LeBron James has
just surpassed Michael Jordan for total points scored in the postseason, which
has people arguing over who’s the better player, King James or his
Airness. This debate won’t be settled
either until James moves from three championship rings to Jordan’s six, plus
one more, or James retires short of those six.
For now, in my book Jordan reigns supreme.
Which isn’t to
deny the two could be clones on the court; both James and Jordan have played
guard, forward and center as the situation demands, as well as coach. I think the major difference is more one of
personality than talent. Jordan always
tended to be detached, an attitude that no longer serves an athlete well in
this age of social media. Players feared
Jordan. They honestly seem to like
James. So do most fans.
In retirement,
Jordan’s personality has curdled; the man can be nasty, as his HOF induction
speech showed. James, on the other hand,
is always engaging and relatively modest as he goes about the business of
rewriting the record books. Michael
Jordan seems destined to follow in the moody footsteps of Bill Russell while
LeBron James goes down as the most popular, if not the greatest, basketball
player of all time—depending on the number of rings he retires with, of course.
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