LeBron or Kobe, who can become the next Michael?
These two players have played under so much pressure to be the next Michael Jordan for most of their careers that they have never had an opportunity to settle into their own role as who they truly are. Both LeBron and Kobe have had outstanding careers in the NBA, yet no matter what they do, they are just not Michael Jordan. I personally am sick of the comparisons in trying to find out who the next Michael is. Michael was Michael, Kobe is Kobe, and as LeBron put it on Twitter, "I'm LJ not MJ." People often try to put the comparison on winning and teams. If you examine Michael's notable teammates in his career, he actually played with some very good players. Michael's most notable teammates were Scottie Pippen who is a Hall of Famer, Dennis Rodman, another Hall of Famer and Steve Kerr who was one of the best 3-point shooters of all time to name a few as well as Horace Grant, Toni Kukoc, BJ Armstrong, and Charles Oakley who were all extremely good. Kobe on the other hand, got to play with the most dominant center in the modern era in Shaquille O'Neal and won 3 Championships with him. Also, Bryant as always had a dominant big man with him in Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, or Dwight Howard. Kobe's biggest struggle was that he couldn't seem to win without Shaq and until he won in 2009 he had that stigma attached to him. Finally we have LeBron James' teammates. When looking at his teammates, his years in Cleveland he had very little to work with. LeBron's best teammate in Cleveland may have been Larry Hughes who was less than stellar in his time in Cleveland. Not until Miami did LeBron finally get to play with the high caliber players of D-Wade and Chris Bosh, as well as Ray Allen.
Overall, in my opinion LeBron James is the best player out of the three, Kobe the fierciest, and Michael the most dominant. I say that LeBron is the best player because of the fact that he averages almost a triple double making him the most well-rounded player the league may have ever seen. Kobe just plays with a fire that is unparalleled by anyone other than Michael, which puts him in the position to become one of the greatest. Michael was the most dominant because he did whatever it takes to get the win, didn't care who he stepped on and was as cut throat as anyone. Michael is a winner and that is why he is one of the best. I would take any one of the three, but personally I would go with LeBron because he could do more than less than the other two could.
Off of the court, I would say that LeBron has the best chance to rival Michael. LeBron has really taken advantage of all of the marketing opportunities to really enhance his value in the world. Kobe has somewhat, but not to the level that LeBron has. Michael has created a huge company and a legacy that is worth so much money and is an amazing company. LeBron has a chance to catch him in that regard, as long as he continues to work as a business man and seize every opportunity that comes to him and I believe that he can one day have a company such as Jordan.
**All statistical data collected from basketballreference.com
Zane—
ReplyDeleteI would have to say that this is a really well written blog post, it has me thinking. Looking at it, I can honestly say that I would somewhat agree with your argument on which player you think is the greatest of all time (G.O.A.T.). I do have to admit that my basketball history is not the strongest, nor do I have the best sense of statistical data and how to compare it, but you have me really thinking about who I believe is the best. When looking at the overall idea of comparing players, I think it can be very tricky to develop a metric that is fair when deciding who is the “greatest of all time.” I believe a lot should go into the title, it simply holds bragging rights. Now, out of the athletes you compared, you supported your arguments, but I would also say that not only statistics make you the best all the time. Looking at it holistically, I don’t even know who to name the best. Should there be a broad criteria outside of the statistics?
-Alex Solis
Zane,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I would like to tell you that this is an excellent blog post and it was well worth the read. Looking back on this post about determining the G.O.A.T it is really a toss-up between Kobe, MJ and LeBron. Personally, in my opinion I have always thought that MJ would be the greatest of all time but recently just watching LeBron play basketball and read his statistics on Twitter I feel like in the future or if not in a couple years he could become one of the greatest basketball players of all time. I honestly don’t really pay that much attention to NBA but recently I have been getting more involved with watching it and listening to the debates about who is a better basketball player between MJ, Kobe and LeBron. I just think in determining who is actually the greatest of all time there should be some criteria when they played in the past or are playing currently to see if they will ever be the greatest of all time or are currently making their way into being the greatest of all time.
--Lindsey Landversicht
Zane,
ReplyDeleteI agree with Alex and Lindsey that this is an excellent blog entry. You have made a compelling case for Kareem as the greatest of all time - not only from the standpoint of winning three NCAA titles in college, but also having his jersey retired by two teams. I still don't understand why Bill Russell isn't in the mix although people say that his era was not as competitive. That too would be difficult to ascertain. Anyway, good job on this entry!
Dr. Spencer
Thank you! I personally think Russell should be up there, but that is also because I am a Celtics fan so I can be slightly biased. Although Russell's era was not as competitive as a whole, he still had a lot of competition that he had to face, mainly in a player named Wilt Chamberlain, who only scored 100 points in one game, so the 11 rings is nothing to shake a head at.
ReplyDeleteAs for who is the greatest of all-time I think there should be a scale that generates a score, yet takes into effect relatable information. Such as for Michael, he lead the league in scoring a few seasons, but what were the comparable scoring leaders averaging? How about how efficient he was, things like that could be put into a scale that could give a quantitative view of who is the greatest.
Zane
I would first like to say that LeBron James plays a completely different position than MJ did and the league is structures a lot differently than it was back then. LeBron plays in the era of teams going small and having big men not being a major position as it was when MJ played. There are a few teams that still have dominant big men such as the lakers, brooklyn, and philly but beyond them most teams have utilized a more double PF or bigger SF as there big man. LeBron actually finds himself playing point guard a lot of the game. Jordan was known as a go-to scorer and if i had t compare anyone to him it is Kobe due to their types of game and that the lakers have always had dominant big men such as Bynum. Howard, Shaq, Kareem, and Gasol. I do not see the comparison of LeBron and MJ at all besides the fact that they are arguably the best player in their own respective eras. I would compare LeBron to Magic Johnson if I had to compare at all due to their size and elite scoring/passing. I would also like you to consider Wilt Chamberlin into your G.O.A.T discussion due to him being one of the most dominant players ever in the game and averaging a career 30ppg, 23rpg,5ast,and 53% shooting. If you take away the last two years he was int he league his scoring would have been rival to Mj's along with his insane amount of rebounds and shooting efficiency. He was a two time NBA champion, 4 time MVP, Rookie of the year, 13 time allstar, 7 time scoring champion, 7 time all NBA first team, and 2 time defensive player of the year. He also has the record for most points in a game ever with 100. He was a force on both sides of the floor and dominated from the time he stepped foot on the floor. He may be over looked because he played in the 60's and 70's but he was unstoppable in his era and warrants a career that could rival any player to play the game.
ReplyDeleteThis was published by Joshua Kovacs
Delete