Finally Scottie Pippen had the guts to say what he tried to say several years ago but got punk’d into takin’ it back. Ole boy was on First Take with Stephen A. and Max on Thursday and they asked him how close LeBron was to Jordan and he said, The NUMBERS DON’T LIE! He’s right there! Then the dun went a step further and said, “When you look across the board not just scorin’ check his assists, check his rebounds, he’s probably ahead of Jordan.
Boyz went NUTS after he said it especially Stephen A. with the customary Jordan fan response. “He won six NBA titles, six Finals MVP’s and never went to a Game 7”. That’s the typical put back for a Jordan diehard right there bruh. That’s all they’ve got and they’re livin’ with that foolishness.
Let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! I’ve been tellin’ boyz for years that LeBron was the best all-around basketball player we’ve ever seen because he can do EVERYTHING on the floor. It’s no sense in me givin’ you the stats because Jordan fans will tell you that it ain’t about the numbers but they can count 6 titles. 6 Finals MVP’s and no Game 7’s. But it ain’t about the numbers.
When all of the numbers that they constantly quote are pretty much team numbers/awards. Winnin’ an NBA title is a TEAM award not a Jordan by himself award. Not goin’ to a Game 7 is a TEAM award and winnin’ the Finals MVP means that he was the best player on the team that won. How many times have we seen players dominate a Finals like LeBron did in the 2015 Finals and lose because he wasn’t on the best TEAM and not win the Finals MVP? C’mon bruh.
However, when were talkin’ about who the best player of all-time is we’ve got to look at what the dun does on the floor. I’m goin’ to keep it simple because Jordan fans lose their minds when you give them numbers that tell you who is better at whatever we’re talkin’ about. So I’ll just have them go look them up, which they won’t because it allows them to keep lyin’ to themselves about the myth of Michael Jordan. If you ask a Jordan fan who the better shooter is between Mike and LeBron they’ll flat out tell you Mike without blinkin’ but the all-time field goal shootin’ percentages don’t say that. Why do they do that? Because they’ve been watchin’ highlights for 20 plus years and he doesn’t miss in the highlights.
So back to Scottie, the dun jumped out of the birthday cakes about 5 years ago and said that LeBron was better than Mike and boyz jumped all over him for it and he retracted it. Remember that? Not because he thought he was wrong but because he didn’t want all of that foolishness comin’ his way.
Now if anybody in the history of basketball was goin’ to be a more reliable source to tell you who was better it would be the dun that won those same 6 titles with Jordan and never went to a Game 7!! But a Jordan fan will tell you that Scottie doesn’t know what he’s talkin’ about and that he’s confused.
Scottie knows that Mike couldn’t get out of the first round of the playoffs until he got drafted by the Bulls in 1987. He knows that Mike’s first trip to the second round was in 1988 when Pip was ridin’ in the car with him. He knows that bruh! He knows that Mike couldn’t have won any of those titles without him. He knows that!!! He knows Mike couldn’t have gotten to the Finals without havin’ Phil and the rest of the crew. He just lets y’all give Mike all of the credit.
He also knows that Mike could only play one position!! We’ve heard Scottie say on several television shows that you couldn’t give Mike the ball at the point because no offense would get run, Why? Because Mike was always lookin’ to score. Why? Because he was a scorer by nature! So regardless of what diehard Jordan fans tell you he couldn’t play the 1 because the dun wasn’t goin’ to run the offense. That’s comin’ for a cat that played with him. Not me bruh.
LeBron can play all five positions and guard all five and he’s done it EVERY NIGHT for the past 15 years!!!! It’s not like when Magic did it one time in the Finals when Kareem went down. He does it EVERY night. Not only is he playin’ all five positions but when you look at the box score he’s either scored or assisted on 70 to 80 percent of the team’s points darn near EVERY night. Mike never did that because he was too busy gunnin’!!!
And not only is the dun playin’ all over the floor but he’s better than anybody we’ve seen doin’ it because the numbers don’t lie!! Again, I can’t bring the numbers up because Jordan fans can’t count outside of 6 titles, 6 Final’s MVP’s and no Game 7’s when all of those have everything to do with the darn team as opposed to the individual player.
