Magic Johnson: No one is close to Michael

[bwink23]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6hh9gIXT5o

[Yung D-Will]

Lol clearly he forgot that he played alongside Kareem

[pauk]

He was talking about career accomplishments.... in that sense he is right... nobody is close to Michael....

But in terms of talent, productions, impact, domination Lebron is the closest thing we have to MJ...

[Da_Realist]

The 6 rings are important and not important at the same time. They're not important because you're stupid if you judge talent and impact solely by counting rings.

They are important because we've seen MJ come through time and time again. We've seen him dominate the game no matter who they were playing or what their motivation was. It's hard to win the first ring and even harder to win the next ones. We've seen him make up slights just to stay motivated and fight off complacency. We've heard about him challenging his team to practice hard even after winning titles. Every game he wanted to prove he was the best basketball player in the world playing on the best basketball team. Once he started winning, we saw him suit up the first game of the season and end it by winning a title six straight times.

Nothing seemed to stop him from winning. Jammed toe in the 91 Finals. He scored 46 points on a sprained ankle against Portland in a key Finals game the next year. Sprained wrist the next year. The Jordan Rules controversy. Gambling controversy. Stomach flu in 97. Increased pressure to match his unbelievable hype year after year. Injuries to key teammates like Pippen and Harper. Suspensions by Rodman. He kept winning. He wanted his 6th ring more than some guys wanted their first.

That's why 6 rings matters. Not just because it's 6, but because they symbolize what I just said above. It takes a lot to win one title, even more to win multiple, but to do what we saw MJ do would require so much mental strength, desire, fortitude, discipline and leadership.

Somebody can show the same winning 3 or 4. And somebody can win 7 or 8 and still not show it. So the number SIX isn't really important. That's just how many MJ won. You notice Magic said Kobe was nowhere close to MJ even though Kobe won 5 titles himself. Clearly Magic isn't ring counting either. He's talking about something else that Jon Barry completely doesn't get.

[bagelred]

Magic Johnson: No one is close to Michael

That's really sad. Jordan must be a lonely guy.

[Da_Realist]

That's really sad. Jordan must be a lonely guy.

Which I don't agree with. MJ is not in a league of his own. But Lebron isn't there...at least not yet. Let's see what happens over the next 5 years. One ring gets you invited to the party, but you're sitting at the kiddie table.

[TheFan]

In terms of career accomplishments, he may be right... but in terms of game, talent ,impact, skills, there are plethora of players in the same ballpark.

heck every era we have 4-5 MJs.

[QUIZZLE]

In terms of career accomplishments, he may be right... but in terms of game, talent ,impact, skills, there are plethora of players in the same ballpark.

heck every era we have 4-5 MJs.

You sure you just said that?

[iamgine]

So everyone's open to Michael?

[pauk]

The 6 rings are important and not important at the same time. They're not important because you're stupid if you judge talent and impact solely by counting rings.

They are important because we've seen MJ come through time and time again. We've seen him dominate the game no matter who they were playing or what their motivation was. It's hard to win the first ring and even harder to win the next ones. We've seen him make up slights just to stay motivated and fight off complacency. We've heard about him challenging his team to practice hard even after winning titles. Every game he wanted to prove he was the best basketball player in the world playing on the best basketball team. Once he started winning, we saw him suit up the first game of the season and end it by winning a title six straight times.

Nothing seemed to stop him from winning. Jammed toe in the 91 Finals. He scored 46 points on a sprained ankle against Portland in a key Finals game the next year. Sprained wrist the next year. The Jordan Rules controversy. Gambling controversy. Stomach flu in 97. Increased pressure to match his unbelievable hype year after year. Injuries to key teammates like Pippen and Harper. Suspensions by Rodman. He kept winning. He wanted his 6th ring more than some guys wanted their first.

That's why 6 rings matters. Not just because it's 6, but because they symbolize what I just said above. It takes a lot to win one title, even more to win multiple, but to do what we saw MJ do would require so much mental strength, desire, fortitude, discipline and leadership.

