Funny thing is, I think baseball helped MJ's legacy. People just assume he would have won those two titles and MVP's. Not a horrible assumption either.
I'll sign for LBJ as best of the decade (even thou it's only 2013) and the Kobe/JBL as Bird/Magic of this era (age difference aside) but I've seen him come up short too often to ever be GOAT unless you want to give him a pass for losing to the Spurs. I think the GOAT wins that series.
THIS is the kind of reasoning I never understand. LeBron gets criticized for losing in the Finals (granted, 2011 is justified criticism) as people cite that Jordan never lost in the Finals. But even just
making it to that point was amazing as he completely carried that team and had one of the best performances of all-time against the Pistons in the previous round. And this was at the same age as when Jordan was a rookie.
MJ never made it out of the
first round without Pippen. I get that it just adds to the legend of Michael Jordan that he never lost in the Finals, but shouldn't he get some criticism for not making it until he was 28? Would he be viewed
less fondly in history had he made the Finals twice beforehand and then lost? Before he won his first title, MJ was considered someone who could never win the big one,
just like LeBron was before last season.
Other things to consider: When MJ left his Bulls team to play baseball, they finished 3rd in the East the next year without him and took the eventual runner-up Knicks to 7 games in the second round of the playoffs. When LeBron left his Cleveland team, which had the best record in the league the previous two years, they were one of the worst teams in NBA history and set the all-time losing streak record, despite losing pretty much just James and Ilgauskas from the previous year.
The point is that LeBron gets too much criticism for not winning with the Cavs. They were bad. Really, really bad without him. Jordan did nothing before Pippen. LeBron shouldn't be criticized for losing that Finals because there are so very few players in history that could have led that team to the Finals. And yeah, I understand that choosing to go to the Heat rubbed people the wrong way, but people can't win titles alone and now it clearly looks like he made the correct decision.
Basically, my main point has been throughout this thread is that it's foolish to claim that LeBron's career is better than MJ's career at this point. But it's also very foolish to entirely rule out the possibility that he can surpass him. He's accomplished more at the same age, is set up nicely for the future, and will accumulate higher career totals because he began at a younger age and won't have a two year break to go play another sport (LeBron would have been
crucified by the media if he ever did that, by the way). Jordan set the bar insanely high. But it's not out of reach for LeBron. And my god, are we privileged as basketball fans to get to watch him chase those lofty goals.
