Why LeBron James will never be better than Michael Jordan

      I've never been the biggest LeBron fan. I'll admit that right from the start. It's not that I don't recognize his greatness.  Far from it.  But if I had to go back to the beginning,  there was always someone that I always rather watch play than him. When he first came out of high school,  I would get in arguments about how Carmelo and Dwyane Wade would have better careers.  I was wrong but so what.  Even now, as I acknowledge that he's the greatest player on the earth currently playing,  I'd still rather watch D. Rose or Durant play. But the argument I'm tired of having,  usually with younger dudes, about who is better: LeBron James or Michael Jordan?  In my mind it's not even a conversation we should be having.
       I remember reading in Bill Simmons' The Book of Basketball, him paraphrasing Larry Bird and saying that the toughest battle for an athlete is the battle for our memories.  He says that no matter what,  eventually the game passes everyone by and people stop remembering how great you were simply because they haven't seen you in a while. That's why I feel like the only people who would argue that Bron is better than Mike are young guys who know Jordan from his gymshoes mostly, and only have seen his career highlights on YouTube.  Each and every time I argue with one of these young boys about it,  I end up screaming like a maniac, saying things like "Look lil dude, you have no idea what you're talking about.  Mike was the best to ever do it! Trust me, I was there I saw the whole thing! "
          I actually gave LeBron a big compliment a couple of years ago.  I was watching him bulldoze his way through the league and realized that he has hit that level of elite greatness.  The kind of greatness that you don't question or compare. The same way we don't argue about the greatness of Magic, or Bird, or Bill Russell,  we can't argue LeBron James greatness.  I said we do him a disservice by comparing him to other stars, rather than just appreciating him in his own right and acknowledging his place among the legends of the game.  I wanted to just leave it at that.  But since people want to make the Jordan comparison,  let me just breakdown real quick why there is no comparison.      I could point out the fact that LeBron has lost in 3 NBA finals,  while Jordan went 6 - 0, and never had to play a game 7. Or I could point out that LeBron feasts every night on a watered-down league where he has no physical equal,  where as Jordan played against the majority of the NBA'S 50 Greatest Players of all time and matched up against  an all star caliber shooting guard almost every night.  He is the reason several legends and Hall of Famers dont have rings. I could point out that LeBron has never had the greatest reputation for clutch play while you make a highlight video of only game winning shots by Jordan.  I could even break down how Jordan dominates LeBron in the shoe game and hasn't played in years.  All these would be too easy arguments to make.  So instead how about this: LeBron is kind of a douchebag. 
      I remember thinking that during his first stint in Cleveland where they were whooping the Bulls something awful,  and while standing on the sidelines LeBron James just started dancing.  I let it slide for a minute.  Then next thing I know he had launched into a full fledged choreographed routine with a teammate. He continued this brazenly nonchalant attitude until he and Joakim Noah exchanged words and had to be separated.  And I understood immediately why Noah was pissed. When you're dancing on the sidelines in the middle of a game,  it disrespects the game itself,  as well as your opponent.  I remember thinking Jordan would never act like that.  First off,  he respects the game too much.  And besides,  if he ever wanted to embarrass you, he did it with his play, not his sideline antics.
     From there I just noticed just a certain air of entitlement that LeBron has,  versus Jordan's legendary bloodthirstiness.  Not that I entirely blame LeBron.  If people tell you how great you are every day from age 15, you'd start to believe it too. Besides Mike, by all accounts is an asshole.  But that's the point.  Mike being a jerk never overshadowed his greatness on the court. Mike punched Steve Kerr in the face once, and because he's Michael freaking Jordan we let it slide by saying things like That Jordan is such a fiery competitor and Look how he motivated his teammates. I guess you can call dotting a team mate's eye, motivation.  But the point was at no point did Jordan's ways overshadow what he did on the court.  He was so great I believe he literally could've got away with murder.  One of the greatest sports highlights ever was him blatantly shoving Bryan Russell off him and draining the game winning jumper in the finals to win a 6th championship.  And as America, we all collectively instantly decided that we could ignore the obvious offensive foul. Mike always left you feeling like he may be an asshole but Man he's great.  LeBron always leaves you feeling like Man he's great but what a dickhead. 
     Whether he's dancing on the sidelines or jumping up in the middle of all star weekend claiming he's gonna do the dunk contest and conveniently forgetting he said it when the time comes,  he always does something that makes me overlook his greatness.  He took the easiest path to championship,  formed a super team with Wade and Bosh, and had his own tv special to announce it. Then when that super team lost half the finals it went to,  he goes back to Cleveland and forms another one.  Mike took dudes like Luc Longley and Randy Brown and won titles.  Now Bron is whining about how the season is too long and should be shorter.  Really?!? Mike would never say anything that soft. And that's why you'll never be him. And his sneakers are way fresher than yours.

