Why is LeBron James not considered better than MJ?

Sorry, but the NBA committed the basketball equivalent of Wilson Chebet's gift to Meb by suspending Green last year. This after not suspending him vs. OKC.

People are talking about Lebron winning with a weaker supporting cast than Jordan had. Well, the NBA is soft as f*ck now so you don't need a strong supporting cast. I watched Steph Curry waltz in for layup after layup last night - do you think that type of shit happened in Jordan's day?

Fantastic post.

Jordan was perfect in the finals. 6 trips, 6 titles. He carried his team from the scrap heap to the top in 6-7 yrs.

No matter what LeBron accomplishes, he'll never be able to make the same claim. He sold out on Cleveland once. He's won & lost (and disappeared) in the Finals. Permanent black marks on his legacy.

Subway Surfers Addiction wrote:

Because MJ is the greatest, and he is likeable.

What is so likeable about MJ? His gambling addiction? His adultery? Berating and beating teammates?

10 seconds left in the game, down by 1. Who do you want with the ball - Lebron or MJ?

Jordan every single time and it's not even debatable.

Case pack wrote:

Jordan was perfect in the finals. 6 trips, 6 titles. He carried his team from the scrap heap to the top in 6-7 yrs.

No matter what LeBron accomplishes, he'll never be able to make the same claim. He sold out on Cleveland once. He's won & lost (and disappeared) in the Finals. Permanent black marks on his legacy.

Black marks? Jordan was suspended two years for gambling, it was framed as "retirement". Athletes don't willingly take off two years of their prime to pursue another sport, especially when you're the best at your current sport.

5 different times, LeBron has led his team in Points, Rebounds, and Assists during an NBA Finals Series. Jordan never did it once.

Pretty good for a guy who "disappears" in the Finals. LeBron has to do absolutely everything, or his teams can't win. Jordan had all time greats, in their primes, as his supporting cast.

Don't get me wrong here, Jordan always came up big during the Finals. But let's not act like he was a one-man team like LeBron continues to have to be.

These 2 players aren't really comparable. The leagues they are playing in are markedly different. There has always been loose traveling enforcement as long as I've been watching (about 40 years), however what is permitted in the league today regarding traveling is insane. It's not LeBron's fault, but it exists. I remember last WCF when Westbrook slid 6 feet with the ball as he went to call timeout. No call. LeBron's traveling is comical. Again, not his fault----but I seriously don't know what his offensive game would look like if he couldn't take the extra steps. He caught a ball near the time line on his end and just started running as he held the ball on his palm about ear-high. He then turned the ball over with 1 big dribble, took 4 clear steps and laid the ball in. He covered 70 feet of court with 1 dribble. No call. And the announcers just "go with it" because they want to keep their jobs. The carry over dribbling, the Euro step, the hop step, the switching of pivot feet.... it was ALL illegal. There is stuff that is called in 5th Grade intramurals that the NBA won't call. I see guys catching the ball in the corner, then after the catch----after they establish their feet on the floor----they HOP back or to the side!! No call. FOLKS... that was traveling. Not anymore. And it makes it impossible to compare. LeBron is CLEARLY the best player of his generation. Jordan was the greatest player in the 90s. But they were not playing the same game. Impossible to compare with any substantial degree of validity.

You're dreaming dude. There has NOT always been loose traveling calls, what channel are you on? If Jerry West or Gail Goodrich carried the ball or walked, they absolutely would call them. You're literally nuts if you think those guys played that way 40 years ago. To get by someone, you had to dribble and move fast, not carry the ball or travel. JORDAN AND LEBRON ARE NOT PLAYING THE SAME GAME AS IT HAD BEEN PLAYED FOR DECADES, THEY CHEAT!!!!!

Agree wrote:

LaughingOutLoud wrote:

James is a Hillary loving piece of trash.

Agree

Also agree

The Insider wrote:

In all 3 of LeBron's championships, he beat a team that had 3 future Hall of Famers. Jordan never had to face a team like that.

Jordan's Bulls were eliminated by the Pistons in 1989 and 1990. The '89 Pistons had four Hall of Famers. The '90 Pistons had 3 HOF.

The year of his first title in 1991, they bounced the Pistons in the Eastern Finals (3 HOF) and the Lakers in the Finals (2 HOF). I'm not going to look it up, but two of these three are not in the Hall of Fame that were on those Lakers, Vlade Divac, James Worthy, and AC Green.

