Dear Scottie,

I have nothing but respect for you my friend as an athlete and knowledgeable basketball mind. But you are way off in your assessment of who is the greatest player of all time and the greatest scorer of all time. Your comments are off because of your limited perspective. You obviously never saw Wilt Chamberlain play who undoubtedly was the greatest scorer this game has ever known. When did MJ ever average 50.4 points per game plus 25.7 rebounds? (Wilt in the 1962 season when blocked shot statistics were not kept). We will never accurately know how many shots Wilt blocked. Oh, by the way in 1967 and 68, Wilt was a league leader in assists. Did MJ ever score 100 points in a game? How many times did MJ score more than 60 points in a game? MJ led the league in scoring in consecutive seasons for 10 years but he did this in an NBA that eventually expanded into 30 teams vs. when Wilt played and there were only 8 teams.

Every team had the opportunity to amass a solid [..]

By Justine Brown

There is no doubt that LeBron James’ clutch performance in Game 5 to close out Miami’s Eastern Conference Finals series with the Chicago Bulls was Michael Jordan-esque.  With that established, is it time we start comparing the 26-year-old superstar, who’s the greatest of right now, to the six-time world champion and Hall of Famer, who’s the greatest of all-time?  According to Scottie Pippen, Jordan’s running mate for all 6 titles, it’s not only time, but he would, “even go as far as to say LeBron James may be the greatest player to ever play the game.”

Well basketball fans alike, even those that are LeBron fans, have to agree that this statement is absolutely preposterous, so much so that even Pippen is beginning to retract his own words.  Following the bold comments made on ESPN radio’s “Mike & Mike” show, Scottie has since quickly tweeted, “Don’t get me wrong, MJ was and is the greatest. But LeBron could by all means get to his level someday,” and “Every NBA generation has a new set of stars and LeBron is there as the best all around player in the game.”

Thank you Scottie, we are all aware LeBron is probably the best player in the game right now, that he is the face of the new generation of stars, and that he could potentially reach Jordan’s level one day; but let’s save those comparisons for that day which is clearly not today, and for many reasons.

These stats are not to hate on LeBron or take away from his unbelievable talent, they are simply to show why he is not on Jordan’s level, at least not yet.

Let’s start with the obvious:

Championships: 6 to 0

Michael Jordan has six NBA Championships to LeBron’s zero.  Yes, LeBron has a long career ahead of him, but we are talking right now and right now that number is zero.

NBA MVPs: 5 to 2

Michael Jordan was named the NBA’s MVP five times in his career, LeBron James has received the award twice.  Although two is impressive this early in LeBron’s young career, when he gets to 5 we can talk, oh and we’ll need some rings to go along with those.

NBA Finals: Another 6 to 0 and also 6 for 6

Michael Jordan received the NBA Finals MVP award six times for all six times he was in the finals, and he  also won the championship all of those 6 times. LeBron has only reached the finals once prior to this season  and was swept by San Antonio in 2007.

NBA Scoring Leader

Jordan was the NBA’s scoring leader 10 times, LeBron has been the scoring leader just once thus far.  Jordan  averaged 30.1 ppg in his career, LeBron is averaging 27.7 ppg thus far in his career.

Defense

Is LeBron a great defensive player?  Yes, that’s why he has been named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team  three times.  However, let’s not forget about Jordan’s NBA Defensive Player of the Year award to go with his  nine selections to the NBA All-Defensive First Team.   And let’s also not forget that Jordan averaged 2.35 spg  in his career as compared to LeBron’s 1.72 spg.  And if your argument is for all of LeBron’s amazing blocks  which make for great highlights, they both average 0.8 blocks for their career.

Supporting Casts and Teammate Involvement

According to Pippen, LeBron is better at getting his teammates involved, and according to stats this may be true because LeBron has a career average of 6.96 apg as compared to Jordan’s 5.3 apg.

However, the next argument would be who has the better supporting cast.  We all know that LeBron has Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, both NBA All-Stars, joined together as part of the “Big 3” free agent deal, making for a great supporting cast.

Was Jordan’s cast great, yes. Scottie Pippen is a Hall of Famer and Dennis Rodman is a soon to be Hall of Famer.  But Scottie Pippen didn’t average 25 ppg like Wade did this season, and Pippen was with Jordan from day one of Pippen’s career, playing alongside him and challenging him to games of one-on-one daily after practice.  So, would Pippen be the player he was without Jordan, who’s to say, but probably not. Then there was Rodman, an outstanding rebounder but not a scorer. In fact, Rodman never averaged double-digits in scoring in the entire time he played with Jordan.  Furthermore, Rodman was only with Jordan for three of his championships.  Jordan got his championships with the team that drafted him and with and the players that came along.  Sure the Bulls may have made some good acquisitions here and there, but  Jordan did not go to a different team or involve himself in some super deal to lead to his eventual dynasty.

