LeBron James: Don’t judge greatness based on NBA titles (Video)
Miami Heat star LeBron James fired back at Michael Jordan who said he’d pick Kobe Bryant as the best player in the NBA.
James, who is preparing for Sunday’s All-Star Game, said the number of NBA titles you win isn’t the key factor in deciding greatness.
“(Jordan) said he would take Kobe over me because … five rings are better than one, and the last time he checked, five is better than one,” James said. “At the end of the day, rings don’t always define someone’s career. If that were the case, then I’d sit up here and say I would take (Bill) Russell over Jordan. But I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t take Russell over Jordan. Russell has 11 rings, Jordan has six. I wouldn’t do that.”
James won his very first championship with the Heat last season. Bryant has five rings with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Here’s what Jordan said that sparked James’ comments:
“Five beats one every time I look at it,” Jordan told NBA TV. “And not that (James) won’t get five. He may get more than that, but five is bigger than one.”
James has had an incredible season so far. He’s guided the Heat to a seven-game winning streak going into the All-Star break. That included an NBA-record six consecutive games where he scored more than 30 points and shot at least 60 percent from the field.
“I don’t play the game and try to define who I am over what guys say or how they feel about me,” James said. “It doesn’t matter to me. I play for my family, for my teammates, for my coaching staff and I play for our fans, and that’s it. What do I need bulletin board material for? My inspiration is the game I love. I don’t need nobody to pick me or not.”
How about, since we apparently HAVE to have these “greatest ever” discussions, you look at how many times they have LOST championships?
Jordan = 0.
Kobe and the Lakers got SWEPT by Boston.
We’ll haveta wait and see how far James goes, but he did lose to San Antonio. maybe one or two losses will fuel his fire, who knows.
And by the way, Shaq got one with Miami, without Kobe.
Kobe did win 3 with SHAQ, but SHAQ needed Kobe more. The same for Miama, SHAQ wouldn’t have won without D Wade. The thing that makes MJ and Kobe better than LBJ is that they are fierce competitors with a burning desire to win. They won with the teams that they had while the players on their teams developed in their respective roles. If Lebron was so good, then why didn’t he stay in Cleveland and continue to help the guys around him improve. He took the easy way out. He chose to partner with 2 other superstars and build a mega team. If Kobe or MJ had D Wade and Bosh on their team along with the supporting talent, they would have had more rings.
“If your using your better judgement you may need a better education.”
LOL @ Doug; I do hope that was directed at me. Nothing better than misspellings when attempting to insult other’s intelligence.
And to the Lebron sycophants, no one is questioning his ability; he is clearly one of the most gifted players on the planet. However, his below average intellect and child like emotionality will prevent him from being the ultimate competitor/winner that Jordan was. That’s the only point us “H8ers” are making.