Michael Jordan or Lebron James? (4 Viewers)

[Dentist]

MIchael Jordan is 51 years old and has been out of the league for over a decade.

LeBron is in his prime at 29 y.o.

I'm guessing that if I were putting together a 3 on 3 team right now at the rec I'd definitely rather have the 29 y.o. for our game to 21, make it take it, must win by 2

And I'm guessing he'd be a better gamer as well.

 

[FUBAR]

Jordan now.

Perhaps Lebron when his career is over. Losing this NBA Finals in his prime would be a big hit, but he's the only player since Jordan that's even worth a discussion (and probably will be the only one for quite some time)

If he loses this finals, he'll be 2-3 in finals appearances... While it is still impressive to be in 5 finals to date, Jordan was 6-0.

sure, because he couldn't get past the Pistons for a few years.

 

[Jayrod]

I think 5 LeBron's would beat 5 MJ's because the 5 MJ's would have all punched each other in the face in an argument over who should get the ball.

You can't play with even 2 MJ's....there can be only one. He was a true alpha dog.

Meanwhile, there was a question over whether or not it was LeBron or Wade's team back when LeBron joined the Heat. Never would have been a question with MJ. Heck there wasn't even a question on the Dream Team. He made sure everyone knew he was the man and that it was his league now.

 

[matuski]

Of the two, only MJ quit the game.

 

[Tom Skerritt]

Jordan's contributing teammates/coaches:

Pippen

Cartwright

Grant

King

Armstrong

Kerr

Paxson

Harper

Rodman

Levingston

Wennington

Kukoc

Perdue

Longley

Hodges

Doug Collins

Phil Jackson

LeBron's contributors:

Wade

Bosh

Allen

Battier

Anderson

Chalmers

Cole

Spoelstra

 

[Leroy Hoard]

LeBron seems like he'd be a better teammate, so I was tempted to vote LeBron in Question 1.

Ultimately I still went with the better player, more likely to produce championships, in both poll questions. So Jordan in both.

Better teammate can mean better distributor or nicer guy but it can also mean better in the clutch.

 

[ClownCausedChaos2]

The way I've always seen it: The Bulls couldn't win a championship with Jordan. LEbron couldn't win one without the Heat. Case closed.

I think they won six.

D'oh!I meant to say "without" in my Jordan statement.

Looks like I picked the wrong day to quit drinkin'.

 

[TenTimes]

I'd go with the one who'd allow me as GM to come off the bench and win my ring personally.

Spoiler

mj

 

[msudaisy26]

Jordan's contributing teammates/coaches:

Pippen

Cartwright

Grant

King

Armstrong

Kerr

Paxson

Harper

Rodman

Levingston

Wennington

Kukoc

Perdue

Longley

Hodges

Doug Collins

Phil Jackson

LeBron's contributors:

Wade

Bosh

Allen

Battier

Anderson

Chalmers

Cole

Spoelstra

I am so upset my phone won't let me do the lol face.

 

[Annyong]

Jordan paints masterpieces, while Lebron paints barns.

He stole that from a Chicago sports talk radio

 

[Insein]

The better question would be if you were a GM and both Jordan and Lebron were in this years draft...

Neither of their NBA careers happened. You are drafting on college and high school careers and skillset.

...who do you draft?

 

[Christo]

Jordan's contributing teammates/coaches:

Pippen

Cartwright

Grant

King

Armstrong

Kerr

Paxson

Harper

Rodman

Levingston

Wennington

Kukoc

Perdue

Longley

Hodges

Doug Collins

Phil Jackson

LeBron's contributors:

Wade

Bosh

Allen

Battier

Anderson

Chalmers

Cole

Spoelstra

Couldn't have done it without Wennington!

 

[fantasycurse42]

Jordan's contributing teammates/coaches:

Pippen

Cartwright

Grant

King

Armstrong

Kerr

Paxson

Harper

Rodman

Levingston

Wennington

Kukoc

Perdue

Longley

Hodges

Doug Collins

Phil Jackson

LeBron's contributors:

Wade

Bosh

Allen

Battier

Anderson

Chalmers

Cole

Spoelstra

Couldn't have done it without Wennington!

 

[Mario Kart]

The individuals voting for LeBron never saw Jordan play in his prime. No one would vote LeBron if they saw Jordan in those championship years. No one.

 

[Mario Kart]

Of the two, only MJ quit the game.

MJ never cramped out of a game that I know of. Especially a Finals game.

 

[Apple Juice]

Based

Of the two, only MJ quit the game.

MJ never cramped out of a game that I know of. Especially a Finals game.

Based on the fact that I'm howling in excruciating pain because my flesh is on fire, I'd say this has the feel of hot sports take.

 

[Bruce Dickinson]

Of the two, only MJ quit the game.

