23 vs 23 WHO'S THE GREATEST
?LeBron or Michael? Michael or Lebron?Who's the best?
Let's start with Michael. Drafted in 1984 (#3 overall) was selected by the Chicago Bulls. Jordanhad a rough start in the NBA in his first 7 seasons battling Larry Bird Celtics, Dr. J.'s Sixers, The "BAD BOYS" of Detroit, and Magic's "Showtime" Lakers. Jordan's road was not easy playing tough teams along the way until '87-'88 season helping Chicago reach the Eastern Conference Finals beating Patrick Ewing and the Knicks and finishing off the Cavs with "The Shot" over Craig Ehlo. Dispite losing to Detroit in the playoffs for a third consecutive time Jordan and the Bulls gotten better and from that moment on Jordan never looked back (dropping a record 63 points against Boston in the '85-86 playoffs and the double nickle at Madison Square Garden against the Knicks in '95 playoffs) and finally surpassing the Pistons making Chicago the only NBA team in history to win two three-peats '91-'93 and '95-'98, while leading the league in scoring, multiple MVP's (League, Playoffs, and Finals). Jordan was a star that stayed with his team despite how bad they were and worked with ownership to improve it around him and that's what made Jordan special. Now Lebron James, introduced to the NBA world coming out of high school in 2003 (1st overall). Since he been in the league, he had his ups and downs, his first 4 years was very pressured and frustrating two back to back 60+ win seasons, a trip to the playoffs advancing to second round (lost to Detroit '06), NBA finals (lost to San Antonio '07), second round playoffs (lost to Boston '08), and Eastern Conference Finals (lost to Orlando '09). His critics said he has no "killer instinct", "can't close out games", and most important, "will not be one of the greatest without a ring". Feeling frustrated and the weight of the world in his shoulders, "The Decision" was made and in 2010, James leaves Cleaveland for South Beach aligning himself with Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, and the Miami Heat to prove his haters wrong, they were called a "Super Team" but; it didn't start out as planned James led the Heat to 4 straight Finals appearances (along with Magic- L.A. Lakers- '82-'85), the first year reaching the NBA Finals ( lost to Dallas '11). James reached the finals again (won back to back against Oklahoma City '12 and San Antonio '13) finally putting his critics to bed on winning a championship after a total of 9 seasons. James reached the Finals again and again another lost (San Antonio '14) in those playoffs with Miami, James lead team in all categories and almost single-handedly beat the Spurs in that Finals in 2014 but due to lack of production on the team, James had a 4-2 record in the Finals and was left frustrated like he was in Cleaveland and leaves Miami. 2014 James returned back to the city called "BELIEVELAND", but in his debut return, James made it back to the Finals (becoming the only player to reach 5 straight appearances) and again failed (lost to Golden State '15) but in 2016 the destiny of Lebron James was fulfilled, the rematch between Cleveland and Golden State was in favor of James bring a Championship to the city of Cleveland breaking a long curse for any sport franchise in Ohio. So now here we are: who's the greatest? Both Michael and Lebron accomplishments are somewhat similar. The road they traveled to become NBA World Champions are not far off but they did it. Yea the NBA was different in Jordan days in the league ( Era of tough, physical, talented, and more competitive teams), but now we also have a different NBA in James days in the league as well (Era of the Higher paid players, Super teams, ball hogs, and less competitive teams), so you decide is it Michael or Lebron?
Written by
Shawn Harris
Experience Reporter and Journalist that covers the World of Sports
