Michael Jordan vs LeBron James: Now it's a fair fight

Immediately after you have witnessed history unfold is a sub-optimal juncture to attempt being objective.

It’s usually wise to let some time pass first before addressing said history – and the people that created it – so that you don’t get caught up in the hype and end up writing something that reeks of recency bias.

That is precisely why I avoided writing anything on LeBron James after he led his Cleveland Cavaliers to the 2016 NBA championship, coming back from a 3-1 deficit in the Finals – something that had never been done before in history.

The fact the Cavs knocked over the team that had just completed the greatest regular season of all-time, were the defending champs, and also had the MVP winner of the last two seasons on their roster, only added to the occasion and the achievement.

That’s without even mentioning that the victory ended one of the greatest hoodoos in professional sport – the city of Cleveland’s championship drought.

It all ensured that if broaching a topic with a level head was in order, the savvy option was to wait until the last piece of confetti had fallen, or JR Smith had put his shirt back on. Whichever happened to occur first.

It’s now been over three weeks since the Cavs won the NBA title, and the emotions have settled down a touch, which means it’s a slightly more sensible time to discuss LeBron James’ greatness, without the fear of writing something while simply being ‘lost in the moment’.

(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Even before this year’s playoffs, LeBron was ‘in the conversation’ when it came to the greatest players of all time. I thought it was silly – if not stupid – to suggest otherwise.

Two championships. Four MVP awards. Two NBA Finals MVP awards. Twelve All-Star appearances (of which he was named MVP in two of them). Ten All-NBA First Team nods. Career averages of 27 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists.

I could list many more impressive accomplishments or statistics, but really, anyone that looks at that paragraph and thinks LeBron wasn’t automatically placed on the list of the best players of all-time needs to be institutionalised somewhere. Quickly.

The interesting part of the debate was where on that list LeBron sat. His position in the pecking order of greatness was the real cause of deliberation. Ahead of Hakeem Olajuwon? Behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar? Equal with Tim Duncan? Better than Magic Johnson? It was a debate worthy of keeping pubs in business.

However, LeBron’s latest heroics in winning his third championship and Finals MVP, putting up ridiculous numbers, beating the historically great Warriors, coming back from 3-1 down, and ending Cleveland’s long misery, have all ensured that LeBron catapulted past the likes of Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Larry Bird, etc.

If, indeed, he hadn’t already.

LeBron now finds himself in rarefied air.

Air Jordan, to be specific.

(Image: Flickr/Jason H Smith CC-BY-2.0)

That’s right, it’s no longer sacrilegious or crazy to put LeBron in the class of the greatest of all time, Michael Jeffrey Jordan. In the past, it may have been premature, outrageous, irrational or just plain wrong to compare James and Jordan, but that is no longer the case.

Sorry haters, it’s the truth. We’re here. It’s happening. We’ve arrived.

Where? At the place that LeBron was destined for when he was still just a teenager: the discussion about him potentially being the greatest basketballer of all time.

Given this is an opinion site, my editor Paddy would kill me if I didn’t provide my point-of-view on who is the greatest between LeBron James or Michael Jordan, so here’s my two cents.

Jordan still reigns supreme.

And yes, I will foolishly try to explain why, even though such deliberations remain extremely subjective.

I’m not going to do a boring head-to-head statistical comparison, but the career PERs are 27.91 for Jordan, and 27.65 for LeBron, which sees them ranked number one and number two all-time, respectively. So I’m willing to say that, statistically, these two legends are pretty damn close, and move on.

Both players have areas of the game that they are stronger in than the other one. Be it Jordan’s ruthless competitive streak, outstanding footwork and ability to deliver in the clutch, or LeBron’s physical strength, otherworldly passing and ability to go coast-to-coast like a runaway freight train. Yet for the most part, they kind of cancel each other out on many aspects of the game, even if LeBron’s versatility would appear to put him in front.

Why MJ gets to hold on to his unofficial mantle of GOAT is because he creates just a little bit of space from LeBron on two important variables.

The first is defense, for Jordan was one of the greatest defenders of all time.

Considering defense is 50 per cent of basketball, I place a large amount of importance on it, and Jordan was named to the NBA’s All-Defensive Team a staggering nine times. He also won the Defensive Player of the Year Award in 1988.

He was, in every sense of the phrase, a two-way player. The difference being he was more than just ‘capable’ on both ends of the floor, he was ‘elite’. That’s pretty unique, and pretty impressive.

LeBron is no slouch on D, having made five NBA All-Defensive Teams (and being somewhat screwed out of the Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2013), but he does take possessions – and sometimes weeks – ‘off’ at the defensive end. He coasts.

When LeBron turns it on, he’s still devastating. Just ask Steph Curry, who will have nightmares for the rest of life about LeBron blocking his shots in the 2016 Finals.

However, Jordan’s consistent intensity on defense gives him a slight advantage in that department.

The second area that Jordan has over LeBron is the unavoidable topic of their Finals record. Jordan’s 6-0 record stands out like a sore thumb against LeBron’s 3-4.

I’m not one of those people that holds LeBron’s Finals record against him. I actually think he should receive kudos for making seven NBA Finals appearances, six consecutively.

The only loss he should be embarrassed about, or have taint his legacy, is the 2011 disaster versus Dallas. In every other Finals loss that LeBron has suffered, the team that won was better.

Yet, you can’t help but marvel at Jordan’s perfect record in Finals, along with the fact he still has three more titles that LeBron. For as long as they keep the score during games, and the objective is to win, that should – and does – matter, providing the biggest edge Jordan has over LeBron.

Both players’ resumes are absolutely amazing, but here is the killer point: Jordan won’t be adding to his, while LeBron is far from finished. At just 31 years of age, LeBron has time on his side, and the ability to improve and inflate his already elite standing in the game.

Jordan may have the slight lead for now, but the debate of who is better is inching closer and closer towards a fair fight.