Last But Not Least, Clutch

Is there any question?  Do we even have to discuss this?  LeBron’s performance in this years playoffs has been nothing short of clutch, he’s been very impressive, but he’s spent this entire playoff getting the monkey off his back that says he buckles under pressure.

POY and NCAA Championship

Oh and in case you needed any more evidence, Jordan also has an NCAA National Championship as well as a Naismath College Player of the year award, something it’s safe to say LeBron won’t be getting anytime soon. Or ever.

LeBron James is an outstanding player, with a long bright future, who is sure to be Hall of Famer.  There is no doubt that his career will be one to remember and that he will likely be one of the greatest of all time, but as they say, numbers don’t lie, so until he has the stats to go along with the talent let’s save the comparisons to the G.O.A.T.

By Justine Brown (@justine_brown)

Photos courtesy of:

http://hopperstalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/lebron-james-wallpaper.jpg

http://www.vivagoal.com/images/wallpapers/Michael-Jordan-6.jpg

http://thyblackman.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/lj.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1ijTDL99rQw/TT5047QOJGI/AAAAAAAAAoE/BM4yubFgopg/s1600/Michael_Jordan03.jpg

Miami Heat fans must admit how true this comment is. Joakim Noah is not saying that he does not respect, he just understands the personality of the players well enough to make the statement. He hit the nail on the head if you ask me. Miami has a great roster, but no one can deny that they are more Hollywood than the Lakers.

Enough credit is not given to Haslem for what he means to the team. A lot of questions were raised when he and Dwyane Wade were Miami Heat’s team captains, because of LeBron’s entrance. The message being sent was that even though James was most likely the most athletic on the team, there were already pieces there and everything would not be shifted just because he was putting on a Miami jersey. Udonis Haslem was not able to play for a large chunk of the season, and people were beginning to wonder if he would be able to return at such a critical time in the postseason when Miami faced Boston. After the Heat put away the Celtics in five games, he was more than ready to prove his position and warranted respect in the Chicago series. [..]

Complete list of NBA Players honored for their hard work during the 2011 season… Did your favorite player make the cut? [..]

Despite being in his 13th year as a pro and making his 11th career playoff appearance, Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki has a fan base that continues to grow.  With numbers that suggest this is his best playoff performance ever, averaging 28.6 ppg with an unmatched shooting percentage of 51.6%, and awing people with his signature moves, fans are still jumping on the Nowitzki band wagon as if he was a budding rookie

Yes, Nowitzki’s performance has been nothing short of brilliant.  In fact, it has garnered him more Larry Bird comparison’s than ever before, but at what point do we stop comparing the two superstars and put Dirk in a category all to his own.  After all, when was the last time we saw a 7-footer with the shooting and ball-handling skills of a career as productive as Nowitzki’s?  Oh that’s right, never.  Critic’s argue that it’s his lack of a championship holding him back from the “best ever” category and perhaps that’s why he is playing like a possessed beast right now.  Then again, if you take look at his career playoff numbers, he’s always played like this.  Will this year be different?  Could this be the year Dirk finally gets his championship?

Take a look at some of Dirk’s greatest playoff perfomances:

Nowitzki 2011 Game 1 vs. Thunder 13-15 FG 24-24 FT

2006 WCF Game 5 Dirk Drops 50 on Phoenix

Nowitzki Playoff Highlights

By: Justine Brown (@justine_brown)

Photo Courtesy of:

http://www1.picturepush.com/photo/a/2721534/img/Dallas-Mavericks/dirk-nowitzki3.jpg

Watching the Oklahoma City-Dallas series has been hard to do for multiple reasons. The main being that Russell Westbrook is taking the flack for each loss OKC sustains, without people putting a magnifying glass on his teammates and their mistakes.

Westbrook is the second best player on the team and primarily the second scoring option as well. I have even taken part in pointing out the young point guard’s mistakes, but not without highlighting everything that he does right. People are making him out to be the team’s flaw instead of a tick in their pro column. How long can Westbrook and Durant’s relationship survive the scrutiny? [..]

Derrick Rose has taken center stage as one of the most marketable men in the NBA, besides LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. What makes him so attractive to big name advertisers is that he is so humble and understanding of his role as a portrait for young children to follow. He takes responsibility for his on and off court actions, making him one of the most rooted for basketball players whether he is at home or at an away game.

This support video comes not too long after Phoenix Suns’ president Rick Welts announced his sexuality.