When it comes to ranking the NBA’s all-time greats, championships are probably the most important accolade one can capture.
So for LeBron James, it only makes sense that for him to surpass Michael Jordan as the GOAT, he’ll have to surpass him in rings as well.
Unfortunately for LeBron, MJ went 6-0 in the Finals for his career, meaning that James is still a pair of titles short of Jordan’s impressive mark.
Obviously, LeBron will look to get a little closer as he finishes out his career, but 7x champion Robert Horry once said that James doesn’t even need to match Jordan in that category to call himself the best.
TMZ: “Do you think LeBron needs to surpass Jordan’s ring count?”
Horry: “No cause that don’t mean anything.”
TMZ: “Really? What about the Finals record, 6-0 vs. 3-5?”
Horry: “That don’ mean anything that’s why it’s a team sport… they measure great players by how many championships they win when that’s the stupidest thing ever. That’s like saying Karl Malone and Charles Barkley are not great players. All these others idiots who don’t play basketball and who have never played basketball wanna judge a guy’s greatness by his number of championships. They’re idiots.”
“It’s a team sport”
– 7x Champion Robert Horry on if LeBron needs to pass MJ on ring count pic.twitter.com/Yn13zWBPE0
— ²³ (@SpeakContext) August 28, 2022
As a 7x champ himself, Horry isn’t speaking as someone who failed to win at the NBA level. In fact, he played a huge role in many of those title runs and completed a career that will stand the test of time.
If he, of all people, says championships shouldn’t be used to measure greatness, perhaps we should listen. For as long as I can remember, fans and analysts have started comparisons between players by looking at their playoff success — but that doesn’t always tell the whole story.
Unlike many sports today, basketball is (and will always be) a team activity. As great as any individual player may be, they will need help from teammates if they want to win games consistently.
So how can you blame LeBron for having fewer rings than Jordan when there are so many other variables involved? Instead of focusing on team achievements perhaps we should focus more on individual stats, records, and skill sets, more than anything else.
