Can you provide another link to the article PP? I went to the link above but it directed me to an ESPN page full of playoff stories.

Good article and sums up many of my thoughts.

I think (barring injury) that Lebron will sit next to Jordan when his career is done. Both have skills and talents that make them offensively unstoppable and there are many similarities between the Bulls of the mid/late 80's and the recent Cav teams. I hope for Lebron's sake he gets an All-Star running mate soon.

On the issue of the finals, I don't really care much for the conspiracy theories flooding across chat forums (because my preferred teams are out of finals contention). Still, and no disrespect to he Magic, I'd love to watch a Lebron v Kobe Finals series. Great rivalries makes great copy.

As for Kobe he'll no doubt be spoken about as being one of the greats (which has been helped by playing with the Lakers) but he'll still be sitting below Jordan and Lebron on my list of greatest ever players.

LeBron is and will be a great player but like we've all now seen with Kobe, he'll never get to the same level as MJ. It's not even close despite how much ESPN and all the other hype machines try and compare these guys to the GOAT.

Its funny that you believe all the hype that MJ is the GOAT

Yep, because Wilt's 2 rings and inabilty to dominate a 6-10 Bill Russell elevate him way ahead of Jordan.

It's impossible to meaningfully compare great players that played in different eras, IMO. Try watching a Bulls playoff game from the 90s some time and comparing it to today's Magic-Cavs game. The games back then ran at a slothful pace compared to today's NBA.

And besides, how are you supposed to compare Jordan, Kobe or LeBron (or anyone for that matter) to Wilt Chamberlain or Bill Russell? Different eras, different rules, different playing styles, different positions... there's just too much distance on every axis of measurement. Counting titles or comparing stats really doesn't tell you very much. Greatest player of an era? Maybe. But I don't believe in the GOAT as much more than a parochial, subjective label. And not that there's anything wrong with that...

IMO Lebron will be the best of all time. I've never seen a player like him

Jordan is, without a doubt, the best shooting guard of the 90s

and billo, what do u know. Nothing i suppose

In two years time, all you guys will be asking the question "Is Kevin Durant better than Jordan?"

The question used to be "Is Kobe better than Jordan?" many agreed and now those same people ask the question "Is Lebron better than Jordan?" not "Is Lebron better than Kobe?"

The questions are rhetorical because there is no categorical way of proving an answer with so many variables. But the simple fact of the matter is that because the eternal question is always "Is he better than Jordan?" actually provides the answer in itself. Jordan is always the benchmark that the next superstar is compared to.... so the answer is simple.

He can chalk his hands in a cloud of ego dust and strut , strut , strut as if he was a colorful free range bird in the midst of a stuttering thrust , searching for a defensive body to plow thru , whistle , block , have some free throws you bust .

But he can't quite shoot em and lacks ultimate class , but am sure when he finally gets his ring he will , he will send that Mad Dog KG's post championship speech into the realm of humbleness .

Forget relative skill level and all the rest, the difference between Jordan and his competition is that Jordan's story (still) talks the loudest. What he did was capture the hearts and minds of a generation of people across the world, thrusting basketball onto the front pages of newspapers and headlining sports bulletins. He was the most recognisable person in the world at one stage.

Not all of that comes down to Jordan's skills or class, he might just have been very lucky to live in a rarified time. But unless that fervour of intense adulation returns to basketball (unlikely), there will never be another basketball player to make the impact of Jordan, because his impact was not just an impact felt on the court.

you can't compare eras - todays players are bigger and more athletic now then they were in the old days - and Kobe being being the greatest player today - well that sort of answers who is the greatest !!

XY, great points.

Love this argument as its one that really is impossible to win or lose for that matter. Lebron is unbelievable. His physical skills and vision are freakish. Kobe is one of the best guys Ive seen in the last 2 mins of a game, period.
To me though, a couple of things stand out with MJ other than needing two hands for his rings.
One, all this talk of eras whilst somewhat true when talking of Russell and Wilt, is kind of crap when talking of MJ. The guy comes out of retirement, and still has his way as a senior citizen with the leagues elite. The way he transformed his game from relying on pure athleticism to having an automatic jumper was amazing. And in the middle years when he had both, he was obviously un-guardable.
But the main difference can be summed up in two words "hand check".
Does anyone in their right minds think Steve Nash wins 2 MVPs without the change of interpretation of the hand check rule.
Go back and watch some games from the early 90s as an example. Watch how MJ delt with the Pistons and the Knicks physically pushing him when he handled the ball. Maybe we should be thankful MJ isnt 26 again and playing now, or we could be watching him shoot 40 foul shots a game and it would be about as interesting as watching the Spurs play......BYAH.