It’s an impossible argument to have right now. It’s past meets present meets future. It’s a waste of time to over-analyze.
But as Michael Jordan turns 50 today, miraculously coinciding with the All-Star Game in which Kobe and LeBron will both be starting tonight, the question stirring in my mind is this: Will M.J. still be considered the greatest of all time once he is 70?
As I said, it’s impossible to know. Kobe could win 3 more titles and surpass Jordan before he retires. (If that happens, I apologize world.) LeBron could blow out his knee later this week and never be the same. (If that happens, I am so so so so so sorry LeBron. Don’t be mad.) Jordan could come back and play shooting guard for the Charlotte Bobcats, score 15 points a game off the bench and beat 19-year-old, #2 overall pick Michael Kidd-Gilchrist in a game of one-on-one. (Oh wait, that last part actually happened? How is this not a more seriously discussed story? That’s fucking amazing.)
I would actually love to see Jordan come back and play for one reason: I never got to admire his game the first time around, or the second time really. I started following basketball in 2000, just in time to see him for his stint with the Wizards, but I couldn’t really appreciate him at that time. I didn’t know enough about the sport.
Now I do know enough. I’ve watched Kobe for (pretty much) all of his career, and LeBron for the entirety of his. And here is what I know: Kobe has had the greatest career out of anybody I have ever watched play, but LeBron is the best player I have ever witnessed. What I mean by this is that, if LeBron did happen to blow out his knee tomorrow (again, please don’t), I would consider Kobe the greater player based solely on longevity and how exceptional he was over that time. But if LeBron plays 8-10 more years (he’s only 28 folks) at this same level and tacks on a few more championships, then he’ll jump ahead of Kobe in my mind. Whether LeBron can take the G.O.A.T. title from Jordan is an interesting argument, and it has as much to do with their basketball prowess as it does with the media.
It’s an interesting point that many talking heads on sports shows bring up: over time, all legends lose a little bit of their shine. As the older guard of journalists and sports show personalities retire/die/get caught for misdemeanor domestic disturbance (I’m looking at you Jay Mariotti) and are replaced by a younger generation, of course the younger people are going to think the players they grew up watching are the greatest of all time. They have nothing to compare them to, except for the players they saw with their own eyes in recent years.
Comparing past players to present players is a difficult task. The game has changed. Players have become more athletic. Defenses have become more sophisticated. And, unfortunately, it becomes even more difficult to compare past players to present players when you never actually saw the past player perform. Youtube clips aren’t enough to capture just how good somebody is. They don’t tell the whole story. Clips and recaps only show the highlight reel stuff, but there is so much more to the game: making the right play that leads to an assist, rebounding a ball after a proper box out, hustling back on defense so that the other team doesn’t score a fastbreak layup. Having the highlight reel package is necessary to be considered great, but it needs to be complimented by all the little things to push the player into the pantheon of legends.
This is why I lean towards LeBron being considered the G.O.A.T. in 15 years. LeBron has the complete package. He is an entirely original prototype. I’m not saying LeBron is, or will ever be, a better player than Jordan. I’m saying I don’t know whether LeBron can be greater than Jordan because I never got to witness His Airness play. But I do know that I, as most people do, tend to lean towards believing things I have seen and experienced rather than things I have been told about.
As older journalists, newspaper columnists, and talk show personalities are phased out by a newer, younger generation of bloggers, internet columnists, and social media, we’ll soon run out of sports personalities that actually watched Jordan in his prime. We’ll be left with people that experienced the greatness of LeBron James, and knew he was the absolute best player they ever watched while growing up. Those people will talk about him as the greatest of all time, until some other amazing athlete comes along 15 years later to take his crown away. Until that time, long live King James.
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