The LeBron – Jordan debate has to leave the land of mythology
As the Cleveland Cavaliers take on the Golden State Warriors in the 2018 NBA Finals, the debate of who’s greater between LeBron James or Michael Jordan rages on.
Cleveland Cavaliers small forward LeBron James has had quite the uphill battle to climb in his attempt to dethrone Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan as the greatest player of all-time.
What’s preferable?
A player whose team is favored to win every NBA Finals they’ve taken part of and came out on top, every time, just as he’s supposed to?
Or a player whose team has been favored to win just two out of the nine NBA Finals series they’ve been in, going 1-1 as a favorite and 2-4 as an underdog?
Of course a player who is always the favorite and always come through, right?
But what if that first player’s name was Kevin Durant and the second players name was LeBron? While we know that Durant’s young Oklahoma City Thunder squad lost to James’ Miami Heat in the 2012 NBA Finals, let’s just do a quick exercise.
Say the 2012 NBA Finals, a series Durant was expected to lose, never happened.
When we looked back on his career and we cite Durant’s career averages and Finals record with the Warriors, say that on top of Hall of Fame level production on the stat sheet, Durant finished his career having gone 5-0 in the NBA Finals with the Warriors.
Do we ignore that construction of the Warriors, both in their transcendent style of play and their collection of All-Star talent? The brilliance of their coaching? Their fortune in having an organization that could consistently identity and acquire the best talent in the league?
Knowing what James brings to the table and that his teams are often going against a superior collection of talent, would you be prepared to say Durant is better than James… even if the numbers don’t agree?
James is battling a myth.
A myth that having to overcome the odds rather than being the favored team shouldn’t effect your Finals record.
A myth that Jordan did it all by himself and so when comparing team stats, like NBA Finals wins, he’s the only one that deserves credit (it would be like saying Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson or Kobe Bryant were solely responsible for their team’s NBA Finals victories).
A myth that the only averages that matter are in the points column.
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Most of the mythos is borne out of nostalgia, hate and favoritism.
Case-in-point, a recent Twitter exchange I held with a Chicago native. Following Game 1, the user told me that LeBron isn’t a “killa” like Jordan because Jordan would never pass out of a shot in the clutch when he could give his team a go-ahead bucket. After reminding the user that LeBron led the league in fourth quarter scoring and “clutch” points just this season, I shared the story and video of Jordan passing out of a drive to find a better shot for a teammate, or “typical LeBron behavior”.
A video of John Paxson hitting a game-winner in Game 6 of the 1993 NBA Finals.
The user backtracked his “killa” statement while still trying to rationalize Jordan’s actions and despite his being incorrect, still held true to his position that Jordan is the best player. He just didn’t have the evidence for it.
I could have told him that it wasn’t just Paxson coming through in the clutch but conversations like this are bound to happen all the time.
Ask any person who puts Jordan above LeBron and their three reasons will be their NBA Finals record or “killer instinct” or Jordan ever needed help.
Toni Kukoc hit game-winners, like Game 3 of the 1994 Eastern Conference semifinals.
Steve Kerr hit the game-winner in Game 6 of the 1997 NBA Finals.
In Game 6 of the 1992 NBA Finals, a little-known guard named Bobby Hansen sparked a comeback victory for the Chicago Bulls when he came in for Jordan. When the run started and Hansen asked Jordan if he wanted to come back in, Jordan said no.
By my count, that’s three Finals series that could have went to a Game 7 — which could have resulted in a series loss — had a player not named Jordan stepped up in the clutch.
Again, as impressive and unassailable an accomplishment as a perfect Finals record is, it’s impossible to ignore Jordan’s team always had superior talent and both his teammates and head coach were a major part of that.
Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman and Horace Grant were world-class defenders. Two of whom would go on to be Hall of Famers.
Kerr, Paxson and Kukoc were world-class shooters.
Bulls head coach Phil Jackson took his triangle offense and won five more rings with the Los Angeles Lakers.
LeBron has certainly had help following his initial departure from The Land, a seven-year span that saw no perennial All-Star playing second fiddle to him.
His roster the first season in Miami lacked strong depth but he, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh were perennial All-Stars with the ability to be difference-makers on both ends of the court. They added shooters like Shane Battier, Ray Allen and Mike Miller and eventually were a team that wasn’t too unlike Jordan’s Bulls.
Up until this season, James played with two All-Stars in Kyrie Irving with perennial All-Star talent. Now he has just the one.
After losing the 2015 NBA Finals with neither All-Star available in Games 2-6, James defeated the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals, more impressive than anything Jordan has ever done in the Finals. Despite an amazing performance in the 2017 NBA Finals, the Warriors collection of four All-Stars created the most dominant team in NBA history, virtually the same team that LeBron is facing in the 2018 NBA Finals.
He’s 1-2 in the Finals since The Return and widely expected to end up 1-3, to no fault of his own.
That James went 2-2 in Miami is perhaps unspectacular given the talent on the team but he had equal success as an underdog and as a favorite.
While his individual performance in the 2014 NBA Finals is beyond criticism, his 2011 NBA Finals isn’t and will be a permanent blemish on his record. For some, that’s where the comparisons end.
A fair critique as James’ lows as a player were lower than Jordan’s and Jordan’s peak was slightly higher than James.
However, if you want to play the long game to look at their career, James’ longevity, durability and records will easily set him apart from Jordan. In that sense, James has had a more successful career than Jordan.
If you compare skillsets, the summary is this:
James can do everything Jordan could but more and, aside from scoring in bunches, better.
He has higher averages in every category except scoring and steals. He has better shooting splits from the field and three-point range while Jordan has the edge in free-throw percentage. He can play at five positions and dominate at four of them any time he’s on the court.
That’s why the debate is legitimate.
Whether Jordan had more success is debatable and largely subjective.
By all objective measures of analysis though, James has long been the more complete player.
To some, all that means is James has underachieved given his Finals record. Others still would say James has also beat the odds twice as much as he’s let down oddsmakers who made him the favorite (2:1).
Individually, he played well enough to beat the odds five times but as we all know, teams win championships.
If rings are all that matter in the debate, having Jordan over James is natural. Just understand that you also rank Russell, Abdul-Jabbar, Magic and Kobe ahead of James too. It means if the Warriors win this Finals series, from a historical perspective you would put Stephen Curry or Draymond Green on James’ level too.
If that’s the route you want to take, be my guest. It’s just going to be an interesting exercise when people really rank players by rings won.
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Considering that the player with the most rings in NBA history (Russell) is never truly inserted into the GOAT debate and countless players with more than three rings are never mentioned, it seems like the idea people really rank players by their championships is a myth as well.