Bigger Than Jordan?
If you asked me what LeBron James would need to do to surpass Michael Jordan’s excellence, I would say something like “better three point shooting.” But via FreeDarko, Ray Allen has something else in mind:
“Mike paved the way for all of us to open up the endorsement door,” said Celtics star Ray Allen, another Jordan Brand athlete. “But the one thing that Mike never was is political. I think in today’s era, the NBA player has an even greater podium if he chooses to use it. And with Barack Obama being the first black president, it’s a great forum. I think that would separate him from anybody who’s done this. … It’s great to be a basketball player, but to transcend sports is a big responsibility. If he were able to pull that off — if he wants to pull that off — I think that would set him apart.”
I think there’s something to that. Obviously, I doubt anyone would particularly care what LeBron thinks about negotiating with Iran, and a certain number of people in Hollywood tend to push political engagement to the point where it’s annoying. But LeBron, like a lot of athletes, is actually in a position to offer an interesting perspective on wealth and poverty and economic opportunity in the United States.
Of course for all I know what LeBron’s concluded from that perspective is that marginal tax rates on the wealthy ought to be low….
52 Responses to “Bigger Than Jordan?”
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March 30th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Pass Jordan? How about 7 finals MVPs?
March 30th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
I am giddy with anticipation, because it worked so well for Barkley.
March 30th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
LeBron shot 40% in February and 39.5% in March from 3 point range. While taking more than 5 per game. That’s not just passable, that’s very, very good 3 pt shooting. Let’s see if he keeps it up, or if it is just an aberration.
March 30th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Maybe he would be interested in marginal tax rates given that the most famous sports to politics crossover was/is Jack Kemp.
March 30th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
How about not be a giant douche bag.
March 30th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
How about 7 finals MVPs?
That’s only because he never had to go up against Hank Finkel.
March 30th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3398947&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab5pos2
James is too contemplative for politics. Gotta lead from the gut. He’d get nowhere with an unwillingness to talk out his ass.
March 30th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
“Republicans buy shoes, too.”
March 30th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
zach brings up the relevant anecdote. jordan was apolitical by design; he was far too concerned about his corporate image to take any controversial stands on politics (either left or right).
it seems unlikely to me that james, who self-consciously models his career after jordan’s, would take a substantial risk that has basically now upside.
March 30th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
jack kemp? how about bill bradley?
March 30th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
adding that jordan’s development (in partnership with nike and others, of course) of his persona as a “brand” may be one of the biggest developments in late-20th-century capitalism. everyone from oprah to tom cruise to lebron james has followed jordan’s lead. of course, it was interesting last night that lebron james didn’t have much of an answer to the question: “what does someone get when they’re buy the lebron james brand?” jordan would have had a much better answer.
still not as good as the master, lebron…
March 30th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
“jack kemp? how about bill bradley?”
jim bunning?
March 30th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
Bradley, hmmmm, Bradley-Gephardt, top tax rate of 28%, I guess the Kemp Bradley thing might be arguable, but maybe if James wanted to be bigger than either of them he could get the top rate to 20%.
March 30th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
“But LeBron, like a lot of athletes, is actually in a position to offer an interesting perspective on wealth and poverty and economic opportunity in the United States.”
A guy who was a lock to be a multi-millionaire by around age 15. That gives him about as good a persepctive on “wealth and poverty and economic opportunity” as your average spoiled rich kid. (btw, I like Lebron!)
We liberals should admit that famous rich liberals exist laregly because they have live on social approval in a way that non-famous rich people don’t. Advocating for increases in the top marginal tax rate is a really good gig for the likes of George Clooney and Warren Buffet. They take the correct position on the issue, but I don’t think these people have “an interesting perspective on wealth and poverty and economic opportunity in the United States.” Who knows? Maybe Lebron could become a governor someday. But it will have more to do with his fame and our crappy system of recruiting candidates than it will with his interesting persepctives. I’d prefer to vote for players like Adonal Foyle or Etan Thomas.
