Just when you thought the debate of LeBron James versus Kobe Bryant could take a break, the long running argument heated right back up. We can thank Michael Jordan, potentially the best basketball player of all time, for this one. While speaking at his summer camp in California, Jordan told the crowd that he believes Bryant is better than James on the all time list.
Simple math
Jordan used rings to give his reasoning. Jordan said that it's simple to make a decision. He used Bryant's five championship rings to James' three rings as his main reason.
He believes that the five rings overpower the fact that James has been to seven straight finals. Jordan made a similar comment in 2013 when he was asked who was the better player. At the time, James had only won two championships with the Miami Heat.
Both players are expected to be first ballot Hall of Famers, but the constant debate of who is better is similar to the Jordan vs. James battle. Both players are the greatest player of their generation and have played with All Stars on their team. Bryant teamed up with Shaquille O'Neal, and Pau Gasol on different title runs. James had Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade. Both seem to have had plenty of help in their title runs.
With ring logic, Bill Russell is the best
When fans use rings as their sole base of argumentative material, then Russell is the greatest NBA player of all time. Russell won 11 championships in his career, while Jim Loscutoff and Robert Horry won seven. The two later players are likely players that most NBA fans have never even heard of.
Loscutoff averaged 6.2 points in his career, while Horry averaged 7.0 points. Jordan would rank behind these three players, which makes this logic to compare players comically.
James vs. Bryant will never be settled
This will be a debate that will go on forever. Many will accuse James of riding the coat tails of other All Stars to get his rings.
Some will say that James couldn't win a championship on his own. Some could say the same exact comments about Bryant. The ultimate truth is that this debate will never be squashed.
The truth is that these are two players that will be in the Hall of Fame. These are two players that will likely have statues outside of the arenas of the Lakers, Cavaliers, and Heat. These players should not be compared because they are both once in a lifetime type of players. That means that we should just respect the career of both, even if that means we disregard the opinion of the all time great in Jordan.
