LeBron James vs. Michael Jordan: The Early Battle

LeBron James followed normal rookie protocol.  He started off with a good season, but something that would be relatively a bad season by the time his career was done.

Unfortunately, for the rest of the NBA, he went through that "learning" period better than anybody else in the NBA.

In his rookie season, James averaged 20.9 ppg, 5.5 rpg and 5.9 apg.  That was chump change compared to the wrath that he would unleash to this point in his career.

He has bumped up his career averages to 27.3 ppg, 6.9 rpg and 6.6 apg.  Very good stats that 99 percent of the NBA would love to have.  But not LeBron.

This season he has set career highs with 8.0 rpg and 7.4 apg.  He's also scoring 30.8 ppg, his second highest mark in his career.

Add that to the fact that he has never played with a complete team around him, and do you have the makings of the greatest player of all time?

If you look at the fifth season that Michael Jordan had, (32.5 ppg, 8 rpg, 8 apg) Jordan had a slightly better season than LeBron.

Jordan had Scottie Pippen (this is before the Dennis Rodman joined the team), but LeBron has Zydrunas Ilgauskas, an extremely tall center who can dominate the post.

If you look comparitavely, Jordan had a more impressive career than LeBron has had through five seasons.

None of this accounts for the 90's where Jordan completely tore it up.  And it doesn't acount for the 10's where LeBron will likely dominate the NBA in the fashion that Jordan did.

LeBron is definetly close enough to give Jordan a call, because he is definetly on Jordan's block.  But will his car break down and never get to Jordan's house?

Only time will tell.

I'm Joe W. 

Note: I used points, rebounds, and assists as my main barometer as to how these players match up because it shows how good a player can score the ball, how good he can go up and grab the ball against other players, and how good a player can spread the wealth to others on his team.