March 30th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
“jack kemp? how about bill bradley?”
jim bunning?
What, no Saint Ronnie? ” … tell them to go out there with all they’ve got and win just one for the … for the … for the … hey, will you guys fix that goddam TelePrompTer!”
March 30th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
Reagan never played sports, he just played an athlete.
March 30th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
And which athlete was that?
March 30th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
@mercurino
it seems unlikely to me that james, who self-consciously models his career after jordan’s, would take a substantial risk that has basically now upside.
I don’t know that that’s the case. Jordan’s brand was really very traditional – not much difference between his image and a pickup truck’s. He just brought it into a different arena. I think James is a lot more eccentric (Spike Lee was the only person to ever extract any life out of Jordan commercially) … check out how he’s used in advertising, his SNL appearances, etc. Perhaps that has more to do with changes in media than James persona, though. I think those changes also leave more room for being smartly political (cf Kanye West). It’s also worth considering that Jordan really had to work to amass his empire; assuming James isn’t hemorrhaging at an unparalleled clip, he’ll hit his goal of being the first billionaire athlete with room to spare. Especially if the NBA moves to stop foreign billionaires from paying James $50M/yr to go overseas.
March 30th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Pass Jordan? How about 7 finals MVPs?
That’s not really the measure of Michael Jordan. He didn’t deserve all 7 MVP’s, but was a media favorite and did so much on offense that it eclipsed the importance of what the team was doing on defense. (Even on offense, it was John Paxson, for instance, who hit the crucial shots that killed the Lakers in 1991, not really Jordan.)
Jordan happened to be a brilliant pure scorer who won a lot of championships. That type of player is almost guaranteed to win popularity contests like MVP awards, because the media basically only understands scoring anyway. Other great players who won a lot of championships either did it on defense (e.g., Bill Russell), or passed the ball a lot more than Jordan did (e.g., Magic Johnson), and that allowed other players to be named MVP of the Finals. The only other player who was somewhat like Jordan in this regard was George Mikan.
March 30th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
“Jordan happened to be a brilliant pure scorer who won a lot of championships.”
Uh, no. The second threepeat when Jordan was clearly past his peak, though still incredible, proved that he was much more than just a “pure scorer”.
Mike
March 30th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
Pass Jordan? How about 7 finals MVPs?
An accomplishment all the more noteworthy when you consider than Jordan only played in six NBA Finals.
March 30th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
SFAW: George Gipp, man! The Gipper!
March 30th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Ray Allen can’t catch a break in the comments of this blog.
Ray says something remarkably articulate (and intelligent) and everybody’s all “LeBron LeBron LeBron.”
I say Ray Allen for senator of Connecticut, replacing that guy that we used to hate and then got bored with, oh yeah, Lieberman.
March 30th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
SFAW: George Gipp, man! The Gipper!
No shit.
Try using Teh Google on the quote in #15.
Do try to keep up, will you?
March 30th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Pass Jordan? How about 7 finals MVPs?
An accomplishment all the more noteworthy when you consider than Jordan only played in six NBA Finals.
Give him a break. He was just channeling Nigel Tufnel, OK?
March 30th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
yeah, if Jordan had lifted fuckin’ finger, we’d be talking bout multi-term Senator Harvey Gantt and no Jesse Helms in the Senate after 1990. Which would have been huge, obviously. And that’s not just “political.” This is Jesse Helms we’re talking about. Thanks Air. Thanks Phil Knight. Thanks David Falk. Cowards and assholes they will forever be.
March 30th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Even on offense, it was John Paxson, for instance, who hit the crucial shots that killed the Lakers in 1991, not really Jordan.
In the 1991 Finals, Jordan averaged 31.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 11.4 assists (!) and shot 56% from the field (!). John Paxson averaged 13.4, 2.0 and 3.4.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/NBA_1991_finals.html
And if you’re talking defense, Scottie Pippen was the MVP of that series. He had Magic locked down. But Jordan was a pretty damn good defender, too.
