His Airness is no King
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Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player who has ever lived. This is the statement most often heard in barber shop, bar stool and man cave chatter when the topic of who is the NBA’s G.O.A.T comes up. The statement is almost said as if an argument simply cannot be made against it and those who try must only be considered as Jordan haters or Byron Russell fans (if those actually exist). As a 36 year old man that began watching the NBA in 1991 at 11 years old I was able to witness the greatness of Jordan in his prime. At the time he was simply the best. Even older fans that had placed Magic, Bird, The Big O or Kareem at the top of their lists had to concede that they had all been dethroned. Up until that point we had simply never seen a player of this caliber. I admittedly had made the same statement and even added to it that we simply would never see another player better. Even after guys like Shaq, Iverson, Kobe and Duncan came and dominated during their times in the league even they were not on Jordan’s level.
His Airiness sat alone on the top of my list until June 20th, 2016 as the G.O.A.T. On that day just like those before me I had to concede that Jordan had been dethroned. From that day forward I have defended my new found statement that LeBron James and not Michael Jordan is in fact the greatest basketball player who has ever lived. Clearly a statement like that is met with mounds of criticism and the MJ angels come to the defense of their hero. Honestly, I would have done the same thing if anyone would have ever made that sort of statement about any other player other than LeBron. The reason I had to admit it myself is because the facts simply would not allow me to do otherwise. I being a stats guy tried to dig and find metrics that would defend the player at the top of my throne. I used the 6 for 6 championship record, the 6 Final’s MVP’s, the 5 regular season MVP’s, the never getting to a game 7 in the finals, the scoring titles, the defensive POY award and the gold medals. I had all of that ammunition at my disposal just ready to use until June 20th 2016. As we all know on June 20th 2016 LeBron James led the Cleveland Cavaliers to the first world championship in the team’s 46 year history. It would also be the first world championship for a professional sports team in Cleveland since the Browns won the NFL Championship in 1964. James accomplished this by having to come back from a 3-1 deficit against a record setting Golden State Warrior Team. It was that night that LeBron propelled himself to the NBA’s G.O.A.T status and unfortunately for the Jordan defenders history sides with this conclusion. When we finally get down to comparing the careers of these two NBA greats certain numbers jump out for Jordan.
NBA Titles-Jordan 6 vs James 3
Season MVP’s-Jordan 5 vs James 4
Finals MVP’s-Jordan 6 vs James 3
All Star Games – Jordan 14 vs James 12
Scoring Titles –Jordan 10 vs James 1
When you throw in the 6 for 6 in Finals play, a defensive player of the year award and the 30.1 avg points per game these are the bricks that make up the wall that the Jordan supports have built in his defense. To be honest this wall seems pretty sturdy and stable and the argument is obviously pretty tight. However, people say that the truth is in the details and in this argument the truth has come out. One number that people forget is that LeBron James is only 31 years old. When we do a quick comparison of Jordan and James at the same age of 31 we get the following:
31 year old Jordan (Just eliminated by Orlando in the 1994-95 playoffs after returning from baseball)
3× NBA champion (1991–1993) - 3 appearances
3× NBA Finals MVP (1991–1993)
3× NBA Most Valuable Player (1988, 1991, 1992)
9× NBA All-Star (1985–1993)
1× NBA All-Star Game MVP (1988)
7× All-NBA First Team (1987–1993)
All-NBA Second Team (1985)
NBA Defensive Player of the Year (1988)
6× NBA All-Defensive First Team (1988–1993)
NBA Rookie of the Year (1985)
31 year old LeBron James (just won the 2015-16 Championship after returning to Cleveland):
3× NBA champion (2012, 2013, 2016) - 7 appearances
3× NBA Finals MVP (2012, 2013, 2016)
4× NBA Most Valuable Player (2009, 2010, 2012, 2013)
12× NBA All-Star (2005–2016)
2× NBA All-Star Game MVP (2006, 2008)
10× All-NBA First Team (2006, 2008–2016)
2× All-NBA Second Team (2005, 2007)
5× NBA All-Defensive First Team (2009–2013)
NBA All-Defensive Second Team (2014)
NBA Rookie of the Year (2004)
As you can see these numbers certainly start to get the wheels going in the direction of what most people believed was impossible. Next let’s take a look at the overall compiled stats
Total Points
Jordan – 32,292
James – 27,408
Total Rebounds
Jordan – 6672
James – 7242
Total Assists
Jordan – 5633
James – 7023
Total Steals
Jordan-2514
James-1689
Total Blocks
Jordan – 893
James-785
These numbers are as of today so it is perfectly reasonable to think that James will pass Jordan in both points scored and blocks. When it does happen James will have surpassed Jordan in every major statistical category in the NBA. However, the non-believers even at this point will still look at the number of total games that Jordan played compared to LeBron and argue that the numbers were inflated due to opportunities. As most know James entered the league straight out of High School as the #1 overall pick in 2003 at age 19. Jordan played 3 years under Dean Smith for the Tar Heels before entering the NBA in 1984 at age 21. Jordan as we all know got cut during try outs for his HS Varsity basketball team. James however was the best High School player in the country and his HS games were being televised nationally. This shows the reality that James was a much more advanced player at an earlier age than Jordan was as well.
