SECTION 20 - Why Jordan Would Accomplish More In LeBron's Position

This section will have a lot of carry-over from Section 13, which takes a deeper look at how LeBron really carried Cleveland and Miami (or failed to in some years), and Section 18 which details how Jordan carried the 2002 Wizards, one of the worst supporting casts of all-time, before his knee injury.

Now before we begin, I know that many people are going to bring up Jordan being unable to get to 0.500 or win a playoff series without Pippen, but not put any of those facts in context. Let's take a quick look, and briefly go over Section 8 and Section 17.

Jordan played 5 seasons without Pippen.

• his 85 rookie season
• his 86 broken foot season when he missed 64 games
• the 87 season when 2 cocaine addicts were kicked off the team (Woolridge and Dailey)
• the 02 season when Jordan had a knee injury halfway through the season
• the 03 season by which Jordan's knee injury had finished him off at age 40 - (no 40-year old has led a team to the playoffs or a winning record as the number 1 option)

This is hardly an accurate sample size to determine Jordan's ability to carry a team. None of them were prime seasons, one being his rookie season, 3 of them being injury-riddled seasons, and in another, Jordan was dealing with 2 drug addicts getting kicked off the team. Jordan had only played 2 full seasons before Pippen came to Chicago, and going off of a selective 2-season sample size one can point out that LeBron and Shaq had not won a playoff game in their first 2 seasons.

The surprising part is that Jordan actually DID get a career winning record without Scottie despite all those injuries, lack of experience, and off-court distractions. Jordan was 193 - 187 (0.508 win%) without Pippen in his career. And remember, this is including the games after Jordan's knee injury in Washington at age 38.

Jordan in games without Pippen

There is a great lack of context
behind how the Bulls and Cavs/Heat
did with Jordan and LeBron, and
what Jordan did without Pippen

• 1984/85 - 38-44
• 1985/86 - 9-9
• 1986/87 - 40-42
• 1987/88 - 3-0
• 1988/89 - 4-5
• First 3peat - 1-0
• Last 3peat - 31-12
• 2001/02 - 30-30
• 2002/03 - 37-45

Secondly, people will bring up the 1994 Bulls winning 55 without Jordan and getting to the ECSF, but fail to put this in context as well. The 1994 Bulls kept Scottie, Grant, Cartwright, and Armstrong, and also added two key shooters in Kukoc and Kerr to improve the supporting cast after Jordan left. Jordan never played with all of the aforementioned players all at the exact same time. When the 2013 Heat added one shooter in Ray Allen, James Wade and Bosh averaged their career high FG% and won a franchise best 66 games. Adding two shooters like Kukoc and Kerr definitely had a big impact in making up for Jordan's absence, and explained why Pippen and Grant's FG% rose from 1992/93 to 1993/94.

On top of that, both of the Bulls' 1994 playoff opponents were handicapped. The 1994 Cavs had no Larry Nance or Brad Daugherty due to season ending injuries. In the 1994 ECSF, the Knicks' starting guard Derek Harper was ejected in Game 3 and suspended for Game 4 and 5 in the 1994 ECSF. The Knicks were 3-1 vs the Bulls in the 4 full games Harper played, and 1-2 in the 3 games Harper was ejected/suspended. Thanks to Harper's ejection and the new addition of Kukoc saving the Bulls from going down 0-3, the Bulls were let back in the series. The 1994 Bulls had every advantage, handicapped playoff opponents, an improved supporting cast outside of Jordan, and even with these factors in their favor, they still failed to get past the 2nd round with an improved supporting cast, after winning 3 straight titles.

Another misconstrued fact is that the Cavs from 2008 to 2010 were 1-13 without LeBron, but a lot of those losses were because of multiple players resting, including the 2009 Cavs final game in which all of their starters rested and gave up their chance to go 40-1 at home. Also, in 2010 Shaq sat out in each of the Cavs last 4 losses without LeBron (Bulls, Pacers, Magic, Hawks) and Mo Williams played in only 1 of their last 3 losses (Magic). The 2008 Cavs were also 0-7 without LeBron. However, 5 of those losses between November 21, 2007 and December 11, 2007 came before the acquisition of Ben Wallace, who as we will see later on singlehandedly made the Cavs an elite defense upon joining them and was a huge reason they pushed the Celtics to 7 games. Another one of those losses came on the last night of the season while resting the Cavs starters, as they Cavs were locked into the 4-seed with that game making no difference on their playoff standing. So the 1-13 stat is totally without context.

Yet another misconception is that LeBron's departure from Cleveland in 2010/11 and Miami in 2014/15 was the sole reason that those teams fell off. It is often mentioned that the Cavs went from 61 to 19 wins after LeBron left, but the injuries to Williams (who also left for the Clippers), Jamison, and Varejao for large portions of the season, as well as Shaq and Ilgauskus leaving are forgotten, And on top of that, the Cavs had to bring in a new coach amidst all these changes. The entire starting lineup was gone or injured, along with their coach. It was a total roster overhaul, not just LeBron's departure, that caused Cleveland to fall apart.

After LeBron left Miami, the Heat also had injuries to their best players and roster changes
- Wade averaged the least minutes per game of his career due to injury
- Bosh played 44 games, by far the least of his career
- Ray Allen left, leaving no one to spread the floor for Miami. James, Wade, and Bosh averaged career high FG% playing alongside Ray Allen
- Shane Battier, a key defender, also left

LeBron leaving was far from the
only reason that the Cavs and Heat
fell off following his departure

Once again, LeBron was definitely not the sole reason his teams fell off once he left. The 2 best players on the Heat were injured and they lost 2 of their best role players. Whereas the Bulls stayed much healthier and improved their supporting casts, the 2011 Cavs and 2015 Heat dealt with many injuries and departures. The 2016 Heat without LeBron or Bosh made it to Game 7 of the ECSF, just like the 1994 Bulls, but the Bulls had a fully healthy team whereas the Heat were playing without their next 2 best players, Bosh and Whiteside (he was injured early in Game 3). 

Now that we have looked at the full context of all these situations, let's analyze what Jordan did on the 2002 Wizards and see how he really could carry a team before his knee injury. 

While preparing for his return, Jordan's ribs were injured by Ron Artest during a pickup game. Jordan rushed his return to training, and Tim Grover advised against this due to tendonitis risk. Jordan overworked himself and his knees became a problem. 

Before the season started, Jordan was already dealing with 
- having to skip 3 days of practice before the season opener in MSG because of fluid buildup in his knee 
- recovering from 2 broken ribs (against Artest) and back spasms
- tendinitis in his knee and wrist
- and during the season Jordan had fluid drained from his knee multiple times

So even before his knee injury, he was already in a hobbled state. And on top of that, Jordan was playing under much tougher defensive restrictions than what LeBron has faced since 2004/05, since some handchecking was still legal in 2001/02.

2002 Wizards

• 26-21 up to the game Jordan had his knee injury against the Kings, and lost 9 of their next 10 games right after the injury
• They were 26-20 when Jordan played, he missed 1 game vs. the Spurs before the injury
• This record is even with Rip Hamilton missing 5 weeks from groin injury in the first half of the season
• The Wizards were 15-1 in the last 16 games that Jordan and Rip played together before the injury

The 2002 Wizards were on pace for 45 wins up to Jordan's injury on Feb 7, 2002 against the Kings even with Rip Hamilton missing all that time, 46/47 wins if you consider the 26-20 record when Jordan played. The 2002 Nets were the number 1 East seed at 52 wins. Given how successful the Wizards were with Jordan and Rip playing together, it's pretty much a given that an injury-free Rip and MJ would get the 1-seed over the 2002 Nets, and have a very good chance of going from 19-wins to the 2002 NBA Finals. In just over a half-season before Jordan's knee injury, the Wizards beat every East team that made the playoffs other than the Pistons, as well as the league-best record Kings and the 4th-best record Mavericks. So the Wizards beat a lot of solid and good teams in just over a half season before Jordan's knee injury

Prior to his knee injury, a 38-year old
Jordan had no problem carrying a
terrible 19-win supporting cast. Far
worse than any of LeBron's playoff
teams (The 2011 Cavs won 19-games
after a total roster overhaul, not
solely because LeBron left)

The previous year, the 2001 Wizards had only 19 wins with Rip Hamilton playing 78 games. To that point, no sub-20 team had ever gotten a winning record within one season. It has happened twice since then.

