I think my point above is more than enough support for saying the warriors are better than any team Jordan faced. Again, two MVPs in their prime plus two stars in their prime. No one Jordan faced had that going for them. Get outta here with the Lakers in 1991. That might have been the worst of the six teams Jordan beat.

That team when healthy is also clearly superior to LeBron team though. It's not a great thing for the GOAT to not even have the best team in his prime. Maybe Akheem is the GOAT?

I think my point above is more than enough support for saying the warriors are better than any team Jordan faced. Again, two MVPs in their prime plus two stars in their prime. No one Jordan faced had that going for them. Get outta here with the Lakers in 1991. That might have been the worst of the six teams Jordan beat.

Replace him with Harden then and Rick’s point still stands.

The Warriors also broke the all-time regular season wins record.

Good call.

Good call.

No it doesn't. The only reason LBJ is in the convo is because of rings. Westbrook and harden have none. And harden doesn't play D.

No it doesn't. The only reason LBJ is in the convo is because of rings. Westbrook and harden have none. And harden doesn't play D.

Don't mean a thing without the ring.

Kyrie Irving.

That's like saying Horace Grant won the third championship because he blocked Kevin Johnson at the buzzer. Give credit where it's due. But you can't. Still admire your Chicago pride tho.

Lebron has closed the gap but what makes it difficult in terms of assessment is the level of competition that he is currently competing against. He isn't nor has ever had to dominate an all time great player and the closest that he came to it was last year during the finals and arguably he was outplayed by Durant.

The guy he happens to be "dominating" is a rookie drafted late first round. How hard is that?
When Jordan was good he had to matchup with guys like

1. Drexler
2. Dumars
3. Miller
4. Harper
5. Richmond

This was just at his position. It was easier to gauge his greatness because he had to outplay other great players. Lebron doesn't have to do that. Who was he matched up against in the first series? Can anyone remember?

The level of separation that he is establishing is relative to the guys he happens to be playing against. That has to be factored into the discussion.

You want to talk teammates? look at those shitty ass Bulls teams pre Pippen.

Guys like Sam Vincent, Gene Banks, Dave Corzine. All in the starting lineup.

Lebron is playing with an All Star in Love and also plays on a team with the highest payroll in the league. Before the season started a number of pundits lauded the Cavs for having a first and second unit that was capable of making the playoffs. Now the supporting cast isn't shit because they just have to protect and further enrich the legacy of Lebron.

Basketball is not about 1 on 1 matchups like yoh make it. They often don't guard each other, and even if they do it's a team effort - especially today.

That said, even if we went by your very flawed method, you're cherry-picking the matchups. He rarely played Richmond or Drexler, and Reggie Miller was a terrible defender. Joe Dumars was there on teams that beat Jordan with the exception of one.

A more approriate list in the playoffs would be Craig Ehlo, John Starks, Nick Anderson, and Bryon Russell. In perhaps his greatest Finals appearance, his matchup was a broken down Dan Majerle.

There is a lot of flaws found in this diatribe. First of all each of these guys checked Jordan and vice versa. They didn't cross match in the good ole days as guys tended to guard their position. Your youth is a showing on that. Secondly Jordan and Drexler hooked it up in the NBA finals when Drexler was regarded as the 2nd best player in the league by MANY.

3rd. If you are going to make comparisons based upon individual ability then you very much have to look at performance based upon individual matchups. Too often in these discussions team success is used as a justification and cover for individual deficiencies. If we use team success then Jordan trumps him there as well. 6 for 6 in the NBA finals. Never played in a series that went 7 games.

4th James's 2nd banana in Miami is regarded by MANY as the 3rd best 2 guard in history. He is also regarded as a better player than Scottie Pippen. James didn't play with Bums to get his rings. Bosh is also a better player than Ho Grant.

5th Jordan had to defeat much tougher teams in order to get to the Finals and win in the Finals. East is a joke (Ask Vegan). James's run has been enhanced by the fact that East is a shitty conference front ran by bum ass teams in most cases. FF correctly referenced the lack of 50 win teams and that Bulls team from 7 years ago is the only credible team that he had to beat.

Yeah, they never switched, like when Pippen didn't guard Magic, or Rodman didnt guard Shaq, or Pippen didn't guard Barkley, or Pippen didn't guard Gary Payton. You're entitled to your wrong opinions, but don't reference my "youth" unless you're damn sure you're right.

Not over yet.

There is a lot of flaws found in this diatribe. First of all each of these guys checked Jordan and vice versa. They didn't cross match in the good ole days as guys tended to guard their position. Your youth is a showing on that. Secondly Jordan and Drexler hooked it up in the NBA finals when Drexler was regarded as the 2nd best player in the league by MANY.

3rd. If you are going to make comparisons based upon individual ability then you very much have to look at performance based upon individual matchups. Too often in these discussions team success is used as a justification and cover for individual deficiencies. If we use team success then Jordan trumps him there as well. 6 for 6 in the NBA finals. Never played in a series that went 7 games.

4th James's 2nd banana in Miami is regarded by MANY as the 3rd best 2 guard in history. He is also regarded as a better player than Scottie Pippen. James didn't play with Bums to get his rings. Bosh is also a better player than Ho Grant.

5th Jordan had to defeat much tougher teams in order to get to the Finals and win in the Finals. East is a joke (Ask Vegan). James's run has been enhanced by the fact that East is a shitty conference front ran by bum ass teams in most cases. FF correctly referenced the lack of 50 win teams and that Bulls team from 7 years ago is the only credible team that he had to beat.

Kobe

I think MJ gets overrated more often than underrated, but one of the ways he does get underrated historically is because a generation of people got sold on the rubbish pushed by the media that Kobe was in any way, shape, or form close to Jordan. So when people see Lebron so obviously blow away Kobe's career achievements, some at least become convinced he's also ahead of Jordan on that basis.