I think it's cool the comment that LBJ made. It shows a lot of respect from his part to the history of the game. Not one player has dominated the NBA like MJ did in the 90's, Can't compare Russel cause he played with Havlicek and other, Kareem, played with Magic, Magic played with With Kareem, Bird played with Mchale. There is no doubt that MJ is the most important NBA player in history regardless of what some may think about his attitude.
What kills me unless I misunderstood what I heard and read was at MJ's hall of fame induction. You think he would have had some humility and respect for the rest of the players, league, tradition and would have been humbled by the experience. Instead he pointed players and people out like he was jealous or something. I don't get it!:insane:
And Jordan played with Pippen. I believe Pippen is in the top 50 all time for points scored in the NBA, top 25 in assists and top 5 for steals. That's strong. Jordan was unbelievable, but he didn't do it alone either. Kareem won a title without Magic as well. The Bucks were in their 2nd season when they got Kareem and they had like a 29 game turnaround and finished with the 2nd best record because of him. The next year they got Oscar Robertson and won the whole thing in only their third year as a team. Robertson had never won a title in the NCAA or NBA before hooking up with Kareem. Kareem won the MVP award that year too. So Kareem was the man regardless of who was around him. He dominated and won many championships at every level (even high school). Of course, I wasn't born then, but I've read about all that stuff. I just remember Kareem with the Lakers when I was little. I mean, the guy even had his own shot (the skyhook). Jordan really came into my world when they had that slam dunk contest and he did the free throw line slam. That was awesome. That's when I think the NBA was the most exciting. Jordan, Magic, Bird, Wilkins, Webb, etc.
How bout all the great players that wore #23 before MJ? Definitely should be retired from Chicago but it has no relevance to retire #23 at Golden State or Charlotte or any other team like that.
I'm pretty sure that Miami has already retired #23 for him (I guess the Wizards too, but I'm not sure).
Dont kid yourself, Jordan may be a prick and an *******, well he is all of those. But he is the best to ever play the game on the professional level. You can say Pippen all you want and he was pretty damn good. But when you needed something, you wanted the ball in Jordan's hand.
