Because it's looking like LeBron's gracefully entering the latter half of his prime, I thought it would be fun to take a look at his age 23-29 seasons (which culminated in the Heat's loss to SAS in the '14 Finals) compared to MJ's aged 23-29 seasons (which culminated in the Bulls finishing off their first 3-peat and MJ retiring to play baseball). LeBron, 2007-08 to 2013-14 526 GP 28.0ppg / 7.6rpg / 7.1apg | .519 / .349 /.755 | TS%: .606 | eFG%: .555 PER: 30.1 VORP: 66.1 WS: 119.2 WS/48: .283 BPM: 11.0 4 MVPs, 2 Finals MVPs, 2 Olympic Gold Medals .709 Team Regular Season Win Percentage 2 Finals Wins, 2 Finals Losses, 1 Conference Finals Loss, 2 Conference Semifinals Losses MJ, 1986-87 to 1992-93 567 GP 33.2ppg / 6.4rpb / 6.0apg | .518 / .311 /.846 | TS%: .590 | eFG%: .528 PER: 30.4 VORP: 69.7 WS: 132.2 WS/48: .285 BPM: 10.4 3 MVPs, 3 Finals MVPs, 1 DPoY, 1 Olympic Gold Medal .657 Team Regular Season Win Percentage 3 Finals Wins, 2 Conference Finals Loss, 1 Conference Semifinals Losses, 1 First Round Loss Not really intended as a Jordan vs. LeBron debate (though I'm sure it will devolve into that), but I just thought it was striking just how similar the two profiled statistically during their respective peaks. It should be a lot fun to see if LeBron's production in his Cleveland years will match MJ's 2nd 3-peat performance. Also, really illustrates how laughable it was when Laker fans actually tried to claim that Kobe was on the same level (or higher) than those two.
jordan just shaved it off. that was a man! lebron got hair plugs. shows you the difference. olajuwon was just born perfect.
Kobe, 2000-01 to 2006-07 518 GP 29.1ppg / 5.8rpg / 5.3apg | .453 / .339 /.845 | TS%: .557 | eFG%: .486 PER: 25.1 VORP: 37.5 WS: 86.1 WS/48: .199 BPM: 5.2 0 MVPs, 0 Finals MVPs, 0 Olympic Gold Medals .594 Team Regular Season Win Percentage 2 Finals Wins, 1 Finals Loss, 1 Conference Semifinals Loss, 2 First Round Losses, 1 Lottery Season Note: That's from Kobe's 22-28 years. Could have replaced 00-01 with 07-08, which would have given Kobe his MVP and Olympic Medal, but also 1 fewer Finals Win and an additional Finals Loss
Only real difference is above the shoulders... MJ was much more clutch. Would've been amazing to see prime MJ with no handchecking. Mike, age 40, averaged 20ppg 45fg%. LeBron still has an outside chance to duplicate Dream's DPOY/MVP/FMVP same season. Davis is the only other candidate currently in the league after James.
Wiggins, Porzingis, Leonard, and a smarter Westbrook It's a tough, great feat... hope Hakeem holds the title forever unless fellow Rockets repeat
There are huge differences. First off, Lebron switches teams every few years his team loses so that automatically disqualifies him imo. Second, the game is more open court now. Guys like James, Harden, WB etc..get TONS of easy points on the fastbreak. Scoring 28 points back then was well earned when you had guys pushing, shoving & sometimes throwing you down without a foul. Comparing them is a slap in the face to Jordan and any other player that played when the NBA was a man's game.
I know the advanced metrics say LeBron and Jordan were better. And to be fair they probably are, but to say Kobe is not in the same league is incorrect. kobe was an animal and absolutely belongs in the same sentence of a conversation revolving around these two. And this is coming from a guy who thinks Kobe is a prick
LeBron was the chosen one out of highschool, and not only lived up to the expectation, but resolved almost every weakness he had, and as a man, he's been all that, so I gotta tip my hat to that. Jordan also evolved, overcame his weakness, but unlike the chosen one, Jordan was considered a ball hog for a long time and as someone who could not win like that, and ended up changing everyone's mind and the game.
We talking 90's tho. That was the era were every team had a big man clogging the paint and power forward meant power forward.
That was more the mid to late 90s when that really started to happen. In the early 90s nearly every team average 100 points and worst shooting team shot like 45%.
They dominate in different ways, I don't think you can compare them, just like you cannot compare PG to centers, etc.,
Correction: MJ has 2 gold medals. 1984 team coached by Bobby Knight featuring MJ, Ewing, Mullin and Alvin Robertson won gold. You can see MJ's defensive intensity and 100% hustle and flashes of leadership even before his NBA debut <iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/znrtOjrMNVM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> NBA should do this again. I know it worked bc olympic teams were college players still, but you can do the olympic team vs the other stars who werent selected or others who opted not to play. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/a4qy1klDae4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Apparently, assist numbers don't tell the whole story. Interestingly, during his second 3-peat seasons, he average less than 5 apg, and he was considered more of a complete player than when he had that 8 apg season which happened before they won championships.
Right, my bad otherwise national champion would have been an accolade. Gotcha. Here's one thing i'd like to know. From those same years you pointed out, how many 50+ teams did MJ beat in the playoffs compared to LeBron? As it currently stands, MJ beat 20 50 win teams, while LeBron has beaten 7 for his entire career. I do know for a fact that other than the stacked Bucks with Cummings, Moncreif, Pressey who lost to Moses, Doc, Mo and Chucks Sixers, every single team that beat Jordans Bulls either made or won the NBA Finals.