2004 Nuggets

- who drafted Carmelo

-and added Andre Miller

2009 Heat 
- with Wade coming back from injury
- along with adding Jermaine O'Neal 

Outside of Jordan, the 2002 Wizards' only new additions were 5 bench players, 4 of whom where rookies that played very little minutes

• Tyronn Lue (20 mpg)
• Rookie Kwame Brown (14 mpg)
• Rookie Brendan Haywood (14 mpg)
• Rookie Etan Thomas (13 mpg)
• Rookie Bobby Simmons (11 mpg)

Jordan was the only new player on the 2002 team that had a significant impact and played significant minutes, whereas the Nuggets and Heat benefited from the acquisition or return of 2+ starters. So this would have been the only time that a sub-20 win team became a winning team within one season, after only adding 1 new starter. The Wizards did add coach Doug Collins, but the Wizards were 11-25 without Jordan and/or post-injury, and 7-15 without Jordan overall. This is only a 25/26 win pace, which means Collins was only worth about 6-7 wins, not at all a notable addition for a 19-win team.

The Wizards were also 2nd worst defense in the league in ppg allowed in 2000/01, but an old shell of Jordan singlehandedly carried the 2002 Wizards to becoming an elite defense, all by himself. Right after his injury, the team was helpless and completely fell apart, both defensively and in the W-L column. Up to the injury game 2001 Wizards = 2nd worst in ppg allowed the year before. Up to the injury game 2002 Wizards = allowed 92.2 ppg through 47 games (Jordan missed 1 game) - would be tied for 6th-best in the league with the Pistons. 2002 Wizards = allowed 92.0 ppg in the 46 games Jordan played - would be tied for 5th best in the league with the Nets After Jordan's injury  2002 Wizards = allowed 96.8 ppg in the remaining 35 games - would be ranked 19th in the league - and fell to 11th in ppg allowed for the overall season.

- Jordan still played 14 games post-injury, meaning that the Wizards would have been a top 10 worst defense over the final 35 games had he not played those 14 games. The Wizards were 2nd worst in ppg allowed the previous year with Rip Hamilton playing 78 games. The Wizards were on track to be top 5 in ppg allowed through the first 46 games Jordan played, and that was with Rip Hamilton missing 5 weeks (last week of December and almost all of January). Considering that Rip played almost the entire 2nd half of the season after Jordan's injury, and that Jordan still played 14 games post-injury, Jordan's defensive impact is even greater than what the above numbers show us.

Given the enormous defensive impact
that Wizards Jordan had pre-injury,
one can only imagine how much impact a
prime Jordan would have on defense today

and like Jordan's offensive numbers, Jordan's defensive impact was improving as the season went on before his injury The Wizards started the season off slow with a 2-9 start 
- and allowed 98.4 ppg during the 2-9 start 
- on pace for 5th worst in the league 

In Jordan's last 35 games pre-injury after the 2-9 start 
- the Wizards allowed 90.0 ppg 
- on pace for 3rd best in the league 

When Jordan and Rip Hamilton played together, they were 15-1 in their last 16 games together up to the injury 
- The Wizards allowed 86.3 ppg in that 15-1 stretch 
- Easily on pace for the best in the league 
- The 2002 Heat were number 1 at 88.7 ppg allowed

Rip played 78 games the previous year and they were 2nd worst in ppg allowed. With Jordan as the only major addition, the Wizards went from 2nd worst to by far the best in ppg allowed when Jordan played alongside Rip Hamilton. LeBron has never shown the ability to singlehandedly turn a 2nd worst defense to best defense like this aside from maybe his 2009 season, yet that's what a hobbled Jordan did at 38 on no knees and cracked ribs did.

Let that sink in for a second, a 38 year old hobbled Jordan was the only notable addition to a team that went from 2nd worst to by far the best in ppg allowed when Jordan played alongside Rip Hamilton. Nearly the worst version of Jordan singlehandedly turned the 2nd worst defense in the league, with Rip Hamilton playing 78 games, to the best defense in ppg allowed when playing alongside the same Rip Hamilton. 

And immediately after his injury, they fell to a 19th-ranked pace in ppg allowed over the final 35 games, and would easily a top 10 worst defense had Jordan not played 14 more games post-injury. A 38-year old Jordan on no knees singlehandedly transformed one of the worst defenses to one of the best, all by himself. And right after his injury, they were terrible defensively. Now imagine how great an impact prime Jordan would have had on that defense.

Under Jordan's defensive leadership, the 2002 Wizards were also great at holding opponent's to low FG%

The 2001 Wizards' opponents shot 47.0%, 3rd worst in the league

Through their first 47 games pre-Jordan's injury (Jordan missed 1 game)
- The 2002 Wizards' opponents shot 44.3%
- on pace for 11th best in the league

In the 35 games post-Jordan's injury
- The 2002 Wizards' opponents shot 46.4%
- on pace for 2nd worst in the league (0.0001% worse than the Suns)

And under Jordan, the Wizards improved on holding opponents to low FG% as the season went on

Wizards got off to a slow 2-9 start to begin the season
- The Wizards' opponents shot 46.8%
- on pace for worst in the league

In the Wizards last 36 games pre-Jordan injury (Jordan missed 1 game)
- The Wizards' opponents shot 43.6%
- on pace for 8th best in the league

The Wizards were 15-1 in the last 16 games that Jordan and Rip Hamilton played together prior to Jordan's knee injury
- The Wizards' opponents shot 41.7% in that 15-1 stretch
- Easily on pace for best in the league
- The 2002 Lakers held opponents to a league best 42.4%

Remember, Rip played 78 games the previous year and the Wizards were still 3rd worst in the league in opponent FG%. When Jordan and Rip played together, they were easily the best, and Jordan was the only major addition to the roster.

And, of course, Jordan's 1-1 defense as always was vastly superior to LeBron's 

Paul Pierce
- 14 points on 6/16 with 4 TOs in his first regular season meeting
- 2 points on 1/6 FG in the 4th quarter
- Pierce averaged 26.1 ppg on 44% that season

Vince Carter
- 0 pts in the 2nd half in his first regular season meeting with Jordan
- Vince averaged 25.8 ppg on 43% before an injury against the Spurs on Feb 7 through 48 games

Both 2002 Pierce and Vince (pre-injury) would be top 3 in the 2014/15 league in scoring.

Latrell Sprewell, twice
- averaged 19.4 ppg on 40%, but his scoring tailed off at the end of the season
- at the time of the 12-14-01 and 12-22-01 games against Jordan, he was averaging 20.7 ppg on 44% at the time of both games

Peja Stojakovic in the Feb 7, 2002 game that MJ was injured
- he didn't score on Jordan until his knee injury happened, and even after that injury, MJ still locked him down
- Peja averaged 21 ppg on 48% in 01/02, and would be top 4 in MVP voting in 03/04

Shawn Marion - scored 4 points with Jordan guarding him a few games after Jordan was injured, finished with 9 points on 4/10 (40%), and Jordan hit the game winner in his face - the same Marion that exposed LeBron's Overrated Defense in the 2011 Finals, except the Marion that Jordan guarded in 2002 was a much better version than 2011 Marion.

Even an old and crippled Jordan
had no problem shutting down the
top superstars of the modern era.
We can't imagine what a prime and fully
healthy Jordan would do against the
easy modern competition.

Jordan's presence also singlehandedly made the Wizards an elite rebounding team. The 2001 Wizards were a top 10 worst rebounding team, and the 2002 Wizards were a very poor rebounding team after Jordan's injury. But take a look at Jordan's impact on the team's rebounding before his injury.

2002 Wizards = 43.27 rpg through 47 games pre-injury
(MJ missed 1 game)
- on pace for 9th best in the league

2002 Wizards = 43.39 rpg through 46 games that MJ played pre-injury

- on pace for 8th best in the league

2002 Wizards = 40.40 rpg in 35 games post-injury

- on pace for 4th worst in the league
- fell to 18th in rebounding for the overall season

and Jordan's impact on rebounding was also improving as the season went on, just like his defense and individual numbers

Wizards got off to a slow 2-9 start to begin the season
- averaged 40.36 rpg in that stretch 

- on pace for 4th worst in the league

In Jordan's last 35 games pre-injury
- the Wizards averaged 44.34 rpg 

- on pace for 3rd best in the league

I'm still not sure exactly why Jordan had such a huge impact on the team's rebounding, as a pre-injury Jordan's 6.2 rpg through 46 games would still be only 3rd on the team in rpg. But for whatever reason, Jordan's presence was the main reason that the team as a whole was successful, even though he wasn't the best individual rebounder. Perhaps one guess may be that his defensive dominance that we saw above led to more misses from Wizard's opponents, leading to more rebound opportunities for the team. Either way, the Wizards were an elite rebounding team under Jordan, and a terrible one after his injury. Jordan singlehandedly made them an elite rebounding team under his presence, no doubt about it.