MJ never cramped out of a game that I know of. Especially a Finals game.

Jordan left Game 4 of the 1997 Finals with cramps.

 

[Mario Kart]

Of the two, only MJ quit the game.

MJ never cramped out of a game that I know of. Especially a Finals game.

Jordan left Game 4 of the 1997 Finals with cramps.

Um, Jordan was on the floor when the buzzer rang.

 

[Bruce Dickinson]

Of the two, only MJ quit the game.

MJ never cramped out of a game that I know of. Especially a Finals game.

Jordan left Game 4 of the 1997 Finals with cramps.

Um, Jordan was on the floor when the buzzer rang.

He missed enough possessions to cost the Bulls the game. The air conditioning wasn't broken in the building, either.ETA: change the premise again if you must, but it happened, Kev.

 

[DrJ]

You should have made this public. The Lebron slobbers that are destroying that thread deserve to be outed.

 

[Wrigley]

Of the two, only MJ quit the game.

MJ never cramped out of a game that I know of. Especially a Finals game.

Jordan left Game 4 of the 1997 Finals with cramps.

Um, Jordan was on the floor when the buzzer rang.

He missed enough possessions to cost the Bulls the game. The air conditioning wasn't broken in the building, either.ETA: change the premise again if you must, but it happened, Kev.

Remind me again, who won those finals?

 

[Jayrod]

The individuals voting for LeBron never saw Jordan play in his prime. No one would vote LeBron if they saw Jordan in those championship years. No one.

That 72 win season was nuts.

 

[Jayrod]

I have never rooted as hard for anything as hard as I am rooting for the Spurs right now.

The sports world will lose its mind if LeBron loses this year.

 

[DrJ]

Of the two, only MJ quit the game.

Lebron has quit several times in his career despite physically being on the court.

 

[Wrigley]

Of the two, only MJ quit the game.

Lebron has quit several times in his career despite physically being on the court.

Quit on a whole city

 

[Cliff Clavin]

Jordan missed almost an entire season cause he hurt his foot. What a quitter. Couldn't even suck it up and play through the pain. Guy had no heart, no passion. Definitely not a gamer.

 

[DrJ]

Jordan missed almost an entire season cause he hurt his foot. What a quitter. Couldn't even suck it up and play through the pain. Guy had no heart, no passion. Definitely not a gamer.

To his credit, he showed up for the playoffs and dropped 63 on the Celtics. Lebron shows up for the regular season and then quits during Celtics playoff games.

 

[Cliff Clavin]

Jordan missed almost an entire season cause he hurt his foot. What a quitter. Couldn't even suck it up and play through the pain. Guy had no heart, no passion. Definitely not a gamer.

To his credit, he showed up for the playoffs and dropped 63 on the Celtics. Lebron shows up for the regular season and then quits during Celtics playoff games.

How many games did they win? Oh yeah, got swept. If he had any heart he would have willed his team to victory but he took the easy way out. Scored some hollow points and called it quits. No heart.

 

[DrJ]

Jordan missed almost an entire season cause he hurt his foot. What a quitter. Couldn't even suck it up and play through the pain. Guy had no heart, no passion. Definitely not a gamer.

To his credit, he showed up for the playoffs and dropped 63 on the Celtics. Lebron shows up for the regular season and then quits during Celtics playoff games.

How many games did they win? Oh yeah, got swept. If he had any heart he would have willed his team to victory but he took the easy way out. Scored some hollow points and called it quits. No heart.

Oh, you're talking about teams now? I was just talking about Michael Jordan's incredible on court performance vs Lebron's perrenial chokefests myself.

 

[gianmarco]

Would have been better comparing Kobe and Lebron.

 

[Cliff Clavin]

Jordan missed almost an entire season cause he hurt his foot. What a quitter. Couldn't even suck it up and play through the pain. Guy had no heart, no passion. Definitely not a gamer.

To his credit, he showed up for the playoffs and dropped 63 on the Celtics. Lebron shows up for the regular season and then quits during Celtics playoff games.

How many games did they win? Oh yeah, got swept. If he had any heart he would have willed his team to victory but he took the easy way out. Scored some hollow points and called it quits. No heart.

Oh, you're talking about teams now? I was just talking about Michael Jordan's incredible on court performance vs Lebron's perrenial chokefests myself.

A player with any heart or will to win isn't satisfied by scoring empty points and getting swept. Couldn't even carry his team to a single win. What kind of ALPHA dog lets his team get swept in the first round?

 

[drummer]

Here we go!

 

[DrJ]

Jordan missed almost an entire season cause he hurt his foot. What a quitter. Couldn't even suck it up and play through the pain. Guy had no heart, no passion. Definitely not a gamer.

To his credit, he showed up for the playoffs and dropped 63 on the Celtics. Lebron shows up for the regular season and then quits during Celtics playoff games.

