Jim Boeheim Thinks LeBron James Could be Better Than Michael Jordan

Bike, Jordan is 6’4″ in reality. Kobe is like 6’6″ and LeBron is a legitimate 6’8″ – but flat head height is irrelevant, standing reach, Vertical Jump, and quickness stats are what matter. Just saying though.

Bosh, brings more to the table.

Chris Bosh by a small margin.
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Taylor, All those guys are shorter and between 50 to 60 pounds lighter than LBJ.
I’m not saying that LeBron isn’t great because of his natural gifts, i’m just saying to me it’s not as impressive to see a dude bully his way to the rim.
That’s not all there is to his game obviously, but that’s his go to. I don’t like that as a go to move. This are my preferences not NBA guidelines. Not saying they should be anyone elses.
These are just the reasons why I respect and love Kobe’s and MJ’s games more than LBJ despite him being equally as dominant.

Yet Reggie is in the HOF and most people don’t think Bosh will ever belong.

And that was a damn good point by LA Huey. Pay attention.

@LakeShow So a player’s natural size should be used against them? If we’re going by that, then we can discredit Shaq’s whole career. Why would someone hold a player’s size against them? Makes no sense. All those players you listed who would dominate if they were LeBron’s size (it’s a stupid hypothetical situation to bring up, but let’s go with it)….all those guys you listed are already dominant. D-Rose’s explosiveness and strength lets him dominate other PGs. D-Wade’s strength, defense, and ability to make tough shots makes him dominant. Paul Pierce’s uncanny ability to score without being in a rush. Every superstar player has something that allows them to dominate. Why should LeBron’s gifts be used against him to somehow say that his accomplishments aren’t as impressive as someone who’s smaller than he is?

“These are just the reasons why I respect and love Kobe’s and MJ’s games more than LBJ despite him being equally as dominant.” I can understand that. Just a matter of preference. I love LBJ’s game for the fact that his seems like fun to play rec-league ball with.

but ya we can’t even compare prime kobe to prime lebron can we? lebron’s prime isn’t even halfway done yet. dude is 27 (well 28 come december) and has 2-3 more yrs of prime left… maybe 4 depending on his athletic deterioration or injuries. Guy imo isn’t at his best yet. his post game can still use a couple go to moves. deep post moves like the dropstep and the turnaround (he has the midrange turnaround off the midpost). As a scorer, lebron will never be as dynamic as prime kobe was… but that’s ok bc no passers on the wing are as good as lebron. iggy is a pretty good passer but not lebron’s level. lebron had a fantastic year but lets wait and see.

Kobe could’ve been a great playmaker if he chose to, but ultimately his most basic instinct was to score. Jordan was very much the same way but Kobe has always been less efficient and less effective. This is not due to any lack of skill or ability on Kobe’s part (which I believe to be on Jordan’s level) but simply his style of play. Honestly, his shot selection has changed little over the years no matter the varying talent levels of the different teams that he has played on. He still insists on doing things his way, which typically means taking some ridiculously stupid shots. IMO, Kobe could’ve been a much greater player if he had changed a very fundamental part of his thinking earlier on.

damn why did my post double post…

id take reggie miller over bosh. bosh brings more to the table but he doesnt have this little extra / killer instinct. man, when i think of miller killing my knicks with 8 pts in the last 11 seconds in game 1 of the 95 semifinals and then compare that to bosh… youll never get games like these out of a guy like bosh. he is a pretty good pivot but no guy with a killer instinct or an extra gear like guys like barkley or miller had. put miller on a team with some nice point guard and two bruisers down low and youll be as fine as youd be with a team that would be built around bosh with him as the first option. miller was more of a role player but he played his role almost perfect thats why he had this all star status.

@byanymeansnecessary: you are fu***** crazy for saying Dwight will be the best player on that laker team next year. And stop slighting Kobe for having good teammates for most of his career. DWade is a sure fire hall of famer and bosh is a perennial all star. Their system do not need a dominant big men since they play small ball like the thunder. So it’s all about systems that are put in place, so I don’t see any reason why Kobe’s rings should be the only one to have an asterisk next to them. Lastly, I bet anyone here that mj’s teams in 90s except probably the ’91 and ’96 will lose to the celtics of the late 2000s and the spurs of early to mid 2000s. Teams are more loaded now than they were during the 90s. Lebron knew that that’s why he bolted to Miami and the lakers just reloaded themselves too. Bottom line: Mike’s rings are not better than Kobe’s or lebron because he played with mostly role players. Teams today are better today than they were back then.

