We’ve seen 17 yrs of Lebron and definitely top 5 ever. It’s time to let it go, he’s not greater than MJ.
There will come a player in the future that naturally surpasses MJ in greatness without the forced media push, controlled narrative, and Stan delusion. We will know it when we see it
The only problem with the statement you gave is the bolded, because it wrongfully, voluntarily insinuates that a media push, controlled narrative, and Stan delusion didn't exist to force-feed Michael Jordan as most people's GOAT...
It never ceases to amaze me that this forum excludes Michael Jordan when talking about controlled narrative, media push, and Stan delusion...
And this isn't to say that Mike on his own merits wasn't worthy of being in the discussion; obviously he is, but let's stop pretending his ascent into it, in popular opinion, didn't receive the biggest of controlled narratives any American athlete has ever had. Let's stop pretending there wasn't massive help in shaping the minds of basketball viewers...
When the guy comes along who will pass Mike in popular opinion, it will most likely be with time---->Mike retired for good 17 years ago and too many people are controlling the media who are his age and/or grew up on him. When those people phase out to the millenials to control the narratives, the narrative on Mike will likely turn Russell-esque, in that people will admire and respect his greatness, but it will get to a point where he played so long prior, that even "older" people didn't see him play in his heyday, so you'd have to somewhat separate him the way people kind of do Russell...
Already, most people under 35 today didn't see Mike before the last 3peat. Many of our parents (people Mike's age in the 55-65 age range) are still alive, still running these media productions, and still talking about Mike, and the people "in between", the 36-54 year olds, all grew up under Mike and Jordan Propaganda and have an affinity and vested interest to protect his legacy. Those older people will die out at some point the same way the people who saw Bill are mostly gone (and anybody still alive who saw Bill is at minimum 70 years old today, and 70+ year olds are mostly long retired from these media pushes and gave way 15-25 years ago to people of Mike's age to control the narrative)....
The 6-for-6 narrative will phase out even sooner, it's already begun to die. We've had some great, great, players since Jordan's '98 retirement, and not only could none of them reach 6 championships period, none of them could go more than 4 wins without losing (Duncan)...
it's a different NBA, both now and the last 20 years as a whole. Nobody is going 6/6 ever again, the climate is just not set up to allow for it, we all know the reasons why and we can tap dance around it on here, but we all know why. Not going 6/6 doesn't diminish any player's legacy, with Mike the convo will turn into being in a very unique position to accomplish that feat, a unique situation that can never be replicated...
We may see a superstar win 6 again, but those guys will be rare; since Russell only Mike and Cap won that many rings. The same way we'll never see a guy win 11 like Bill again, ain't nobody going 6/6 again and we 'may' see a superstar win 6 total. The fact that most people won't will not diminish the greatness of legit superstars...
Its a different NBA. When more people are allowed/start to admit this, is when the narrative on Mike will be buried...
the same OKC that had scoring champ KD, top 5 scorer that season in Westbrook, 6th MOTY in Harden and block leader Ibaka
he's the GOAT but he's not far and away better than the likes of Lebron, Kobe, Shaq, Duncan, Magic & Kareem like these fanboys seem to believe
