Is it less reasonable to say "Jordan is clearly greater than LeBron" or "LeBron is clearly greater than Jordan"?

[ceiling raiser]

I have seen a lot of people suggesting the LeBron's career has clearly eclipsed Jordan's recently on RealGM. Thinking a bit, I do wonder which of the two positions is viewed as less reasonable nowadays.

Probably the former offline, the latter online?

[GoBobs]

Poorly worded poll. Some people are going to pick which is true ignoring that the question asks which is not true.

Jordan has two three peats. Lebron doesn’t have anything close to that despite a whole career spent ring chasing.

Jordan is in a class by himself. Lebron is in a class with Duncan, Kobe, bunch of other guys.

[TheLand13]

Poorly worded poll. Some people are going to pick which is true ignoring that the question asks which is not true.

Jordan has two three peats. Lebron doesn’t have anything close to that despite a whole career spent ring chasing.

Jordan is in a class by himself. Lebron is in a class with Duncan, Kobe, bunch of other guys.

Kobe and Duncan are not in the same class as LeBron. Just stop.

[SNPA]

Poorly worded poll. Some people are going to pick which is true ignoring that the question asks which is not true.

Jordan has two three peats. Lebron doesn’t have anything close to that despite a whole career spent ring chasing.

Jordan is in a class by himself. Lebron is in a class with Duncan, Kobe, bunch of other guys.

Kobe and Duncan are not in the same class as LeBron. Just stop.

Kobe no. Clearly.

Duncan…there’s a case to be made.

[Pantsman]

Finally a lebron vs Jordan debate

[GoBobs]

Poorly worded poll. Some people are going to pick which is true ignoring that the question asks which is not true.

Jordan has two three peats. Lebron doesn’t have anything close to that despite a whole career spent ring chasing.

Jordan is in a class by himself. Lebron is in a class with Duncan, Kobe, bunch of other guys.

Kobe and Duncan are not in the same class as LeBron. Just stop.

Yes they are. You just stop.

[TheLand13]

Poorly worded poll. Some people are going to pick which is true ignoring that the question asks which is not true.

Jordan has two three peats. Lebron doesn’t have anything close to that despite a whole career spent ring chasing.

Jordan is in a class by himself. Lebron is in a class with Duncan, Kobe, bunch of other guys.

Kobe and Duncan are not in the same class as LeBron. Just stop.

Kobe no. Clearly.

Duncan…there’s a case to be made.

Duncan has a far better argument than Kobe. But it’s still a very tough sell.

[TheLand13]

Poorly worded poll. Some people are going to pick which is true ignoring that the question asks which is not true.

Jordan has two three peats. Lebron doesn’t have anything close to that despite a whole career spent ring chasing.

Jordan is in a class by himself. Lebron is in a class with Duncan, Kobe, bunch of other guys.

Kobe and Duncan are not in the same class as LeBron. Just stop.

Yes they are. You just stop.

No. They’re not. To try to say Kobe is in the same class as LeBron at this point is laughable beyond comprehension.

[walk with me]

Lebron loses the meaningful and tangible metrics (championships, MVPs, DPOTY, etc)
Lebron loses the meaningful and intangible metrics (leadership, drive, sustainability for a GM, dedication, focus, willingness to fight through a challenge, focus, resolve when down)

Therefore I voted saying Lebron is better is less reasonable

[lakerz12]

Your poll results have the answer…

LeBron’s career is tarnished by multiple failures.

Jordan’s career was almost flawless.

The only argument for LeBron is longevity.

But do I really want a goat based on longevity? No. I’d have to put a Karl Malone in the top 5. Which is not gonna happen either.

[Modulate]

Your poll results have the answer…

LeBron’s career is tarnished by multiple failures.

Jordan’s career was almost flawless.

The only argument for LeBron is longevity.

But do I really want a goat based on longevity? No. I’d have to put a Karl Malone in the top 5. Which is not gonna happen either.