How many games did they win? Oh yeah, got swept. If he had any heart he would have willed his team to victory but he took the easy way out. Scored some hollow points and called it quits. No heart.

Oh, you're talking about teams now? I was just talking about Michael Jordan's incredible on court performance vs Lebron's perrenial chokefests myself.

A player with any heart or will to win isn't satisfied by scoring empty points and getting swept. Couldn't even carry his team to a single win. What kind of ALPHA dog lets his team get swept in the first round?

Yeah, that's probably why Lebron avoided making the playoffs his 1st 2 years in the league. So that something like this couldn't possibly happen.

 

[DrJ]

I have never rooted as hard for anything as hard as I am rooting for the Spurs right now.

The sports world will lose its mind if LeBron loses this year.

I wonder if this is a generation thing. My nephews (now in their mid 20s) slobber over LeBron. Maybe it's because they want to say they saw the best while in their (nephews) prime and were too young to really appreciate Jordan.

I was in my mid 20s when the Huskers went on their 90s run. It was a great time. My nephews want that to happen again so bad. I just sit back and smile knowing young Husker fans will never see it.

Part of it is probably that the NBA has been wretched for so long. The list of NBA all time greats is heavily populated with guys that played just before or during Jordan's time. Since then you've pretty much had Shaq, Duncan, Kobe, Garnett - as a a whole a pretty dead era for the league. He gets bonus points for being the first guy in a long time that even made it worth entertaining the discussion, even if it's still a pretty dumb discussion to be having.

 

[Popinski]

The better question would be if you were a GM and both Jordan and Lebron were in this years draft...

Neither of their NBA careers happened. You are drafting on college and high school careers and skillset.

...who do you draft?

In this scenario, LeBron would be the answer. We have proof that Olajuwon and Bowie could also be ahead of Jordan.

If this were inclusive to all players, neither Jordan or LeBron would be at the top of the list, but it would be an absolutely fascinating draft to ponder. Alcindor would be the clear #1. Others including Walton, Shaq, Robertson, Sampson, Olowokowandi, Duncan, and Ewing would also be up there.

 

[Slapdash]

I'll vote in the poll when it is bumped in several years. Doesn't make sense to do so now.

 

[sublimeone]

Tobiasfunke is weird and silly

 

[DrJ]

The better question would be if you were a GM and both Jordan and Lebron were in this years draft...

Neither of their NBA careers happened. You are drafting on college and high school careers and skillset.

...who do you draft?

In this scenario, LeBron would be the answer. We have proof that Olajuwon and Bowie could also be ahead of Jordan.

If this were inclusive to all players, neither Jordan or LeBron would be at the top of the list, but it would be an absolutely fascinating draft to ponder. Alcindor would be the clear #1. Others including Walton, Shaq, Robertson, Sampson, Olowokowandi, Duncan, and Ewing would also be up there.

Yeah, since it's this year's draft. Garnett fell to 5 in a pretty crappy draft, and Kobe was an even lower pick. The success of those guys paved the way for Lebron to go #1 out of HS. Lebron isn't a top 3 pick in the 1984 draft though.

This year's draft, I'll go with Lebron since 1st year college guys get the advantage over guys that have played a few years of college ball, plus he's got the size advantage. That's going to give you the benefit of the doubt in most draft scenarios.

 

[timschochet]

The individuals voting for LeBron never saw Jordan play in his prime. No one would vote LeBron if they saw Jordan in those championship years. No one.

I would.

 

[drummer]

The individuals voting for LeBron never saw Jordan play in his prime. No one would vote LeBron if they saw Jordan in those championship years. No one.

I would.

Again, no one.

 

[timschochet]

The individuals voting for LeBron never saw Jordan play in his prime. No one would vote LeBron if they saw Jordan in those championship years. No one.

I would.

Again, no one.

I won't be ignored!

 

[Popinski]

The better question would be if you were a GM and both Jordan and Lebron were in this years draft...

Neither of their NBA careers happened. You are drafting on college and high school careers and skillset.

...who do you draft?

In this scenario, LeBron would be the answer. We have proof that Olajuwon and Bowie could also be ahead of Jordan.

If this were inclusive to all players, neither Jordan or LeBron would be at the top of the list, but it would be an absolutely fascinating draft to ponder. Alcindor would be the clear #1. Others including Walton, Shaq, Robertson, Sampson, Olowokowandi, Duncan, and Ewing would also be up there.

Yeah, since it's this year's draft. Garnett fell to 5 in a pretty crappy draft, and Kobe was an even lower pick. The success of those guys paved the way for Lebron to go #1 out of HS. Lebron isn't a top 3 pick in the 1984 draft though.

This year's draft, I'll go with Lebron since 1st year college guys get the advantage over guys that have played a few years of college ball, plus he's got the size advantage. That's going to give you the benefit of the doubt in most draft scenarios.

