Windsor: LeBron James is better than Michael Jordan

[Woodrow]

Warriors are good, but they're not an all time great team.....I'm not sure they could beat the '11 Mavs, '12 Thunder, or '14 Spurs in a series.

Now if Bron was to beat the 2001 Lakers with this Cavs team, I'd be the first to call him the GOAT....But the perimeter oriented Warriors? nah

This whole season has been a strange novelty act.

i dont think beating this warriors team secures his goat status. but from a talent standpoint, if he can beat them he gets to stay on the path. they're that much better than the cavs imo. more talented. much better depth. best defense in the league. #2 offense. better coached. and adaptable to damn-near any style of play.

for all the goat talk to actually start developing some substance... he has to win it. if he doesn't... still an all-time, Top 5 great. still goes down as the best SF ever. but he doesn't get to challenge MJ.

this is his chance, more than any other season since he first played the spurs in the finals, to create a moment that definitively stamps his greatness. he's done it all postseason carrying the cavs. now he just has to finish it.

 

[Woodrow]

11 rings. 5 MVPs. Won as a player-coach. Has the Finals MVP trophy named after him. Best individual defender ever. The reason why the Celtics became the best ever franchise in NBA history.

Russell > Kareem.

It's not even an argument.

ur right. it's not. kareem was better.

 

[homiedontplaydat]

He'll never catch Jordan imo but if he loses this series he's not even in the conversation anymore. This finals will mean more to his legacy than any other he has played in. I will admit it would be some legendary shyt for him to beat this GS team tho, would put him in my top 5 if he can pull it off

 

[hellbent]

The fact that this nikka jumped ship AGAIN after reaching the finals showed what type of nikka he is...

Did Duncan jump ship?

Did Kobe jump ship?

Did MJ jump ship?

Did Bird jump ship?

Did Magic jump ship?


But this nikka Lebron is the GOAT???


This nikka is a steroid James Harden without the handles

Did Barkley jump when he could've joined the Bulls. No he said he wanted to do it on his own. LBJ is the best bandwagon jumper in NBA history. He lacks leadership.

 

[hellbent]

Cleveland will regret trading Wiggins for Kevin Love handles just to satisfy the prodigal son's greed.

 

[William F. Russell]

ur right. it's not. kareem was better.

I'm not dignifying your stupidity with a response.

 

[hellbent]

Jordan didn't have to switch teams because the Bulls placed arguably the best coach, the top SF in the game, and great role players around him (Kukoc, Grant, Rodman,etc). Besides Jordan's first two years, none of his teams have had less talent than Lebron's.

Was Phil Jackson the best coach at that time. No. Grant was a pretty good player but not a Malone type of player. Rodman was there for the second threepeat and Pippen would be nothing without Jordan.

 

[Woodrow]

I'm not dignifying your stupidity with a response.

except u responded. with reaction smilies no less. all good tho.

kareem is the most underappreciated GOAT candidate of all-time. it's amazing how much he's punished for being an a$$hole.

 

[NobleDrewAli]

Was Phil Jackson the best coach at that time. No. Grant was a pretty good player but not a Malone type of player. Rodman was there for the second threepeat and Pippen would be nothing without Jordan.

Of course Phil wasn't recognized as an all time great coach then, but he was good enough to out coach every team they faced. Hell, he's the reason the triangle offense was as popular as it was.

Just because Grant wasn't a Malone type player doesn't mean he was a scrub. Dude knew his role and was dang good at it. Hell, NOBODY was a Malone type player and that's why his legacy is what it is.

Using your Pippen logic, Kobe wouldn't be shyt without Shaq. Neither would Wade. I'm not saying Pip playing with MJ didn't help, but let's not act like he was just some scrub that MJ molded into one of the top SF during that time And Jordan won these rings with a team full of bums. Pip was taken #5 in the draft for a reason.Jordan had the best team and coach in all his finals trips. The only time you can say that for Lebron was 2011 against the Mavs.

 

[HoopLife]

Basically...like how is lebron better statistically? Look at the career numbers. So you take better individual stats, better team stats, better individual accolades, better team accolades, more skilled player while still being a tremendous athlete in his own right...

What am I missing here?

Keep in mind skill ain't being tall fast and athletic. That's natural gifts. Skill is posting up, mid range game, defensive technique, FREE THROW SHOOTING, etc

The only skill aspect of basketball I can see lebron potentially having the edge over MJ on is passing ability, and mj was no slouch in that area...

Skill does not = freak athleticism

Duncan = skilled

Dwight Howard = freak athleticism

Now of course Lebron is still very skilled as well but let's not act like it's skill that makes him a top 5 or 10 all time great. It's his freakish physical build combined with solid skills.

LeBron isn't even more skilled than Kobe how is he more skilled than Jordan? And I'm no MJ stan. Can't stand the guy actually. Lifelong Pacer fan and I like Lebron far more as a person...I just keep it 100.

In fact is LeBron even the most SKILLED player left in the playoffs? That's Curry by quite a lot.

Compare the pace and you'll see why Lebron is better statistically. Jordan got all his great stats in an era in which every team was avg over 100ppg and nobody was playing defense. An era that added 6 expansion teams. Golden State plays at the fastest pace in the current NBA but if you compare their pace to the teams of 80's and 90's it would be dead last. Expansion teams were avg over 100ppg, that's how bad the defenses were during Jordan's era, compare that to today's league in which only half the teams scored over 100ppg despite taking more 3's on average

 

[McPiff]

The only thing getting roasted in phoenix were the suns.

the bulls were 3-0 on the road in the finals

a 8 year old me had to hope right ?

I remember thinking the Suns were actually going to get swept.They showed a lot of heart by going into Chicago and taking 2 out of 3...That triple OT game was epic.shyt felt magical

But they could'nt win a home game to save their lives....literally.

They seemed more comfortable on the road

Yeah breh when i saw Chuck play one of the best game in his career in game 2 and they still came up short, i knew it was a wrap but as a Barkley fan and a bulls hater i was thinking that they could pull it off

And yeah that game 3 was PIFF !! I remember KJ playing 52 minutes that game. Shots were falling for Ainge and Majerle. That game was fluid, then game 4 happened

 

[OneManGang]

Compare the pace and you'll see why Lebron is better statistically. Jordan got all his great stats in an era in which every team was avg over 100ppg and nobody was playing defense. An era that added 6 expansion teams. Golden State plays at the fastest pace in the current NBA but if you compare their pace to the teams of 80's and 90's it would be dead last. Expansion teams were avg over 100ppg, that's how bad the defenses were during Jordan's era, compare that to today's league in which only half the teams scored over 100ppg despite taking more 3's on average

 

[HoopLife]

I'd laugh too if all my great stats came during the expansion era

 

[ghostwriterx]

Was Phil Jackson the best coach at that time. No. Grant was a pretty good player but not a Malone type of player. Rodman was there for the second threepeat and Pippen would be nothing without Jordan.

 

[Consumed]

Fukk the stats, i was rooting for the suns that year. They had mark fukkin west playing center. The suns were a terrible defensive team. Majerle and Dumas were the best defensive players that year

If there's any instance where stats lie, team defensive rating is not one of them. Its the amount of points per game a team surrenders per 100 possessions which helps correct for pace. The Suns could not have been a terrible defensive team and yet have that ranking. Doesn't make sense. In fact it was because they started playing good defense that they were able to win 62 games and make the Finals to begin with because their offense was the best in the game. Its hard to be a terrible defensive team in this league and have great success.