I highly disagree with this. Jordan gets this weird pass for losing in earlier rounds of the playoffs (and not even playing in the NBA) that nobody else gets, let alone Lebron James. It's just completely overlooked and washed away. All to build up this mythological idea that he was some perfect, infallible superhero that never failed to will his team to victory.

Anyways, to stay on topic if I had to pick, I'd say the latter is less than reasonable. But it's also a pathetically thinly-veiled question. I mean, just come out ask people who they think is better.

Who knows, maybe you'd win a prize for making the 1000th thread about it? What say you RealGM?

[dribble1614]

lebron has no case over jordan. the only reason he is even being mentioned in the same breath is because he has played significantly more, and despite that he still falls woefully short. fewer scoring titles, mvps, finals mvps, titles, dpoys, worse stats, worse clutch playoffs/finals performances, more epic finals chokes, etc etc.

he will likely finish as the all time total career leader in points and other categories, but all that signifies is outstanding longevity. jordan at his absolute best demolishes lebron in ways that are impossible to describe.

the scariest part about the goat status of jordan is that he didn't even accomplish all that he could. retiring during 2 years of his prime and retiring again when he could have played another 3-4 years is evidence of this. lebron is getting every ounce physically possible and still falls short compared to jordan.

lebron has a better case for being outside the top 5 than he does for being goat.

[Tor_Raps]

Dude... only people who weren't born to see any of Jordan would think Lebron is better. It's actually not even a debate.

It's as bad as when Kobe fans used to say Kobe was better than Lebron.

[ceiling raiser]

Anyways, to stay on topic if I had to pick, I'd say the latter is less than reasonable. But it's also a pathetically thinly-veiled question. I mean, just come out ask people who they think is better.

I prefer Jordan's peak, but I think I take LeBron's career on the length of his prime. So the agenda claim is unwarranted.

[OriginalRed]

Your poll results have the answer…

LeBron’s career is tarnished by multiple failures.

Jordan’s career was almost flawless.

The only argument for LeBron is longevity.

But do I really want a goat based on longevity? No. I’d have to put a Karl Malone in the top 5. Which is not gonna happen either.

I highly disagree with this. Jordan gets this weird pass for losing in earlier rounds of the playoffs (and not even playing in the NBA) that nobody else gets, let alone Lebron James. It's just completely overlooked and washed away. All to build up this mythological idea that he was some perfect, infallible superhero that never failed to will his team to victory.

Anyways, to stay on topic if I had to pick, I'd say the latter is less than reasonable. But it's also a pathetically thinly-veiled question. I mean, just come out ask people who they think is better.

Who knows, maybe you'd win a prize for making the 1000th thread about it? What say you RealGM?

There's nothing weird about giving Jordan a pass for losing to superior teams when he was a rookie playing with virtually no help. It's the same way people brush aside Lebron not making the playoffs his first two years or even when he lost two straight years as a playoff favorite to underdogs. He had practically no help either so it goes both ways.

[robbie84]

Michael Jordan is the only player in NBA history to win (all in a single season)..

NBA MVP
Scoring title
1st team All defense
An NBA championship
And Finals MVP.

But what makes this guy the GOAT?
The fact that he did this FOUR times!

[zimpy27]

I think it's less reasonable to say Jordan was clearly better when LeBron has a more well-rounded game.

[Dino353]

I don't care how many rings Jordan has no one will ever convince me he's better than LeBron. LeBron is the best ever total amount of rings don't matter.

[rand]

The question is a logical quagmire. I think you have to build some kind of decision matrix or flowchart to evaluate it fully.

But I voted for "equally objectionable" because even though I lean Jordan I don't think it's clear between them. If it's not clear between them then it is equally unreasonable to say either is clearly greater than the other because it would be a logically contradictory. If it is equally unreasonable then both of the other poll options are equally objectionable because both statements are false in a binary sense.

[NbaAllDay]

For anyone to confidently say one of these is clearly greater than the other, its likely you either have an agenda or lack understanding of both. In no world are these guys far enough apart for one to be 'clearly better'