Bill Laimbeer settles LeBron James vs. Michael Jordan debate
Former 'Bad Boy' also discusses whether he's still interested in making the coaching jump to the NBA, and why his Pistons teams connected so well with Detroit fans
Marlowe Alter
It took Michael Jordan and his Chicago Bulls four years to topple the “Bad Boys” Detroit Pistons, but they finally vanquished their nemesis and went on to win six NBA championships.
Jordan was crowned the greatest basketball player ever, and everyone went on their way.
Then along came perhaps the world’s most-hyped athlete ever in LeBron James.
Somehow, James has lived up to -- and exceeded -- the preposterous expectations placed on him as a teenager.
Now, it’s a debate that comes up often on radio and television shows and social media, and will likely never, ever die:
Who is better? Michael Jordan or LeBron James?
Bill Laimbeer, beloved enforcer of the “Bad Boys,” gave his answer, which shouldn’t surprise you.
“I’ll take Lebron James, absolutely,” Laimbeer said to host Etan Thomas on “The Rematch” podcast earlier this month (listen below). “He’s 6-8, 285 (James is listed at 250 pounds). Runs like the wind, jumps out of the gym. Phenomenal leader since he’s been 12 years old. Understood when he came into the league how to involve his teammates from the start. And you can’t guard him. You can’t double-team, he’s too big, he powers through everything. Michael was a guard. Yea, he was 6-6, but he wasn’t a real thick and strong guard. It took him a lot of years to learn how to involve his teammates in order to win championships. Don’t fault him for that, it’s a learning experience. But we’ve never seen anybody like LeBron James physically. He just bullies you.
“LeBron can do anything. Michael couldn’t get all the rebounds. He couldn’t be the assist man like LeBron James can. He was very focused on scoring, a deadly assassin, but the rest of the part of his game, LeBron James is better than Michael Jordan."
This isn’t the first time Laimbeer has stated his affinity for James over Jordan. Two years ago, he appeared on the “Dan Patrick Show” with a similar opinion.
Related:
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Laimbeer, of course, is what some might call, slightly biased, having been bitter rivals with Jordan’s Bulls in the late 1980s and early '90s.
The Pistons ended the Bulls’ season in the playoffs in 1988-90, including the Eastern Conference Finals in ’89 and ’90 en route to back-to-back titles.
Chicago, led by Jordan and Scottie Pippen, finally swept its adversary to the north in ’91, sparking its first three-peat.
A quick look at the per game stats in the regular season: Jordan averaged 30.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 2.3 steals, 0.8 blocks and 2.7 turnovers over 1,072 games and 15 seasons.
In 14 seasons, James has averaged 27.1 points, 7.3 rebounds, 7 assists, 1.6 steals, 0.8 blocks and 3.4 turnovers over 1,061 games.
Jordan has five MVPs and six championship rings. James has four MVPs and three rings.
For now, the Jordan vs. James comparison is a fun debate topic, but it’s silly to make any conclusive arguments at this stage. (Sorry to burst your bubble, but we'll never actually know who was better, because they never faced each other).
For one, James is still only 32 years old, and seemingly has a chunk of great years left in his career.
And two, and most importantly, James entered the league after Jordan retired so they played in different eras. More than that, the game James stars in today has evolved into essentially a different sport than the one Jordan dominated.
Both sides are steadfast in their belief that there is only one right answer.
That is unlikely to change, no matter how James' career ends.
Related:
To Michael Jordan worshippers and LeBron James haters: MJ had bad games too!
Windsor: Cavaliers' comeback proves LeBron James is best baller ever
Laimbeer happy in WNBA: For those opposed to the Stan Van Gundy regime with the Pistons, don’t get any ideas that Laimbeer will come save them should Van Gundy fail.
Some have long-thought Laimbeer, now in his fifth season as the head coach of the WNBA’s New York Liberty (where Isiah Thomas is team president), would make a successful NBA head coach if he were ever given the opportunity.
He said his time “has passed” two years ago, and he didn’t’ sound all that interested on this podcast.
“At one point in my life, I probably would’ve liked to do it," Laimbeer said. "I thought I’d be very successful at it, but as you get older, okay, the women’s league, you play in the summer time, you have the winters' off. I live in Florida, I fish and play golf. It’s very simple in the off-season as far as, the players all go overseas, you can’t really have any individual workouts. And the talent level in college is not where it is in the men. There’s only a finite number of players you have to watch, maybe 20 total for the draft, so that’s not overwhelming. So it really is a good lifestyle, but it’s fun. The players really compete hard and I enjoy it.”
Laimbeer is ostensibly shunned from the NBA, perhaps because he irritated so many during his playing days.
Laimbeer coached the now-defunct Detroit Shock to three titles in 2002-09.
Love connection: Laimbeer spoke with fervor when asked about why the "Bad Boys" connected so deeply with fans in Michigan.
“They are tremendous sports fans. ... It was the way we were winning, and don’t take any prisoners. It just kind of generated an entire group of fan base. We taught them about basketball. There was no really winning basketball teams before, we taught them about basketball. Behind us came the Fab Five of Michigan, they had their own chip on their shoulders. But it was a fun time, and it was an emotional time I think is what really drove a lot of it, was the raw passion and emotion of our team carried over in the fan base, and they had one heck of a ride.”
How Isiah Thomas became the greatest Detroit Piston ever
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Contact Marlowe Alter: malter@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @MarloweAlter.