Lastly, the Skip Bayless and Stephen A Smith’s of the world will always go back to the number of championships, game 7’s and NBA Finals MVP’s. To make a long story short the absolute fact is that Jordan simply has not faced the level of competition in the Finals that James has. As a matter of fact James has faced a dynasty team in the Spurs in 3 out of his 7 NBA Finals appearances. The same 2007 Spurs team that was without question better than any team that Jordan ever faced in the Finals but probably would have beaten a few of the Jordan led teams of the 90’s. In addition to that James had to face the third greatest 3 point shooting team in the history of the NBA in 2015 and then faced that same team the next year after they broke Jordan’s Bulls record as the best regular season team in the history of basketball. The best team that Jordan ever faced in a Final’s was a 98 Jazz team led by a 34 year old Karl Malone and 35 year old John Stockton. Jordan also was never able to beat the “great” team. Jordan was favored by at least 65% in 5 out of the 6 NBA Finals that he was in. James has only been favored to win in 1 of the 7 Finals that he has been in. Jordan never faced a player such as Tim Duncan in his prime ion the Finals. Jordan played against some good players but it cannot be debated that he has never faced the same quality of players that James has and it’s not even close. James led the worst team in the history of basketball to the NBA Finals in the 2007 Cavaliers. Michael Jordan simply would not have been able to take that team to the finals. That team needed the all-around best player in the world in order to get to the Finals. Jordan had the luxury of playing with Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Horace Grant and shooters like Steve Kerr, Tony Kucoc and John Paxson. It is a fact that Jordan simply played with better talent around him and did not face the level of competition that James has. Also consider that Michael Jordan never had an above-.500 record without Scottie Pippen (in 5 tries) and the Bulls won 55 games without Jordan when he retired to play baseball. Consider that the Heat and Cavs were immediately lottery teams in the wake of LeBron leaving. Jordan also came back out of retirement and got beat by Shaq and Penny Hardaway in the Playoffs. Jordan played on what is now considered a super team back then. Any team that has 3 Hall of Fame players in the starting 5 is a super team. This might be a surprise but yes Michael Jordan was on a stacked team.
Another argument that you will hear is the era in which Jordan played was more physically demanding than that of the era that James plays in today. However, even those who played in the Jordan era have made it known that LeBron James would be dominant in their era and in any era. Bill Laimbeer of the Detroit Piston bad boys who not only played against but beat Jordan in the playoffs in back to back years has said on record that James would have been the best player in the league in his era. John Sally, Charles Barkley and even Scottie Pippen himself have said that LeBron James is a better basketball player than Michael Jordan. Jordan was 6’6 215 pounds when he played. LeBron James is 6”8 250 pounds with 4.5 speed and a 45 inch vertical leap. There has never been an athlete to step on a basketball court with the physical attributes that James has. The fact is that there is no one in the history of this game in any era that could guard James. He would dominate offensively and defensively in any era against any team. Jordan was one of the best defensive players in the NBA but the difference between him and James is that James can defend any player on the court at any time. He can defend any position player on the court. Jordan did not have this physical ability.
Let’s recap this just in case anyone is still under a rock when it comes to this argument. At 31 years of age LeBron has the same amount of titles that Jordan had. He has more league MVP’s than Jordan had, the same amount of Finals MVP’s and has been to 3 more All Star Games. James is a better rebounder than Jordan ever was. He is a better passer than Jordan ever was. James will ultimately pass Jordan in every meaningful individual statistical that is tracked in the NBA. James has been to more Finals than Jordan has. James has faced significantly tougher competition than Jordan has in those Finals. James has played with significantly less talent around him than Michael Jordan did. Jordan’s team were still good even without him. When James left Cleveland and Miami both teams became cellar dwellers with horrible records the very next year. James has faced Tim Duncan led Spurs teams 3 times and a record setting Warrior Team twice. He has played and beaten the best players in this game in their primes. Jordan beat some very good players but they certainly were not the best and they were most certainly not in their primes when he beat them. I will still concede that His Airiness was a better scorer than LeBron is but being the best scorer certainly does not mean that you are the greatest basketball player. Having the most rings also does not make you the best and if that were the case than Bill Russell would un- doubtedly be considered the greatest player of all time with his 11 rings. Those 2007 Cavaliers could not have gotten to the NBA Finals riding the coat tails of the best scorer of all time. What that group of 3rd string players needed was Superman. The only chance they had to get to an NBA Finals was to be led by the greatest all around basketball player that this league and this world has ever seen and that is exactly what happened. I know for some this is hard to fathom and until June 20th 2016 I myself was guilty of thinking the same thing. However, I have watched both of these players in their primes and in Finals games. From the eye test to the statistical facts there simply has never been a player like James. There are things that this man can do and has done that Jordan simply would not be able to accomplish and that is a fact. If LeBron played in the 90’s than he would have been the best player. I cannot say that would be the case now for Jordan in this era. James is simply a bigger, stronger, faster and more well-rounded player than Jordan was. His Airiness sat atop my list for 25 years and rightfully so. Every fan must face the inevitable truth that the throne that sits on top of the Mount Rushmore of basketball is one that is made for the G.O.A.T. It is only fitting that the throne be occupied by a king.
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