LeBron James is a once-in-a-generation type player, and with that comes high expectations. He has met all those expectations in his 14-year career, and there is only one debate left for The king. Will he ever catch up to the G.O.A.T.? If you didn't know who the G.O.A.T is, it's Michael Jordan. Jordan has set the bar high for players after his time, and LeBron James is the closest player to reach Jordan's brand of greatness. James has been on the record saying he is chasing "the ghost in Chicago," and he is closing the gap on the six-time champion.
With James and the Cavs on track to reach another NBA Finals, this debate will only get hotter, especially of whether or not LeBron can win a fourth championship. James has once again addressed chasing the G.O.A.T, and this time he says it's only personal motivation.
This thing is personal
In Thursday morning's shoot around preparing for their series-clinching game five against the Celtics, LeBron James stressed that chasing MJ has nothing to do with accolades, but with personal motivation for himself to be better.
He said to reporters courtesy of ESPN, "It's just a personal goal of mine. It has nothing to do with passing the rings, passing the points, passing MVPs. It's just my personal goal to keep me motivated -- that's all."
James' use of chasing Michael Jordan as motivation seems legit, as he is the only one people compare him to nowadays.
James has the opportunity to pass MJ and be the NBA's No.1 all-time postseason scorer. He only needs 28 points to pass him, and withhow dominantly LeBron has been playing, he should get that record Thursday night against the Celtics. Jordan is the player everyone who takes the basketball court wants to be like, and James is the closest thing to him, so why not use him as motivation to become even greater.
Let us all be great
James also revisited a point when he was talking about the debate of the greatest player ever. He said that debating the greatest diminishes the value of all the other great players in the NBA.
James said to reporters "You guys are going to have the conversations about who is greatest of all time and things of that nature.
It doesn't matter to me. At the end of the day, it's so funny that the conversation is always talked about in the NBA about who is the greatest but it's never talked about in the NFL about who is the greatest quarterback. It's just like: [Dan] Marino, [John] Elway, [Peyton] Manning and [Tom] Brady. All great quarterbacks, you know—and it should be the same for us."
LeBron James makes a valid point. In the NFL we categorize players in their position as the greats. There is no further debate as every QB has proven their greatness, and it's hard to pick which one is the greatest. There are too many third variables to take into consideration that it would be a debate nobody would win. In basketball, it should be the same.
There have been many great players in the game, and their value is diminished because we have the yearly barbershop debate about who is truly the G.O.A.T. We should just appreciate great players when we see them and not automatically throw them into the G.O.A.T conversation.
LeBron James is the only player right now who can catch Jordan, but will he actually do it? He has 3 rings compared to Jordan's 4 MVPs to Jordan's 5 and trails by over 5,000 in career points. James might say he's not chasing MJ for all those reasons, but it is definitely in his mind. LeBron is worried about his legacy and about impacting the next generation of basketball stars, and that's what really matters. James is still on the chase, but is the G.O.A.T something worth chasing?
