Danny Green played alongside LeBron James on the Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers, but he doesn’t consider him to be the GOAT. Green appeared on the latest episode of the All The Smoke podcast, where he had an interesting take when asked about the James, Michael Jordan, and Kobe Bryant debate.
“My GOAT is MJ,” Green said. “I think Bron has the greatest career of all time. So, I’ma go one and two, MJ then Bron. It’s tough to put Kob three. I think I appreciated him more when he stopped playing, towards the end of his career.
“As a young kid, I always liked Mike so much, I thought Kob was just an imitation of Mike,” Green stated. “It was like, ‘Oh, he’s not Mike.’ I wouldn’t say I hated on him, but yeah, I appreciated him more once I got to the league, played against him.
“And then seeing how many years he’s played, and then after, of seeing how his mind worked, and his footwork, unbelievable,” Green continued. “I think he, probably, is the most skilled out of all three. He had the best footwork.
“[Mike] did one move, you ain’t stopping it,” Green added. “I’m going to keep doing it. I’m going to shoot 60% doing it. I’m going to the free-throw line. Kob is probably the most skilled out of those three.”
Green showed respect to all three men, but Jordan is the one he’s giving the top spot to. The Chicago Bulls icon won six titles, six Finals MVPs, five MVPs, one DPOY, and 10 scoring titles in his career.
Jordan dominated the league in the 1990s, three-peating from 1991 to 1993 and 1996 to 1998. One wonders what might have been had he not briefly retired between those two runs.
James comes in at No. 2 for Green. The Lakers’ superstar has won four titles, four Finals MVPs, four MVPs, a scoring title, and an assists title. James is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and is setting records that are going to be virtually impossible to break. His career might well be the greatest ever.
Bryant has to settle for the third spot, but there’s no shame in being behind those two. He won five titles, two Finals MVPs, one MVP, and two scoring titles in his 20-year career with the Lakers.
Green believes Bryant was more skilled than Jordan and James, and he isn’t the only one who holds that belief. Tracy McGrady named Bryant as the most skilled player he’s ever seen. McGrady called him the greatest one-on-one player he ever competed against.
Dwight Howard, meanwhile, had Bryant over Jordan skill-wise. Howard thinks his former teammate took everything that Jordan did and improved on it.
Danny Green Doesn’t Believe The Lakers Can Win A Title With Their Current Roster
Green spoke on a wide range of topics during this episode, and he had some bad news for the Lakers and their fans. He thinks the Lakers, as presently constructed, can’t win a title.
“I think they’re explosive offensively,” said Green on the ‘All the Smoke’ podcast. “I think they lack a lot defensively… I don’t know how many years he (James) has left longer, and it’s think it’s just really hard to win a championship when your best player is 40 years old… Next year, LeBron is going to be 41….He can still average 30, 20-something, but I just don’t see them winning a championship with that formula right now.”
Defense is indeed a big problem, and it contributed to the Minnesota Timberwolves eliminating the Lakers in five games in the first round. It will be interesting to see what moves are made to fix that issue.
