Greatest vs. Best

Full disclosure.  I'm a lifelong Golden State Warriors fan and it is killing me to see what is happening in the NBA Finals.  But, I offer that caveat to hopefully prove my neutrality on this issue.

Here goes.

If you want to say that Michael Jordan was the greatest basketball player of all time, I will not argue with you. However, he is not the best. Lebron James is the best basketball player of all time and no argument can logically conclude otherwise.

First, the word greatest vs. the word best.  Greatest is a blend of objective and subjective reasoning.  To be considered the greatest of something the objective rating of your skill and talent must be off-the-charts good. However, there is an equal measure of subjective review.  You are the greatest because your achievements have stood the test of time and fans and observers can reminisce about your greatness and can allow the passage of years and decades to further burnish the memories.

If you are the best at something however, there is no room for the sentimentality of the subjective.  You are the best because all logic, reason and empirical data shows that you are indeed, the best.

Lebron James is the best basketball player who has every lived.  He possesses more talent, basketball IQ and raw physical athleticism than any other player before him.  That includes Michael Jordan.

And here is the ultimate test.  If we could gather all the general managers and coaches in the NBA, and magically transport them to a time and dimension where both Jordan and James are 30-years-old and at the height of their physical prowess, and asked them to select THE player they would want on their team - and we removed any feelings of sentimentality and emotion from their brains - ALL of these men would pick Lebron James.

And if a few didn't, we'd all know who was being fired soon. 

Lebron is equal to or better than Jordan in every specific basketball skill - shooting, passing, rebounding, ball handling, defense etc.

Lebron is 6'8" 260 pounds of chiseled granite.  Jordan was 6'6" 215.  Lebron is faster, stronger and in better shape the Michael ever was. 

Lebron is a better teammate, a better person and has a more team-centered approach to his game.  Lebron James makes his teammates better because they want to play better for him.  Jordan made some of his teammates better because he scared the crap out of them.  The others, he turned into quivering shells.

I am the right age and the right level of fandom to easily mock younger fans who say Lebron is better than Jordan.  I should do that, I should defend the best-ness of Michael.

But I won't because I can't.  Lebron James: the best of all time.