If you did not know that Donnie Walsh would be out as the New York Knicks’ General Manager, shame on you. Of course the entrance of Amare Stoudemire assisted the smokescreen and then the arrival of Carmelo Anthony helped paint a pretty picture. But, when you look past the bedazzled outside and look at the beleaguered inside, there was trouble amidst the [..]

Two games to none would have been too much for The Dirkster and his Mavericks to overcome.  With a furious rally after trailing by 15-pts to The Heat in the fourth quarter. [..]

Born Shaquille O’Neal on March 6, 1972 in Newark N.J.,  Shaq would go on to become one of the most beloved sports figures.   Although an imposing figure in stature 7 ft 1″ and 325 lbs, he wasn’t afraid to show that he enjoyed a light moment.  Shaq enjoyed being the Center of attention.  O’Neal played his high school ball at Cole in San Antonio Texas, and starred collegiately at [..]

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.

Robert DeShaun “Tractor” Traylor who was born February 1, 1977 in Detroit, Michigan, died May 11, 2011 in his Carolina, Puerto Rico apartment. [..]

As if the Los Angeles Lakers blow out at the hand of the Dallas Mavericks wasn’t enough, it was the NBA’s front office turn to take a punch.

Lakers center, Andrew Bynum, was suspended by the league for the first five games of next season without pay and has been fined $25,000. [..]

The Boston Celtics defeated The New York Knicks 87-85 to take game 1 in Boston. The Celtics once again demonstrated why execution down the stretch and teamwork is important. Celtic coach Doc Rivers put it best”Our guys did a great job of playing no hero ball”. Paul Pierce (18-pts) 6-16 shooting swung the ball to Ray Allen (24-pts) for what would prove to be the game winner. The Knicks lost more than game 1. [..]

The Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Denver Nuggets 107-103.  Kevin Durant lead the NBA in scoring for the 2nd straight season, and he showed the
nation why on Sunday; as he lit up the Nuggets for a career Playoff high of 41-pts. [..]

After the New Orleans Hornets beat the Lakers 109-100, Chris Paul stated that having played in the NBA now, he knows the regular season means nothing.

The Lakers swept the Hornets in the season series 4-0.  CP3 played his heart out, pouring in 17 of his 33-pts in the 4th qtr.  He also had 14 assts, & 7 rebs. [..]