April 28, 2020: The LeBron Episode

As we roll into Episode 4 of The Last Dance, and honestly, the last 2 episodes are kind of blending in together for me, we saw the Bulls finally beat the Pistons and win their 1st NBA title in franchise history against the Lakers. Good times. We were introduced to Phil Jackson, and got a little background on him. We flipped back to early 1998 and the return of Pippen to the lineup. And oh yeah, the Vegas vacation that Rodman took at that point; don’t we all need one of those right about now? Anyways, yeah, not sure if it was in episode 3 or 4, but whatever… I wanted to zone in on something specific today.

I didn’t want to do this, but I can’t help myself. You know, the whole Lebron comparison thing, because honestly, there is no comparison. Everyone has different opinions about sports; I can respect most of them. However, anyone who thinks that Lebron is better than Jordan is an idiot; I instantly lose respect for that person. I mean, I guess it makes sense if you’re one of his cronies, or you’re getting paid to hype him up, but come on… does anybody really think that? Like I said, at that point, I don’t need to listen to anything else coming out of that person’s mouth. I have resisted the urge to engage with these idiots, seeing that there a plenty of people out there trying to set them straight, and knowing that my opinion is correct, and not caring what anybody else has to say on that topic. But here we go…

The time I’m zoning in on is after the 1990 season. The Bulls lost to the Pistons again; this time with their new head coach. Although it was 2 straight Eastern Conference Finals losses, it was 3 straight seasons being eliminated by them. It’s at this juncture where a decision was made. MJ’s decision at that point was to work harder; he decided to do everything he could do to improve his game, in this particular case, adding on weight in the offseason to deal with the beatings the Pistons passed out. It wasn’t just the physicalness; the biggest hurdle was mental for the rest of the Bulls team. And with MJ slowly and surely embracing the triangle offense, learning to trust his teammates, using his individual talents to make the entire team better, there was no quit. They decided that NOTHING would stop them; the results that followed speak for themselves. It was at this point in this other person’s career where another decision was made…

Yeah, instead of bearing down, he decided to hit the road; when the going gets tough… Yeah, Lebron took his talents to Dwyane Wade’s team in Miami, and organized another top level talent to join them. If you can’t beat them, join them. Then after that wore its course, he took his talents to Kyrie Irving’s team in Cleveland, and organized another top level talent to join them. Once that was over, he organized another top level talent to join him in LA; the Lakers are Anthony Davis’ team. You see a pattern here? You see the difference?

This was one of the first things I thought of when I saw MJ rededicate himself after another tough ending to the season; I thought yeah, this is the Lebron episode. This is the difference. This is why there is only one GOAT. This is why I know I’m right, and don’t need anybody to cosign that. I hope that more people, especially the young folks, would come to realize this through this 10 episode series; I realize that may never happen for some… and that’s OK. And now I see Lebron complimenting Isiah Thomas from the “east side” of Chicago after he ranked Jordan the 4th best player he played… haha. I know now, that if that was lebron at that juncture back in 1990, that he would have ran to Detroit to join Isiah and squad, instead of sticking it out… just like he did multiple times in his own career. That’s cool… trust me, it’s all good. I’m just glad I’m from Chicago. I’m just glad I lived through all of this. Only one baby…