OT Will this be Dame in 10 years?

LeBron's lack of a reliable jumper is a problem. While still ridiculously hard to guard, just simply giving him the jumper as the Spurs did in The Finals is not a bad strategy against him. I mean the Spurs got away with Diaw on James for stretches because of LeBron's mediocre jumper.

Despite being the more physically gifted athlete and playing in an era where defenders can't hand check or be as physical as Jordan's era, MJ was still more unstoppable in a tougher era of basketball when defenses could really beat you up and make you earn it. Hand checking changes everything. You could also prevent players from cutting by grabbing and holding. You can't grab or even touch a player on the perimeter these days.

MJ averaged 32.5ppg on 52% shooting over the course of his career before his first retirement ( I excluded his injury shortened 18 game season in 85-86 where he only started 7 games)

Now the argument will be but LeBron plays more of a PG roll and is the better rebounder, but over that same span Jordan still averaged 6 assists per game and 6 rebounds per game. Over the course of that time Jordan also averaged 3 stlpg and was #1 in steals in the NBA 3x. LeBron's the better playmaker and Jordan is the better scorer, but I think Jordan is closer to being the playmaker LeBron is than LeBron is to being the scorer Jordan is.

32.5ppg/6rpg/6apg/3stlpg/52 FG% is his line from 84-93

LeBron also gets credit for taking borderline scrubs far in the playoffs, but the eastern conference is usually a joke so it's hard to gauge. While in Cleveland how many impressive teams have they actually beaten in the playoffs over his entire career? I'll let someone else put that list together. Off the top pf my head I have the Pistons who were at the end of their run.

From my standpoint there's no argument, and it's not because I'm trying to deny LeBron of anything.

MJ is just simply the best.

 

Magic Johnson having a line up of himself, Byron Scott, James Worthy, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, AC Green, Kurt Rambis, Mychal Thompson, Mychal Cooper, Tony Campbell, Wes Matthews was never asked to be an elite scorer. He was asked to distribute and to get his teammates involved. In 87-88 7 different guys averaged 10 plus points a game and four averaged 15 plus points a game. When he was asked to score, he could and in abundance. Let's not forget he averaged 20 pts per game in his career. One instance that proved his scoring ability was when the stakes couldn't have been any higher. Go back to Game 6 of the 1980 Championship series in which the Lakers was forced to start Magic at center for the ailing the Kareem Abdul Jabbar. He come away from the game with 42 points in 15 rebounds and 7 assists all the while having to guard and shut down Sixer Center Darryl Dawkins.When it was required for him to score he had no problems. He was an elite who didnt have too because he had several other guys that could.

As for defensive purposes. The man could guard 5 different positions on the floor and give up nothing. He was an above average defender. And never hurt his team on that end.

The reason why I say he is better than Lebron at what he does because he could play 5 different positions on offense and defense and he did it in an era where there were more elite 7 footers in the game. He could play with the big boys and the small boys. Magic just might be the best of all time. But I think defensively he falls short and therefore falls below Michael.