i think MJ is the greatest because he was new type of player. he was efficient. he could score whenever he wanted. he was a superior athlete, yet so fundamentally sound. all of that is great, but there were others before him about which you could say the same thing. what stood out the most is how he changed the way the game is played.
Kobe is not in his class of greatness imo. all time great, definitely, but not MJ level because we've seen it before. i see him as a byproduct of a generation growing up watching MJ and wanting to BE mike. unfortunately, he ended up like mike version 0.83
we've never seen lebron before. we've seen someone similar, but magic wasnt the defender or the scorer, or the rebounder lebron is. we have never seen someone that rebounds and defends as big as a 6'10 power forward, but moves and distributes with the skill of a 6'3" point guard with the scoring abilities of, well, the best small forward we've ever seen.
as far as rings go...kobe and mj were blessed to be drafted into 2 of the biggest markets with 2 of the best GMs in the NBA ever. people forget MJ came up short every year until krause showed up with horace and pippen. add the best rebounder ever, and yeah, youre bound to win a few. kobe had shaq, won, lost shaq, failed, got bynum and gasol, won again. both of these players have had MUCH better teams surrounding him in championship years than lebron has ever had in CLEVELAND. they had the benefit of Phil Jackson, as opposed to Mike Brown and Eric Spoelstra. kobe spends one year with brown, and people are already calling for his head. cmon. LeBron carries like no one weve ever seen (big men aside, though being able to compare a wing's dominance to a big man's speaks volumes in itself) and to say otherwise is just false. unless im forgetting someone. i think chris paul is pretty special too, but thats another conversation.
the next generation of ballers is growing up watching and learning from todays greats like kobe wade lebron and durant. i think we're going to see players that want to do it all not like 'MJ could do it all', but like Lebron who literally does everything. my bets (and hopes) are on this guy and durant to bring back the kind of unselfish team ball we saw in the 80s. and when the game shifts back towards unselfish play, i think we'll be able to point to lebron and say that was the guy, with Durant right there next to him. and thats as great as it gets.
TL;DR lebron/durant are the new magic/bird, only theyre probably better than both of their counterparts. they are both comparable to jordan statistically at this point in jordans career, but their greatness should measured not by stats, rings, or clutch play, but by the impact they have on coming generations.
its just too soon to compare, but i dont think itll be as absurd as some think when its all said and done.