@Robert, those would be some good games between Jordan’s Bulls and Duncan’s Spurs, but once you start bringing up best teams you open up a whole other can of worms haha

PJ once said that he gave Jordan the edge over Kobe because of Jordan’s huge hands.
Just sayin since this thread has been moving so slowly…

Best team IMO are the 87 Lakers biased opinion aside. They had everything you could want in a championship caliber squad. They could score, defend, tight unit and great bench play and HOF players.

i think Dwight is the 3rd best in the league based on this logic. The only players you could trade LeBron and Durant for are each other or Dwight. After that you’re getting a shitty deal.

i wanted to throw in another thing when talking about lebron james having a better all around game than jordan. jordans carreer averages of 2,4spg and 0,8 bpg as a guard and being under 6,7 speak for itself. wouldnt be suprised if also his defensive efficiency stats were better than james. jordan put up a season with 2,9spg 0,8bpg 8rpg 8apg and 32,5ppg by shooting 53% from the field and 85% from the free throw line. people cant be serious when they say jordan was just a scorer n that he didnt have an overall game. when he entered the 90s they used him less as a ball handler handing splitting passing duties with pippen and the other guards on the roster and using the triangle offense later on where nobody really puts up many assists. in a “normal” offense he wouldve still brought up rediculous all around numbers. but this wouldve been stupid coz they way the 90s bulls played was the most effective thing to do with jordans and pippens skills. thats absolutely no contest, james aint better than jordan and it would really suprise me if people would see him as such when he retires.

A coach who got to work with both guys and see them up close in person in both practice and games believes LeBron could be better than MJ. I think that’s a fairly credible opinion. I believe Pippen made a similar statement after playng with and working out with LeBron and others. Again, another guy with a lot of experience watching MJ up-close and personal. Also, neither coach nor Pippen have anything to ‘gain’ by saying LeBron could be the best ever. Seems like a lot of commentators and people on this board tend to say things more out of an ‘emotional connection’ to the glory of the Jordan era or say ridiculous things like ‘will to win’ or ‘heart’ – which nobody can measure as reasons why MJ is better. And some peope use championship rings which is another weak argument as there are many HOFers without ring that are clearly better than some guys with rings. Russel has more rings than anybody so according to ring-counters he should be the best. Bottom line, rings don’t mean player A is better than player B, all rings mean is the best TEAM in a given season. Comparing players across generations is always hard because rules change as well as style of basketball etc. So to say LeBron is the best doesn’t really surprise me, I would say he’s up there with others. I think the notion of a coach saying LeBron plays like Magic with MJ skills is huge within itself and actually a ‘fair’ way to describe his game. To be compared with arguable the best team basketball player of all time (Magic) and the arguably the best individual player of all time (MJ) is a testament to LeBron that nobody on this board has yet ‘disproved’ with stats or by disecting his actual game. Even Phil thought Kobe (who is compared by some to MJ for individual game) should play more like LeBron. Thats a huge statement too. I understand there are a lot of Lebron haters out there, but nobody yet has even come close to making any kind of reasonable argument as to why LeBron isn’t the best player ever. Another thing, I’ll add, there is a potential difference in “best” player ever and “greatest” player ever.

Yeah Huey I posted the 92 dream team pic on twitter, if you haven’t seen it.

or just compare jordans overall stats during his first 9 years http://www.nba.com/historical/playerfile/index.html?player=michael_jordan with james overall stats during his 9 years that he played so far http://www.nba.com/playerfile/lebron_james/career_stats.html. thats a no contest. james pulls down slightly some more rebounds and dishes some more assists but not that many while jordans defense and scoring was superior to james. also if you use advanced stats. you cant really put that even coz it were different timesn both play different positions but to me its not even close. jordan was obviously the better player.

Followed man I’m too hyped after I saw the Dream Team pic!

My reason for Bosh over Reggie is size and defense. Raggie wasn’t a good defender, Bosh is. Bosh is a PF and can anchor a teams defense and Reggie can’t and isn’t. Miller is the better player IMO. Obviously career wise, but also skill and ability wise.
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nbk, you know how I am with height… Jordan was a legitimate 6’5″ +. I know it’s fractions of inches we are talking about, but from my eye(which is solid) Wade is 6’4 1/2″, Jordan 6’5 3/4″, Kobe 6’6″, LeBron 6’8 1/2″ That’s what my eye tells me. You don’t have to go with my eye lol.
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I have to admit that LeBron is more dominant on a nightly basis now then Kobe ever was. Pains me to say…
Kobe is streaky though. You get him on a streak and their is no player on God’s green earth that can match him except for his Airness and maybe Bird. That’s why I love the kid.
But I also can admit i’m a fan of JR Smith and Nick Young’s game.
Kobe can play down to their level sometimes and that’s gross to watch(mainly because you know Kobe should never be known as a ‘chucker’ with his skill set). He has more skill than anyone. Has brains to match all of them. But his ego gets in the way. That’s Kobe main downfall. Hero baller to the core, but I like hero ball… when it works…

Didn’t even notice that Huey. Well seems to me he should be on the team if they continue to have old school Bulls teams oh well we finally got Barkley.

Lol, it doesn’t matter either way Lake. All the personal accounts of Jordan that ive heard say he was 6’4″ or the same height as Barkley who is also 6’4″ – but its not important… And I totally respect what you said about Bryant. I actually don’t think you’ve ever been so rational about him in a comment section before lol

I want the 3 peat Laker teams and 01 Sixers I know those were pretty popular request for last year.