After Scottie Pippen’s surprising comments stating that LeBron James, not his former teammate Michael Jordan, may be the best player to ever play the game, more people are now publicly disagreeing with Pippen. The most recent of which were Hall of Fame players Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Isiah Thomas, who both said Pippen’s opinion on the situation isn’t as accurate as Pippen thinks it is. Abdul-Jabbar said Pippen is wrong in both assessments of who is the greatest player of all-time as well as who is the greatest scorer of all-time. He even released a letter on his website this past Tuesday citing his thoughts on the debate.
In the letter he named Wilt Chamberlain, not Jordan, the best scorer of all-time and also compared Bill Russell to Jordan, saying Pippen needed to take a better look at history before giving the award for greatest player to Jordan or James. Thomas had his take on the subject as well. He said he thinks James has a chance to be as good as Jordan was, but doesn’t think he will ever eclipse him. Thomas added the fact that James hasn’t accomplished anything yet as it pertains to championships and still has a ways to go to catch up to Jordan and his six titles.
Although I somewhat agree with the opinions of these two HOFers, I don’t fully buy what they’re selling. I think Jordan is the best basketball player ever. This could be because I actually watched Jordan in his prime and the only time I ever saw guys like Chamberlain, Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell and Magic Johnson was via highlight films. I may be showing some ignorance here, but that’s what makes these kind of debates fun. Everyone has their own opinion of who is the best player in any given sport and the answers are based on multiple criteria. Most old school guys go with the old school players. Most young people go with the modern players. That’s just how it is.
That being said, I’m not going to go crazy and say James is the greatest ever or he will eventually be the best ever because it’s just not true. James isn’t even the best player in basketball right now (Yes, I’m giving that title to Kobe Bryant). I don’t think he will ever be the best ever. Like Thomas said, James may get close to Jordan and may even match him when it comes to championships and career statistics, but there will never be another Jordan. Jordan is basketball. I would venture to say that if you asked 100 people the first player that comes to their mind when someone says the word basketball, over 90 percent would say Jordan.
That in itself isn’t enough to say Jordan is the greatest player ever. I’m not that naive. But it does make Jordan’s case that much better. He revolutionized basketball and there was nobody ever quite like him that ever played the game. There are a handful of guys that are always in the conversation when talking about the best ever including Russell, Abdul-Jabbar, Chamberlain and Magic. But when you consider the entire body of work and what each of those players meant to the game and how they changed the game, you have to go with Jordan.
It’s tough to compare these guys because not all of them played the same position and most played in different eras. But when you look at the era Jordan played in, he had much stiffer competition when it came to who he was playing against. Consider this, when Abdul-Jabbar and Chamberlain played there weren’t as many black players in the league as there were when Jordan played. And some of the best black players weren’t even playing in the NBA yet. Even though this may seem like I’m nitpicking, you at least have to give it some thought. I think when it’s all said and done, Jordan will still be the best ever. There may be guys that come close and maybe even some that match his accomplishments. But let’s face it, there is and always will be only one MJ. But just for fun, let’s compare some career numbers of a few of the all-time greats.
Michael Jordan – 30.1 ppg, 10 scoring titles, 6 NBA titles, 3rd all-time scoring rank
Wilt Chamberlain – 30.1 ppg, 7 scoring titles, 2 NBA titles, 4th all-time scoring rank
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – 24.6 ppg, 2 scoring titles, 6 NBA titles, 1st all-time scoring rank
Bill Russell – 15.1 ppg, 22.5 rpg, 0 scoring titles, 11 NBA titles, 131st all-time scoring rank
Submitted by Steve Giles
Lebron is better than Kobe by a considerable margin and has been for years. Kobe has had better teamates but take those teamates away and Kobe couldn’t get past the first round in 3 straight years. Give those teamates to Lebron and he goes right to the NBA finals and has a one game lead. Lebron beats Kobe in every stat across the board and has beaten Kobe ten of the fifteen times they have played. Lebron has the highest PER or any player since Jordan. To suggest Lebron isn’t the best player in the game is laughable.
