LeBron or Michael?
The folks over at ESPN have been debating whether Michael "Air" Jordan or LeBron "King" James is a better player at this (or that) point in their respective careers. This is a pretty silly question, as are all sports-radio questions. But the reason this one is particularly silly is this: There is no comparable point in these two respective careers. Because LeBron is now 21, and in his third NBA season. When Michael was in his third season, he was three years older, because he played three years at North Carolina. So is the comparison point Michael as 21 years old and a rookie, or Michael as 24 years old, with three years experience?
Anyone who watches the King for even a few minutes has to see it. He's not Jordan, but he's a player of Jordan-historical significance. It's scary that he's so young. Baseball players, they say, don't hit their physical prime until 27 or 28. If the same is true for basketball players, and for LeBron, well, in seven years he will eclipse the other greats.
And I love seeing the aerial shots of Cleveland on tv. That's the extra bonus.
posted by Number Three @ 9:03 PM
2 Comments:
I saw the ESPN piece as well. What was so incredible about Jordan was his pure athleticism -- he just defied gravity. Even now when you see the highlight films there's no comparable NBA player now or ever who had that same spring and flexibility. Other than that, I would have to say that Lebron's other skills are better at this stage, the most important being his ability to make his teammates better too. If you remember, early in Jordan's career he kept running in the Bad Boys of Detroit himself and it wasn't until he got the team more involved that they started to win. Of course the best player of all time at making his team better was Magic -- from Lansing Sexton, to Michigan State to his rookie season in the NBA, he just elevated the entire team around him everywhere he went.
On another note, I'm heading to Italy on Tuesday and probably won't have much time to post until the 20s of June.
True true. The video of Jordan is still amazing. There will never be another MJ, not at doing what he could do with his body.
To be honest, LeBron needs to work on his defense, although I think his defensive skills are often characterized as "poor," when they are really just poor when compared to the rest of his skills. I don't think, for example, that a case can be made that LeBron's defense hurts the Cavs.
And on that other point: give me a call before you leave, if you get a chance. I needed to apologize for not being able to make it to Italy.
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