That OKC playoff run was some of the most fun NBA I've ever watched.

Rings/aura/cultural significance/skills relative to era : MJ
Longevity/career stats/skills in vacuum: LeBron

One additional context is that both Wade and Bosh were hurt going into the Finals, Wade played every game during that title run but was ineffective at times due to knee issues and had to get a surgery in the offseason. Bosh missed a bunch of games that postseason due to the abdominal injury he sustained against Indiana. Again something to think about every time some Jordan-stan whines about that one time injury luck favored Lebron or pretends that Draymond Green missing that one game is how Lebron beat the Warriors.

That's truth there.

Shaq got swept like 8 times or something, so probably why no one cares to mention that. Every team he went to basically imploded at the end, probably not great for his legacy but 20 years later who cares. He's funny on TV. Besides LeBron, nobody really mentions the follies of any NBA greats. No one cares Bird lost to the Bucks in '84 or Magic was called Tragic after the '83 finals. Or Kobe was doing nothing before the Pau gift from Memphis, etc etc

I'm a little surprised Bulls were -200 in '91, I know the Lakers were older then but still 5 rings for Magic to 0 for MJ and obviously betting markets were far less efficient back then. Were the Worthy/Scott injuries a thing pre-series? i thought they got hurt during it.

The main thing besides Bosh injury going into the finals is that OKC beat the Spurs 4 straight not only after losing the first 2, but also after the Spurs had won 20 straight.

Spurs also would've been like -170 in the finals, also had homecourt.

And then also at this point LeBron teams had failed as favs way too often to get that respect on the big stage. At that point in his career, him coming up small was just becoming the norm. Lost '09 as -700 fav to Magic, lost as -400 to Celts in '10, the '11 finals which people talk about.

because the big 3 (federer, nadal,djokovic) are still winning so yes it does....
like kAJ at 37 being mvp final beating boston during prime bird years
, tim duncan beating prime goat lebron at 37 count too !
Lebron at 37 with 3hof cant reach the playoffs with LA.

did we really cares about the longevity of jimmy conors for example and increasing him to goat level because even tho he played good enough to reach the semi final in USopen in 1991 at 39 years old ?
no we didnt ....
if longevity is matching up with winning its great if its not, its no different then stockton claiming is goat PG because he got many stats record.

How can lebron been penalized, he played more years to achieve more and he did not ?
it has nothing to do if he takes break to have a better record like 4-0.

i dont see how u come to that conclusion but ok.

for 1995 people can believe MJ leaving like 2 years and having 17 games is enough, to be as great as he was, can do so.
me i just dont and i think 1996 just is evidence he wasnt.

but what in the end those it change ?
he lost so ?

im not the one trying to transform defeats and failure to a win .
i just look at the resume of both mj and lebron and compare the success shrug.

ho yes pippen was top form in 1998 , rodman too.
it should all evens out in the end ..
like i said before, mj lost a ring before because of his teamates too in 1990 or the team management in 1998 by breaking the team champs
just for ego.

just the excuses of not more ring count for lebron, mj could had 8 rings for similar reasons but those dont count....

Fwiw I think u should stop with that narrative .
I don’t think MJ necessarily was in a club med and relaxing during the baseball years .
I suspect he worked extremely hard everyday trying to reach the major and compete vs athletes much better then him .
That ain’t taking a break to revigorante his body like u seem to think he was doing .

It was long bus ride , no hotel suits while traveling , early morning camp , etc .

https://syndication.bleacherreport.c...ction.amp.html

« It wasn't all bad for Jordan, though, as Bertotti and teammate Barry Johnson told Anderson the Bulls legend made noticeable strides as the season continued and was particularly determined to improve all while being "one of the guys" and carrying his bags, riding the buses and living the minor league life.

Both teammates praised Jordan for consistently being the first one in the clubhouse and continuously doing the extra work in batting practice and before games.

The work on making his swing more compact—which wasn't easy at 6'6"—contributed to the improvements he showed in the Arizona Fall League.

"If you look at what he accomplished during the Birmingham season, and if you look at the season as a whole, you zero in on the batting average, but seeing what kind of production he did from the midway point on, and then going out to the Fall League and competing against everyone's top prospects and the numbers are even better," Johnson said. "Being with him on a daily basis for six months, and knowing how much work he was putting into it ... I don't think it [was] that big of a stretch to see him in a big league uniform."

Bah, what do the majority of current NBA players know about GOATs and basketball eh

Also receiving votes: Tracy McGrady

In 10 years (maybe less) the poll will show LeBron. It was 80%+ Jordan in 2019. Younger players aren’t blinded by MJ nostalgia.

You should be concerned about the trend in that result

Wait for a few years until LeBron’s doc comes out too…

When mj lined up with his (without him) 55 win from year before and fellow goatish top 75 teammate to take on not prime Shaq and nobody in 1995 for the final time that year he had played close to thirty games and over 2 month practice with same coach, system, core, city, team that he was used to all his pro life...probably the ideal amount of time and circumstances for a 31 yr old vet, no wear and tear, rust off...perfect...ideal. Everyone else grinded 82. Mj shows up and was impotent vs a flawed team that got swept. In a year that by ratio is to 1965 as that year is to today. Today... when LeBron James is physically and actually dominant.

shrug

I'd rather take current elite player consensus for the GOAT than Lebrontards like mullen, victor and Tien opinion tbh

If we are saying that % will change due to propaganda, unlikely imo. Surely Jordan has a plan to keep his goatness aura alive.

Would not be surprised if he had funds in his will to sponsor some sort of documentary every 2 years promoting his legacy and maybe a few dollars for a unit of 24/7 Lechoke astroturfers to do their Leworst to degrade James

Greatest player of all time voted by players is always going to favour the more recent players. I mean a lot of them weren't born when MJ played for the Bulls. **** some of them weren't even born when he played for the Wizards.

For the record Kobe was voted third, picking up more votes than every other player not named MJ/LeBron.

MJ - 58.3%
LeBron - 33%
Kobe - 6.8%
Other - 1.9%

Lol at how dumb you have to be to think Kobe was the Goat.

Same group of players had ~9% allocated toward Kobe and McGrady, but go for it man.

Why is it unlikely? The gap went from 80%+ MJ to 58% in 4 years. Seems much more likely than not the trend continues, especially considering LBJ is still a active. It’s not even really a take on the debate, the younger guys will skew LBJ because they grew up watching him and playing with him. Eventually in a bunch of years there will be some guy who overtakes LBJ and it will skew the same way. Most people are generally set in their ways and don’t change their minds.

lol

30 for 30 for on the 2011 finals, narrated by larsa pippen

So explain to me the massive difference of performance and result to me in 96 and with unfavourable 82 games played on top of it .

Train for a certain sport and then undo to train for another one ain’t that easy .
And again mj wasn’t in vacation during his break so the concept of being fresh is kinda meh .

Ps : grant wasn’t on the team anymore in 95 , he was with shaq .

You're forgetting that the 90's era was very weak in the NBA. After taking 2 years off, Jordan should've still been able to very easily beat that Magic team with Shaq, Penny, and (former super team member) HORACE GRANT.

Lebron didn't get to face easy Magic teams like that. When he lost to the Magic, he had to face 23 year old Dwight Howard and ... Rashard Lewis!

The Michael Jordan of Turkey getting slept on itt

Butler with an all-time Heat playoff performance, tonight!

Wade is obviously considered the greatest Heat ever but you've got to wonder -- is Butler approaching that #2 spot?!

mj never got to up against anyone as shitty as dillon brooks, game's so bad these days smdh