Me about to chill, go outside then later on watch the game LeBRON JAMES & miami heat vs mavs we bout to go 2-0 coverage start 8:30 im out to all haters (haters)!!!!!!!!
I found some tickets for the NBA finals here http://goo.gl/TSqpT
The author said, “I may be showing some ignorance here, but that’s what makes these kind of debates fun. ”
My response: IGNORANCE never makes a debate fun. It only proves that one has failed to exercise his due diligence in conducting serious research in order to gain a more informed, historical perspective to accurately appraise a player’s career. One simply cannot look at a few highlight clips on ESPN and suddenly think he is an “authority” on basketball history. One simply cannot look at career stats and accolades to get a full assessment of a player. Everything must be placed in its proper context. For instance: it is true that Jordan has six finals MVPs; however, the finals MVP award was not created until 1969 – Bill Russell’s final season. Who is to say he wouldn’t have had six finals MVP awards had it been created sooner? Granted, he did not win the award in his one and only season when this award existed, but his teams did win 10 championships prior to that year; that means, Russell would have had TEN previous opportunities to win the award had it been created sooner. Russell has FIVE MVP awards (the same number as Jordan), so it is very possible he could have also matched Jordan in the department of finals MVPs. Maybe, he wouldn’t have, but we should at least entertain the thought that it would have been a serious possibility given that he was the MVP of that great Celtic’s dynasty. THIS is the kind of information ESPN will not tell us.
ESPN does NOT give the viewer the entire truth about players, and they only show enough to “hype up” certain individuals to make them appear to be in the same class as other all time greats. This leads fans to think that today’s players are much better than (or on equal footing as) their predecessors. Unfortunately, the casual and lazy, media-influenced fans fall for the half-truths, and they ultimately perpetuate ignorance.
Reall Really Really Labron Queen James no way he destroyed his career by going to miami im from the chi and all i have to say is jordan didnt go to bird or magic to get titles he played and banged it out with his team and they won i personally think that if he does win a title it wont count because he had to do it with other superstars point blank honestly dwayne wade time is almost up his losing his touch its almost over take it like a man and chris bosh you can score 1000 points in a game and the heat still dont need you to win you were better where you were and to labron you remind me of ja rule cant do anything good without another superstar even if the heat win which i know its designed for them to win you wont be respected and looked at as champions trust im not the only one who feels this way
Check the picture up top homie 6 rings labron i personally think they destoyed the competivness of basket ball
Ignorance in this context simply means it’s hard to judge how good a player is if you never actually witnessed them play. It doesn’t mean someone is totally uneducated on the subject. You can look at stats on the Internet all day long and still not know how guys like Russell, Kareem and Chamberlain conducted themselves on the court. Greatness is more than looking at stats and championships. It’s those things along with the entire body of work and the competetion in which they did it against. And based on that, it’s MJ all day.
Kobe? You’re kidding.
I think forgotten basketball players like Iverson and Vince Carter in their prime would have mutilated Lebron James. I also think Kobe Bryant in his prime would have destroyed Lebron James.
James’ footwork and basketball fundamentals, his technique…it’s just ruggish. It’s not polished at all…he lacks so much knowledge of how to perform the game. Yeah he learned the plays and can make them, but his solo basketball technique and footwork are hard to watch.
There are other currently playing ballers better than James, there are older ballers better than James…
So how could we even remotely start to think about comparing him to Jordan?
with lebron james now on the heat, a SUPER team, three all stars in their primes, i would say lebron will have to have at least 8 championships to match jordan in that respect. but, people all over the country hate the heat, they hate lebron james for his arrogance and self loving attitude, michael jordan and the bulls weren’t scrutinized like this, they were celebrated. people from other cities went to see bulls games because they loved seeing michael jordan put on the greatest performance in professional sports available. he has this un-touchable aura around him. lebron james can go ahead and win several championships, be an all star for the rest of his career, become number 1 in certain stats, but he will never, and no one will EVER do it in the incredible fashion that michael jordan did. i don’t need numbers to describe how incredible michael jordan was, because his stats just dont do him enough justice as pretty as they are. he means more to the sporting world than anyone else out there, and with that i rest my case.
