The Last Stance: LeBron James as the Greatest of All Time.

There’s something comforting about remembering the past when we are unsure what the future holds. It gives us hope. It brings us joy. In these times particularly, remembering the past reminds us that life wasn’t always like it is today — even if it seems like this new normal has been here for so long.

Over the past 5 weeks, ESPN gave sports fans around the globe a reason to smile. A reason to get excited. A feeling like there was a new storyline to follow, even if it had already been written.

The Last Dance documentary told the story of Michael Jordan’s world famous Chicago Bulls on their rise to immortality. This documentary wasn’t just created to entertain us, but to remind us that this mythological being that is Michael Jordan shall not be vanquished by any of his successors.

It’s hard to not be a fan of MJ. If you appreciate the art of competition, sacrifice, and a relentless commitment to excellence, you can learn a whole lot by watching Michael Jordan. I myself never saw MJ put on a Bulls jersey in real time. I was pushing out a few months after the famous push off in ‘98.

ESPN decided to follow up their mega docuseries by getting their record breaking audience involved with a poll. The poll laid out several categories in which fans were essentially asked “who does this better” between MJ and LeBron. I, like many others, have a significant issue with the poll on several fronts.

Ironically enough, I created my own side by side comparison of the two basketball icons just about a week before ESPN did (I have a group chat full of sports junkies as witnesses). Instead of comparing their sneaker brands, off the court contributions, and overall amazingness (sabermetrics provided by ESPN), I decided to focus on these two as strictly basketball players.

These 14 categories were used to determine the overall capabilities and production as basketball players. Some categories I added more weight to in the interest of fairly evaluating the importance of each skill. Here’s was I landed on:

This is not the end all be all. Realistically, you could make an argument either way for many of these categories. Either way, this is a fair and legitimate comparison of the two. What you can compare with hard numbers though is LeBron leads MJ in: Points, Assists, Rebounds, Steals, Blocks, FG%, 3PT FG%, and has had a sustained run of dominance in his era for longer than MJ did.

I also decided to give Michael Jordan the “clutch” category in the interest of not upsetting the masses. Even though LeBron James has elevated his game more than Michael in elimination games, closeout games, as well as hitting a higher percentage of shots with 10 seconds or less, when his team is looking for the go ahead/game tying bucket in the postseason. Those however are things you’ll probably never hear elsewhere.

Let’s move the discussion towards each player’s NBA career. All we seem to measure in basketball is championships, and I understand why that happens. I understand that one player can impact a game more in basketball than any other sport. Yet we still measure these players by a TEAM stat. When we talk about the great quarterbacks of the NFL, obviously the conversation starts with rings. But we also talk about career yards, touchdowns, consecutive games streaks, etc. When we talk about baseball, we talk about the homerun list, career average, RBIs. Are we really going to just ignore LeBron’s resume in totality when he’s done as the all time leading scorer, while being top 5 in assists and top 15 in rebounds? He’s passed MJ in every statistical category, regular season and postseason, but will continuously be discredited because his TEAM was outmatched in the finals more times than not.

Michael Jordan went to 6 NBA Finals. His team was favored in 5 out of 6 of those series. LeBron James has been to 9 NBA Finals to date. His team has only been favored in 2 of them. People will point to LeBron’s 3–6 record in the NBA Finals, which could be perhaps the lamest argument out there. LeBron James has played for a championship in 9 out the 16 seasons he has completed. MJ made the Finals 6 times in the 15 years he played. So we are discrediting LeBron because he was eliminated later in the season than MJ? Would you rather lose in the finals or not get there at all? If you think the answer is not to get there at all, in the words of Stephen A. Smith, “you should be drug tested.” Would it have hurt MJ’s legacy if he made the finals in ’95 and lost to Houston? Absolutely not. Again this goes back to the “orah” of MJ that people are so hung up on. If LeBron was 3–3 in the finals would that strengthen the argument for him as the GOAT by not having a losing record? It’s almost comical to think of.

Even though NBA basketball games can be largely affected by one great player, no one superstar can overcome a collection of stars on a great team. A few examples of this would be the Celtics teams that stopped both Jordan and LeBron early in their career, as well as the Warriors. If LeBron never went to Miami, never played with Kyrie Irving or Anthony Davis, he could very well have 0 championships. That is no fault of LeBron. What bothers me is the sports media overstating the impact one great player can have on a whole season. Carrying the team for 82 games in the regular season, carrying them through the playoffs, and ultimately needing to elevate a collection of role players over a team with multiple hall of farmers. Not to mention, LeBron has almost always been asked to be the team’s best scorer, assist man, rebounder, and defender. Michael Jordan never had that kind of responsibility on his shoulders.

