Jordan or James

[Kaos]

LeBron says he's the greatest player ever.  

He's good. He's one of the best.  But Jordan?  Transcendent talent.  By far the best.  I don't think it's close. 

[Buzz Killington]

It's a different game today, but you really can't argue with LeBron's numbers.  I would love to see him have to go up against the Pistons with Laimbeer, Rodman and company to see just how many points he gets.  Today's game has virtually no defense.

[Kaos]

It's a different game today, but you really can't argue with LeBron's numbers.  I would love to see him have to go up against the Pistons with Laimbeer, Rodman and company to see just how many points he gets.  Today's game has virtually no defense.

He'd have four points, nine bruises, two sessions of pouting and one period of giving up on his team.  

[GH2001]

It’s not close. This isn’t even an argument.


1. Two diff style players. No doubt lebron is a physically gifted player. To be that big and move like that with little injury over 15 years deserves some merit. He will have a lot of points. Rare is it a player that good starts playing at 18 and is the center of all teams he is on. Jordan started at 21-22. And as good as he was, their teams played team ball. It was a weird enigma. Lebron is closer in style to magic. That’s the more fair comparison. Jordan’s closest competitors historically have to be Durant and Kobe. Slashers that can do it all.

2. Jordan by far had the intangibles. He had the championships. The winning attitude. He made players around him better. Did pippin do much without him? Nope. Jordan was a leader. An alpha dog. Losing made him mad - not a crying Whiney box which has been my main complaint about king James.

3. Lebrons futility when the pressure is on. This is a biggie for me. The big names historically have risen at this juncture. Kareem, wilt, bill russell, Larry, magic and Jordan. Lebron has a resume of points. And mostly winning records. He’s a stat whore. Guys like wilt and micheal and to a slightly lesser extent bill russell - they have the total package.

4. Lebrons biggest asset is his athletic ability. To be 6’9 275 and move like that is quite amazing. But Jordan was equally as gifted if not more. So was Kobe. They didn’t command the same defensive presence as lebron under the basket but more than made up for it in other areas. Iverson and Westbrook are 2 others that come to mind just being pure athletes. But just to do what lebron does at that size I have to give him credit.

5. His attitude is terrible. He quits. Another big Whammy. Never ever saw this once in Jordan. Or magic. Or the others in the conversation. 


It takes more than just moving quick at that size and accumulating  lots of junk points to be the Goat. He’s at great player. But he’s not the goat.


1. Jordan
2. Wilt
3. Kareem
4. Russell

And I think you can put lebron right around here at 5 with magic larry and a few others behind him.

[Saniflush]

It's a different game today, but you really can't argue with LeBron's numbers.  I would love to see him have to go up against the Pistons with Laimbeer, Rodman and company to see just how many points he gets.  Today's game has virtually no defense.

Tell your old man to drag Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes!

[Kaos]

I've never been a Lebron hater.  It's kind of weird, but I liked him more early on than I do as he's changed through the years.  I said before he's one of the rare players who actually lived up to the crazy level of hype that he got coming out of high school. I appreciated that. But as he's gotten older his attitude, arrogance and sense of entitlement has outgrown his value.  

The biggest thing for me?  He's a total ball hog. I remember watching some of the Finals games.  He'd take the inbounds pass, bring it up the court, draw a triple, quadruple or five-man gang and try to muscle his way through it to take some wild shot, completely ignoring four other guys who were standing there eating ham sandwiches.  At the end of close games, especially in the playoffs the other four players on the floor could have gone to the concession stand and he wouldn't have noticed.  That was never Jordan. 

Told the story before, but I played intramural with a guy like that. It doesn't build the team, it makes everybody but the hog lazy, frustrated and resentful. Nobody really wants a guy like that as a teammate.  I'd rather lose.  

[Godfather]

Jordan /end thread

[Kaos]

Jordan /end thread

[CCTAU]

4. Lebrons biggest asset is his athletic ability. To be 6’9 275 and move like that is quite amazing. But Jordan was equally as gifted if not more. So was Kobe. They didn’t command the same defensive presence as lebron under the basket but more than made up for it in other areas.

Lebron stands around... A LOT on defense. I don't know how he was ever voted defensive player of the year...