LeBron and Jordan

[madguy30]

The idea of MJ not being a good teammate is up for grabs. He was hard on his teammates (and it sounds like he was not a good person off the court) but as his career developed, there were a lot of guys that were successful that you didn't hear much about outside of their time playing with Jordan. Jud Buchelor (SP?), anyone?

Lebron's a better athlete; MJ was grittier and was constantly looking for payback for even the most petty stuff he could find--I think he was mentally ill.

I read something recently about how he still watches a lot of bball, and has scouted it out as to how he would defend Lebron to get a chance.

MJ also seemed to have 3 different 'eras' within his career before his 2nd retirement in '98--that may need to be in consideration.

 

[JohnnyFive]

Jordan is the single most competitive player in NBA history, not the most skilled. LeBron doesnt have the killer competitive edge that Jordan had. Though he might have some of it, it's nowhere near Jordan.

 

[Jordanj6502]

Here are blind career averages of various players
[TABLE="width: 480"]
[TR]
[TD="width: 64, bgcolor: #DADCDE"][/TD]
[TD="width: 64, bgcolor: #DADCDE"]TRB[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, bgcolor: #DADCDE"]AST[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, bgcolor: #DADCDE"]STL[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, bgcolor: #DADCDE"]BLK[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, bgcolor: #DADCDE"]TOV[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, bgcolor: #DADCDE"]PF[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, bgcolor: #DADCDE"]PTS[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]

Spoiler

Kobe Bryant

[/TD]
[TD]5.3[/TD]
[TD]4.8[/TD]
[TD]1.5[/TD]
[TD]0.5[/TD]
[TD]3[/TD]
[TD]2.5[/TD]
[TD]25.5[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]

Spoiler

Michael Jordan

[/TD]
[TD]6.2[/TD]
[TD]5.3[/TD]
[TD]2.3[/TD]
[TD]0.8[/TD]
[TD]2.7[/TD]
[TD]2.6[/TD]
[TD]30.1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]

Spoiler

Carmelo Anthony

[/TD]
[TD]6.5[/TD]
[TD]3[/TD]
[TD]1.1[/TD]
[TD]0.5[/TD]
[TD]2.9[/TD]
[TD]3[/TD]
[TD]25.1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]

Spoiler

Magic Johnson

[/TD]
[TD]7.2[/TD]
[TD]11.2[/TD]
[TD]1.9[/TD]
[TD]0.4[/TD]
[TD]3.9[/TD]
[TD]2.3[/TD]
[TD]19.5[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]

Spoiler

LeBron James

[/TD]
[TD]7.2[/TD]
[TD]6.9[/TD]
[TD]1.7[/TD]
[TD]0.8[/TD]
[TD]3.3[/TD]
[TD]1.9[/TD]
[TD]27.5[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]

Spoiler

Larry Bird

[/TD]
[TD]10[/TD]
[TD]6.3[/TD]
[TD]1.7[/TD]
[TD]0.8[/TD]
[TD]3.1[/TD]
[TD]2.5[/TD]
[TD]24.3[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

 

[Ry4Cy]

I wonder how many people who are picking Lebron are old enough to remember MJ in his prime? MJ is on a completely different level then any other player I have ever seen. Now if you are talking 1 on 1...I think whoever gets the ball first is going to win because I don't think either one could guard the other.

 

[Jordanj6502]

I wonder how many people who are picking Lebron are old enough to remember MJ in his prime? MJ is on a completely different level then any other player I have ever seen. Now if you are talking 1 on 1...I think whoever gets the ball first is going to win because I don't think either one could guard the other.

See, I could easily see LeBron pulling up for unnecessary jump shots, just because he doesn't want to drive to the basket. Or some similar play, where he doesn't try very hard in the beginning of the game. Where I could see Jordan going 100% the entire time.

As for neither could guard the other, I disagree there, too. Both could prevent the other from scoring a decent amount of times. Jordan would get a few steals on LeBron, and LeBron would force Jordan to take some off balanced shots.

 

[michaelrr1]

Jordan, and it wouldn't be close. He has the competitiveness and mental drive to will himself to victory. When the going gets tough for Lebron, he fades away, or simply quits like when he left Cleveland.

 

[Rabbuk]

oh, ok, next thing youre going to tell me is you have the zapruder film so you know who shot kennedy. Give your grandpa back his home movie collection and leave it to grown ups.

Why does it matter when I watched it. I was alive during all his championships and remember the last 3 fully. I mean besides the fact that you're a complete fool if you can't see Mj was the best player of those three by a mile.

 

[CyArob]

Jordan, and it wouldn't be close. He has the competitiveness and mental drive to will himself to victory. When the going gets tough for Lebron, he fades away, or simply quits like when he left Cleveland.

Hey, you weren't the CF fantasy football champion this year, liar.

 

[CyJack13]

Jordan, and it wouldn't be close. He has the competitiveness and mental drive to will himself to victory. When the going gets tough for Lebron, he fades away, or simply quits like when he left Cleveland.

You shouldn't have quit watching the NBA in 2010 bro. You've missed some really good ball since then.

 

[HFCS]

And I don't even have a problem with MJ being the near consensus pick for greatest of all time. I just think this notion of him being untouchably great is more a product of Nike and Gatorade than his actual performance. If MJ and LeBron/Magic/Bird in their primes played 10 times they probably both take 5.

I think this deserves some attention, in the same way that Clinton will forever have the bonus of being the last president to be in office while few people even had email let alone 24/7 internet wired into their brain.

The one thing that has me thinking the whole Jordan vs. LeBron is not a real discussion yet...it can't be argued that Jordan is the most unstoppable scoring force in playoff and NBA finals basketball. There is absolutely no doubt, his playoff and finals scoring averages may be the most untouchable stats in American sports (Kobe never sniffed it, LeBron already can't, even Durant pretty much already can't).

So we have that crystal clear fact, and on the other hand we have a player who holds the all time record for biggest scoring drop from a regular season to a NBA finals. I'm a "child of the 80s and 90s" but I've yet to see a young LeBron fan come with anything even resembling a rational thought to counter that. The closest is that they have this odd idea that Jordan couldn't get steals, rebounds, assists and blocks...which totally disqualifies anything they say.

Also I'm just talking about as an overall player on an actual team, not some hypothetical 1 on 1 game because I agree there's no sense in having that debate.

 

[Cycsk]

Jordan's will to win was like none other.

Jordan got blackballed in his first all-star game by the other all-stars. He was in a different league from the outset.