The GOAT in Basketball

DGS49

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Apr 12, 2012
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I recently watched a video comparing the illustrious careers or Michael Jordan and LeBron James.
Jordan vs Lebron - The Best GOAT Comparison
Statistically, this analyst concludes that Jordan was the GOAT, mainly because of the 6for6 record in NBA finals, but also using various statistical tools.

But I wonder...

As an analogy, imagine you are playing on a high school basketball team (small school), and the coach's kid is a senior and the best player on the team. Also imagine that the coach and the players implicitly agree that they will cooperate to SHOWCASE the coach's kid, so that he might get a chance for a Div 1 scholarship, which would look good for everybody.

So the coach's kid gets all the picks and screens, all the good looks, etc., and has a statistically dominant season. Do those statistics truly indicate how good the player is? I suggest that they do not. They reflect the joint effort by the entire team to make him look good.

And so it is with MJ. The ENTIRE LEAGUE wanted to showcase his talent, because he personally elevated the visibility of the NBA in both the U.S. and the world. Not only the Bulls, but everyone else in the league benefitted by his spectacular presence. OF COURSE he won the series MVP every time the Bulls went to the finals; the Bulls made sure of it (and there was really no one else on that team deserving).

And as for the conspicuous record of championships - MJ vs. LeBron - how can you discount the 11 teammates they each had every year? Neither one of them won any championships alone, but LeBron individually made three different teams championship contenders, which they manifestly were not when he wasn't there.

I admit that I have not seen the current documentary on the the great MJ; I will correct that oversight as it fits into my tight schedule of naps. But I don't think the numbers tell the whole story when comparing MJ with LeBron.
 
I recently watched a video comparing the illustrious careers or Michael Jordan and LeBron James.
Jordan vs Lebron - The Best GOAT Comparison
Statistically, this analyst concludes that Jordan was the GOAT, mainly because of the 6for6 record in NBA finals, but also using various statistical tools.

But I wonder...

As an analogy, imagine you are playing on a high school basketball team (small school), and the coach's kid is a senior and the best player on the team. Also imagine that the coach and the players implicitly agree that they will cooperate to SHOWCASE the coach's kid, so that he might get a chance for a Div 1 scholarship, which would look good for everybody.

So the coach's kid gets all the picks and screens, all the good looks, etc., and has a statistically dominant season. Do those statistics truly indicate how good the player is? I suggest that they do not. They reflect the joint effort by the entire team to make him look good.

And so it is with MJ. The ENTIRE LEAGUE wanted to showcase his talent, because he personally elevated the visibility of the NBA in both the U.S. and the world. Not only the Bulls, but everyone else in the league benefitted by his spectacular presence. OF COURSE he won the series MVP every time the Bulls went to the finals; the Bulls made sure of it (and there was really no one else on that team deserving).

And as for the conspicuous record of championships - MJ vs. LeBron - how can you discount the 11 teammates they each had every year? Neither one of them won any championships alone, but LeBron individually made three different teams championship contenders, which they manifestly were not when he wasn't there.

I admit that I have not seen the current documentary on the the great MJ; I will correct that oversight as it fits into my tight schedule of naps. But I don't think the numbers tell the whole story when comparing MJ with LeBron.
Hard to name a GOAT based on how good your team is.
If that is the case, then Bill Russell is the GOAT in Basketball and Yogi Berra is the GOAT in Baseball.

Personally, I think Lebron would do a better job defending Michael than Michael would at stopping Lebron
 

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