Both guys are awesome

I love sports, but I’m not crazy about the ways that other huge fans like me decipher what is great and what isn’t based on what we are watching.

Every summer, almost like clockwork, sports fans do this stupid thing on social media and around water coolers and it just drives me nuts.

I’ve never commented on this publicly within our pages, but this particular summer, the chatter has grown and become a bit unbearable, so now is the time I draw the line in the sand and share my thoughts.

The endless debate on who is better between Michael Jordan and LeBron James is stupid, ignorant sports talk – the absolute lowest-hanging fruit possible.

Just stop doing it.

Why choose to be miserable? If a LeBron guy, your mind is already made up. If a Jordan guy, nothing LeBron does will change your opinion.

Both guys are awesome. Both guys are pleasures to watch.

Why can’t we just enjoy that they’re both their own special piece of sports history?

The biggest reason why I don’t like the Michael/LeBron thing is because there’s no way to make this an apples to apples comparison.

The guys are not similar players – at all. They also played in different eras, which further clouds the waters and their career paths have been completely different.

Michael Jordan was the defining athletic figure of my childhood.

Personally, I couldn’t stand the guy because I like to root for the underdog and Jordan simply never lost.

But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned to appreciate what I missed out on as a child.

Michael Jordan was the consummate competitor.

Offensively, he started his career as a slasher – almost like Russell Westbook. He made his hay at the rim, but didn’t have much of a jump shot to speak of.

But that dog don’t hunt – especially not in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a time when the NBA wasn’t yet over-officiated and when guards going to the bucket had to pay a stiff price to get free throws.

Jordan took a beating. The Bad Boy Detroit Pistons hammered him throughout several postseason series early in his career, which caused a significant change in style late in his career.

Peak Michael Jordan was almost like a post player. He had the best back to the basket game in NBA history. He’d catch the ball 20 feet from the bucket, make a few dribbles and sink the 17-foot fadeaway jumper – over and over again.

When teams got savvy and stuck a bigger defender on Jordan, he’d then catch, go triple threat and blow by the slower guy to the rim.

It was poetry in motion.

Combine that offensive game with a desire to be an elite competitor defensively and you have a guy who won six NBA Championships in a 15-year career. And even that’s a bit skewed because he missed two prime years of his career to retirement and also played two “throwaway” years as a near-senior citizen with the Washington Wizards.

To me, Michael Jordan is the single greatest basketball player to ever play – at least that I’ve seen.

But in saying that, I’m not naïve enough to think that LeBron James is some kind of scab like some of the folks in the Jordan camp.

LeBron James is incredible, too, and there’s no question that he’s the best player in the world today.

That hurts me to say because I’m a James Harden loyalist. But it’s no comparison. The King is the best player in the game today and it’s not close.

LeBron is blessed with the most NBA-ready body of any player ever and he uses it to his advantage.

He has handles like a point guard, the body of a power forward, the quickness of a two-guard and he can get two feet above the rim like a center.

He’s a cheat code.

In these NBA Finals, the Cavs are trying to get Steph Curry switched onto LeBron defensively and when that happens, he drives through Curry like tissue paper.

It’s not fair and sometimes as a fan, it’s almost frustrating because you just wonder what LeBron could do offensively over the course of a game if he weren’t so much of a willing passer and if he tried to take over games more often.

But what gets me about LeBron criticisms is that almost none of the critiques have anything to do with basketball.

People don’t like that he changes teams from time-to-time. I think that’s silly. Imagine if you had nothing but inept people beside you at your job. You’d probably shop around too, right? Why can’t an athlete do the same?

People don’t like that he talks openly about social issues. I may not agree with a lot of his stances, but he’s an American. He’s free to do as he pleases off the floor as long as it’s inside of the law.

But I guess the greater point in this all is a bigger-picture discussion – one which may need its own column altogether.

Why do we, as sports fans, degrade something else to try and shine light on the things we like?

If one likes LeBron, why does that automatically mean that Jordan was a skunk? If you’re team Michael, why does it mean that we have to slander LeBron?

Folks, that’s just silly.

Compare as you wish, root for who you want to root for.

I can’t change anyone’s opinions and I understand that.

But Michael Jordan and LeBron James are BOTH awesome basketball players.

Just because one may be perceived as the best, it doesn’t mean that the other isn’t still awesome.

Enjoy greatness. It doesn’t come around awesome.

There will be a day when we don’t have either LeBron James or Michael Jordan to watch.

And that will be a crummy time to be a fan of the game of basketball.

LeBron James

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