You have to admit this guy makes a compelling case for Lebron being than Jordan

And he points out something I said in a post someone made awhile back abt "what was the biggest factor why Jordan was great?" Or something titled along those lines and I said some of his success is owed to the fact that he came along when the 2-guard position specifically and perimeter players in general hadn't evolved like it has now...

Not only are the 2-guards bigger and way more athletic than when Jordan came in the league and by the time he left (the 2nd time) but they are 5x more skilled - better ball handlers/better defenders/better shooters

A Lot of the better defensive players who were shooting guards were giving up size to MJ (Moncrief/Dennis Johnson/Dumars but he had a lot of help)....Cooper was 6-7 but he weighed like 175 and most of the taller shooting guards weren't defensive minded (Ron Harper/Dell Ellis/Gerald Wilkins/Trent Tucker/Iceman/Randy Whittman)

I'm telling you that if Jordan played in this era of perimeter players he have a lot tougher time than a lot of you all would like to imagine...




Windsor: LeBron James is better than Michael Jordan http://on.freep.com/1HNkuEi

Go back and watch. I dare you.

Go back and watch Michael Jordan.

Not just his highlights, not just his all-time dunks and buzzer-beaters, but an actual game in which he played, a full game, a game that reveals NBA wings without left hands and point guards who couldn't shoot.

Games in which he feasted on nonathletic shooting guards and slithered past power forwards with two left feet.

Dale Davis, anyone?

Yeah, there was muscle in the '90s, especially on the front line. And there was grabbing — mostly because there wasn't enough lateral quickness. And there was less skill and grace, poorer shooting and ballhandling and less otherworldly explosiveness.

So please: the romanticism. It. Has. To. Stop.

Hey, I get it: Jordan is still our future. He showed us the outer edge of athletic achievement in space. Nobody ever danced like he did.

During Jordan's rookie year I drove from Austin to San Antonio to catch a glimpse for myself. It's hard to overstate how electric he was then, how incomprehensible he was to our idea of what basketball could be. Plus, he won.

But he isn't LeBron James.

There, I said it.


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And I'll say it again: Jordan is not James, not the same leader, not the same floor presence, not the same basketball genius. Jordan may be the best scorer in the history of the NBA. He may be the best last-minute shooter. He may even be the best perimeter defender, although I'd take Kawhi Leonard over Jordan in a heartbeat.

But he is not the best player.

LeBron James is.

This should be clear after Tuesday night, when James led the Cavaliers to a sweep over the Atlanta Hawks to get himself to the NBA Finals for the fifth straight time and sixth overall.

This year's Cavs are more talented than the team he pushed to the Finals in 2007, but Jordan never led a team like either to the final round.

He played for one of the best coaches in the sport's history, alongside the best small forward of his era (who happens to be one of the NBA's 50 greatest), flanked by shooters who helped other teams win titles and Hall of Fame rebounders who did the same.

Jordan played for a team that came within a bucket of the Eastern Conference finals the year after he retired. LeBron played for two teams that missed the playoffs the year after he left.


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Think about that, about his effect on a franchise, about where the Miami Heat is now, about where the Cavs were a year ago, or the year after he left for Miami. This isn't a coincidence. It's not that complicated.

LeBron is Magic Johnson with a better jumper, better ball skills, more athletic ability and more power. And you're telling me that player isn't the best player ever?

OK, the rings. Yes, this matters.

And the loss to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 Finals in LeBron's first year with the Heat has no similar hiccup in Jordan's career. LeBron didn't handle the pressure that year, the only time his team lost a Finals where his side had more talent.

In that sense, Jordan is perfect.

But then Jordan didn't make the Finals himself until the Pistons were past their prime. After that, he squeaked past teams that couldn't shoot — the Knicks — or didn't have players who could create their own shot — the Pacers.

The best team he ever faced in the Finals — the Suns — couldn't defend. Kevin Johnson? Danny Ainge? Charles Barkley? Dan Majerle?

Please. LeBron had to play the Spurs three times, an outfit with a top-five coach, the best power forward ever, an All-Start point guard, a nasty, soul-stealing shooting guard, and role players that defended and shot like crazy.


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And I'm not even talking about Leonard, who represents the sort of outsized combination of speed and size and agility that we now take for granted in this league.

Jordan beat John Stockton and Jeff Hornacek.

Twice.

Look, it's easy to pick apart LeBron's psyche, because that's what we do these days. It's easy, too, to overanalyze numbers every day, wondering why LeBron didn't shoot better or why he didn't get to the rim or why he had so many turnovers.

So let me say: 5-for-19 … and five.

Those are Jordan's shooting numbers and turnovers in the final game of the 1996 season, when his Bulls clinched the title against Seattle. His teammates picked him up that night, as they often did on nights when he couldn't take over a game, which wasn't as infrequent as you think, at least not in the playoffs.

Yet we didn't worry about Jordan's numbers that night. He won after returning from a sabbatical, and so we accepted his greatness.

It's time we did the same for LeBron. No one has ever commanded the huddle or the floor like he has.

Contact Shawn Windsor: 313-222-6487 or swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @shawnwindsor.

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