Who among the NBA greats is the greatest of all time, will be a debate for generations, but most of us have Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, or LeBron James as top candidates.
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The latter of the three are much more debatable because of how long they played or still playing the game and yet, Jordan has the upper hand on most career achievements.
But even a simple eye test is enough for the ones who can see things as they are that MJ is him. Even the former players, who could not stand him for seconds, believe him to be the GOAT.
Chris Childs said Michael Jordan is the best irrespective of how unplayable LeBron James is
You might remember Chris Childs from his time with the New York Knicks, where once he got into a scuffle with Bryant and landed a couple of punches on the Mamba’s neck and face.
The guard had a similar kind of equation with Jordan as well. And yet, years later, when he speaks about him, he knows he is talking about the best in the game.
“LeBron is a mismatch problem because of his size and speed. Kobe is a version of Michael. If you mold a player after a player, it’s Kobe. But when you have the nickname Black Jesus … enough said, you know?” Childs said in an interview with Bally Sports last year.
He continued, “It’s different eras – Michael did things that Kobe couldn’t do. Kobe did things that Michael couldn’t do. LeBron does things that neither one of them can do, but you have to boil it down to that he won six straight NBA titles.”
MJ is a parameter in basketball
In the very same interview, Chris Childs also said that Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar always miss out on the GOAT debate even after winning more than or equal to Mike. Yet, he followed it up by saying Mike is his GOAT.
So, it is all perspective when we come down to comparisons. But when we do it in basketball, we cannot ignore Jordan’s ten scoring titles as well as nine All-Defensive First Team honors in a 15-year career.
His career scoring average of 30.3 ppg might get broken by somebody someday, but those two records are not. That is not even remotely within touching distance for anybody currently or will be in the future.
One can be like Mike all they want, they can never be better.
