With LeBron James reaching his fifth straight NBA Finals this week the Hot Takes about James and his career are flying across the Web at record speeds. As always with LeBron or any great player post 1997 one topic of conversation is unavoidable – Michael Jordan.
There are some arguing that LeBron is better, or as good as MJ and others like our own Spencer who think the mere idea of a LeBron or Mike debate is laughable. Really, nobody is right. James and Jordan couldn’t be more like apples and oranges if they tried. In fact, they’re more like apples and steak or some other analogy that makes no sense whatsoever. They’re two entirely different players, playing in two entirely different eras and being used in two entirely different roles.
And they almost play two different sports.
Watch a game from the 90s some time soon, observe how brute strength down low triumphs all and how crude the game can become when it’s bogged down in isolation-fests. Then watch a game today, surveying the action in front of you and notice the difference in styles and how the game has evolved in only 20 short years. We just watched a game in the Western Conference Finals in which 6-foot-9 Josh Smith and 6-foot-7 Draymond Green were the “centers” for their respective teams down the stretch.
The NBA Champion last year had five players average more than 10 points per game in the Finals but none average more than 18. When Jordan won his last ring in 1998, his team took 88 threes in the entire six-game series; the Spurs took 118 in their five game victory over the James and the Heat last summer.
But what shines through that murky bit of divergence is the fact that Jordan and James thrive and tower above all in their eras. They are supremely talented, and as Ryen Russillo puts it above, they’re equals.
Take a deep breath, say it with me, there’s zero gap between Jordan and James as players. Talent-wise they’re on the same level. Jordan did some things better, James does some things better. It’s OK, it’s OK to say it.
The guy has a point, and for those of this era James will reign supreme simply because they experienced LeBron in the present. As time goes on nostalgia will wipe away most of the stains on James’ resume just as they did Jordan’s. Distance makes the heart grow fonder and it will do the same for LBJ’s legacy – cut off some of the crude and rough edges and leave a shiny, blustering image similar to the one we see whenever MJ’s name is uttered.
As we grew up on Jordan and idolized him, our sons are doing the same for LeBron (and Steph Curry and Kevin Durant and Anthony Davis). Go watch a youth basketball game and observe how many LeBrons and Durants and Currys* are squeaking across the floor while you’re in the stands with Jordans.
We probably would be best served to simply stop trying to figure out who’s “better” and just enjoy each player as much as possible. Just acknowledge that they are both incredible, once-in-a-lifetime players that we were simply lucky enough to watch. In that right, they are equals, and it doesn’t take advanced statistics and barbershop arguments to prove that.
Unfortunately, we all know that’s never going to happen.
(Keith Olbermann) (H/T Next Impulse Sports)
*We should be talking about this more: Wardell Stephen Curry has malls across the country selling out Under Armour shoes. This is really a thing that is happening on a regular basis.