And Jordan did all this impact on the W-L column, defense, and team rebounding while matching LeBron's 2014/15 statistical production outside of assists and efficiency (and pre-2004/05 rule changes) 

LeBron in 2014/15 season (Age 30) 
25.3 - 6.0 - 7.4 - 1.6 - 0.7 

Jordan in 2001/02 season (Age 38) through 46 games pre-injury 
25.1 - 6.2 - 5.3 - 1.5 - 0.5

Tracy McGrady was the only player to put up at least 25-6-5 in the 01/02 season, which is what a hobbled Jordan was putting up pre-injury. Jordan shot 42% to LeBron's 49%, but Jordan's low efficiency didn't matter since he was still winning games despite his poor shooting, and on a far inferior team, and with Rip Hamilton out for 5 weeks. and the low efficiency had much more to do with playing on tendinitis knees/wrist, cracked ribs, and getting fluid drained from his knee throughout the season than it did with the defense he was facing. And remember, in 2001/02 some handchecking was permitted along with the zone being officially written in the rulebook (even though it was there for a long time). Jordan was playing in a tougher defensive environment than what LeBron has faced following the 2004/05 rule changes.

At age 38, Jordan was averaging 25-6-5
pre-injury in 2001/02, numbers that only T-Mac
averaged by the end of the season. If that's what
an old and hobbled Jordan did in a tougher
defensive environment, just imagine what prime
Jordan would do in the modern league

Jordan's numbers were also improving as the season went on. 

In his last 20 games up to the injury he averaged 
27.5 - 6.4 - 5.2 - 1.3 - 0.5 on 44%

In his last 10 games up to the injury he averaged 
29.7 - 6.6 - 6.1 - 1.2 - 0.3 on 47% 

Jordan in 01/02 had far more obstacles to deal with than LeBron has in any of his seasons

• Recovering from 2 broken ribs (against Ron Artest) in the offseason, and back spasms 
• Being 38 years old 
• Having to skip 3 days of practice before the season opener because of fluid buildup in his knee 
• Tendinitis in both knees and his wrist 
• Having fluid drained from his knee multiple times during the season 
• Playing on a 19-win team with his 2nd option missing 5 weeks pre-Jordan injury 
• The 2011 Cavs won 19 games after a total roster overhaul (no Shaq, Ilgauskus, new coach) and multiple injuries (Jamison, Varejao, Williams) after LeBron left, not solely because LeBron left 
• playing on a team that was 2nd worst in ppg allowed the previous year 
• playing without the benefit of 04/05 rule changes, under much tougher defensive restrictions 

There is nothing to suggest a prime, healthy Jordan in LeBron's Cleveland shoes wouldn't have easily surpassed LeBron's accomplishments, team and individual-wise, had he replaced LeBron on Cleveland in the laughably weak post-2006 East. For example, LeBron made the 2007 Finals by beating two 0.500 teams and a Pistons team with no 4x DPOY Ben Wallace or Hall of Fame Coach Larry Brown.

Especially when you consider that an old hobbled Jordan very realistically could have taken an even worse Wizards cast to the 2002 Finals had he and Rip Hamilton stayed healthy the whole season, while matching LeBron's 2014/15 season production (outside of assists and efficiency), and while playing hobbled even before his knee injury in 2001/02 (which was by far the biggest reason for his inefficiency, along with his age and 3 year layoff), and while playing much, much better defense (team and 1-1) and having a huge impact on his team's rebounding. Indeed, replacing LeBron with a prime Jordan in the 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 Finals, and 2008 and 2010 ECSF would be a guaranteed win on Jordan's unbelievable and vastly superior defensive impact alone (not just superior, but vastly superior). As proven by taking the 2002 Wizards from 2nd worst to by far the best defense in ppg allowed when playing alongside Rip Hamilton as a hobbled shell of his former self. Even with Rip out 5 weeks, MJ at 38 and on no knees and cracked ribs had the 2002 Wizards on a top 5 defense pace when he played pre-injury. LeBron at 30 couldn't even make the 2015 Cavs a top 10 defense in ppg allowed, and it wasn't until adding Mozgov and Shumpert that the Cavs improved on defense.

LeBron only has a clear advantage in rebounding over Jordan. Jordan had the disadvantage of playing in the triangle offense which is designed to limit
assists, but still has a near identical assist:TO ratio. Needless to say, Jordan's
assists would go way up in a pick and roll or drive and kick offense like
LeBron's teams,  and most certainly while playing easier competition.

LeBron also plays against much weaker competition than Jordan

27 of Jordan's 37 playoff opponents (73%) have 50+ wins
10 of Jordan's 37 playoff opponents (27%) have 50+ wins

Adjusting 2012 lockouts for 82 games
19 of LeBron's 37 playoff opponents (51%) have 50+ wins
18 of LeBron's 37 playoff opponents (49%) have under 50 wins

7 of LeBron's 37 playoff opponents are 0.500 or worse
2 of Jordan's 37 playoff opponents are 0.500 or worse

Jordan, Kobe (starter years), Duncan, and LeBron are a combined 48-1 against sub-50 teams, the one loss coming from Duncan at age 34 against the 2011 Grizzlies, so it is an accurate cutoff and shows how much easier LeBron's competition is. Had Jordan had the luxury of beating up on scrub sub-50 teams for half of his playoff career, it's clear he would have had far more team and individual success than he did in the vastly superior 90s.

The 2007 Cavs are the only team since the 1987 Lakers to beat two 0.500 or worse teams on the way to an NBA Finals. In 2007 alone, LeBron played as many non-winning playoff teams as Jordan in his entire playoff career. The 2013 Heat are the only team since the 2002 Nets to beat 3 sub-50 win teams to make an NBA Finals. Jordan beat at least one 50+ win playoff team before the Finals in every year from 1989 to 1993 and 1995 to 1998.

LeBron wasn't really carrying 2003-2010 Cleveland when he led them in the playoffs. He just feasted on the weakest playoff teams while playing in Cleveland. When he played good playoff teams, he couldn't carry Cleveland anywhere. LeBron only beat one 50-win team in the playoffs during his time in Cleveland from 2003 to 2010, and that was against the 2007 Pistons with no 4x DPOY Ben Wallace and no HoF coach Larry Brown. Every other team he beat had less than 50 wins. LeBron's supposed ability to carry Cleveland only lasted in the regular season. 

As you can see, LeBron never was able to carry 2003-2010 Cleveland past any notable teams in the playoffs. This puts a HUGE asterisk next to the perception that he "carried" Cleveland, as he beat ZERO elite teams in the playoffs with Cleveland. He didn't carry them past anyone notable. People complained about how weak his 2003-10 Cavs team was, but the only competition that LeBron beat from 2003-10 was even worse bum competition. Even in Miami, his East competition was very weak, in 2013 for example he beat 0 50-win teams before making the Finals. Jordan, Hakeem, Duncan, Kobe, Bird, and more legends have never had the luxury of facing a sub-50 team in the ECF or WCF like LeBron in both of his title seasons (2012 Celtics would be 48-34 adjusted for 82 games). LeBron has had it laughably easy in his era, and Jordan would have had it much easier in LeBron's shoes.

Clearly LeBron would have never stood a chance in Jordan's era on the 2003-2010 Cavs, seeing as 73% of Jordan's playoff opponents had 50+ wins. Likewise, given how easy the opposition of LeBron was, it's clear that Jordan, and many other players, would have easily surpassed LeBron's accomplishments in the same position. Only once in Jordan's career did he play 2 sub-50 teams in the playoffs in 1991. LeBron played at least 2 sub-50 teams in the 2007, 2009, 2012 (adjusted for 82 games), 2013, and 2014 Playoffs - the vastly inferior and easier competition being a huge reason for LeBron winning his only 2 titles.

