Cleveland Cavaliers: Stan Van Gundy Believes LeBron James Has Great Case To Be Considered The Greatest Player Of All-Time

Detroit Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy believes that Cleveland Cavaliers small forward LeBron James has a great case to be the greatest player of all-time.

Detroit Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy believes that the Cleveland Cavaliers legend, LeBron James, has what he would call a “very, very, very, very” strong argument for James being the greatest basketball player of all-time.

That’s not saying that he is the greatest of all-time (GOAT) but it’s as close to a ringing endorsement as James has received for GOAT status.

Van Gundy made these statements after James recorded his 50th triple-double with 29 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists.

However, Van Gundy isn’t one to be prisoner of his moment. Van Gundy, who also made headlines earlier in the season during the Phil Jackson-LeBron James saga in which the Cavs superstar felt like his friend’s accomplishments were being slighted by Jackson’s choice of words, isn’t one to shy away from controversy either. He doesn’t want to dominate the headlines but he will give an honest assessment, on himself and others.

Van Gundy, who has been a head coach since James’ rookie season, has watched James grow from his inception into the league. Having been an assistant coach with the Miami Heat during Michael Jordan’s second three-peat, he also had an up-close look at Jordan.

When looking at James and Jordan’s stats, Jordan-loyalists are quick to point to Jordan’s higher point per game average, NBA Finals record and intense defense as reasons why he is better than James.

Yet, when combining the number of points James adds to a team when factoring in both points and assists while recognizing that Jordan also took more shots and failed to adjust to declining efficiency with increased passing, the first argument is fallacious.

Per Stephen Smith of CBS Sports, it’s the basis of Scottie Pippen’s argument about why James is better than Jordan:

"“Michael Jordan is probably the greatest scorer to play the game,” Pippen said. “But I may go as far as to say LeBron James may be the greatest player to ever play the game because he is so potent offensively that not only can he score at will but he keeps everybody involved”."

Pippen played beside Jordan for all six of Jordan’s NBA championships. For the record, Miami Heat legend Alonzo Mourning agrees with Pippen.

Must Read: LeBron James Is Better Than Michael Jordan

When looking at Jordan’s Finals records, it’s important to note that Jordan’s teams had a better regular season record than all but one of their Finals matchups while James has notoriously faced the San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors, who had better team records. Two losses against the Spurs and one against the Warriors, one team that is a dynasty and another that can be a dynasty, isn’t shouldn’t be held against James.

Those compromise three of James’ four Finals losses. When looking at the Dallas Mavericks, it’s important to note that they had two of the greatest three-point shooters of All-Time in Jason Terry and Peja Stojakovic, three potential Hall of Fame players in Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd and Shawn Marion and a future Defensive Player of the Year in Tyson Chandler.

James was in his first year playing on a team for a rookie head coach and was being utilized less than both Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in that series. Jordan played on a team with two Hall of Famers as well and a coach who is one of the two greatest coaches of all-time, along with Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs.

So while Jordan did have more success, the chips weren’t stacked against Jordan in the way they were against James.

In terms of defense, well here’s the thing. Comparing their first fourteen years in the league will show you that Jordan and James have the same defensive rating (103), James has the slight edge on Jordan in terms of defensive win shares (60.9 compared to 60.7) and higher defensive box plus/minus (1.9 compared to 1.2). In the playoffs, James has the better defensive rating (101 compared to 104), more defensive win shares (13.9 compared to 12.4) and a much higher defensive box plus/minus (3.4 compared to 1.9).

So, is Jordan actually better than James at anything people assume him to be better at?

He may have been the better scorer as Pippen said but he’s not the better defender, playmaker or more versatile than James. While going 6-0 in the NBA Finals is impressive, so is coming back from down 3-1 in a NBA Finals series against a 73-9 team after having taken that same team to six games that previous year while averaging 35.3 points, 13.3 rebounds, 8.8 assists and 1.3 steals per game after the team’s second and third best player were out with injuries by Game 2.

While James’ career isn’t finished, he may already be done chasing ghosts.

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Do you think Stan Van Gundy was right? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section or Twitter @KJG_NBA.