@Dwayne – there weren’t 30 teams in the nba at the time either, and there weren’t half as many superstars as there were in the 80’s and 90’s
I find it interesting that Isaiah Thomas would weigh in. I think he is the most overrated basketball players ever.
I think Pippen meant Lebron James is the best OVERALL player ever. If you look at his statistics. Only few people in NBA history have averaged at least 25.0 ppg 7 assists and 7 rebounds in season. I could only think of one other, Oscar Robertson.
Not only that, he is virtually unstoppable, and VERY STRONG. When he dunks you better move out the way. If you look at all the buzzer beaters and clutch plays he made in the playoffs and his age. He can be BETTER.
Just like Michael Jordan’s legacy is untouchable, I believe Lebron James will establish his own feat that will be never be beaten.
That’s a nice photo of MJ, but this photo looks better:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://lecudizi.comlu.com/gallery/AAFQ036~Bill-Russell-Photofile-Posters.jpg&imgrefurl=http://lecudizi.comlu.com/index.php%3Fid%3Dbill-russell-nba-rings&usg=__Vq26wh8PqxnF9PctMFKb_l0XNs0=&h=400&w=320&sz=50&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=zt7VvU60BmdSsM:&tbnh=105&tbnw=89&ei=zXLoTZj0M8HagQfG-JCgAQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3DBill%2BRussell%2Brings%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26biw%3D1020%26bih%3D497%26tbm%3Disch%26prmd%3Divnsofd&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=188&page=1&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0&tx=56&ty=62
If NBA refs actually called travels then Lebron would have half the points he has. How many times have we seen him in a triple threat position swap his pivot foot? That’s not even counting instances where he takes his 5 steps to the basket. Bird, Magic, Olajuwon, Jordan to an extent and Kobe have much better footwork and sounder fundamentals than Lebron has or will ever have.
Lebron should do an add for frequent flyer points given he’s travelled so much in his career.
Why’d you use Russell’s 22 rpg but leave off Wilt’s 23 rpg?
Is it because a 14 year career average of 30 23 is too unearthly?
MICHAEL JORDAN all the way!!!!!!!
If there will be a basketball saint it will be MJ!!
Lebron could have established a greater legacy than MJ, however, with his decision to take his talents to South Beach, that is now impossible. Kobe will never have a greater legacy than MJ either. When MJ played, you could say his competition was amongst the greatest of all time ie. Barkley, Malone, Hakeem, Isiah, Stockton, Ewing etc. The best that Lebron & Kobe can say is that they beat each other and maybe a(n aged) Tim Duncan. Kobe has never done anything to make his teammates better. When given Odom & Caron Butler initially, the Lakers failed to make the playoffs. The next yr they were bounced from the first round by Steve Nash. The beginning of the next season, Kobe was on the radio saying ‘I would like to be traded’. He got bailed out just as big as Wall Street did getting Gasol for Kwame Brown. Really?! That’s how Lebron could have initiated the beginning of a brilliant legacy. He took his team with less than mediocre talent not only to the playoffs, not only to the league’s best record 2 strait yrs, but to the NBA Finals one year. People don’t like the Heat not b/c James, Wade, and Bosh came together, but how they did it, which was very classless. Just saying the name ‘Jordan’ puts him mountain tops over Lebron and Kobe. As a teammate, Mike is the greatest player ever. As an athlete, Mike is the greatest ever. Stats, check the 88-89 season: 33pts 8rebs 8assts and 3stls per game. Come back and holla at me when LBJ decides he’s not afraid to lose a dunk contest and compete in one of those…at least.