March 30th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
As usual, Ray Allen shoots, Ray Allen scores!
March 30th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
The problem with Ray Allen’s idea is that Lebron James has never shown any interest whatsoever in politics. Look, he’s a 24 year old high school graduate, who probably didn’t have to study all that hard in high school. The odds are pretty high that he doesn’t think about politics, and when the opportunity arises, he begs off. He’s just not that interested in politics, and its beyond his life experiences. If he ever gets involved, it won’t be until well after his career.
Whats pretty f’ing amazing though, is the SI story on Lebron from earlier this year which mentions that Lebron had lasick surgery during the off-season because of his nearsidedness. He played, and dominated, five seasons of NBA basketball while needing glasses!
Whether he’s the best ever remains to be seen, but Lebron is clearly the Magic Johnson/Michael Jordan hybrid we all thought he would be coming out of high school.
March 30th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
I think y’all are missing the point – the commenter was saying LeBron will pass MJ when LeBron gets to 7 finals MVPs.
And what LeBron needs to do is play great defense. MJ was almost always first-team all-defense, in addition to all the scoring.
March 30th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
I’ll be the second post to remind everyone that LeTravel is an asshat. Which affects his marketing, obvs. I expect his handlers know, the less he speaks in candids, the better.
March 30th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
How’s KJ doing as mayor of sacramento?
Better than the Kings I hope.
March 30th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
too many:
I agree about Pippen’s defense. But Paxson was crucial, in that he hit the shots that mattered.
Either one was a correct MVP choice. But Jordan was guaranteed to win the MVP just because it was his first NBA finals and he was considered the “best player” on the Bulls, due to his huge scoring totals.
March 30th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
But Jordan was guaranteed to win the MVP just because it was his first NBA finals and he was considered the “best player” on the Bulls, due to his huge scoring totals.
You’re saying that like he wasn’t actually the best player, just the “best player.” When you say “either one was a correct MVP choice,” do you mean either Jordan or Pippen, or Jordan or Paxson? Because if it’s Paxson, you’ve lost your mind. Yeah, John Paxson hit some open jumpers, just like Steve Kerr did later on, just like Horry and Fisher did for the Shaq-Kobe Lakers. But Paxson isn’t getting open jumpers if MJ’s not triple-teamed.
LeBron’s a joy to watch, and I’m confident he’ll surpass MJ as the GOAT by the time he’s done. I also think he’s not nearly the asshole MJ was/is.
And who cares if he’s interested in politics? Politics sucks anyway. I’d much rather spend my time thinking about basketball.
March 30th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
I don’t think LeBron is going to be the one to cross over into politics or social activism. When Amaechi came out, LeBron said something stupid. His tone deaf Vogue cover with Gisele Bundchen lacked social awareness. Plus, his conspicuous consumption with his mansion makes it difficult to imagine him speaking on poverty and those type of social issues.
March 30th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
Lebron is not even the greatest athlete still active. Tiger is too far ahead of Lebron or anyone else.
March 30th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Sri-
Are you serious Tiger is bigger than LeBron? No dice dude, it’s not even close.
k1
March 30th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
k1,
LeBron may be a “better athlete” in a literal sense, but Tiger is more successful competively, and also richer. (Heck, Darius Miles is a “better athlete” than Woods.) Also, Tiger is more famous within the US and around the world.
March 30th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
Just remember, “Al” supported the truly odious and loathsome Jesse Helms in 1990 (and every other time). All you need to know about “Al.”
March 30th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
Tiger isn’t even an athlete, he’s a golfer.
How is it that no one has mentioned Lebron’s giant Obama rally in Cleveland before the election?
March 30th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
LeBron may be a “better athlete” in a literal sense, but Tiger is more successful competively, and also richer.
Which would be even more awesome if golf were a sport. But unlike basketball, even NBA basketball, golf is not a sport.
March 30th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
March 31st, 2009 at 3:04 am
What MQ said.
