NBA Finals 2011: Why LeBron James Will Never Be Michael Jordan

As the final seconds ticked away against Dallas, LeBron James was nowhere to be found. He wasn’t on the inbound pass. He was chasing down a ball that Wade fumbled over the half court line, and he wasn’t there to make the last desperate three point attempt. He was somewhere on the court, swarmed in double coverage and a forgotten man.

As critics have lined up in droves to pinpoint LeBron James’ issue, we have been reminded of one simple fact: this would have never happened to Michael.

As LeBron inches closer to his first NBA title, there are already the protectors of Michael Jordan’s legacy coming out of the woodwork. It’s those guys who are quick to point out that James, no matter how gifted he is, or how easily he ripped through the Eastern Conference  showing the grit and determination that we all knew he was capable of, that he would never be Michael.

The critics and the haters, even those who consider themselves to be fair and balanced in their basketball IQ have used it as a weapon. It’s the great equalizer. No matter how great LeBron seems to be, there is only a level he can achieve and he’ll never achieve more. He can never be better than Michael.

With all due respect to Michael, there are arguments valid to say that there will never be another Michael. Michael was never quiet in a fourth quarter of any meaningful game, or at least none we can remember. His decision making? Always sound. His ability to be clutch in big moment? Unmatched. But LeBron’s failure to ever be Michael has more to do with us than it has to do with him. We’ve created the myth. LeBron is just being crushed by it.

In all fairness to LeBron, he’s never tried to be Michael, never claimed to be better and never wanted to steal his thunder. LeBron, no matter what you think, has always wanted to be LeBron and have that star shine bright. Having your star held against anyone’s cheapens the feeling. LeBron knows that.

In fairness to both men we have trouble getting out of the way of our own narrative. We love to see a career crash and burn, fall short, or exceed our wildest expectations as long as the story is good. With LeBron, the better story is his failure because Michael Jordan and his story belongs to us. He’s our connection and we won’t let some new guy come in and take it away.

I’m from Chicago, born and raised. My father was never so much a die hard Bulls fan as he was a die hard fan of Michael Jordan’s Bulls. Like plenty, he disappeared when the dynasty broke up and laments the day that Krause ever said “organizations win championships.” My father has the hardest time letting Jordan go.

Every conversation we have about sports, hoops, winning; it inevitably comes back to Jordan. As Rose has put on a show at times in the playoffs I called my dad and heard: “I mean he’s good but someone was asking if he were as good as Michael, and I said ‘no. No way. He’s not in the same league.” By the way I’m sure no one was asking him anything, and certainly not that question. But if you bring it up that way it makes you look less petty. It’s the same way you avoid looking vein. “Someone was asking me how I got incredibly good looking, and I was like ‘what?” (By the way, no one has ever asked me how I got so incredibly good looking. I usually just get asked “have you always been a husky guy?”)

Asking that question about Rose at all is a discredit to Rose or anyone else being compared to Jordan or any athlete. I know. It’s what we do. But it’s not about Jordan. It’s about what they signified to us.

During the Jordan era my father had a difficult time personally. My mother spent most of that time (and the time before and after) in and out of hospitals for various reasons, putting a strain on our lives emotionally and financially.

He worked a full time job that paid him the minimum a full-time office job could. He struggled to make ends meet and often couldn’t.  He felt stuck. He often felt like he wasn’t his best, or couldn't give his best. He seemed to feel like he had to settle. I’ll never know what it was like for him, and I’ll never want to.

During those years my dad had a deep fondness and admiration for Jordan. I always thought it was strictly sports speaking. I see now that my father needed Jordan. He was a ray of hope. Someone to live vicariously through.

Jordan was always at his best, he constantly overcame adversity and he had ultimate respect from his peers. He was everything my father felt he wasn’t. Jordan got him through those tough years and my father, loyal as he was, has stayed true to him.

Not everyone has the sort of relationship to their heroes that my father did with Jordan, but everyone shares something with their heroes.

LeBron isn’t Michael. He wasn’t the face of a booming league, he wasn’t the perfect pitchman in a time where athletes began to dominate what we buy. But it’s no reason for our hate. LeBron didn’t do anything to us. He’s never asked to be Jordan and plenty of his indiscretions were on par with Michael (Michael was often immature and spoiled). But we idolize our heroes because they are ours. The new guard gets rejected because it isn’t our guard.

Our heroes are judged by what they meant to us as much as they are judged by what they accomplished. Our admittance that someone might infringe upon that legacy will force us to be defend, repel and reject them out right.

LeBron’s greatness for many infringes upon Jordan’s greatness, Kobe’s status, the Celtics legacy, the Bulls legacy and when you combine that with some unfavorable personality traits and questionable decisions it isn’t what causes our resentment. It’s what validates it.

My father will never love LeBron and I understand why. He’ll never have the relationship that him and Jordan shared. For those that love LeBron it’s because it’s his generation. In 50 years when those who were alive and coherent to see Jordan are fewer and far between there were be a new school of people who might proclaim LeBron the greatest. He will have been their hero.

But on par, strictly in the story sense that we measure both the greatness of LeBron and Michael, there will never be another Michael.

His timing, the challenges that he faced and overcame in the order that he did, against the people that he did will never be matched because it wasn’t even up to Michael to determine. It was fact and Jordan just happened to live it. His ability to win was magnified by the storybook chances he got to prove it.

It’s why the critics of LeBron have taken delight in his disappearance in the fourth quarter of the Finals, and through 48 minutes of Game 4. Our hatred, our wish for LeBron to remain a peg below Jordan is granted. Our argument for Jordan’s superiority is safe. It won’t be threatened by LeBron anytime soon.

LeBron, no matter what he does will never have that timing so, right or wrong, he will never be looked at the same way.

I’ll always be a Jordan guy because he was my guy, and there are too many people who were around to make Jordan “their guy” for LeBron to get past it anytime soon.