LeBron has never beaten 3 50+ win teams or 2 60+ win teams in any playoff run (even if you adjust 2012 lockout teams for 82 games), but Jordan beat 3 50+ win teams in each of the 1992, 1993, 1997, and 1998 title runs, as well as 2 60-win teams in each of the 1993, 1996, and 1997 title runs. Hakeem also beat 3 50+ win teams in the 1994 title run and 4 57+ win teams in the 1995 title run. Had KJ and Barkley not missed a combined 59 games on the 59-23 Suns, the 1995 Rockets would have been the only team to beat 3 60+ win teams in a playoff run. LeBron's competition does not begin to compare to the stacked 90s.

Collective Win Percentage of Playoff Opponents - Title Teams who Played 4 Rounds
(0.726) - 1995 Rockets (238-90)
(0.686) - 1997 Bulls (225-103)
(0.674) - 2016 Cavaliers (221-107)
(0.671) - 2002 Lakers (220-108)
(0.668) - 1993 Bulls (219-109)
(0.668) - 2001 Lakers (219-109)
(0.665) - 2011 Mavericks (218-110)
(0.662) - 2005 Spurs (217-111)
(0.659) - 2014 Spurs (216-112)
(0.652) - 1998 Bulls (214-114)
(0.652) - 2006 Heat (214-114)
(0.652) - 2009 Lakers (214-114)
(0.649) - 1994 Rockets (213-115)
(0.649) - 1996 Bulls (213-115)
(0.646) - 2000 Lakers (212-116)

(0.637) - 2015 Warriors (209-119)
(0.631) - 2007 Spurs (207-121)
(0.631) - 2010 Lakers (207-121)
(0.625) - 2004 Pistons (205-123)
(0.622) - 2017 Warriors (204-124)
(0.621) - 2012 Heat (164-100)
(0.619) - 1992 Bulls (203-125)
(0.619) - 2003 Spurs (203-125)
(0.613) - 1990 Pistons (201-127)
(0.604) - 2008 Celtics (198-130)
(0.601) - 1977 Blazers (197-131)
(0.595) - 1978 Bullets (195-133)
(0.595) - 1989 Pistons (195-133)
(0.590) - 1999 Spurs (118-82)
(0.588) - 1985 Lakers (193-135)

(0.582) - 1991 Bulls (191-137)
(0.581) - 2013 Heat (190-137)
(0.573) - 1986 Celtics (188-140)
(0.567) - 1984 Celtics (186-142)
(0.564) - 1988 Lakers (185-143)
(0.540) - 1987 Lakers (177-151)

1990s Bulls have the most spots in the top 10 with 3
1990s Bulls and 2000s Lakers have the most spots in the top 15 with 4 apiece

1. Jordan's washed up leftovers in 35-year old Gary Payton and 40-year old Karl Malone shut down the Spurs two best players in Tony Parker and Tim Duncan (after Games 1-2) during the 2004 WCSF, right in between their 2nd and 3rd championships. The Spurs are the best dynasty of the post-Jordan era, but got shut down by the washed up leftovers of Jordan's era - clear proof of the disparity in quality of competition. 

2. A much more watered down version of the Pacers made the 2000 Finals with no Antonio Davis, with Reggie at age 34, with Rik Smits in his last games, and with McKey and Chris Mullin barely playing. And they took Shaq and Kobe's Lakers to 6 games, without a top 10 defense. The 1994, 1995, and 1998 Pacers couldn't make the Finals with a top 10 defense and with most of those pieces in their prime.

3. Reggie Miller at age 33 and 34 outplayed Iverson in the 1999 and 2000 ECSF, and nearly outplayed MVP Iverson in the 2001 1st round at age 35. Reggie was never close to MVP consideration in the 90s, but outplayed Iverson who was an MVP of the inferior post-Jordan era.

4. Kevin Johnson is better than every PG of the post-Jordan era besides Steph Curry, yet only made 3 all-star teams in the stacked 80/90s, because the competition was far superior.

5. There are only two teams in history that beat 3 56+ win teams during the playoffs. The 1997 Bulls and the 1995 Rockets, who beat 4 57+ win teams. The 90s had the most 50 and 60 win teams of any decade, regardless of whether or not you adjust 1999 lockout teams for 82 games.

6. Karl Malone at age 40 outplayed Kobe and Shaq in their primes during the first round of the 2004 Playoffs against the Rockets.

Kobe had 24.4 - 5.6 - 6.2 and 2.8 spg on a poor 39% FG (44 mpg)

Shaq had 16.2 - 11.2 - 3.6 and 2.8 bpg on 52% and 30% FTs (42 mpg)

Malone had 18.0 - 10.4 - 3.2 and 1.8 spg on 49% and 59% FTs (39 mpg)

Now Shaq and Kobe are obviously top 10 players whereas Malone is only top 25, but it says a lot that Malone at 40 was still the best player for the Lakers, ahead of Kobe and Shaq, in the first round

7. PJ Brown at age 38 shut down Pau Gasol in the 2008 Finals, who is one of the best PFs of the post-Jordan era.

8. Latrell Sprewell shut down Vince Carter in the 2000 and 2001 Playoffs, after Vince's 2 best scoring seasons. Sprewell only made one second-team defense in the 90s. He also did a solid job on Kobe in the 2004 WCF.

9. Shaq is arguably the most dominant player of the 2000s, but got swept 5 times in the 90s even with good teams (whereas Jordan didn't have help in his playoff losses). Penny played great in the 1995 Finals, and the 1996 Magic were led to a 20-8 record by Penny in the 28 games that Shaq missed, giving them 60 wins for the season. 

Shaq's 90s teams were a combined 56-31 (0.644 win%) without him. In 1999, Shaq's Lakers were only 14-13 without Rodman, but 17-6 with Rodman which would have been on pace to tie the best record in the league 

10. The 90s had the best all-time defensive player at each of the 5 positions

PG - Gary Payton

SG - Michael Jordan

SF - Scottie Pippen

PF - Dennis Rodman

C - Hakeem Olajuwon (arguably with Russell)

Not only that, but 3 of the top 4 defenders of all-time, excluding Bill Russell, came from the 90s - Dennis Rodman, Hakeem Olajuwon, and David Robinson. 

Jordan through the first half of his career carried an equally poor, if not worse supporting cast than LeBron had in the 2007 Finals. So playing on a mediocre supporting cast for a long time would not be anything new for Jordan.

Jordan took an equally bad, if not worse team
than the 2007 Cavs to 6 games against a
much better team than the 2007 Spurs.

2007 Finals, LeBron's best teammates
13-8 on 50%
11-2-3 on 40%
10-3-1 on 36%

1988 ECSF, Jordan's best teammates
13-2-3 on 41%
11-6-2 on 60%
9-12-3 on 41%

1989 ECF, Jordan's best teammates
12-2-3 on 45%
11-6-1 on 42%
10-7-3 on 40%

1990 ECF, Jordan's best teammates
17-6-4 on 43%
12-12-2 on 41%
7-4-1 on 40%

1990 ECF Game 7
Jordan's teammates shot 15/63 (24%) and 6/54 (11%) on shots not taken or assisted by Jordan. Unfortunately for Jordan, he didn't have the luxury of facing two 0.500 teams or a weak Pistons team without their best defender Ben Wallace, or their Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown like LeBron did in his laughably weak era.

The 1997 and 1998 Bulls have the two lowest scoring supporting casts by a winning team in the NBA Finals since 1954.

Post-1954 Championship Teams with sub-60 ppg supporting casts in the Finals
1994 Rockets - 59.3 ppg
2006 Heat - 58.2 ppg
1999 Spurs - 57.4 ppg
1997 Bulls - 55.5 ppg
1998 Bulls - 54.5 ppg

None of LeBron's teams in the Finals have produced as little offensivly as Jordan's Bulls did in 1997 and 1998, yet Jordan still won back to back titles under those circumstances.

LeBron won all 3 of his Finals (2012, 2013, 2016) with his teammates averaging 70+ PPG combined. He also lost the 2011 Finals with his teammates averaging 70+ PPG combined. Jordan won all but 1 of his Finals with teammates averaging under 70 PPG. That was in 1991, and only because Jordan averaged an incredible 11.4 APG to give his teammates those scoring opportunities. Nobody besides Magic Johnson has averaged more APG in an NBA Finals series.

LeBron can't win the Finals without 70+ PPG supporting casts. Jordan is the only player since 1954 to win the Finals with a sub-56 PPG supporting cast, and he did it twice. Jordan is the only player since 1954 to win with multiple sub-60 PPG supporting casts in the Finals. Even when LeBron had 60+ PPG from his teammates in the 2014 Finals, they got blown out by 15+ in each of the 4 losses in a 5-game series.

