But there are a few problems with this argument. LeBron's less than stellar appearances in the finals certainly seems to give Michael the nod. Michael Jordan's absurd finals performances vs. Count the Ring - Sample Size and Missing Samples LeBron has been a small-forward and power-forward. LeBron's peers are both stronger due to their larger position, and the era he's in. Thus, Jordan's performance relative to his peers is impressive. In fact, Arturo postulates that you don't need a top guard (shooting or point) to win the NBA finals. But the shooting guard position is traditionally the weakest. Michael Jordan is the best shooting guard to ever play the game. However, because he had entered the NBA straight out of high school, LeBron had just entered his peak! If we compare years 4-9 of Michael's career with 5-10 of LeBron's, we see Bron's prime stacks up rather strongly with MJ's. By his seventh year in the NBA, LeBron had also already made it to a finals and won two MVPs. In the same year, he won his second MVP award. Michael won his first title in his 7th season, or as we can see from the chart above, the last year of his peak. The reason Michael Jordan is oft considered the greatest of all time comes down to two things: he has six finals MVPs and five MVPs. Michael's Wins Per 48 Minutes by Career Year In short, I feel Jordan gets a lot of credit for things outside of his control, which makes it hard to count them as "individual" accomplishments. It also helped that he was drafted to a large market, and arguably the best support staff of any NBA star. Michael Jordan became the first superstar in the era when the NBA had the reach to make him a household name that transcended the sport. Magic Johnson, a point guard, managed to replace Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as a center to win the finals in his rookie season. Yet, a 22 point comeback win in the last ABA finals was played before an arena that wasn't sold out with no national television. Unlike baseball, America's pasttime, basketball took a while to catch on. I think the reason he gets so much attention has a ton to do with two factors: his amazing marketing and his amazing teams. He's certainly the greatest two guard to ever play the game. I do think Michael Jordan is an all-time great.
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