Jordan played with all stars and HOF’ers and against guys who couldn’t make an NBA roster today. Lebron puts a bunch of homeless and/or oft injured guys on his back and goes to the finals every year and gets to play against the greatest “team” (Warriors) in the modern era. Jordan was great and ahead of his time but Lebron is a transcendent athlete who has the physical tools and talent unlike anyone else who has ever played the game.
A bunch of homeless? Let's see:
* Dwyane Wade, 12-time All-Star
* Chris Bosh, 11-time All-Star
* Kyrie Irving, five-time All-Star
* Kevin Love, five-time All-Star
At least one of those guys will be in the HOF before too long.
You said you watched a lot of Jordan. Then you undoubtedly remember the term "Michael Jordan and the Jordanaires." For the first several seasons of his career, he was surrounded by marginal talent. Many used less flattering terms. Stiffs is what many called the guys Jordan played alongside.
The rub on the Bulls was, you stop Jordan, you stop the Bulls. By 1997-98, the rub on the Bulls was still, you stop Jordan, you stop the Bulls.
By the year the Bulls finally broke through and beat the Pistons en route to their first title, Jordan was surrounded by zero All-Stars and only one player who'd ever been selected, Scottie Pippen, who had exactly ONE under his belt. Pippen's greatest notoriety at the time was a G7 migraine against the Pistons.
Finals appearances, titles, Series MVP:
James -- eight, three titles, three MVPs
Jordan -- six, six titles, six MVPs
No one dominated the Finals like Jordan.
Also, are you going to argue that if Jordan hadn't retired prematurely in 1993 and 1999 that the Bulls wouldn't have added two more titles to the shelf? I certainly wouldn't have betted against it.
Career stats:
James 27.2 pts, 50.4% FG, 7.4 reb, 7.2 assists
Jordan 30.1 pts, 49.7% FG, 6.2 reb, 5.3 assists. He shot nearly as well as James and he was operating from the 2 position.
* Jordan was 40 years when adding to those final stats. James turned 33 in December.
Defense:
James -- five-time All-Defensive first team
Jordan -- 1988 Defensive Player of the Year, nine-time All-Defensive first team, tied for most ever
The League:
The league that Jordan played in included Magic, Bird, Erving, Abdul-Jabbar, Isiah, Malone, Olajuwon, Ewing, Robinson, Barkley, Drexler, Stockton.
James' league? Kobe, Duncan, Nowitzki, Durant, Curry, Westbrook. A good league but definitely not on par with the NBA of 20-30 years ago.
Lebron is a great player, a guy capable of strapping a team on his back, although he wasn't as willing earlier in his career. And, yes, he is transcendent.
Jordan is the greatest player and competitor of all time, a 6-6, 220-pound shooting guard capable of taking over a game at will and a cold-blooded assassin. There has never been a more feared player with the ball in his hands and the game on the line.
Jordan wins.