We just saw KD win the Finals MVP last season. Did that make him the best player in the league last year? Not at all. He was the best player on the best team and Jordan was simply that. Just because he won 6 Finals MVP’s doesn’t make him the best player to ever play the game. That makes no sense!!
Just because he won 6 NBA titles doesn’t make him the GOAT!! Bill Russell won 11 NBA titles and he won 8 in a row from 1959-66. There are 12 cats in the history of the league that have won 6 or more titles and there are 9 cats that have more titles than Jordan! And don’t forget that Scottie won those same six with Mike!!! Stop it!!!
Those Jordan Bulls had the best of the best and they should have won 6 titles and never went to a game 7. They had the best coachin’ staff ever assembled, the best two-way player in the game (Pippen), the best three-point shooter from a percentage stand point (Kerr) and when they didn’t have him they had dead eye shooters in Paxson, Hodges and Armstrong. Then they had the best rebounder (Rodman) in the game and the best player!! They should have won every time they showed up and never went to a game 7.
In today’s NBA that’s like LeBron havin’ Gregg Popovich and staff (best coach), Kawhi Leonard (best two-way player), Klay Thompson (dead eye shooter) and Andre Drummond (best rebounder). Oh and Kristaps Porzingis because the Bulls went and got the best European player in the world in Toni Kukoc. It would be impossible to beat them. That was the darn Chicago Bulls with Mike.
LeBron’s a better shooter not because I said so, the all-time field goal shootin’ percentage says so. He’s a better passer because the numbers say so. He a better rebounder because the numbers say so. He blocks shots better because the numbers say so. He plays every position on the floor because we watch him do it EVERY NIGHT!!!
He’s 6’9″ 260 lbs and he’s playin’ the point more often than not right now because the Cavs have no point guard!!!! And he’s playin’ the point better than any other true point in the league right now as he floats between four other positions. Who does that? And you’re tryin’ to tell me that a cat that could only play one position is a better all-around basketball player than he is? You smokin’!!! Stop me when I start lyin’!
Now if you really want to know what the NUMBERS say listen to The Real Playa Podcast from last season that’s the “Ultimate LeBron vs. Jordan Breakdown!”
Playas Thesaurus:
1) Dun: noun – the person in question, dude, guy, etc. It’s whoever I’m talkin’ about and its non-gender specific.
2) Ole boy: noun – the person that I’m currently talkin’ about.
The G is excluded from the endings of all words because the G is near and dear to my heart because I’m from “The G” which is Gary, Indiana. So I only use the G when I’m talkin’ about “The G!”
The caption under the photo isn’t real but its real talk!
I love this debate as much as anyone but I just want to point out some inaccuracies
*Jordan didnt just play 1 position. He also played Point Guard and Small Forward in his career. He could definitely also play Power Forward today given his elite post-game and the current size/style of post players, which is a far cry from what it was during MJ’s time. You may not remember when Jordan ran point, I’m assuming you just didn’t know, but this was the year he averaged like 35/8/8 for the season (Which seems like an all-around line you get from LeBron right? Minus the scoring) and went on his triple-double streak of like 11 of them in 13 games. From that season, here’s a quote from Clyde Drexler during that time:
“Everybody has to watch him with the ball. The other guys are free to roam, and their shooting percentages are going to soar. I think (Jordan) handles the ball better than Magic. (Jordan) just makes everybody else better. When he gets used to that position . . . “ – You can look up the period yourself or look up how his play was percieved and/or look up the statistics. In the 24 games he played at point guard, he averaged 30.4 PPG, 10.7 APG, 9.2 RPG. Either way, to say he couldn’t play point was just flat out wrong.