Somebody can show the same winning 3 or 4. And somebody can win 7 or 8 and still not show it. So the number SIX isn't really important. That's just how many MJ won. You notice Magic said Kobe was nowhere close to MJ even though Kobe won 5 titles himself. Clearly Magic isn't ring counting either. He's talking about something else that Jon Barry completely doesn't get.

In that sense i agree with you absolutely...

But i just mean if you only take a look at what the players can do on the court at their best... even for one night... seeing their talent-skill, productions, leadership, iq, domination, versatility on both ends of the floor as perimeter players..... surely then you must agree after Jordan we havent seen anybody being a better all-round/overall individual player than Lebron (yes i said all-round, Jordan was an amazing all-round player)... But their gamestyles are not entirely similar tho, Lebron is alot bigger and is more leaning towards the likes of Pippen (defensively) and Magic/Oscar (offensively)

[TheFan]

You sure you just said that?

yup, i said in terms of talent... remember Jordan is not only Jordan the player, Jordan is a combination of dots in a checklist.

Jordan = super talented player + great teammates + right coach + avoiding injuries... etc.

There are other super talented players who didn't have the teammates, or the coach, or wasn't lucky with injuries, etc, etc.

For example, is a player like, lets say, Prime Tracy McGrady too behind of Jordan in terms of raw talent? or what about Grant Hill?

Jordan is a super talented player that won 6 championships and 5 MVPs, 6 MVPs finals, thats what separate him from the rest.

[Da_Realist]

In that sense i agree with you absolutely...

But i just mean if you only take a look at what the players can do on the court at their best... even for one night... seeing their talent-skill, productions, leadership, iq, domination, versatility on both ends of the floor..... surely then you must agree after Jordan we havent seen anybody being a better all-round/overall individual player than Lebron (yes i said all-round, Jordan was an amazing all-round player)

Yeah, but for one night, you open the door to many, many people that can play on a high enough level.

With Lebron, the question is... How badly does he want to dominate the league? Cause it's going to take more than just talent. What he was able to do this year, he won't be able to get away with going forward. At least not with the same success rate. He'll need to stay ahead of the curve. He'll need to compensate for when he loses half a step. He'll somehow need to shake off how happy he is now and act like he never won a thing.

We want to see how badly he wants to win now that he's already won. Excuses are a lot easier to make when you already have a ring. How long is that parade gonna last? Until next January?? Or is he back in the gym with something to prove the day after? He's already one of the greats. To be among the greatest of them, he still has some questions to answer.

[Heilige]

The 6 rings are important and not important at the same time. They're not important because you're stupid if you judge talent and impact solely by counting rings.

They are important because we've seen MJ come through time and time again. We've seen him dominate the game no matter who they were playing or what their motivation was. It's hard to win the first ring and even harder to win the next ones. We've seen him make up slights just to stay motivated and fight off complacency. We've heard about him challenging his team to practice hard even after winning titles. Every game he wanted to prove he was the best basketball player in the world playing on the best basketball team. Once he started winning, we saw him suit up the first game of the season and end it by winning a title six straight times.

Nothing seemed to stop him from winning. Jammed toe in the 91 Finals. He scored 46 points on a sprained ankle against Portland in a key Finals game the next year. Sprained wrist the next year. The Jordan Rules controversy. Gambling controversy. Stomach flu in 97. Increased pressure to match his unbelievable hype year after year. Injuries to key teammates like Pippen and Harper. Suspensions by Rodman. He kept winning. He wanted his 6th ring more than some guys wanted their first.

That's why 6 rings matters. Not just because it's 6, but because they symbolize what I just said above. It takes a lot to win one title, even more to win multiple, but to do what we saw MJ do would require so much mental strength, desire, fortitude, discipline and leadership.

