I once thought Michael Jordan was the greatest of all-time until I realized the expectations LeBron James had coming
into the NBA the year 2003. Every single game LeBron James is judged, How many points did he score? How many rebounds did he haul down? How many assists did he have? Did he win the game? I recall LeBron James scoring 43 points and 14 rebounds against the Toronto Raptors in his last year in Cleveland and yet he received hate. Yet I remember Michael Jordan scoring 30 points hauling down 6 rebounds and dishing out 3 assists yet he was praised? Give me a break. Believe me I was once a Michael Jordan fan, I grew up watching Space Jam repeatedly and all the documentaries made about him but the way LeBron James has been unfairly judged year after year has led to me switching my stance. Yes Michael Jordan went 6-0 in the NBA Finals but his opponents in the NBA Finals were subpar in my honest opinion, no high level scoring guards in the Finals and no real elite bigs at the rim to stop Michael Jordan. To take LeBron James down two of the NBA’s premier stars Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant had to get together on one team just to take him down. We make excuses for Michael Jordan losing in the first round to the Boston Celtics,Milwaukee Bucks, and the Detroit Pistons who all stopped Michael Jordan from ever reaching the NBA Finals in the first 6-7 years of his career but we can’t excuse LeBron James for the losses he suffered to the Golden State Warriors who were arguably the most potent offense in NBA history?
Looking back at LeBron James’s career I only really hold the loss to the 2011 Dallas Mavericks against him and even that one could be excused being that Dwyane Wade all of a sudden decided to take the series over like he did back in 2006 which ultimately ended up confusing LeBron James as LeBron played like the best player on the Heat in the first 3 rounds against the Sixers,Celtics, and Bulls. Imagine being LeBron James coming to your best friends’s franchise and taking the reins from him the first year you play together? Most did not want to admit LeBron James was the better basketball player between Dwyane Wade and LeBron James but it took Dwyane Wade coming to grips with that for the Miami Heat to take off which resulted in back to back titles. I see it all over for the internet especially YouTube how unfairly LeBron James is judged despite having a clean slate. The man has never had any off the court problems, never slept around with different women and has remained loyal to the mother of his 3 children and been the best father possible to his kids, how can you possibly hate on that? Commentator Skip Bayless has made a living off hating and critiquing LeBron James his whole career and LeBron James has not once decided to confront Skip Bayless on TV. The nostalgia of Michael Jordan has made it impossible for any player to ever surpass Michael Jordan, don’t get me wrong the man was a great player but he never possessed the body of work LeBron James has produced over the past 17 years. Let’s not forget Michael Jordan left the NBA at his peak and quit on his team twice, once in 1993 and 1998 again. LeBron James has played 17 years straight without any breaks and has upheld the NBA since Day 1.
LeBron James reaches 8 straight Finals and all we hear is well he played in a weak Conference that is why. Now LeBron James is in the Western Conference and has the Lakers at the top of the West and the haters still want to hate? No matter what this man does he will always be hated, surf YouTube and I guarantee you you will not find not even 10 videos portraying anything negative about Michael Jordan yet you’ll find millions on LeBron James. We must understand it is a different era, Michael Jordan never had to deal with social media and any reporter who dared speak negatively about him in the 1990’s lost their job plain and simple. Now everyone has a voice and smartphone at their disposal which they can use to spread hate and negativity all over, Michael Jordan became mentally worn out by 1993 could you imagine the people online calling him a quitter if smartphones and lab-tops were around during that time? I understand I keep bringing up Michael Jordan in this article but it’s because this is what LeBron James has to go up against which is a ghost just like he said years ago. It really is a ghost when you think about it because Michael Jordan’s legacy has become a myth and his image was protected so much that in the eyes of many the way he was portrayed by the media it’s like the man could walk on water and never missed a shot in his career.
To conclude just seeing all the hate LeBron James receives online leads me to think he is indeed the best to ever do it. With greatness comes jealousy,envy, and hate and people despise LeBron James for receiving all the attention around the NBA and being at the top of the sport for so long with no breaks and no drop off. I never even went into how great of a basketball player he is, 6’9 250-260 pounds can run like the wind and jump out of the gym like no other, combine that with a second to none basketball IQ,ball handling,shooting, and insane court vision and ladies and gentlemen you have the best basketball player ever. If you were to make the perfect basketball player it would be LeBron James, even those who hate him won’t admit it but even the haters know they watch the NBA to watch LeBron James even if it’s to lose because that is just the way of the world. Always remember the tree with the most fruit bares stones and that is who LeBron James is, hate him or love him when he walks away from the sport and calls it a career you’ll look back and tell yourself, man he was the best to ever do it, till next time.
D-NBA 