The generations of basketball fans who were lucky enough to see what I think is the best player who has seen the sport in its history, are getting older. As a result of this, new generations arise that grew up with the one who in my opinion is still one step below, Lebron James. These new generations say with great confidence that Lebron is a better player than Michael Jordan, but being critical, is it a fair comparison?
Starting with the numbers, maybe it is, if we start to analyze the number of points, rebounds per game, championships, teammates, etc. On paper they may be two players who can be comparable, but what in my opinion makes Michael Jordan different, goes beyond just numbers. It has to do with what he represents for the history of the sport as such, what he represents as a public figure, and why it generated and set the tone for future generations of basketball players in the world.
“Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen”
Michael Jordan
Lebron is a great player, I do not want to demean him with this article, I believe that he enters the elite of basketball players in the history of sports, the talent he has is extraordinary, as is his dedication, his discipline, his work ethic and winning mentality. There is something very different between a revolution and a movement, and what happened to Michael Jordan in the nineties, he revolutionized the sport, he became a legend, I would seat him at the same table as personalities like Lionel Messi, Roger Fedederer , Michael Phelps, among many others who changed the history of their disciplines.
Jordan made his teammates better, Jordan exploited his talent to such an extent that he left professional players and high-performance athletes as if they were amateurs. But above all there is something that distinguishes him even more and it is charisma. I think that a leader in any area of life has to be charismatic, and this character was followed even by people who were not interested in sport as such.
There is always a turning point in any story, whether it is a sport or not, and from that turning point there can be extraordinary events, originated by that broken scheme of the past.
The Lebron James thing is spectacular and I think we will never see something similar in the history of this sport. There is a very big cliché within the world of sports, because many people use the word «magical» when describing something and I believe that very few in the world can earn that adjective, and Michael Jordan is undoubtedly one of them. History can repeat itself, and for the sake of sport you always have to be grateful to be lucky enough to appreciate what these types of people do, an example in every sense of the word.
TP Times 