Via Pass The Pill:
The NBA is obsessed with comparing players to Michael Jordan. MJ was a special player and nobody will probably ever be the same. We tried with Grant Hill, Kobe Bryant and even Vince Carter, and now we’re endlessly trying to make a connection between LeBron and His Airness.
Even LeBron’s closest pal and teammate with the Miami Heat, Dwyane Wade, is tossing his two cents into the well. Wade says that he is unsure if LeBron can surpass Michael.
“I think everyone knows that (James) is a phenomenal, phenomenal player. He’s one that we haven’t seen, with the makeup of a 6-8 guy who runs as fast as any point guard, jumps as high as any center, and has the ability that he has to do so many things," Wade told ESPNChicago.com on Thursday during a promotional event for his Wade’s World Foundation. "But Michael Jordan is the greatest player of all time, that’s who everyone shoots for. So it’s going to be hard to surpass that.”
The biggest issue I have with this is why do we always have to go to Michael Jordan with everything in basketball? Look, I get it. He’s the best to ever do it, but circumstances were different and comparing eras rarely gets you anywhere. Can’t we just accept the greatness that is LeBron James without drawing the Jordan comparisons?
Wade went on to throw in a golf reference, which I’m sure makes Michael smile when he reads these already flattering comments by Wade.
“I don’t know if (James) has the ability to surpass (Jordan) or not,” Wade said. “That’s yet to be seen. My version as LeBron being on par with Michael is this: They’re both on the golf course. Michael’s on the 18th hole. LeBron is somewhere on like the fourth hole. He’s got a long way to go, but he’s on par to get to the 18th hole."
It is a pretty sound analogy. My beef with all of Wade’s comments is simple… why poke the bear if the bear is the reason you have your second ring, and the reason you’ll get a third or fourth, or even fifth ring? Wade probably should have just declined comment and went on with his day. There’s no reason to go out of your way with the potential to cause a problem with your own teammate, right?
“If you’re a team that’s lucky enough not to have major injuries along your run, then it can possibly be,” Wade said. “But you never know that until it’s over. As a Chicago Bulls fan, when they won their first championship, I didn’t say, ‘We’re going to win five more.’ You just hope that your team continues to compete and they get in that situation that they’re good enough to pull it out and are able to win.”
”So right now, we won one and that’s a lot more than a lot of teams have done in the past, but it’s a lot less than (other teams) as well. We just want to continue to get better and hopefully we’re there again in the Finals to try and win another one.”
I expect to see LeBron and Wade in the finals again next spring, and I expect LeBron to be in the thick of the league’s MVP race once again. The sky is the limit for LeBron James and I feel like he’s just scratched the surface.
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Original Story:
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August 25, 2012
