LeBron James recently said that he doesn't feel like he has one true rival in the NBA but King James might be wrong. He does have a rival who doesn't play in the NBA anymore--Michael Jordan. MJ may be the reason James stays in Miami after this season when he is due to become a free agent for the second time in his career.
James told USA TODAY Sports that his goal is to be the greatest player in NBA history. He was vague in defining what that meant, but almost every expert agrees that the greatest wore No. 23 with the Chicago Bulls and won six NBA Championships.
Michael Jordan won five NBA most-valuable-player awards during his career. James has four. But Jordan also has six rings to LeBron's two. James told USA TODAY Sports about the difficulty of comparing players from different generations.
"It's not for anyone to put rankings out," James told USA TODAY Sports. "At the end of the day, it doesn't matter where people rank me all time. But for me, I have a personal goal to be the greatest."
To James, that means, "that I maximize my potential, that I got everything out of my career and I got everything out of my game that I could and that I pushed the envelope," James explained. "When people said I couldn't get better, I continue to strive to get better. If I do that, I can be very high."
Few question that James is the best player in the game today. But "The Decision" he made in the summer of 2010 will continue to haunt him - more for the fact that he left the Cleveland Cavaliers to join a "super group" in Miami with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh than for dumping the Cavs on national television.
Jordan made his mark with his first team, the Bulls. Only after Chicago won six titles and coach Phil Jackson left did Jordan decide to retire before reappearing with the Washington Wizards.
That means, James will have to continue to chase Jordan's legacy. If he leaves after the 2013-14 season to go to another "super group" with the Brooklyn Nets or Los Angeles Lakers, that means he'll have chosen to go to better situations than stay and make his own situation better twice.
"I'm at a point now where nothing else matters in basketball besides winning," he said. "That's what I'm here for. That's where my passion lies. It's where my work ethic lies. It's my hunger to put up another banner in this arena.
"I have a drive that's burning inside of me, and I want to continue to be successful."
And he's smart enough to know that in the court of public opinion, he's going to have to prove that he can bring a championship to where he is, rather than to keep leaving for better ones.
If he wants to be considered the greatest.
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