Lebron vs. MJ?...No contest

Come one! Come all and hear the story of the king who lives in the shadow...of his airness...

A shadow that he will not only ever get out of, but one he will never outlast.

Ever since he was a junior in high school, Lebron James has been compared to the man who is considered by many to be the greatest basketball player of all-time...fellow Nike posterchild, Michael Jordan.

Fair? Not at all. However, there are many critics out there who feel that not only is the greatest player of our time, but are also saying LeBron is one of the greatest players ever...even better than the man pictured to his right in the above pic.

When James rides off into the sunset, he may very well be one of the best (he clearly is one of the best today), but mark my words....he will NEVER be as good as Michael Jordan....

Let's compare the numbers shall we...because we all know the statistics don't lie....

Now I know LeBron started out a couple years younger than MJ, but since he's so much better that shouldn't mean much...

Through 1st 6 NBA seasons....

Jordan.....32.8PPG...6.3RPG...6.0APG...2.8SPG...1.1BPG

James.....27.5PPG....7.0APG...6.7APG...1.8SPG...0.9BPG

The King does hold a slight edge in the rebounding and assist category. However, if you compare the defense, Jordan averages a full steal more per game. LeBron is obviously no slouch when it comes to D; he was named to the All-Defensive team this year...Unfortunately for this competition, however, Jordan was named to 3 All-Defensive teams during his first 6 years and won Defensive Player of the Year in 1988.

As far as points are concerned, Jordan not only averaged more than 5 more PPG during his first 6 years, but also scored over 1,000 more points than your King....

Fun fact: Jordan missed 64 games during the 85-86 season with a broken foot so he managed to accomplish this feat in 45 less games....

LeBron did accomplish something that Jordan did not in his first 6 seasons by reaching the NBA Finals so score one for LeBron...but outdoing MJ stops right about....here

The King reached the finals in his 4th NBA season which is an incredible feat, but failed to take the Cavs to the playoffs in his first two seasons in a weak Eastern Conference....

But he had no support, right? Neither did MJ when he walked onto a 27-55 Bulls team..the Bulls made the playoffs every year after that until 1999...the first year of his 2nd retirement..

Not enough for you? Fine....let's go to the individual accomplishments....

Through 6 full NBA Seasons...Jordan made the All-Star team 6 times....LeBron made it 5 times...Both men won an MVP once and also won Rookie of the Year honors...Jordan made first team all-NBA 4 times...LeBron 3...Michael won 2 All-Star Game MVP's...LeBron 1...LeBron led the league in scoring once...by his sixth season Jordan had the scoring title for four years running (a remarkable feat he continued to pull off until 1993, because he retired)..

Now by what you have seen above...i'd be a dope to say LeBron is anything short of great...all i'm saying is Jordan is just that much better....

For all you Kobe lovers...he never averaged more than 20 points per game until his 4th season so he is irrelevant to this conversation...maybe until he wins two more championships to equal Jordan's 6....and let's be honest...Shaq won 3 of those...Kobe was merely Scottie Pippen....

So, LeBron...while your still in hiding because you got posterized at Nike camp...perhaps you can check this video out

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

Of course, this is all mere opinion. LeBron still has plenty of career left and may manage to squeeze out a couple titles before he's done.. but until he does so, don't compare the man to Michael.. like I said before...the statistics don't lie....

Just another quick fun fact...in his 7th NBA season, MJ won his 1st NBA Championship...pressure's on LeBron...

kudos to basketball-reference.com for the stats