Why the Chicago Bulls will never get rid of Kirk Hinrich

       Most people won't admit,  but serious sports fans know that there is a secret code when describing athletes.  For those that don't know,  take the opportunity to watch the NBA Draft.  Any draft. You will hear certain buzzwords that will translate into actually describing race. For most young black basketball players, you hear phrases like,  upside, tremendous athlete, great wingspan,  physical specimen.  If I close my eyes and listen to the analysis, 99% of the time I would correctly guess they were referring to a black player.       There also buzzwords used for white athletes too. They're usually described as smart, heady, all American type player,  coach on the floor,  hard working,  and my personal favorite,  he has all the intangibles.  I always take a little bit of offense to the buzzwords.  Black players never get credit for intelligent play or hard work.  White players get way too much credit. Over the last few years we have come up with advanced metrics to analyze players. Stats like true shooting percentage, plus/minus, and win shares are supposed to give you a clear picture of what exactly a player does contribute to the team and what he doesn't.  These stats are used to discredit a guy like Rudy Gay, who's athletic, can get you about 20 points a game, and just got finished playing for Team USA.  We can look at the stats and say, he scores, but he's not that efficient. So therefore he's not as good as it seems.             Which brings me to Kirk Hinrich.  On occasions where coaches and general managers need to justify a white guys place on the team, they throw out the numbers.  They say things like, "he does things that don't show up on the stat sheet", or "he is such a fiery competitor,  he just fights for everything out there". Phrases such as these have been used to describe Kirk Hinrich going into Bulls training camp this year.  

      Ever since we drafted the guy, I have been perplexed as to why coaches just seem to love him. His entire career he's been okay,  but never great.  He had maybe a season or two where he played above average.  But that was back in 2006 or 2007 or something like that.  He has clearly begun his decline,  and yet we keep resigning him. Understand that I am a lifelong basketball fan and I'm a die hard Bulls fan.  So I watch 82 games a season.  I'm not sure what Kirk brings to the team at this point. 
         He's lost a step when he didn't have a step to lose.  He's never been a ball handler who can break down a defense or wow you with his passing ability.  And he can't shoot.  I watched Kirk miss open 3 pointer after open 3 last year. In my opinion,  he is completely washed up and finished.  Anytime he plays over 20 minutes in a game,  he misses the next 3 games with a injury.  Some people will point to his defense but let me debunk that myth right now. 
     Can Hinrich play defense?  Yes. Is he a lock down defender capable of shutting down a team's high scoring guard? No. What he does on defense is this: He stays in front of you,  forces you to dribble towards other good defenders,  and gets a hand in your face when you shoot.  Good defense.  But night after night,  the guy he's guarding still gets about his average amount of points.  He just has to work a little bit harder for them.  A true lock down defender holds you to below your average. 
      So why do the Chicago Bulls bring him back year after year,  in lieu of someone like say D.J. Augustin who I could argue saved our season last year?  We will give up on athletic players in a heartbeat.  We will let guys go who are nowhere near as ineffective as Hinrich.  Year after year I watch the Bulls bring this guy back, with no clue of what he brings to the table other than being a "great locker room influence". I was discussing this very issue a couple of years ago when a friend of mine,  jokingly may have provided me with the answer.  We were discussing the fact that while we were at Bulls game,  it seemed as though white fans had a completely different view of Hinrich than we did. I threw out the question of why they support him so much.
     My friend puts on his quasi serious face and says the following: "White people love Kirk Hinrich.  When they look at him,  they see themselves in Kirk Hinrich.  John Paxson looks at Kirk and sees himself when he used to play. Like that's his son or something. " We had a good laugh about it and the phrase "White people see themselves in Kirk Hinrich" became something of a running joke.  Only over the years it got less and less funny.        

      The more I thought about it,  the more I think it's true.  A lot of the same descriptions people use on Hinrich,  like tough as nails,  and fiery competitor,  are the same way they talked about Paxson when he played.  Hinrich is beloved by white fans, generally speaking.  He is definitely beloved by the organization.  When we traded him away a few years ago,  I thought it was a good move. We had got most of the good basketball out of him, so let him decline on some other team. He promptly stunk up the court in Washington and Atlanta respectively. Then we brought him back two years later.  His first game back,  they stopped the player introductions to welcome him back with a video montage of his highlights.  I'm watching a highlight reel of layups and bounce passes and all that's going through my head is, "White people see themselves in Kirk Hinrich".
    I've made my peace with it,  as I do with the many things in the world that I can't control.  Kirk is going to retire a Chicago Bull. He's going to come out that last game,  thank us for the memories,  get his standing Caucasian ovation,  and ride off into the sunset.  Then we'll bring him back a year later for the jersey retirement ceremony like he was some franchise cornerstone.  We are going to watch as his number 12 jersey is raised to the rafters to sit next to guys like Jordan and Pippen.  Then he's going to either become associate vice-president of basketball operations or the coach or something and spend the rest of his days drafting guys just like him. This is going to happen. And when it does and you are asking yourself why, just remember,  it's because "White people see themselves in Kirk Hinrich. "