Additionally, Jordan was also the primary playmaker during the Bulls’ 1st championship against the Lakers. He only averaged 31ppg/11apg/6rpg on 56% shooting during the series. You asked who ever thoroughly dominated a Finals series like LeBron has recently? Well the answer is right there but I don’t think you want to look at it. To put it in perspective, LeBrons 2017 Finals (The Triple-Double one) had a PER of 30.7 and a Gamescore of 29.6. His 2016 Finals (Which I considered much better due to his defensive intensity) had a PER of 33.4 and a Gamescore of 26.5. His 2015 Finals (Worst of the 3 due to inefficiency and lack of defense) had a PER of 27.5 and a Gamescore of 24.6. Jordans 1st 3-peat: 1991 Finals had a PER of 34.1 and a Gamescore of 29.4. 1992 Finals had a PER of 27.1 and a Gamescore of 25.8. 1993 Finals had a PER of 31.7 and a Gamescore of 29.6. Gamescore being the stat on Basketball-Reference which basically calculates overall impact, you can find their math on how it’s calculated on it’s website. PER for the Finals series can be found here
https://basketball.realgm.com/nba/stats/2003/Advanced_Stats/All/per/All/desc/1/Playoffs_NBA_Finals
*Jordans team was like having Popovich, Kawhi, Thompson, Porzingis and Drummond. That’s actually not even close to what the Bulls were during this time. Porzingis is far greater than Kukoc ever was, Thompson is far better than who I imagine are Kerr/Paxson you’re comparing him to, and Drummond at this point is much better than Rodman was. Kawhi is a good comparison to Pippen however Pip wasn’t as good as Kawhi offensively either. Popovich is an established coach who has shown the ability to win and compete with multiple systems/styles and players. Phil Jackson wasn’t anything of the sort when he started with Chicago, in fact a lot of his mystique and hype comes from those teams. So while he eventually became a great coach, he literally grew with those Bulls teams. You can argue Erik Spoelstra was doing the same thing with Miami, and he’s regarded as one of the better coaches in the league currently. TO put it into perspective, Korver is a better player than Kerr or Paxson, arguably a better shooter too. So why put Klay Thompson in that role when Klay’s an all-star talent whereas those guys were roleplayers? Rodman on the Bulls was pretty old and not the defensive monster he was in his younger years, and he admittedly focused almost entirely on rebounding the basketball (Sometimes not helping over defensively or boxing out to get in better position to grab them). Drummond isn’t Rodmans equal in rebounding or defense, but he’s a much larger body and a much better offensive contributor. Porzingis is just flat out way better than Toni offensively AND defensively, physically as well. A better person to be the Kukoc would be someone like a younger Mike Dunleavy. Jordans team wasnt anywhere near as stacked as the team you presented would be, that said they were very well put together nonetheless especially in comparison to other teams of the time
LeBrons shooting this season is absolutely insane. Huge props to him for significantly improving here, because less than 2 years ago he was statiscally the WORST shooter in the league among qualified players shooting outside of 3 feet from the rim. So to add this dimension to his game, this late in his career is outstanding. That said, Jordan is the superior “shooter” for their careers. This is one of those times where the eye test beats the stat sheet. Sure, LeBrons career FG% is slightly higher than MJ’s, however the shots they take are vastly different. Deandre Jordan, for example, is not a superior shooter than Chris Paul even though DJ FG% is significantly higher. As referenced above, LeBron did most of his work within 3 feet of the basket and when he went beyond that, his shooting percentages were exceedingly poor however he had a few good seasons shooting the 3 checkered in. Whereas Jordan diversified his attack far more and scored from all over the court, and has one of the all time greatest percentages in the exact same areas LeBron was extremely poor in (From 3ft – 3Pt line). However, Jordans 3PT shooting for most of his career was less than stellar, like LeBron he had a few good seasons shooting it checkered in. For their careers, their 3PT% is about equal however, neither of their career averages for 3PT% being “good”.
I understand this piece is meant to shit on MJ and prop up LeBron, but I think it’s better for all sides involved if the information presented is more accurate. I think LeBron has a stronger case than anyone outside of Kareem or Bill Russell as supplanting MJ as the GOAT. However the strengths of LeBrons argument lies in the very thing LeBron himself stated he wants to be known for which is being at the top of the game for longer than anyone. His Year 15 FAR eclipses Jordans year 15 and he shows no signs of slowing down, in fact he may even be better. When it’s all said and done, he’ll likely have the lead in most statistical categories and his longevity will be his greatest historic calling card