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I'm a big basketball fan (Celtics, so I'm hardly biased) and I have the exact opposite opinion. James has been worshipped as a ball player since at least high

• exclusiv 4y ago
  > He elevates his teammates more than Jordan ever could. That makes zero sense. Jordan got everyone to buy into his obsessiveness and fully commit, getting TWO 3 peats. And it would have easily been 8 in a row if he didn't take time away after his dad was murdered. I'm taking 3 Lakers over Lebron (Kareem, Magic, Kobe) if I'm building my team. And they are still after Jordan. Lebron doesn't have that Jordan or Kobe mentality. He's also been in an era where he just bulldozes and travels on most plays. Exceptional athlete and player. But he's not the leader or competitor that Jordan was. Objectively based on his career - he just isn't. Can you recall the Paxson, Kukoc and Kerr moments for Lebron? They don't exist. The fact that you would hate playing with Jordan is what his teammates said too. Yet they wouldn't have traded it for anything and he lead them to 2 3 peats. He made it hell for them and challenged them like they never would. And they stepped up when he called their number. There was no confusion on the role of every player. Paxson, complete role player - “The stories are legendary about him on the practice floor,” Paxson said. “There was something unique about what was inside of him. The challenge was always there for him, and that’s a unique trait that you don’t see in athletes too often. The great ones seem to have it.”
  • ihatepython 4y ago
    Jordan never won in the 80s against real competition. He only won after the NBA expanded and watered down the talent. Jordan might be the best 1-on-5 basketball player, but in the 80s and prior it was a team game and you had to play great as a team to win. In the 80s, Jordan was out in the first round.
    • exclusiv 4y ago
      > In the 80s, Jordan was out in the first round He joined a horrendous team when he was drafted. And your statement is just wrong: 89-90 - Lost E. Conf. Finals 88-89 - Lost E. Conf. Finals 87-88 - Lost E. Conf. Semis Then we know what happened after that. > 80s and prior it was a team game and you had to play great as a team to win Have you watched the Spurs or Warriors win multiple championships in recent times? It's not like team ball (more like UCLA teams) vanished, it's just rarely the way to win in the NBA. Also, Pistons played as a team, and then Jordan took over and ended that era. Some teams win playing team ball. Some teams win with a few all time greats taking over. That's always been the case. Just because you had more passing and slower scoring, doesn't mean those were "real competition" or better teams. Jordan was the leader of the best team of all time. The 95-96 Bulls. Any talk about "team game" in 80s and before doesn't change that. I also don't think many give the Bulls teams credit as playing as a team. Jordan was dominant but you won't find many teams EVER that played defense as a team any better than those Bulls teams. And even on offense, everyone clearly understood their role (Pippen, Kukoc, Paxson, Kerr, Kukoc). That's 100% team ball, it just doesn't look like a John Wooden UCLA team or Showtime Lakers. You can play team ball without passing the ball around 20 times each play before shooting. And team ball doesn't mean every starter has to average 10-20 pts.
      • ihatepython 4y ago
        Ok, so Jordan got lucky a couple times to get out of the first round. Also 1990 is not the 80's. He was pretty happy to hit that shot against Cleveland in the first round though, which shows how much of a struggle it was to get out of the first round. > He joined a horrendous team when he was drafted. So did Isiah Thomas. But Isiah Thomas won a championship in the 80's. Jordan was not someone Isiah worried about, his competition was Magic and Bird. Isiah also beat North Carolina in college in his sophomore year to win the NCAA (against Worthy and Perkins, Jordan wasn't on that team) > Also, Pistons played as a team, and then Jordan took over and ended that era. Actually the expansion of the NBA ended that era, because the Pistons were not able to keep Mahorn. If they kept that team together, Bulls don't win in 1991. If Worthy is healthy in 1991, Bulls don't win either. If Michael Cooper stayed with the Lakers that year, Bulls definitely don't win in 1991. > Jordan was the leader of the best team of all time. The 95-96 Bulls. Any talk about "team game" in 80s and before doesn't change that. Every team that won in the early 80's would have beat the 95-96 Bulls EASILY. This includes the 76ers. Magic won it in his first year in the league. Bird won it in his second year. Andrew Toney is one of the most underrated players ever. Jordan didn't win until everybody else got old.
  • deeg 4y ago
    Hard disagree but with the acknowledgement that it's entirely subjective. I agree that JBJ doesn't have Jordan's competitiveness (or even Bryant's) but he's a smarter player. The proof to me is that at age 38 (!) he's still arguably a top 10 player. As his body slows down his intelligence is able to compensate. At the end of their careers neither Bryant or Jordan were anywhere near a top 10 player as their athleticism begin to wane. Another point: Jordan's career assist average was 5.3, LBJ's is 7.3. He is able to make better use of his teammates than Jordan. Jordan bulldozed and traveled plenty in his day. He also had the advantage of the illegal defense rules (countered somewhat by the revised hand-check rules). It's difficult to compare players from different eras because they grew up learning different skill sets but Jordan would not have lifted the current flawed Lakers as much as James.