Look Jordan was one of the greatest but if you look at the whole picture you realize he came along at the perfect time.

I would put Wilt, Russell, and Kareem above Jordan for all time greats. I also think the big O Oscar Robinson could have been a little bit better. The problem is they never got the exposure that Jordan or today’s athletes get. They didn’t have the training knowledge that today’s players had so clearly athletes of more recent times will appear to be better athletes. What do you think they said about Wilt when he played?

Also Jordan and today’s athletes got more calls and got away with more. They palm the ball and travel all the time. The reason its not called like it was back in the day is simple ratings. These players get to palm the ball and travel and push off because ultimatly people want to see more scoring. Why do you think the NFL changed so many rules? They know what the masses want and they change the game to fit that.

So as a sports fan it is hard to say which player compares or which player is better without looking at everything. Even more so when comparing different eras.Anointing one over past greats isn’t fair either.

Everyone deserves to have an opinion, but it sure seems like one should actually know more about something than the bits and pieces heard from occasional sports show sound bites or the “authoratative” babblings of their high school buddies before voicing something as if they have some kind of knowlege.

Here are some examples:

“I hate being out there with those garbagemen. They don’t get you the ball.”

“They’ve got no idea what it’s all about. The white guys, they work hard, but they don’t have the talent. And the rest of them? Who knows what to expect? They’re not good for much of anything.”

“You ever hear of a guy, six-eleven maybe and two hundred sixty pounds, a guy big and fat like that and he can’t get but two rebounds, if that many, running all over the damn court and he gets two rebounds? Big guy like that and he gets one rebound. Can’t even stick his ass into people and get more than that…Big, fat, fat guy. One rebound in three games. Power forward. Maybe they should call it powerless forward.” – Jordan talking about Stacy King

“He’s causing me too many turnovers.” – Jordan on Bill Cartwright’s inability to catch.

“He can’t do anything with the ball. Don’t give it to him.” – Jordan yelling at John Paxson who passed the ball to Will Perdue.

And my personal favorite – “If I were a general manager, we’d be a better team.” (LOL)

Even old and injured Kobe is still the greatest player in the NBA, he deserves to be counted among the game’s greatest like Jerry West, Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Bill Russell. Now Cupcake needs to get some better talent to help Kobe win 7 rings so he will be declared the greatest ever.

I don’t even think I’d consider him the most skilled small forward ever. Larry Bird did more with significantly less. Dude couldn’t jump over a stack of playing cards, but his career rebounding, steals and blocks averages are all greater than or equal to James’. He was just as good of a passer as LeBron, and was a threat to score from anywhere on the court. That’s not even getting into the intangibles.

Also not really a fair comparison to Lebron though. Larry Legend is top 10 all time. Either way, I think this is the season where the stars align and James gets his ring. Miami definitely looks like the team to beat in 2012, recent struggles notwithstanding.

Yes, GREAT conversation. It would be VERY interesting to see how old school players would be viewed in this ridculous age of overexposure if it were like it is back then. I think there would be a lot of Jordan haters.

I can shoot 10% from halfcourt – does that mean I should be taking as many shots as Kobe does per game? Or MJ?
Are you arguing that it’s okay to give me the ball even though I’m shooting 10% because it’s further away from the basket than where MJ or Kobe usually shoots?

Kobe’s a ballhog because he shoots so much even though his FG% is pedestrian for his position. He has an incredible frontcourt, 2 stars who are much, much more efficient at scoring the basketball, and yet Kobe refuses to stop chucking shots even though he’s usually at around 45% FG.

Michael Jordan averaged 50%FG for his career. He averaged over 51.5% six times in his career, and during his best seasons averaged well over 53% (that’s unbelievable for someone at his position who took so many shots and was the focus of the opposing defense every game).

Kobe NEVER hit the 47% mark in his career. Think about that. To put that into context, Dwayne Wade never averaged LESS than Kobe’s best average. Same goes for Lebron (besides for his rookie year).

Kobe’s shooting resembles Carmelo Anthony and Paul Pierce, not Michael Jordan.

I don’t care what MJ thinks (he’s been wrong about almost everything in the last decade). Nobody compares to MJ. There were no credible holes in his game, both from watching his game and statistically speaking.
Any fan who is willing to be unbiased and objective regarding Kobe’s stats will tell you that there is more to his story than just 5 rings. D Fisher also has 5 rings. That doesn’t mean we should compare him to MJ.

Let’s NOT FORGET, as an appraiser of talent- MJ did choose KWAME FN BROWN as the NUMBER ONE DRAFT PICK in 2001, well ahead of PAU GASOL, GILBERT ARENAS, TONY PARKER, JASON RICHARDSON, SHANE BATTIER just to name a few.

PS. Kareem is hands down the GREATEST BASKETBALL PLAYER of ALL TIME. He not only dominated college basketball and the NBA in 70′s, he dominated the half the 80′s as well.

It’s a new year Lakers H8trz, in 2012 The RESOLUTION Will Be Televised.

And trust me as a Knicks fan “I bear witness”

You see though, even in my attempt to highlight Jordan’s popularity in the media in relation to his overall image, I gave him credit (as many others do quite often) for inventing that style of play… which is unfair to the players before him like Julius Erving.

Do you fault him for pushing for what he wanted? Because you could pretty much make this case for most pro athletes today. They all have that sense of entitlement.

I imagine a certain Dr. from Philly (and others) would have a winning argument against that statement.