As the original question was posed in 2014, it's safe to assume we are talking about 2014. And do you seriously not understand the benefit of drafting on potential?

As for your ridiculous insinuation about the 1995 class coming in, I'll take that (along with the other substantial evidence in the NBA thread) to inform me that I'm wasting my time with you.

 

[Ghost Rider]

Jordan now.

Perhaps Lebron when his career is over. Losing this NBA Finals in his prime would be a big hit, but he's the only player since Jordan that's even worth a discussion (and probably will be the only one for quite some time)

If he loses this finals, he'll be 2-3 in finals appearances... While it is still impressive to be in 5 finals to date, Jordan was 6-0.

I knew this thread wouldn't disappoint for laughs.

LeBron is currently 2-2 in the Finals at age 29. At age 29 Jordan was 2-0.

Setting aside the silly notion of equating team success and individual skill ...are you saying that it's better to fail early in the playoffs than in the Finals? If the 2007 Cavs had lost in the ECF to the Pistons instead of making the Finals and the 2011 Heat had lost to the Celtics instead of pulling off that dramatic series win, James would be 2-0 in the Finals, equal to Jordan's record with the Bulls. Would that be better than 2-2 in your eyes? Losing earlier in the playoffs means you're better?

42-1 in the gamer count, I'd assume you just placed your vote? Oh wait, that isn't a real thing

They didn't just lose in 2007, they were swept... They lost to a team of inferior talent in 2011 BTW.

Inferior team? The Heat won 58 games in 2010-2011; the Mavs won 57. And the West was much tougher to get out of that year, so this idea that the Heat lost to an inferior team is rubbish. That Mavericks team was great.

Perhaps Lebron when his career is over. Losing this NBA Finals in his prime would be a big hit, but he's the only player since Jordan that's even worth a discussion (and probably will be the only one for quite some time)

Why? The Spurs were 8 games better than the Heat this year, and there is no shame in losing to a vastly superior team. However, if James leads them to the title over a team that much better than them, that would do wonders for his legacy.

 

[Short Corner]

The individuals voting for LeBron never saw Jordan play in his prime. No one would vote LeBron if they saw Jordan in those championship years. No one.

This is the type of logic you just can't argue with. Excellent work.

 

[Bruce Dickinson]

Of the two, only MJ quit the game.

MJ never cramped out of a game that I know of. Especially a Finals game.

Jordan left Game 4 of the 1997 Finals with cramps.

Um, Jordan was on the floor when the buzzer rang.

He missed enough possessions to cost the Bulls the game. The air conditioning wasn't broken in the building, either.ETA: change the premise again if you must, but it happened, Kev.

Remind me again, who won those finals?

If you have to ask that question, you succeed in both missing the point of my statement and demonstrating too little knowledge of basketball history to participate in this discussion. Perhaps you would be more comfortable over at the kiddie table.

 

[matuski]

Of the two, only MJ quit the game.

Lebron has quit several times in his career despite physically being on the court.

MJ quit on his family.

 

[Premier]

Of the two, only MJ quit the game.

MJ never cramped out of a game that I know of. Especially a Finals game.

Jordan left Game 4 of the 1997 Finals with cramps.

Um, Jordan was on the floor when the buzzer rang.

He missed enough possessions to cost the Bulls the game. The air conditioning wasn't broken in the building, either.ETA: change the premise again if you must, but it happened, Kev.

Remind me again, who won those finals?

If you have to ask that question, you succeed in both missing the point of my statement and demonstrating too little knowledge of basketball history to participate in this discussion. Perhaps you would be more comfortable over at the kiddie table.

I love how the target keeps moving too.

"OMG Lebron missed a Finals game with cramps"

"Jordan did too though"

"Yea but who won those finals"

"Wait...what? And these finals aren't over"

 

[Tom Skerritt]

Jordan's contributing teammates/coaches:

Pippen

Cartwright

Grant

King

Armstrong

Kerr

Paxson

Harper

Rodman

Levingston

Wennington

Kukoc

Perdue

Longley

Hodges

Doug Collins

Phil Jackson

LeBron's contributors:

Wade

Bosh

Allen

Battier

Anderson

Chalmers

Cole

Spoelstra

Couldn't have done it without Wennington!

I forgot that Jordan also had Jed Buechler

 

[Cjw_55106]

You know what pissed me off about Jordan? When he couldn't win a title with his team so he colluded with the best FAs on the market to all go to the team so they could win. Oh, that wasn't him? Nevermind.

 

[Tom Servo]

You know what pissed me off about Jordan? When he couldn't win a title with his team so he colluded with the best FAs on the market to all go to the team so they could win. Oh, that wasn't him? Nevermind.

:golfclap: