“LeBron James vs Michael Jordan debates made us start counting rings”: Mike Greenberg reflects on Charles Barkley’s comments on rooting against superteams like Kevin Durant’s Brooklyn Nets

Mike Greenberg reacts introspectively to Charles Barkley’s superteam comments, acknowledging his own role by debating LeBron James vs Michael Jordan.

One thing you have to understand if you’re a new NBA fan is that players and teams weren’t always as disconnected as today. A good player playing out his career for one team was the norm rather than the exception back in the day.

There are countless basketball stars and legends over the years who played their peak out for one team. Most of them didn’t end up winning a championship, but what they did have was unwavering hometown support and in some cases, their jerseys in the rafters of stadiums.

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However, GOAT debates have become the talk of the day in most major sports across the board. This phenomenon began sometime in the the late-2000s and has since continued with full steam.

“LeBron James vs Michael Jordan debates made us start counting rings”: Mike Greenberg

Mike Greenberg reacted to recent comments by Charles Barkley on Get Up! today, ahead of the Nets’ game vs the Milwaukee Bucks:

“As someone who came of age loving the sport in the 70s and then very much so in the golden age of the 80s and the 90s, he’s talking about the sport as an all-time great who never won a championship. And you can see it’s cuz Michael’s teams kept beating them all.”

“But they all got there and they all kept knocking on the door. Charles played him in the Finals, Ewing played him tough as hell for what felt like every year.”

“Then Malone played him in the Finals in back-to-back years and both of them had chances to win. Charles went 6 games in the Finals in 1993 with Michael. So they had their chances to win and they don’t.”

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“Somewhere along the line, it became either you win a championship or your career is a bust. I’m not sure when that happened, cuz it wasn’t the case back then. I do have to raise my hand cuz I wonder if Mike and Mike had some role in that.”

“Cuz I think what happened was, when the LeBron vs Michael – maybe even earlier, when the Kobe vs Michael debate started happening, I think that’s where we started counting rings.”