G.O.A.T

G.O.A.T

            AT&T recently came out with a new phone called the LG Lebron so named because it doesn’t have any rings! Jokes making fun of a ring less Lebron last year always cracked me up. Unfortunately, these jokes are no longer relevant considering Lebron finally won that elusive NBA championship last June. Since then, ridiculous comparisons between Lebron James and Michael Jordan have replaced Lebron jokes, some people going as far as saying Lebron James is better than Michael Jordan. This is pure nonsense; as Michael Jordan is better than Lebron James for several reasons.

            First, Michael Jordan didn’t necessarily possess the God-given physical gifts that other great players were blessed with. He was 6 feet 6 in tall and two hundred sixteen pounds, which is mediocre at best for his small forward position. He made up for his lack of physical superiority by the intangibles he developed though. He built himself up through hard work, going from not making his high school basketball team, to becoming the best player to ever play the game of basketball. What separates Michael from all other NBA legends is his unparalleled will to win. He hated to lose and simply would not let his team lose no matter how extenuating the circumstances. In 1997, in a critical game five of the NBA finals, the series was tied two to two. Michael Jordan was suffering from the flu, he was so exhausted he could barely walk to his bench, yet he proceeded to knock down thirty eight points and lift the Bulls to victory. This game would go down in history as “the flu game”. Not only did he have an incredible will to win, he also possessed a toughness that allowed him to fear no one. He continually endured countless cheap shots from other teams trying to stop him. The notoriously dirty “bad boy” Pistons had an entire game plan centered around stopping Michael Jordan which involved knocking him down as much as possible. Yet, he never went out with “injuries” rather; he became motivated to elevate his game to get back at his opponents. The intangibles that Jordan possessed were a prime reason why Michael Jordan is better than Lebron James.

            Lebron, on the other hand, has been a basketball phenom since his high school days. The naturally talented 6 foot 8 inch two hundred forty nine pound mass of pure basketball talent electrified the high school world earning a trip straight from high school to the professionals. Perhaps, Lebron James bypassing college prevented him from developing the intangibles that made Michael Jordan so successful because in his high school days he only had to rely on his natural talent rather than hard work, toughness, etc. In the 2011 NBA finals Lebron let the trash talking of the opposing team get into his head and affect his play. Michael Jordan never let trash talk get into his head, even though he was constantly exposed to it. Lebron has made a habit of whining to the referees whenever something doesn’t go his way instead of playing through contact and using miscalls as motivation to play better. This suggests a lack of physical toughness because instead of playing through contact he looks for the referees to bail him out. Lebron also shy’s away from potentially clutch situations which suggest his lack of mental toughness. In the 2012 All-Star game, Lebron was expected to take the last shot of the game but instead of shooting the ball he unwisely chose to pass the ball which was intercepted, costing his team the game. If Lebron was mentally strong and had the will to win he wouldn’t have hesitated to take that last shot. Michael Jordan never backed away from late game pressure, proven by the surplus of game winning shots he made in the NBA Finals and Playoffs. Lebron’s lack of intangibles that are compulsory for legendary status makes him inferior to Michael Jordan.

            Additionally, Michael Jordan racked up some unbelievable stats to go along with his amazing intangibles. The sheer dominance of Michael Jordan over the rest of the league, proven by his unreal stats, is mind boggling. He ended his career with a total of thirty two thousand two hundred ninety two points which is an amazing thirty point one points per game. His highest career points per game total came in the 1986-1987 seasons at thirty seven point one points per game. In my mind, the most impressive statistic was that he shot an amazing forty nine point seven percent from the field and in one third of his seasons he shot over fifty percent from the field. In one of Michael Jordan’s greatest statistical games he dropped sixty nine points and gathered eighteen rebounds against a talented Cleveland Cavaliers team. All of these career averages include the two seasons when he played with the Wizards at the end of his career. Due to a substantial break before these seasons and older age his numbers receded dramatically. Michael Jordan also could do more than just rack up crazy amounts of points, his career averages in assists and rebounds were five point three assists per game and six point two rebounds per game respectively. As the star of the team, it wasn’t his position to be passing the ball excessively which is assists per game aren’t overly impressive. Six point two rebounds per game is pretty good considering his small stature and the fact that he played the small forward position. Michael Jordan’s career stats pad his greatest-of-all-time status.

            Considering Lebron James has played in the league a shorter time than Michael Jordan, the most relevant way to compare stats is per game rather than career stats. Lebron plays in an era where it is much easier to get favorable calls, therefore earning cheap points from the line. Yet, Michael Jordan still has more points per game, thirty point one, than Lebron, twenty seven point six. Lebron also has yet to enter the “garbage years of his career, where waning skill lead to waning statistics and thus to lower averages. Lebron’s career field goal percentage is forty eight point three and he has only been over fifty percent in two of his nine seasons as a professional whereas Michael Jordan was above fifty percent in a third of his seasons. One of Lebron’s best statistical games, forty points and eighteen rebounds, doesn’t come close to the sixty nine point performance of Michael Jordan against the Cleveland Cavaliers.  Clearly Michael Jordan has better stats, but the superiority of Michael Jordan will become even more obvious when Lebron retires, and their stats become more comparable.

            Lastly, most people don’t know Michael Jordan’s stats, but even the most casual basketball fan can rattle off at least some of Michael Jordan’s remarkable accomplishments. Michael Jordan lifted the Bulls to six NBA championships throughout the course of the nineteen nineties. He was an NBA first team selection ten times and an all NBA defensive team selection six times. He made the NBA all star game a whopping fourteen out of fifteen years. This includes his two mess-around years with the Washington Wizards. He was voted MVP of the league one third of the years he played in the league, five. The list of Michael Jordan’s achievements can go on for a long time, but I hit the highlights. Michael Jordan’s achievements bring him from great to legendary status.

            Lebron has some pretty impressive achievements as well but not as impressive as Michael Jordan. Already at age twenty seven he has three MVP awards and he won his first championship last June. It is quite difficult to compare these guys achievements considering Lebron has not retired yet and Michael Jordan was in the league fifteen years compared to Lebron’s nine. I speculate that Lebron will not win as many MVP awards as Michael Jordan considering the up-and-coming talent in the NBA right now. I also speculate that Lebron will never get to six championships because of his lack of necessary intangibles and the loaded teams that are out there. One achievement that Lebron can never surpass Michael is that Michael was six and zero in NBA Finals. Lebron has already lost one in 2011 against the Dallas Mavericks. A record in the finals coincides brilliantly with the mantle of a player because in order to go undefeated in the NBA Finals one must be a special player. This stat proves that Michael Jordan’s achievements are also better than Lebron’s.

            It is clear that Michael Jordan always has and always will be better than Lebron James. Most people who side with Lebron in this argument are either Heat homers or reporters looking for attention. Michael Jordan has better intangible such as the will to win and physical and mental toughness. Michael Jordan’s most telling stats are better than Lebron’s. Finally, Michael Jordan’s achievements have not and will not be surpassed by Lebron. Larry Bird agrees that Michael Jordan is the best of all time. After Michael Jordan dropped sixty three against the Celtics, Larry was quoted as saying, “He (Michael Jordan) is the most exciting, awesome player in the game today. I think it is just God disguised as Michael Jordan (out there).”