In the summer of 20 10, James left the Cavaliers and announced to join the Heat, which disappointed many old-school superstars and coaches, including Michael Jordan. Jordan said at the time: "Looking back on our years, I can't call Larry (Bird) or Magic (Johnson) and say, Hey, brother, let's play together!" Frankly speaking, I only considered how to defeat my strongest opponent. "So when asked about Kobe and James, Jordan made the first statement and chose Kobe.
Of course, the selection criteria of each era are different. Jordan criticized James's bad behavior of holding a group, and it was not one-sided at that time. At that time, Tommy Bill, a columnist of American Basketball World, said a word for James: "I wonder, if Jordan had the same opportunity to join hands with such a teammate (Wade), would he really be indifferent?" What if he hasn't waited for Pippen? "
The media always compare James with Jordan. More importantly, even at the peak, Kobe Bryant was only compared with Jordan in "scoring ability". When Kobe won the fifth championship, people began to talk about whether Kobe could continue to catch up with Jordan. But this is not the case with James. After entering the league, James chose No.23, and his ambition was obvious. In such a weak environment in the east, James has entered the finals for six consecutive years. The media repeatedly hyped that James entered the finals in succession, or compared James' amazing performance in the 20 15 finals with Jordan's 1993, but everyone knew what the environment was in the east where the Bull was located, and the competition was extremely fierce. James directed and performed the 20 15 finals himself, but Jordan's 1993 series averaged 40 points per game, which is a classic. Jordan's sense of superiority and self-esteem as "the first person in NBA history" will resist "approaching", not to mention the situation in Qi Mei. In Jordan's eyes, or in the eyes of most fans, James's hegemony in the East is really nothing to show off, because the East is really weak. Therefore, Jordan once felt helpless about being compared with James until he felt disgusted. Jordan said: "You can't constantly compare players of different eras. You know I'll never get a chance to fight LeBron at the top, and he'll never get a chance to fight me at the top.
Perhaps after James's career ends, the choice of President Hill in NBA will be a hot figure, but to be honest, James's previous failures and experiences are quite different from Jordan's perfect performance throughout his career, but James seems to have an irreversible madness for the first person in the league. Including after James won the championship this year, he said in the prospect of the new season that "I am confident to be the best player in history", and the implication simply ignored Jordan, the first person. When Jordan criticized James for holding a group on 20 10, even Wade, who regarded Jordan as an idol, stood up for his brother and said, "We don't care what others say, as long as we play well."
As one of the active kings, does James really admire Jordan from the heart? Not exactly. In the game of April 27th, 20 14, Jordan played at home to support the home team after entering the playoffs, while James made 9 free throws and contributed 30 points 10 rebounds and 6 assists in front of Michael Jordan. In the third quarter, 7 minutes and 33 seconds, James dunked in the backcourt. As a result, in slow motion, James found that he didn't look at the basket at the last jump, but looked directly at Jordan. This time, James glared at Jordan and was used to interview James after the game. The latter flatly refused, saying that there was no such thing. So in the fourth game, James booed him every time he held the ball, and took various extreme defensive actions to repay James for glaring at Jordan in the last game. To tell the truth, if it weren't for Owen's shocking three points in Game 7 of this year's finals, James might not have a chance to complete redemption at all. Although James retorted that "Jordan was over-deified on the road to six championships", James said at the time: "I don't think Jordan played in the finals to grab the seventh game, because he has the ability to end the series ahead of time. But it seems that he won the game alone, but forgot john paxson's fatal blow on the left wing. "
However, the American media reminded James that Jordan has been attracting opponents to defend and change the defensive strategy, which is essentially different from Owen's one-on-one fight against Curry and James' dull eyes, especially before Jordan scored 33 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists and paxson completed a fatal three-pointer in that game. In fact, Jordan scored the first 9 points in the last quarter of the team, and the Bulls only got 12 points in the fourth quarter. A similar key shot was Cole's shot against Jazz in Game 6 of the 1997 Finals, which was actually a tactic arranged by Jordan during the timeout. He told Sir Cole that he would double-team and pass the ball to Cole. Sure enough, Jordan finally sent an assist to help Cole hit the key ball. So for Jordan, although James has also been praised on the surface, it is obvious that Kobe is more important in Jordan's heart. After all, it is confrontation. It is not surprising that James's behavior is unpopular.
Let's see what's extraordinary about Kobe that Jordan likes!
Kobe Bryant's ability to play back-to-back singles is extremely strong, seemingly simple, but actually changeable. At this back-to-back jumper, Kobe has used his opponent's hesitation to find a layup space. He is flexible and good at bouncing. No matter whether he turns around or shoots on the dotted line, he will not give his opponent any time. He also brought wonderful performances to the audience again and again.