Lebron James is the greatest basketball player of all time, but perhaps Michael Jordan should have been
By Jason Timpf
On Tuesday night, Lebron James played the 1,072nd game of his career, matching Michael Jordan’s career total.
As the MJ-Lebron debate is reignited, misconception surrounding Michael’s legend remains a problem. However, Lebron James has some distinct advantages of his own.
As Michael Jordan watches Lebron James play through his 15th season, I believe one thought utterly consumes him:
“This should have been me.”
Through 1,072 games, Lebron James has simply been a better basketball player than Michael Jordan.
Because I believe in simple, self-explanatory truths—like basketball is a team sport, and beating a great team is a lot harder than beating really good team—I believe Lebron to be the best regardless of the number of championships either player won.
Lebron has been more durable and efficient. He was the better passer and rebounder. Lebron has the two most impressive wins between Michael and himself, (SAS in 2013 and GSW in 2016). Oh, and we aren’t even counting the additional 300 to 400 games that Lebron still has in his legs.
But—to be clear—it isn’t really Michael’s fault because this MJ-Lebron debate isn’t a fair fight.
Lebron James represents basketball at its zenith. He is every conceivable element of basketball ideology and ability molded into a single human.
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Last week against Washington, Lebron was the spitting image of Michael in the post, hitting fade-aways over both shoulders against bewildered defenders. He passes like Magic in transition and like Bird in the half-court.
Lebron spends hours each day immaculately constructing his body like Karl Malone. He plays a heartless brand of bully-ball that resembles Shaq masquerading as a point guard. Then—as if to break the will of any who would defend him—he shot six threes per game in the playoffs last year and made 41%.
Lebron is the culmination of all who came before. He was groomed by basketball’s heroes, and enhanced by analytics. Michael did not have that same opportunity.
Unfortunately, the Lebron-Michael debate is plagued by irrationality. The book has already been written on Michael, and the book is mostly fantasy.
Michael Jordan blew the 1995 Eastern Conference Semifinals. There is no way around it. Even so, the apologists are ready with the chosen excuse: He was only three months removed from retirement—this, of course, is insanity. Michael scored more and shot a higher percentage in that playoff run than he did in either 1996 or 1997.
Michael was Michael in 1995. He just happens to be human, and not actually incapable of failure.
He made three crucial mistakes in game one, including a pair of missed free throws and two ugly turnovers in the final minute. Then, in game six, the Bulls blew an eight-point lead, at home, with just 3:27 remaining. This included a Michael airball and turnover in the final 1:04.
Don’t believe me? Here’s video evidence:
As you could imagine, had this exact scenario unfolded for Lebron, Skip Bayless would have had apoplexy.
But Michael avenged that loss—with flair, I might add—by winning 72 games and the championship the following season.
In a way, it mirrored the failure of Lebron against the Mavericks and his subsequent rise against the Celtics and Thunder in 2012. Yet, inexplicably, for Lebron, this is an emphasized black mark on his resumé. We hardly mention 1995 when discussing Michael.
As I said, this debate is plagued by irrationality. You’ve probably heard things like “there used to be hand checking,” or “MJ would average 50 today.”
These statements are simply not true. And, no, me being a 26-year-old does not disqualify me from this discussion. The beautiful thing about history is that we can effortlessly look it up. Despite what your elders might tell you, basketball isn’t any easier now than it was for Michael Jordan.
Cleveland Cavaliers
According to the official NBA rules timeline, in 1978: “Clarification [was] added to prohibit hand-checking through ‘rigid enforcement’ of [the] rule allowing a defensive player to retain contact with his opponent so long as he does not impede his opponent’s progress.”
Hand checking has been illegal for almost 40 years. In fact, nine of the 11 highest NBA-average offensive ratings took place during the Jordan era. That is in spite of NBA teams being more efficient now than ever.
That’s right, it was easier to score baskets in a basketball game when Michael Jordan played. Yet, you all were led to believe the opposite.
Were hard fouls more common in the 1980’s and 1990’s? Yes. Was hand checking re-emphasized in 2004? Yes. But the numbers don’t lie. There was no mythical era of physicality that limited the offensive ability of players.
The old-heads hang their hats on this argument because of sentimentality. They grew up loving the NBA the way it was. It’s no secret that people don’t like change.
We need to accept that basketball will continue to improve, as is the natural order of things. This year—through roughly 12% of the season—NBA teams are shooting the highest effective field goal percentage in NBA history (51.5%). They did last year too (51.4%), and the year before that (50.2%).
Fans of tradition wax eloquent about the “boring” three-point shot, and yearn for the days of the midrange and the post-up. But tradition is the enemy of progress. These NBA records for effective field goal percentage coincide with three new records for threes attempted.
Roughly 7% of Michael’s career field goal attempts were threes. For Lebron, that number is 21%. This results in a 54% to 51% advantage for Lebron in career efg%.
Michael was a victim of his era. If he played in today’s game, we would see another level to his greatness. Imagine Michael handling the ball similarly to James Harden, running endless pick-and-rolls and shooting ten threes each game.
Imagine if Michael had legitimate peers and elite teams to chase, through each phase of his career. We commonly forget that Michael retired three times, and that he was relatively unchallenged as the best player in the league.
I believe Michael retired because the NBA wasn’t competitive enough to get his juices going.
Lebron has three legitimate greats chasing closely at his heels. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kawhi Leonard will likely go down as top-25 players, all time. Kevin Durant might be top ten. For Michael—Clyde Drexler and Dominique Wilkins might not even be top-50.
Michael’s fifth MVP, in 1998, came in a below-average season by his standards. Lebron just played the second-best season of his career and didn’t even finish in the top three.
Michael ruled over a void. Lebron rules over a feeding frenzy.
If anything I’ve read about Michael Jordan’s personality is true, he would kill to be in Lebron’s position. He would kill to have a titan like Golden State to pursue. He would kill to have the media disrespecting him.
Michael would salivate at the opportunity to face Kobe Bryant in his prime. Unfortunately, he never got that chance, so we are left to wonder what could have been.
Lebron has been using the hashtag #savagemode on his social media platforms this year. Why? Because he still has hills to conquer, even in his 15th season. Michael did not.
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We handed basketball’s baton to Lebron and he is still taking it to new heights. Michael might have taken it further! He was certainly ahead of his time. We’ll never know. But one thing is for sure, he would give everything for a chance to try.