More reasons to easily believe that Jordan would win more titles in LeBron's shoes than vice-versa, not factoring in Jordan's higher proportion of 50+ win opponents and lower proportion of 0.500 or worse opponents.

LeBron losing in the Finals proves that he only made the Finals because he was lucky enough to be in the easier conference. Had he played in the West, he would have lost to the Spurs, Mavericks, and Warriors sooner. That has much more to do with LeBron having the luck of the draw by being in the East rather than supposedly "carrying" any team to the Finals. We saw that in his first year in the West, his streak of 8 Finals was immediately ended and he didn't even MAKE THE PLAYOFFS. 

Let's quickly summarize

Scoring

Jordan was clearly the superior scorer. He has a record 10 scoring titles to LeBron's 1. Jordan has a record 5 different playoff series averaging 40+ ppg to LeBron's 0. He also averaged 33+ ppg in 3 different NBA Finals, a tied record with Shaq and Jerry West, to LeBron's 2. LeBron did it in the 2015 Finals, while taking 33 shots/game on under 40% FG.

This is also without factoring in more favorable rule changes in the post-Jordan era, as Jordan at age 38 put up 25-6-5 in 2001/02 before his injury for 46 games. Tracy McGrady was the only player to average at least 25-6-5 by the end of the season.

Rebounding

LeBron is definitely a better rebounder. He averaged 11 rpg for the entire 2015 Playoffs, whereas Jordan only had double digit rebounds in one playoff series, the 1997 ECSF with 10.2 rpg.

Passing

Jordan is actually a better passer than LeBron. He averages less assists than LeBron for a few reasons.

1. Jordan played far superior competition

As we saw earlier, 18 of LeBron's 37 playoff opponents, almost half, had under 50 wins, whereas 27 of Jordan's 37 playoff opponents, almost 3/4, had 50+ wins. Jordan also beat 7 60+ win teams in his 6 title seasons. LeBron, Duncan, and Kobe (1999-2012) beat 6 60+ win teams combined in their entire playoff careers, even if you adjust lockout teams for 82 games. Had Jordan played sub-50 teams for half his playoff career it's pretty obvious that his assists would be higher.

2. The triangle offense

The triangle promotes shared playmaking amongst the team, unlike LeBron's pick and roll offenses where he controls all the playmaking. In the triangle, bigs average more assists and perimeter players average less assists. Shaq had his 2 best assist seasons under the triangle, and 4 of his 5 best assist seasons under the triangle. Rodman had his 3 best assist seasons under the triangle from 1996-1998.

On the other hand, Kobe had his 2 best assist seasons outside the triangle in 2005 and 2013, and Jordan averaged more assists in 2001/02 at age 38 with the Wizards, even with his knee injury, compared to any of his last 3 seasons under the triangle from 1996 to 1998. In spite of the triangle's limitations on individual assists, Jordan and LeBron are the only non-point guards with 6+ apg in 4 different Finals (LeBron did it 6 times). When Jordan had more control of the playmaking, he averaged 11.4 apg in the 1991 Finals, the highest by anyone in the Finals not named Magic Johnson.

3. Poor offensive help in the last 3peat

With Jordan's teammates struggling offensively, it obviously made it harder to get assists. In the 1996 title run, the Bulls became the only championship team since the 1964 Celtics where the 2nd and 3rd scorers both shot under 40% for the playoffs.

In the 1997 title run, Jordan became the only player to ever lead a championship team to the title with only one double digit scorer for the playoffs. Pippen had 19 ppg on a sub-par 42%, and all other Bulls failed to reach 8 ppg. The 1997 and 1998 Bulls have the two lowest scoring supporting casts by a winning team in the NBA Finals since 1954.

Title teams with sub-70 PPG supporting casts for the overall playoffs
Post-1954 (Shot-Clock Era)
12. 2002 Lakers - 69.4 PPG
11. 2000 Lakers - 69.0 PPG
10. 1994 Rockets - 68.3 PPG
9. 2006 Heat - 67.8 PPG
8. 1993 Bulls - 67.3 PPG
7. 2012 Heat - 67.0 PPG
6. 1996 Bulls - 66.7 PPG

Title teams with sub-66 PPG supporting casts for the overall playoffs
Post-1954 (Shot Clock Era)
5. 1992 Bulls - 65.9 PPG
4. 2004 Pistons - 65.6 PPG
3. 1999 Spurs - 65.2 PPG
2. 1997 Bulls - 61.5 PPG
1. 1998 Bulls - 60.8 PPG

In the shot-clock era, Jordan has
- 5 of the 8 lowest scoring playoff supporting casts for title teams
- 4 of the 6 lowest scoring playoff supporting casts for title teams
- 3 of the 5 lowest scoring playoff supporting casts for title teams
- The 2 lowest scoring playoff supporting casts for title teams

- Jordan is the only player to lead multiple top 10 lowest-scoring playoff supporting casts among title teams

The only player to lead a lesser scoring supporting cast to the NBA Finals than the 1997 or 1998 Bulls is Allen Iverson on the 2001 Sixers. The 2001 Sixers' teammates outside of Iverson scored 60.3 PPG in the 22 playoff games Iverson played. Game 3 against the Bucks in which Iverson did not play is excluded from this calculation.

The 1997 and 1998 Bulls also have the two lowest scoring supporting casts of any post-1954 NBA Finals team to win the championship.

All Sub-60 ppg supporting casts in the NBA Finals for Championship Teams Post-1954

1994 Rockets - 59.3 ppg
2006 Heat - 58.2 ppg
1999 Spurs - 57.4 ppg
1997 Bulls - 55.5 ppg
1998 Bulls - 54.5 ppg

The only sub-56 ppg supporting casts to win an NBA Finals since 1954 were led by Jordan at 34 and 35 years old. Jordan is the only player to win multiple NBA Finals in the shot-clock era with sub-60 PPG supporting casts.

4. Jordan's age 

Jordan played about 1/3 of his playoff games from age 33 to 35 (1996 - 1998) when he was clearly past his prime. This heavily deflated his career playoff stats, along with the other factors listed here. Up to 1993, Jordan averaged 6.6 apg in the playoffs, whereas LeBron averages 6.7 apg for his playoff career. Even with LeBron being in his prime, having more control of the playmaking, and playing way easier competition, he only has 0.1 more apg. And you can only imagine how much more assists Jordan would have following the 2004/05 rule changes when he had 25-6-5 pre-injury in 2001/02 at age 38.

For their playoff careers, Jordan (1.87 to 1) and LeBron's (1.95 to 1) AST:TO ratios are not that far apart.

Defense

Jordan crushes LeBron defensively. Even as a Wizard, Jordan was better on defense before his injury compared to almost all of LeBron's years on defense. Jordan played elite defense in 6 of 6 NBA Finals, whereas LeBron played adequate defense in only 2 of 9 NBA Finals in 2013 and 2016. We already went over this in detail, but here's a recap.

LeBron was outscored in the Finals by Tony Parker 2007, Jason Terry 2011, Kevin Durant 2012 and 2017, all of whom increased their PPG and FG%. In 2014, he was outplayed by Kawhi Leonard over the final 3 games, and in 2015 he allowed Andre Iguodala to double his scoring average on more efficient shooting, and allowed Barnes to shoot over 50% on LeBron despite shooting 37% for the overall series. 2013 and 2016 were the only good defensive Finals he had and he still had trouble guarding Kawhi Leonard in 2013.

Clutch

Playoff game-winners/tyers with 24 seconds or less
- Jordan 9/18 (50%)
- LeBron 10/27 (37%)

Playoff game-winners/tyers with 25 seconds or less
- Jordan 10/19 (53%)
- LeBron 10/27 (37%)

Playoff game-winners/tyers with 10 seconds or less
- Jordan 7/15 (47%)
- LeBron 9/22 (41%)

Playoff game-winners/tyers with 5 seconds or less
- Jordan 5/11 (45%)
- LeBron 7/17 (41%)
 
Finals game-winners/tyers with 25 seconds or less
- Jordan 4/8 (50%)
- LeBron 0/6 (0%)

And we've established that Jordan played way better competition, so there's no need to go over that. Outside of rebounding, LeBron doesn't have anything on Jordan, so Jordan clearly offers much more to the Cavaliers and Heat than LeBron does. One also only has to look at Jordan's 1997 Playoff run to see the degree to which Jordan could carry a team, and against far superior competition than LeBron has faced.

