, and a lot of great years ahead of him. Who knows where he will lie in the annals on the NBA history books when it’s all said and done.
While one of the purposes of this article is to address the nature of the Jordan comparison, another one is to expose just how unfair it is to LeBron to constantly have to measure up to him and have his career put side-by-side. People need to appreciate LeBron for who he is, and the only person we should be comparing him to is LeBron James. Start appreciating him for what he is: the greatest player in the league today. A 6-8 270 pound freight train of a point-guard who can play all 5 positions on the floor.
Through it all, even though I rooted against him at literally every turn since The Decision, I’m glad to see LeBron get a ring. Just like I was glad to see Kobe get those rings, even though if pressed I will never again admit to it. That’s because, when it comes down to it, being a LeBron fan or anti-LeBron fan doesn’t matter. As a basketball fan, and someone who loves the NBA, I appreciate good basketball. And LeBron played absolutely phenomenal throughout this season and he used his experiences of the past couple of post-seasons to motivate himself to ultimately getting his first NBA Championship.
That being said though, Michael Jordan he is not. But then again, no one else has been, either.
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