And that's fine - because he was impressive. he just wasn't shattering precedents like LeBron is doing.

The thing that gets missed in the MJ/LeBron debate is the totality of work that LeBron carries. MJ had the ultimate specialist sidekick (Pippen) to do all the all-around duties so that Jordan could largely specialize as a volume scorer and GOAT-level two-way player.

But LeBron is just different in that he has it all - and does it all (even in year 19). Some have referred to Bron as the next gen blend of Michael & Magic - because you can't really compare anyone to him. Nobody has scored at this elite level while also being this elite of a passer/facilitator. Jordan didn't pass/rebound at this clip and was never asked to carry the multi-faceted burden to this degree (largely because he had the luxury of Pip as an elite swiss army knife to take care of that). Jordan also never shot the ball long-range this well - could never play all 5 positions (and dominate all 5 positions) like this. Nobody in the game's history has been able to lock down Kevin Garnett and D. Rose in the same playoffs with this kind of unprecedented versatility.

He's different.

It's just never been an apt comparison because Jordan is more in the Kobe/KD prototype of doing every well, but really having the DNA of an unstoppable volume scoring specialist. LeBron does that - but he just does so many other things.
-->