Let's take a look at what Jordan did in 1997 at age 34 well past his prime. Jordan became the only person besides Hakeem Olajuwon to lead a playoff team, let alone Finals or championship team, in 5/5 categories for 3 rounds (Hakeem did it for all 4 rounds in 1994) from rounds 2-4 in 1997. Jordan tied Rodman in rebounds for the last 3 rounds. Pippen and Rodman built their blocks and rebounds in the first round just enough to edge out Jordan for the 4-round playoffs (0.05 bpg more and 0.53 rpg more).
Jordan also became the only player to lead a team to the title with only one other double-digit scoring teammate for the playoffs. Pippen had 19 ppg on a sub-par 42%, no other Bull even reached 8 ppg in the playoffs. No other player has led as mediocre of an offensive cast to the Finals let alone win it all. Not to mention whatever help he had on offense was through Jordan leading the team in 5/5 categories for the last 3 rounds in the first place. He had Pippen and Rodman, but still had to shoulder the load of leading the team in every category after the first 3 games in the 1st round.

At 34 years old, Jordan carried the 2nd-largest
individual load on a championship team after 1994
Hakeem. Putting prime Jordan in LeBron's position
against easier competition would be child's play

He had good defensive help, but with Rodman's phantom foul trouble Jordan was the best defender on the team in the playoffs, locking down Strickland, who had just put up 22-5-10 on 45% in his last 3 playoff runs from 1994 to 1996, 20 ppg Steve Smith, and also troubling Stockton for stretches in the 1997 Finals. In the flu game for example all 3 of his steals were on Stockton passes. Jordan also faced two sub-90 ppg defenses back to back in the 1997 Playoff run in the Hawks and Heat while doing these historical accomplishments. LeBron has only faced 1 sub-90 defense in his entire playoff career, the 2012 Celtics, but even this comes with an asterisk. The Celtics starting SG for the beginning of the playoffs, and best perimeter defender Avery Bradley didn't even play in that series due to injury, so they weren't even a true sub-90 defense by the time LeBron faced them. They also would not even have 50 wins adjusted for 82 games (48-34) and Jordan is 10-0 against sub-50 playoff teams. And with only one other double-digit scorer on a sub-par FG%, those sub-90 defenses were allowed to focus on Jordan much more than they would on other players. Even with more defensive attention, against two sub-90 defenses, just one other double-digit scorer, and having to be the best defender Jordan still led a championship team in 5/5 categories for 3 rounds, something nobody else can say on any playoff team except for Hakeem in 1994 for all 4 rounds.

Jordan at age 34 proved himself under one of the top 3 hardest defensive circumstances for a championship team. In the shot-clock era, only the

- 1997 Bulls

- 1999 Spurs

- 2004 Pistons 

have won the championship while facing 2 sub-90 PPG defenses in the Playoffs. 

All 3 teams that faced more than 2 sub-90 PPG defenses in the Playoffs

- 1998 Pacers (3)

- 1999 Knicks (3)

- 2004 Lakers (4) 

failed to win the championship, confirming the harder circumstances become as a team faces more sub-90 defenses

The 2013 Grizzlies are the last sub-90 PPG defense in NBA history at 89.3 PPG allowed. So Jordan would no longer be facing defenses of comparable quality from 2014-present. 

The 1997 Bulls collective Playoff opponent win% was 0.686, the 2nd-highest of any Title team that played 4 rounds. Among Title teams that played 4 rounds, only the 1995 Rockets had a harder Playoff strength of schedule with a 0.726 collective Playoff opponent win%. 

Under these incredibly hard circumstances, both in terms of competition and defense, Jordan at age 34 still put up 31-8-5 on 46% FG - 81% FT for the 1997 Playoffs and led the team in 5/5 categories for the last 3 rounds collectively. 

All shot-clock era teams to face multiple sub-90 PPG defenses in one playoff run 

- 1997 Bulls (2) 

- 1998 Jazz (2) 

- 1998 Pacers (3) 

- 1999 Hawks (2) 

- 1999 Pacers (2) 

- 1999 Blazers (2) 

- 1999 Spurs (2) 

- 1999 Knicks (3) 

- 2004 Pacers (2) 

- 2004 Pistons (2) 

- 2004 Lakers (4) 

- 2012 Sixers (2) 

The 2012 Sixers are the only team post-2004/05 rule changes to face two sub-90 PPG defenses, but this comes with multiple asterisks 

1. The Sixers faced injured teams in both rounds of the 2012 Playoffs - Bulls with Derrick Rose missing all but 1 game and Joakim Noah missing 3 of 6 games in the 1st Round - Celtics with Avery Bradley missing 3 of 7 games in the ECSF, after starting every playoff game 

2. The 2012 Bulls and 2012 Celtics also had much worse defensive numbers against the Western Conference. Their defensive numbers were heavily protected by playing most of their games against Eastern Conference teams, and they were not true sub-90 PPG defenses. 

- 2012 Bulls = 94.1 PPG allowed vs West teams 

- 2012 Celtics = 92.7 PPG allowed vs West teams

The 2012 Celtics had a losing 7-11 record vs West teams as well. 

Players Averaging 20+ PPG in the Playoffs when facing 2+ sub-90 PPG defenses 

Unless otherwise noted, these Playoff runs are against exactly 2 sub-90 PPG defenses 

31.1 PPG - Michael Jordan (1997) - 31-8-5 on 46% 

26.3 PPG - Karl Malone (1998) - 26-11-3 on 47% 

24.5 PPG* - Kobe Bryant (2004) - 25-5-6 on 41% 

23.2 PPG - Tim Duncan (1999) - 23-12-3 on 51% 

21.5 PPG* - Shaquille O'Neal (2004) - 22-13-3 on 59% 

21.5 PPG - Richard Hamilton (2004) - 22-5-4 on 45% 

20.4 PPG** - Latrell Sprewell (1999) - 20-5-2 on 42% 

20.2 PPG - Reggie Miller (1999) - 20-4-3 on 40% 

*Shaq and Kobe faced 4 sub-90 PPG defenses, 2 sub-85 PPG defenses

**Sprewell faced 3 sub-85 PPG defenses, 4 sub-91 PPG defenses 

Reggie Miller in 1998 was exactly 1 total point away from having 20 PPG against 3 sub-90 PPG defenses, but went scoreless in the 4th quarter of Game 7. 

Under comparable statistical defensive circumstances to Jordan's in 1997 (not to mention competition in terms of collective opponent win%), no player has come close to Jordan's 1997 Playoffs performance, at age 34 and well past his prime no less. 

Jordan had by far the highest volume of PPG under these circumstances at 31.1 PPG. No other player has even reached 26.5 PPG in the Playoffs against multiple sub-90 PPG defenses. Of any 20+ PPG player under these circumstances, Jordan had the highest FG% of any non-PF/C. and Jordan also led the Bulls in 5/5 categories for the last 3 rounds of the 1997 Playoffs collectively.

Again, post-2004/05 rule changes no team has faced 2 true sub-90 PPG defenses in any Playoffs due to the asterisks surrounding the 2012 Sixers' competition. Therefore there is little reason to believe even the 34-year old past-prime version of Jordan in 1997, let alone prime Jordan, would have any lesser production in any post-illegal defense Playoff run outside of maybe 2004 compared to his 1997 performance, and certainly not after the 2004/05 rule changes.