LeBron James has played in the NBA Finals 3 separate times in his career without a second star. I of course speak of the 2007 Cavalier team he dragged to the finals, as well his bookend trips to the finals in his 4 year return to Cleveland. Michael Jordan never even sniffed an NBA Finals without the help of Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant, or Dennis Rodman. Jordan had the most consistent, reliable, dynamic supporting cast a superstar could want. I point this out not to discredit MJ, but just as sheer fact. As the best player of his era, Jordan took full advantage of those resources by winning 6 titles in the prime of his career. Kudos to him. But wouldn’t it be interesting to try and somewhat accurately replicate the supporting cast Jordan enjoyed by pairing present day players with LeBron? Well, let’s take a stab.

Michael Jordan’s 3 biggest assets in winning championships were arguably the following individuals: Phil Jackson, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman. I chose to use Rodman over Horace Grant simply because he was a part of the teams that Jordan led when he was not at his physical peak, in addition to the massive role Rodman played in helping the Bulls win games when Scottie Pippen sat out much of the 1998 season.

Let’s attach these labels to each one of those players for comparison sake:

Scottie Pippen — A top 10 player of his era (being the 90s).

Phil Jackson — The greatest/most accomplished coach of his era (perhaps even all time)

Dennis Rodman — One of the best rebounders/defenders of his era (perhaps even all time)

Those 3 individuals were Jordan’s biggest assets in winning. Let’s also keep in mind, Jordan, the best player of his era, led those teams. They were the most talented and well equipped team to win championships in their era. And it’s really not that close.

For argument’s sake, let’s try to figure out a supporting cast for LeBron that could be somewhat comparable to that. Imagine a LeBron James led basketball team in the NBA for 10 years with a healthy Dwyane Wade as his second star, Draymond Green as the rebounder/defender, and Greg Popovich as the head coach. That is essentially what Jordan had around him. Not to mention the clutch shooting of guys like Steve Kerr, Tony Kukoc, and John Paxson.

If LeBron spent 10 out of his 17 years playing with D-Wade, Draymond, with the coaching of Greg Popovich, do we really believe he would only have half the championships that MJ has?

People love to ignore the all time great team that Jerry Krause built around MJ that dominated an entire decade of basketball. Was Jordan the best player? Of course he was. Was he the overwhelming driving force that helped win those 6 titles? Absolutely. But to act like MJ could have had the same success with any other group of players would be blasphemous. I would love to see if MJ could win 6 NBA Finals with no losses without the help of 3 other hall of farmers by his side. But we’ll never know. We can only project.

The fact of the matter is, LeBron James has been a better basketball player than Michael Jordan at almost every point in their lives. If you want to argue Jordan has the better legacy, due to his flawless finals record, mysterious and legendary orah, as well as his enormous sneaker conglomerate, you can have that. To me though, LeBron is simply a better player at every stage in their basketball life. Let’s start with the 1st time basketball really got competitive for them.

As history tells us, we know that Michael Jordan was cut from the varsity basketball team as a sophomore. We’ve heard it a million times, and it is part of Jordan’s story. But you know something that we just heard for the first time a few days ago? At the same age in his life, a sophomore in high school, LeBron James was playing in pickup games AGAINST Michael Jordan. He was that special of an athlete. His name was already becoming a brand nationwide. He was being talked about as the best high school player in the country as a sophomore, when Michale Jordan couldn’t even make his own high school varsity team in North Carolina. If that doesn’t speak to ability I’m not sure what does. Was MJ playing pickup basketball games against Kareem as a sophomore in high school? No. He was cut from the varsity team. LeBron has clearly been the more gifted athlete and naturally talented player from the genesis.

Fast forward a few years to Michael Jordan as a UNC Tar Heel, playing for the great Dean Smith (another underrated luxury that helped propel Jordan’s career). LeBron was good enough as an 18 year old kid to go straight to the NBA without needing college basketball as a stepping stone. I understand the precedent of getting drafted out of high school was not set before Jordan, but LeBron has been one of the few gifted athletes to actually be able to make that transition. Jordan could not.

