The Greatest: Jordan, Bryant or James?

Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player to ever play the game.  However, most recently, Charles Barkley and Phil Jackson made controversial statements regarding MJ.  Charles Barkley, an all time NBA great, said Lebron James has the potential to be better than Michael Jordan.   Phil Jackson a similar statement and noted that Lebron has all the physical attributes that Jordan possessed.  Barkley’s comments must be viewed with a bit of skepticism.  Barkley is a sports commentator and he has to make controversial statements from time-to-time to make sure his ratings remain at a high level.  Phil Jackson’s comments must be taken a bit more seriously, considering he coached MJ and Kobe.

Lebron James is the best player in the world and he is only 27 years old.  He is just now reaching his “prime” and his best basketball may be ahead of him.  He won a NBA championship last season.  He has already won 3 regular season MVP awards, a NBA finals MVP, 2 Olympic gold medals and an NBA title.  He can dominate at any number of four positions.  There has never been a player in the league that has his skill set.  He is arguably the best athlete to ever play in the NBA as well.  If I had to guess, I would think that he will be considered the second best basketball player in the history of the game. Ultimately, the jury is still out; only time will tell.

Kobe Bryant is an all time great.  His individual statistics and accomplishments are stellar.  He has 5 NBA championships, 2 NBA finals MVP awards, 2 Olympic gold medals and countless other individual accolades.  In his prime, he dominated on both ends of the court, much like Jordan did.  He has a reputation of being incredibly skilled and intelligent player.  Even in his prime, Kobe was a low percentage, volume shooter.  He has never shot better than 47% from the field.  As a quick comparison, Michael Jordan’s worst field goal percentage year was 47% when he was nearly 40 years old.  I also remember Kobe’s performance in a playoff series against the Phoenix Suns when he essentially quit competing for his team.  A player that will quit on his team can never be considered to be the greatest ever.

Michael Jordan has 5 NBA regular season MVP awards, 6 NBA finals MVP awards, 10 all NBA-first team awards, 1 defensive player of the year award, 9 time all NBA defensive first team, Rookie of the Year, 14 time all star, 3 time all star game MVP, and two time Olympic gold medals.  The most impressive of his statistics to me is the fact that he has 6 NBA championships and 6 NBA Finals MVP awards.  When the stakes were the highest, he “stepped his game up” to another level.  He is undefeated in Championship series competition.  What other player can say that?  He had 6 NBA finals appearances and 6 NBA finals championships.  

As of now, Micahel Jordan is the greatest player.  Kobe will have to settle for arguably being a top five all time NBA great and the jury is sill out of Lebron.

 

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