Somebody can show the same winning 3 or 4. And somebody can win 7 or 8 and still not show it. So the number SIX isn't really important. That's just how many MJ won. You notice Magic said Kobe was nowhere close to MJ even though Kobe won 5 titles himself. Clearly Magic isn't ring counting either. He's talking about something else that Jon Barry completely doesn't get.

That was beautiful man.

In terms of desire and wanting to win championships, who comes closest to Jordan in that department? This is out of all the players you have watched.

[Heilige]

Yeah, but for one night, you open the door to many, many people that can play on a high enough level.

With Lebron, the question is... How badly does he want to dominate the league? Cause it's going to take more than just talent. What he was able to do this year, he won't be able to get away with going forward. At least not with the same success rate. He'll need to stay ahead of the curve. He'll need to compensate for when he loses half a step. He'll somehow need to shake off how happy he is now and act like he never won a thing.

We want to see how badly he wants to win now that he's already won. Excuses are a lot easier to make when you already have a ring. How long is that parade gonna last? Until next January?? Or is he back in the gym with something to prove the day after? He's already one of the greats. To be among the greatest of them, he still has some questions to answer.

After Jordan would win a championship, how many days later would he be in the gym? Would it be a week right after winning? How long would he take off before getting back to training, working out, etc?

[cteach111]

The 6 rings are important and not important at the same time. They're not important because you're stupid if you judge talent and impact solely by counting rings.

They are important because we've seen MJ come through time and time again. We've seen him dominate the game no matter who they were playing or what their motivation was. It's hard to win the first ring and even harder to win the next ones. We've seen him make up slights just to stay motivated and fight off complacency. We've heard about him challenging his team to practice hard even after winning titles. Every game he wanted to prove he was the best basketball player in the world playing on the best basketball team. Once he started winning, we saw him suit up the first game of the season and end it by winning a title six straight times.

Nothing seemed to stop him from winning. Jammed toe in the 91 Finals. He scored 46 points on a sprained ankle against Portland in a key Finals game the next year. Sprained wrist the next year. The Jordan Rules controversy. Gambling controversy. Stomach flu in 97. Increased pressure to match his unbelievable hype year after year. Injuries to key teammates like Pippen and Harper. Suspensions by Rodman. He kept winning. He wanted his 6th ring more than some guys wanted their first.

That's why 6 rings matters. Not just because it's 6, but because they symbolize what I just said above. It takes a lot to win one title, even more to win multiple, but to do what we saw MJ do would require so much mental strength, desire, fortitude, discipline and leadership.

Somebody can show the same winning 3 or 4. And somebody can win 7 or 8 and still not show it. So the number SIX isn't really important. That's just how many MJ won. You notice Magic said Kobe was nowhere close to MJ even though Kobe won 5 titles himself. Clearly Magic isn't ring counting either. He's talking about something else that Jon Barry completely doesn't get.

uhh, if Miami wins 6-8 rings then the discussion of GOAT is over.

It's not about the intangible aspects, but about who does the most heavy lifting for their team and winning those rings for the longest period of time.

The flaw with Jordan's legacy is that he retired for 2 years... 2 years of what ifs. He could have had 7 or 8 rings, he could have had 6-7 MVPs, but it was his choice to leave that door open. It doesn't matter what his reasons are.. all that matters is that he left the door open for someone else.

Kobe doesn't get talked about as much because the truth is that as a talent, hes not close to guys like Shaq, Jordan, Wilt, etc. Lebron is closer though and his potential to achieving the kind of GOAT legacy he is capable of is wide open.

He's a guy who plays 90% of the games every year unlike Shaq, who displayed the kind of grit that one needs to win a title this year like MJ used to, who's displayed more of a winning game compared to Wilt.

The odds are, he will outlast MJ in longevity and if I had to bet, he will definitely match, or exceed Jordan's MVP count. The potential for winning a boatload of rings is there now.

I honestly didn't think they were gonna win this year, but the potential that James is capable of in terms of passing every legend in the history of the game is there.