Nick Wright is, arguably, one of the biggest advocates for LeBron James. For years, the sports analyst has been trying to defend and elevate No. 23 to a status surpassing Michael Jordan himself. While Nick has been mostly unsuccessful in these attempts, it hasn’t stooped him from trying.
Following the 2020 Championship celebrations, he pulled out one of his harshest MJ takes yet, trying to show that the Bulls superstar isn’t nearly as “perfect or “untouchable” as people make him out to be.
“I’ve been having this debate for three years on television, and I’ve never wanted to do what I’m about to do. To quote the great Michelle Obama, I always try to go high when others go low. I have always tried to run a positive campaign… as opposed to what I’m about to have to do right now: which is tell you what the media doesn’t want you to know about Michael Jordan. Because here are some facts:
Before Scottie Pippen got there, a total and complete loser. Never even above .500 in the regular season. Larry Bird. The best player when he walked into the league. You know how many times Michael beat Larry in the playoffs? I don’t mean in a series, I mean in a single playoff game. The answer to that is zero.
In Jordan’s entire career, there were three superteams in the East: the Celtics, the Pistons, and the Magic. His career playoff series record against those three teams is 2-6.
Speaking of the East, once the Pistons were gone, do you know how many teams in the East — Jordan’s entire title run — had more than one Hall-of-Famer? One, the team Michael was on. He had Pippen, and then he had Pippen and Rodman.
And then the last point, which is we pretend Jordan’s career is six years long. Everyone ate on Michael’s watch. We just pretend it didn’t happen. Larry won, Kareem won, Magic won, Isiah won, Hakeem won, Drexler won, Shaq won, Kobe won, Robinson won, and Duncan won.”
I didn’t want to have to do this, but my colleagues have left me no choice. I present, “What the Media Doesn’t Want You to Know about Michael Jordan.” pic.twitter.com/VrxdLYj53O
— nick wright (@getnickwright) October 13, 2020
The main points of Nick’s argument are truth — driving home that Michael Jordan was never a perfect basketball player. He needed good teammates and failed a lot before he succeeded. To claim Jordan was perfect would be just flat-out wrong.
On the flip side, LeBron isn’t a model of perfection either. In fact, every point Nick made against MJ could be used against LeBron as well.
https://twitter.com/MjsGoat/status/1316054841525927936
When comparing Jordan to LeBron, several advantages can be seen. MJ averaged more points per game in the regular-season and playoffs, and has more Championships, more MVPs, more Finals MVPs, more All-Defense selections, and over 4 times the amount of scoring titles than LeBron.
While LeBron edges out MJ in passing and rebounding, the Bulls legend has the edge for almost everything else.
Nonetheless, the debates will continue, especially with the greatness James has shown us recently. And while he may not be ahead of Jordan yet (in the eyes of some), if anybody is capable of surpassing him, it’s The King.
