NBA and Philadelphia 76ers legend Julius “Dr. J” Erving recently joined the set of UNDISPUTED with Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe to talk about the modern day NBA. The topics of the young Lonzo Ball’s success, modern day shoe deals and Allen Iverson’s inability to play in a recent BIG3 league game. But the question that brought the most media attention was when Dr. J was asked to pick between Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James, and Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan.
He made sure to show respect to the NBA legends from his time when confessing that the greatest player ever in his eyes would be someone from his era.
Julius stated, “If I was gonna start a team… I will always put Oscar Robertson out there and Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell, the guys who came before me… If I were to start a franchise, I’d start with Kareem”.
LeBron or Jordan?
Julius Erving was asked the age old question, LeBron James or Michael Jordan? He gave an interesting response:
“I think that’s a fans argument for one thing… The Michael-LeBron argument… I don’t really want to try to settle that for anybody else; I don’t really think it should be settled until LeBron’s career is over. He’s done all and everything anybody has ever done in the history of the league, and so did Michael. And Michael did it probably at… a higher level because he never lost in the Finals and he was Finals MVP six out of six times.
So the bar is pretty higher, but LeBron is still playing.”
It seems that he would have Mike just a little bit higher on his ranking right now, but still doesn’t want to make a decision on the question until LeBron’s career is over and he can look back and analyze.
Dr. J doesn’t discredit the King for 5 Finals losses
Although he showed praise for Jordan, in now way, shape or form did Erving discredit LeBron James.
Most people use King James’ Finals losses as a way of downgrading his greatness, but Julius Erving sees it in a much more positive light.
Erving feels LeBron’s poor Finals record shouldn’t diminish his legacy and makes a good point about reaching the Finals being an accomplishment in itself. Julius said:
“The game is a team sport, so individuals don’t win championships, teams win championships.
You’re only as good as the team can take you, you can only go as far as the team can take you. So 3-5 doesn’t mean anything, I’m more impressed with 8 Finals than I am with the record in the Finals. If he were 0 for 8 in Finals, that would still be an incredible achievement, that’s like going to 8 super bowls.”