So to recap

1. Jordan was at age 34 and well past his prime
2. He still led a team in 5/5 categories for 3 rounds
3. Also took on most of the tough perimeter defensive assignments - Strickland, 20 ppg Steve Smith, Stockton
4. Faced two sub-90 defenses back to back, LeBron has never faced a true sub-90 defense in the playoffs as the 2012 Celtics didn't have their best perimeter defender in the ECF
5. Those superior defenses were allowed to focus more exclusively on Jordan because the 1997 Bulls are the only title team with only 2 double digit playoff scorers - Pippen had 19 ppg on a sub-par 42%. No other Bull even reached 8 ppg
6. He beat 3 56+ win teams and 2 60+ win teams, LeBron has never beaten 3 50+ win teams or 2 60+ win teams in any playoff run

1997 Finals vs Jazz - Pippen did not do well in 3 of the 4 wins, including the series-deciding Games 5 and 6

• In Game 2, Pippen had 10-6-4 on a terrible 31%. Rodman only had 7 rebounds in 25 minutes, and Harper was the only other double digit teammate with 13-2-4 on 50%
• Jordan carried the team with 38-13-9-2 on 55%, leading them in points, rebounds, and assists by a large margin. He had almost triple the points of his next leading scorer (38 to 13), almost double the rebounds of the next rebounder (13 to 7) and more than double the next-leading player in assists (9 to 4)
• In the Flu game, Pippen had 17 pts but on a horrible 29% shooting. Pippen also had 5 assists to 3 turnovers and 4 fouls.
• Kukoc was the only other Jordan teammate in double figures with 12
• Dennis Rodman fouled out in only 23 minutes during the Flu Game.
• Greg Ostertag, of all people, outrebounded all of Jordan's teammates with 15. Greg Ostertag.
• Ostertag and Stockton both outscored all of Jordan's teammates besides Pippen, who needed a shot-jacking and bricking 29% to get his points.
• Despite having so little help on offense, Jordan singlehandedly brought the Bulls back from 16 down and had the go-ahead 3-pointer with 25 seconds left to take a 3-2 lead in the series. Jordan finished with 38-7-5-3 on 48%, leading his team in points, assists, and steals
• In Game 6, Pippen had 23 points, but on a horrible 35% with 2 assists to 5 turnovers and 5 fouls. To his credit, he did force a turnover on the last possession of the game, but that was only possible thanks to Jordan having the game-winning assist one play earlier in spite of Pippen's horrible play.
• In Game 6, no other player besides Pippen and Jordan had 10 points, and as we saw Pippen was shooting horribly to get those points. Every other teammate of Jordan's got outscored by John Stockton, Bryon Russell, Jeff Hornacek, and Karl Malone.
• Despite the lack of help, Jordan ended up with 39-11-4, leading his team in points, rebounds, and assists, and set up Steve Kerr for a wide-open shot with his championship-winning assist.
• In the 1997 Finals, Jordan averaged 32-7-6-1-1 on 46%. If we count assists as 2 points, he scored/assisted 44 of the Bulls 88 ppg in the 1997 Finals - exactly 50% of their points were because of Jordan. 
• After being tied 2-2, Pippen struggled in the clinching games 5 and 6, averaging 20 ppg on 32% shooting with 3.5 apg to 4 turnovers and 4.5 fouls. Yet Jordan made a game-winning play in both Games 5 and 6 to win the title. Keep in mind that LeBron has never beaten a 64-win team like the 1997 Jazz, yet Jordan singlehandedly carried his team over the Jazz in 3/4 of their wins in the 1997 Finals.
• After having 27-9-2 on 58% in the Game 1 win, Pippen averaged 16.7 - 8.3 - 3.7 on 32% with 3.0 TOpg and 3.7 fouls per game in their last 3 wins during Games 2-5-6. 
• Including Pippen's good Game 1, he averaged 19.3 - 8.5 - 3.3 on 39% with 3.8 TOpg and 3.3 fouls per game in the 4 wins. Pippen averaged more turnovers than assists and as many fouls as assists in the 4 wins while shooting 35% or worse in 3/4 wins

LeBron never came close to winning a Finals with such little help. The only other player to carry a championship team to a higher degree was Hakeem in 1994, but even Hakeem didn't have to beat 3 56+ win teams and 2 60+ win teams like Jordan did in 1997. The only other team to beat 3 56+ win teams is the 1995 Rockets who beat 4 57+ win teams. Clearly prime Jordan would not have a problem carrying Cleveland in a laughably weak Eastern Conference and against weaker overall competition, when a 34 year-old Jordan carried the Bulls to the championship against 3 56+ win and 2 60+ win teams to a degree that only 1994 Hakeem exceeded.

Jordan at age 34 almost carried the 1997 Bulls in every category as the best scorer, passer, stealer, and nearly the best rebounder (short 0.53 rpg) and shotblocker (short 0.05 bpg) throughout the playoffs, while beating 3 56+ win teams and with Pippen battling a back injury suffered in the first round, along with Rodman heavily struggling during the playoffs - particularly the Hawks series. Jordan did, in fact, lead the Bulls in 5/5 categories for the last 3 rounds. This leaves no doubt that if a fully prime Jordan at his best was put in a position where he had to carry LeBron's team in all aspects throughout the playoffs - i.e. lead them in all 5 categories, he easily could have done so, especially given the vastly inferior quality of opponents LeBron faces. LeBron's competition is not just of inferior quality, but of vastly inferior quality as proven above. 

And of course, we have to remind ourselves of the huge offensive load Jordan had to carry - becoming the only player to lead a team to the championship with just one double-digit scorer in the playoffs - Pippen at 19 ppg but on a mediocre 42%, and with no other Bull even reaching the 8 ppg mark for the playoffs. If a 34-year old Jordan can nearly lead a championship team in 5/5, while facing such a historically great level of overall competition (3 56+ win teams, 2 60+ win teams) and with possibly the worst offensive supporting cast to win a title, there's no reason to believe that a fully prime and healthy Jordan in an easier era, with more favorable rules towards offensive players, would not have carried LeBron's Cleveland and Miami teams to greater heights against easier and inferior opposition. And Jordan did, in fact, lead the team in 5/5 categories for the last 3 rounds of those playoffs (Read more about this in Section 26).

Jordan also did this while playing against two sub-90 ppg defenses in back to back rounds, the Hawks and Heat. LeBron has only faced one sub-90 ppg defense in his whole career, the 2012 Celtics in the ECF. However, the Celtics did not have their starting SG for the first 2 rounds, Avery Bradley, due to injury, and he was also their best perimeter defender. So LeBron has never faced a true sub-90 defense in the playoffs like Jordan did at age 34 while leading his team in 5/5 categories for the last 3 rounds. And on top of that, those superior defenses focused even more exclusively on Jordan due to the thin offensive help the Bulls offered, further proving Jordan could have easily carried a larger load than LeBron in Cleveland/Miami against far inferior competition. 

Now before we take a deeper look at analyzing how Jordan would have done in Cleveland and Miami, just remember these key points regarding the amazing impact Jordan had. We will continue to refer back to these points when analyzing how a prime, fully, healthy Jordan would have done in LeBron's shoes. And remember, the following points deal with what Jordan did at age 38, with no knees, broken ribs in the offseason, on a 19-win Wizards team (worse than any of LeBron's teams aside from his equally as bad rookie team), getting his knees drained throughout the season, coming off a 3-year layoff, and in a tougher defensive era.

Point 1 - Historical impact on W-L column

Jordan had the Wizards on track to be the first sub-20 team to get a winning record, and to this day it would have been the only time that it happened with just one major addition to the roster. The Wizards were 26-20 when MJ played pre-iniury (46/47 win pace), with Rip Hamilton out 5 weeks. They were 15-1 when MJ and Rip played together, making it pretty much guaranteed that an injury-free Rip and Jordan would get the 1 seed over the 52-win Nets and have a great shot at the 2002 Finals, with a worse supporting cast than any of LeBron's playoff teams.

Point 2 - Great individual and statistical dominance

Jordan averaged 25.1 ppg 6.2 rpg 5.3 apg 1.5 spg 0.5 bpg on 42% pre-injury (in a tougher defensive environment),Tracy McGrady being the only player to average at least 25-6-5 by the end of the 2001/02 season. And as we saw above, Jordan's individual numbers were continuing to improve as the season went on prior to his injury. The only negative was Jordan's efficiency, but it didn't stop him from winning games or improving his FG% as the season went on. And besides, Jordan was playing hobbled even before his injury happened on crippled knees with tendinitis and cracked ribs. So on top of being 38 years old coming off a 3-year layoff, it's no wonder he had poor efficiency. Prime Jordan under even more lenient defensive rules than 2001/02 would easily put up 40+ ppg 8 rpg 8 apg on well over 50%.

Point 3 - The ability to take the 2nd worst defense to the best in ppg allowed.

With Rip Hamilton out 5 weeks, and with Jordan as the only notable addition, the 2002 Wizards went from 2nd worst to top 5 in ppg allowed in the 46 games that Jordan played pre-injury. And as we saw earlier, the Wizards were by far the best in ppg allowed when Jordan and Rip played together pre-injury.

And of course, let's not forget that the Wizards with Rip and Jordan playing together were the best in the league in opponent's FG%, after being 3rd worst the previous year and 2nd worst in the games following Jordan's injury. Not only did Jordan have enormous team defensive impact, he still guarded the other team's best perimeter player many times and shut them down (Pierce, Vince, Peja, Sprewell (twice), Marion). There is a very strong case that Jordan is the best perimeter defender of all-time. 