Both stars struggled to get their teams to compete in their early years. They had to deal with the already established stars and winning teams in the league as they grew. After having a losing season every year before Scottie Pippen was drafted, Michael Jordan finally broke through to reach the NBA Finals at age 27. His opponent? An aged Laker team that was swept by the Pistons in the Finals the year before. The Bulls won, and they were off from there.

But what about LeBron’s first breakthrough to the big stage? In one of the most unthinkable achievements of the 2000s, 22 year old LeBron James dragged a lowly, talent deprived Cleveland Cavaliers team with no second star, to the to the NBA Finals, riding a game 5 performance from The King in the Eastern Conference Finals against Detroit that is arguably one of the 5 best playoff performances ever. His reward? The San Antonio Spurs, winners of 3 of the last 8 NBA titles, constructed with 3 hall of fame players all in their prime, as well as being coached by a hall of famer in Greg Popovich. LeBron had that much of an impact on the league at 22. When Michael Jordan was 22, he broke his ankle and played a measly 18 games in his 2nd year, only to be swept in the first round of the playoffs. LeBron’s talent level far surpasses Jordan’s. He impacted the game more at an earlier age, and is continuing to impact the game more at an older age. MJ walked away from the game after his age 34 season. LeBron switched positions and started leading the league in assists while being the MVP frontrunner on his 3rd different team at age 35. MJ simply can’t say he’s dominated this sport like LeBron has.

Since LeBron took his game down south to Miami, he has never lost a playoff series in the Eastern Conference playoffs. That’s 8 straight years. 24–0 in conference playoff series. That sustained run of dominance is comparable to the greatest dynasties in the history of team sports. This however is a 2 team, 1 man dynasty. LeBron James is the constant when it comes to dominating the modern era of basketball. The era in which we have seen the most skilled players, and the most advanced athletes to date.

Like I said before, you can debate legacy, accolades, and how the public perceives you all you want. To me, the best way to determine “Who is the greatest player of all time” is by asking yourself a simple yet loaded question. You get to pick 1 player to start your team. Who do you want?

Will some people say Jordan? Absolutely. At this point in 2020, you might even have the majority of people say Jordan. Which is fine. But let’s think about the question.

Think about it as an all time player draft, and you hold the first pick. Who do I want as my guy to be the leader of my team, not knowing who else I’ll have on the roster. I want LeBron because the rest of my team is going to be elevated by his play. He makes everyone around him better in a way that volume scorers like Jordan and Kobe could never. I’ll take the guy who is bigger, stronger, more durable, a better overall athlete, a better teammate, more cerebral, more versatile, and is as committed as anyone to winning. If I need 40 from LeBron, he’ll give me that. If I need LBJ to guard the MVP point guard in the 2011 Eastern Conference finals, he’ll give me that. If I need him to facilitate and create offense for the rest of the team, he’ll do that. I won’t keep going, but you get what I’m saying. Again, no one is saying Michael didn’t do almost everything exceptionally well, because he did. LeBron just happens to do it better.

This paragraph right here might be one of the most impressive things about LeBron. Nobody has evolved their game and adapted to a changing environment quite like LBJ. LeBron was never seen as an incredible shooter. Kevin Durant comes to mind when we speak of that. This only makes it even more impressive how dominant LeBron has been. He found a way to adapt his game, and continue to be THE dominant force in an era of basketball that has shifted away from his strengths. That is nothing short of remarkable.

He has dominated in more ways than anyone else. Listed at 4 different positions over his career, he has done any and all things that his team needed of him to be successful. In his 17th season, LeBron James is accounting for more points per game (scoring and assist totals) than ever before. All while starting as the point guard for the Lakers. A position he has never truly played for a team. With a roster that has been assembled for less than 12 months. In what LeBron deniers have always labeled “the superior conference”.

Different teams, different teammates, different coaches, one thing has remained the same with LeBron. That is dominating his era of basketball more than any single player has before. Along with rewriting all the records on his way. All the GOATs before LeBron, such as Kareem, Bill Russell, and Michael Jordan, can appreciate what LeBron has done. And that is because he has done what they could not. Nobody has ever dominated this sport, for this long, as much as LeBron James has. All while being one of the most influential athletes in history off the court, and living up to the most pressure an athlete has ever faced in the history of American sports.

Long live the king,

Still striving.