All the while, the Bulls had 2 HOF players Pippen and Jordan for their first 3 titles.

Lebron complains that there are too many games. Jordan's contract had a "love of the game" clause allowing him to play pick-up ball whenever he chose to.

And these stats paint a clear distinction:

in 2011 Kidd was way past his prime; counting him as a HOF is a bit misleading. Chandler was good for exactly 1 year; in hindsight he probably wasn't that good.

Lebron had Wade and Bosh. He played badly in those finals, in multiple games.

MJ NEVER had a bad finals. In my mind Lebron's failures in crunch time will always keep him a tier below MJ.

Even if you take championships out of the equation...

10x scoring champ

3x steals leader

Defensive Player of the Year

He won at will. 3 peat. Retired. Came back. 3 peat again. In an era where the East was actually somewhat difficult.

As good as Pippen was he still only a 16pt a game scorer. And they never had a center worth a dime.

Alan

Bron fan wrote:

If Lebron had been playing in the Jordan era Jordan wouldn't have six rings. MJ was great. Lebron is a level above great. Lebron is 3" taller and about 50 lbs heavier than Jordan. He's a different breed of athlete. Most old guys like me don't want to admit it, but Lebron is clearly the better player.

I'll certainly agree that Lebron can elevate any team way higher than MJ could. Any team Lebron is on is basically autmatically in contention for the finals.

But why don't people consider LJ better?Because did you watch the first two or three finals he was in. He literally choked and didn't want the ball. My Mavericks won their one and only championship and it was amazing for me to watch Lebron up close. I'd never seen a player that good scared to get the ball. He would get it in a clutch situation and get rid of it as quickly as possible.

He was horrible in Games 4-5-6 of the 2012 Finals. Read this article.

He was so bad in Game 4 that Bill Simmons wrote an article about that one game.

Of course people rank his collapse against Dallas 2012 as being less bad than against Boston in 2010. He was so bad there people thought a teammate slept with his mother.

I didn't say ALWAYS, you'd realize that if you weren't in such a hurry to scream your point at somebody. I said about 40 years. I've been watching since 1977-78. West retired after 1974. Goodrich retired 1979. Gail probably stuck with his old school (and proper) dribbling style his whole career. I wasn't talking about those guys. A smarter person would know that.

I agree that LeBron had a couple bad playoff games. With that said LeBron is better then MJ at basketball. LeBron beats Jordan one on one. LeBron beats MJ five on five with all other teammates equal. And I don't think it would even be close. To the people praising Jerry West for not traveling.....the players back then couldn't dribble with their left hands. Just watch the games. Players are better now. 30 years from now, there will likely be someone better then LeBron. Just the way it is

[quote]King James wrote:

To the people praising Jerry West for not traveling.....the players back then couldn't dribble with their left hands. Just watch the games.

After viewing plenty of YouTube videos, you're wrong. West, Oscar the great ones had skills. Maybe not like Curry but they were skillful. And unlike today's pick and roll and isolation game they passed the ball.

My take:

MJ scored more than LeBron from the statistical point of view

MJ won Defensive Player of the Year

MJ won 3 straight titles twice with his same team

MJ actually did the Slam Dunk Contest, and yes this helped tremendously on making his aura

MJ had so many key winning shots in the big moment

MJ never lost in the Finals

What hurts LeBron:

"I'm taking my talents to South Beach"

LeBron lost a few Finals so far

LeBron had clutch time issues in his earlier years. Wade said he wanted to take the last minute shot

No matter how much he was asked, LeBron never did a Slam Dunk contest. It was almost like he was afraid of pressure. At the time, it was almost like a rite a passage for star athletes. MJ did it, Kobe did it, Vince did it, and LeBron just...

All things considered, LeBron is incredible. I am not being a LeBron hater at all, I think it's just hard to do what Jordan did. Jordan just had a touch of magic as an athlete. Between his Slam Dunk contest making him such a entertaining athlete, to his incredible scoring seasons, to leading a team to unbeatable status, and building the biggest shoe brand of his own, it's just not the same with LeBron. He is the best player in the generation, even over Kobe, but it still is not the same.

I think a notable point that has been alluded to but not stated outright is the media/social media/exposure aspect.

LJ was televised nationally in High School. That's a lot of pressure from a long way out. Would MJ survive the different nature of modern media?

Maybe that wouldn't have affected his game at all, but to me it is a big consideration in sports, where mental fortitude is as necessary a talent as the physical.