Steve Kerr Praised LeBron James For Doing Things ‘Nobody’s Ever Done’

There may not be a person on earth who can provide as well-informed of insight into the LeBron James vs. Michael Jordan debate than Warriors coach Steve Kerr. As it pertains to James, Kerr has coached against him in each of the last four NBA Finals and has gotten to see Cleveland’s star at his very best. Kerr was also Jordan’s teammate for several years with the Chicago Bulls and won three championships alongside him.

So when Kerr comments on the debate between who is the best basketball player of all time, it’s worth listening. Kerr was asked just that by Dennis Scott of NBATV, and while he didn’t give a direct answer, his response was still interesting.

“They’re the two greatest that I’ve ever seen,” Kerr said. “I can’t speak for the guys in the ‘60s, but what LeBron is doing right now, nobody’s ever done. That doesn’t mean he’s better than Michael, you can have that debate all day long. But sometime in the last for years or so, LeBron learned how to shoot, changed everything.”

Jordan’s biggest achilles heel over his career was his inability to hit threes, connecting at a 32.7 percent clip. James isn’t exponentially better — he comes in at 34.4 percent — but as Kerr alluded to, a lot of that has to do with the fact that he was a miserable shooter up until a few years back. From 2004-11, James made 32.9 percent of his threes. Since then, he’s connecting from deep at a 36.2 percent clip.

Obviously three-point shooting ability isn’t the be all to end all in the debate between the two, but it is an indisputable advantage that James has. It must be quite the nuisance to have to gameplan against, something Kerr knows all too well.