Reggie Miller is one of the few lucky players to have gone up against Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James in his NBA career. He rivaled Jordan in his prime, faced Bryant in the 2000 NBA Finals, and also played seven times against James in the regular season over two years before retiring in 2004-05.
Therefore, he is in a unique position to compare all three players when talking about the GOAT debate. Miller appeared on the Dan Patrick Show and spoke his mind on the topic after Jordan dismissed the debate in his recent comments.
“I think we get caught up when we talk about the GOAT situation and the goat debate. To me, the best player of the three is MJ,” said Miller, crowning Michael Jordan as the undisputed No. 1 player on his list.
“Kobe is a clone and a better version. Like, he’s Mike on steroids, better jump shooter. To me, the fundamentals were better because he perfected them to be like the master MJ.”
“If you’re talking about careers, the best career out of all three of those, in my opinion, is LeBron because of the longevity and what he has done, eight straight finals,” Miller further explained.
“Career versus a player. There’s a difference. So, I mean, LeBron has had the best career out of anyone. For him to continue to play like this at this level this late in his career.”
“But if we’re going stack for stack player to me: MJ, Kobe, and then LeBron. To me, in that order,” said Miller on his personal top three players’ list.
“Just because, okay, look, I only had one year versus LeBron. My last year, his rookie year. I got tattooed by MJ. I got tattooed by Kobe at a high level. Facing Kobe in the finals. So, there’s a body of work between Kobe and me that I can, you know, I have a sample size against.”
The Pacers’ legend simply highlighted that there’s a difference in comparison between a player’s career and his prime. Players like Robert Horry have more championships than Michael Jordan, but his individual prime was nowhere close to Jordan’s.
Similarly, LeBron James may have played longer (23 seasons over Bryant’s 20), won more Finals MVPs (four over the Lakers legend’s two), and even surpassed Kobe Bryant on the all-time scoring list, but Miller believes Bryant was better than James in the prime of his career.
I question that conclusion because one can argue that Kobe Bryant’s individual prime was the year in which he won the regular season MVP award (2007-08). He averaged 28.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 5.4 assists while shooting 45.9% from the field and 36.1% from beyond the arc.
During the same season, LeBron James averaged 30.0 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 7.2 assists while shooting 48.4% from the field and 31.5% from beyond the arc.
Since the Lakers finished 57-25 and the Cavaliers were 45-37 during the 2007-08 regular season, Bryant won the award over James. Even when other than the three-point percentage, James was objectively better in every single statistical category.
Subsequently, Miller went on to talk about why Jordan and Bryant were the two hardest players to guard that he faced in his career and how he countered their approach.
“Well, you never wanted to show emotions when you were playing those two guys, and I tried as much as possible not to because I tried to put pressure on them at the other end as well.”
“Because I’m blowing by them as well. You know, I tried to put as much pressure on them and make them work as hard as they possibly could, making me work to try to tire them out.”
“Both of those players, Kobe and Mike, were superior athletes in fantastic shape, which is very difficult to do… I tried to make it a marathon versus those guys and make it a track meet, and constantly keep them in motion to try to tire them out. Some games it worked, other games it didn’t, but that’s what I tried to do versus those two players,” concluded Miller.
Clearly, Miller’s judgment is based solely on the games he played in his career and did not take each player’s prime into account objectively. Having played LeBron James just seven times in his career (a matchup that James leads 5-2), Miller hasn’t taken into account how dominant the 41-year-old was in his prime.
It is natural for former players to have a limited sample-size for their comparison. Like Kenny Smith admitted that he felt Jordan was the most complete player the Earth has ever seen, simply due to what he signified to the fans in his era.
Therefore, it is natural for former players to jump to slightly questionable conclusions when it comes to the GOAT debate. But will this debate ever truly have a right answer? Let us know what you think in the comments section.
