By Shaee Flatt
On Tuesday, Alonzo Mourning was speaking at the opening of a
local Microsoft store in Miami, and towards the end, was hit with the famous
“MJ vs. LeBron” question. Mourning laughed, before telling the audience that
Scottie Pippen told him he thinks that LeBron would “kick MJ’s ass," Mourning
then went on to say he responded by saying “Scottie, you’re right.”
I’m just twenty one years old, so I didn’t watch Jordan play
live in his prime with much basketball knowledge. I watched the end of his
career, and knew he was great, but couldn’t really break his game down or
anything. However, I have since watched many tapes of Jordan, YouTube videos,
etc. I’ve seen all of his great games, in their entirety and I’ve watched
almost every game LeBron has played in since he entered the league, and even
many of his High School games. He definitely has the best case against Jordan
out of any other player since Jordan retired.
Some people say Kobe
Bryant, but Kobe isn’t really close at all. Jordan did everything. He not only
scored, but he rebounded, assisted, and defended exceptionally well. The only
area that Bryant is even comparable to Jordan is scoring. Bryant could score
with anyone in his prime, and still can, but he’s not close to Jordan as an
all-around player.
LeBron on the other hand, is arguably as good as or better
than Jordan in every area of the game. At this point in LeBron’s career, the
only area’s I would certainly put Jordan ahead of LeBron in is scoring and
closing. I would give LeBron the edge in rebounding and passing, and I would
also give LeBron a very slight edge in defense. Jordan could guard specific
players better, but in my opinion, LeBron is the most valuable defender of
all-time. He can defend any player in the NBA, and do it well, so I would rather
have LeBron as a defender because no matter who you’re playing, LeBron can take
them out of the game. Jordan couldn’t defend post players, or point guards
nearly as well as LeBron can.
As for the scoring goes, LeBron certainly has the chance to
surpass Jordan before his career ends. He will never average 35 points per game
because of his pass tendencies, but if he wanted to, he definitely could. If
James can continue to improve his jump shot every year, just as he has thus far
in his career, his potential is unlimited.
As for as who the better individual player is, its’ a
toss-up. You can’t go wrong with either one, and I think they’re the two best
players of all-time. However, when ranking the best players of all-time, you
always start with Michael Jordan because of his ability to close games, and his
six NBA Championships, and six NBA Finals MVP awards. LeBron could be starting
that list one day, but halfway through his career, his greatness hasn’t
surpassed Michael Jordan’s.
That being said, lets come back to this when LeBron’s career
is finished, or at least close to being finished. The guy is just 28 years old.
He will either finish his career as the best of all-time, or the second best of
all-time, we don’t have to decide which one it will be right now.