March 31st, 2009 at 3:14 am
Yeah, John Paxson hit some open jumpers, just like Steve Kerr did later on, just like Horry and Fisher did for the Shaq-Kobe Lakers. But Paxson isn’t getting open jumpers if MJ’s not triple-teamed.
Exactly. Paxson was a role player, a 3 point specialist basically. There are a lot of guys in the league like that at any given time, and their effectiveness is always going to increase when you have superstars like Jordan, Shaq, et al attracting double and triple coverage.
Bringing in John Paxson into a conversation about who made the most important contributions to the 1991 Bulls offense just because he threw up a few coffin nails is just too cute. My guess is that you’re like me: a Laker fan who was at a vulnerable age when the Bulls beat us in 1991 (I was 10), and who remembers John Paxson killing us with the timely 3 whenever we got close. And then after that, Magic’s retirement, and then the long years of mediocrity that followed…
Anyway. So it’s emotional. But objectively, it’s absurd to think that Jordan was not the most important factor of success on those Bulls teams.
March 31st, 2009 at 9:06 am
Maybe LeBron could do something like former Celtic Amazing Grace Smith.
Amazing Grace and Chuck
He started an entire political movement for professional athletes.
March 31st, 2009 at 9:28 am
Agreed. And, you know, I don’t really give a shit what George Clooney thinks about Darfour, I don’t know why we’re expecting poor LeBron to speak out.
I would like to see him doing a Magic Johnson Theaters-type project later on, though. I think that’s a lot more useful in the long run.
March 31st, 2009 at 10:44 am
“My guess is that you’re like me: a Laker fan who was at a vulnerable age when the Bulls beat us in 1991 (I was 10), and who remembers John Paxson killing us with the timely 3 whenever we got close.”
Funny, as a Chicago fan who was 29 in 1991, what I remember most was Pippen/Jordan pinching Magic at half court and completely shutting the Lakers’ offense down.
I like John Paxson. But the idea that he was the Series MVP in 1991 is one of the most stupid arguments ever put forth in the comments to this blog (and, given the number and persistence of some of the stupidest trolls on the internet here, is saying a lot).
Jordan was an amazing defensive player (9 time all-defensive team, Defensive POY) in addition to being the most dominant offensive player from the guard position in the game’s history.
LeBron has a long, long way to go before he can be mentioned in the smae breath as Michael Jordan.
Why is there this obsession with trying to justify knocking Jordan off his “best player ever” pedestal, anyway?
The game is much less interesting than it was when Jordan played, which in turn was much less interesting than the NBA’s glory decade of the 1980s.
March 31st, 2009 at 11:49 am
I think people forget that it’s trivial for a private citizen to be better-informed about any particular topic than a politician. Politicians don’t have the luxury of focussing on one particular area exclusively.
If you don’t care e.g. what Clooney thinks about Darfour, how much less must you care what your elected representatives think about it?
March 31st, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Maybe he would be interested in marginal tax rates given that the most famous sports to politics crossover was/is Jack Kemp.
Gerald Ford was actually the POTUS.
Supposedly the boxer Manny Pacquiao has been building up his political career in the Phillipines and could run for office once he retires (which hopefully won’t be for a while). Imagine having a retired prize fighter in the presidency.
March 31st, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Gerald Ford was actually the POTUS.
It’s a biiiiiig stretch to call Ford a crossover from sports to politics. He was a successful player for a major college program who turned down some pro offers to go to law school (back when the pros didn’t make much money). He was hardly a household name like Kemp or Bradley.
April 1st, 2009 at 12:33 am
It’s a biiiiiig stretch to call Ford a crossover from sports to politics.
How about Schwarzenegger? Does bodybuilding count as a sport?
Kevin Johnson isn’t as big, but he and Arnold make Sacramento a two-athlete-politician town.
Byron White?
Steve Largent?
And I’m assuming we’re not counting Pro Wrestling as a sport, or else we’d have to include Jesse Ventura.