Point 4 - The ability to take a top 10 worst rebounding team to top a 10 best rebounding team

For whatever reason, Jordan's presence also singlehandedly transformed the Wizards from a weak rebounding team to an elite one. The 2001 Wizards were top 10 worst in rebounding, yet a top 10 best team in rebounding pre-injury. And their rebounding was also improving as the season went on under Jordan, prior to his injury. Following their slow 2-9 start, the Wizards averaged 44.34 rpg in Jordan's last 35 games pre-injury, which would be top 3 in the league. After injury, the Wizards had a top-4 worst pace in rebounding over the final 35 games (40.40 rpg), and fell to 18th in rebounding for the overall season.

And once again, it has to be emphasized that this was a 38-year old hobbled and crippled shell of Jordan doing all of these amazing individual and team accomplishments. 

If the watered down, crippled version of Jordan pre-injury can

• Average 25-6-5, under tougher defensive restrictions than today (some handchecking was legal in 01/02)
• Singlehandedly transform a weak rebounding and defensive team to an elite one
• Shut down some of the top scorers of this era (Pierce + Vince)
• Get a sub-20 team a winning record pre-injury as the only notable addition, with his 2nd option out 5 weeks (a likely number 1 seed had both he and Rip stayed injury-free)

It's pretty much unfathomable how dominant a fully prime and 100% healthy Jordan would be in the modern era, on both the team and individual levels. You may be thinking to yourself, "Well if a crippled shell of Jordan probably would have made the 2002 Finals without injuries to him and Rip, how come a fully prime and 100% healthy Jordan lost to the Pistons in 1988, 1989, and 1990?" The answer to that is quite simple, the Pistons and 80s/90s competition overall were far more stacked than what Jordan would be facing in the post-Jordan era.

The 1989 Pistons swept every team in the 1989 Playoffs aside from Jordan's Bulls, and only suffered 2 playoff losses in 1990 aside from Jordan's Bulls. LeBron has never faced a team dominant enough to sweep 3 rounds in the playoffs like the 1989 Pistons. The last 3 teams to suffer 2 or less losses in the playoffs like the 1989 Pistons are the 1991 Bulls, 1999 Spurs, and 2001 Lakers.

Despite the watered down version of Jordan
dominating the modern era so easily, even
a prime Jordan couldn't handle much more
stacked competition like the Pistons
until he had some help. In the modern
era, this wouldn't be so much of an issue

The post-Jordan era competition was so easy, that the only thing stopping a 38-year old Jordan on no knees from taking a 19-win team to the 2002 Finals was injuries to him and his 2nd best player Rip Hamilton. But the 1988 - 1990 Pistons were so stacked that even a prime and fully healthy Jordan couldn't take them down with the mediocre help he received in those series (1988 ECSF, 1989 ECF, 1990 ECF Game 7). The 1991 Pistons were also stacked, but it's just that Jordan had help that time.

In the 1989 run, Jordan had to become the only guard to lead his team in 5/5 categories during the 1989 ECSF against the Knicks, and with Pippen ejected before the 4th quarter of Game 6, Jordan had to drop 12-2-3-1-2 in the 4th quarter along with the game-winning FTs to carry the 6-seed Bulls to their first ECF in franchise history. Jordan shut down Isiah Thomas in that series, but the Pistons were so stacked, along with the Bulls not helping enough, that even a prime Jordan wasn't enough to pull off the upset. 

In the 1990 ECF, Jordan had help through 6 games before his teammates shot a combined 24% in Game 7 to Jordan's 31-8-9 on 48%. The only Jordan teammate in double figures was Horace Grant with 10 points on 3/17 (18%), even Dennis Rodman, almost exclusively a defensive player, outscored all of Jordan's teammates with 13 points on 6/7 (86%). Again, the Pistons and 80s/90s competition were so stacked that even a prime Jordan couldn't take them down with the poor help he was receiving from his teammates. That problem wouldn't be nearly as prevalent in the post-Jordan era. 

As we have already seen, the post-Jordan era was so easy compared to Jordan's era, that injuries were the only thing stopping Jordan from taking a sub-20 team to the 2002 NBA Finals, as the only notable addition. Remember, the 90s had the most 50 and 60-win teams of any decade, even with a lockout season. Jordan's Bulls had to beat 7 60-win teams in their 6 title seasons, more than any other dynasty has in one decade. Jordan wouldn't have to worry about facing such stiff competition in LeBron's easy era, as explained earlier.

Jordan would have won more championships in LeBron's position

- The 1988 Bulls have the lowest number 2 scorer of any shot-clock era playoff team at 10.2 PPG, tied with the 1999 Heat. This makes Jordan the only player to make it out the 1st Round with such little help.

- Jordan made it to the 1989 ECF with his best teammate Pippen only averaging 13-8-4 on 46% in the Playoffs. Jordan beat two 50+ win teams before losing 4-2 to the 63-19 Pistons, who were 11-0 against non-Jordan teams in the 1989 Playoffs and 22-2 against non-Jordan teams in the 1989 and 1990 Playoffs combined. If there's any perimeter player you want carrying your team, it's Jordan, not LeBron

- LeBron played way easier East opponents, and that's why he made more Finals. Losing in the Finals proves that you wouldn't have made the Finals if you played in the other team's conference, since you would have lost to the champion sooner. LeBron's first year in the West, he didn't even MAKE THE PLAYOFFS and his 8 straight Finals streak was proven to be overrated

Of course Jordan didn't make so many Finals when he had to play Bird's Celtics, Isiah's Pistons, and the stacked 90s opponents compared to LeBron's easy road

- From 2006 to 2010, 4 of 8 teams LeBron beat in the Playoffs were 0.500 or worse

- 2007 - two 0.500 teams, the Pistons without Ben Wallace (17-13 record vs West)

- 2012 - Celtics had a losing 7-11 record vs West, no Avery Bradley due to injury

- 2013 - 3 teams under 50 wins each, a luxury Jordan never had

- 2014 - Paul George's Pacers in the ECF

- 2015 - Bulls with Gasol injured, Hawks with Korver injured

- 2016 - Raptors with Valanciunas injured

- 2017 - Raptors with Lowry injured, Celtics with Isaiah injured

- 2018 - Celtics without Kyrie or Hayward

- Jordan never lost to a team under 54 wins. The entire 2007 and 2017 East consisted of teams under 54 wins, as well as all of LeBron's 2012 and 2013 Playoff opponents (lockout records adjusted for 82 games). LeBron also lost to the 50-win Celtics in 2010

- The 2007 and 2008 Cavaliers were number 1 in least playoff PPG allowed. Jordan never had this luxury outside of two title seasons in 1991 and 1996.

- The 2008 Celtics went 7 games with an 8-seed 37-win Hawks team. The worst record team to ever push a champion to elimination.

- The 2014 Spurs went 7 games with an 8-seed 49-win Mavericks team. Replacing LeBron with Jordan would surely have guaranteed a win against the Celtics and Spurs.

- Including himself, LeBron had a 3-1 all-star advantage in the 2011 and 2014 Finals and a 3-2 all-star advantage in the 2012 and 2013 Finals. Jordan never lost any series with even a +1 all-star advantage including himself.

- The only time Jordan lost a series with an equal number of all-stars on both teams was the 1988 ECSF (Isiah Thomas and Jordan). The 1988 Bulls have the tied-lowest number 2 scorer on any shot-clock era playoff team.

- Playoff runs with a teammate averaging 22+ PPG

- Jordan - 0

- LeBron - 4 (2011, 2012, 2016, 2017)

- Jordan has 0 playoff SERIES with a teammate averaging 25+ PPG. Kyrie Irving averaged 25+ PPG for the ENTIRE 2016 and 2017 Playoffs.
Now, let's finally take a look at what Jordan would do in LeBron's shoes in Cleveland and Miami. This is all speculation, but it is also speculation to suggest that Jordan would not achieve as much team success in LeBron's position, like many of LeBron's fans claim. The difference, however, is that there is much more factual and contextual evidence to support Jordan achieving more than LeBron in Lebron's position, team and individual-wise, than there is of Jordan not doing so, rather than cherry-picked and out-of-context arguments such as what Jordan did without Pippen.

2004 and 2005 Cavaliers

Both of these supporting casts were really bad, and there's no way anyone could have led these teams to an NBA Finals run without a legit 2nd option. The 2004 team under a rookie Jordan would have missed the playoffs or lost in the first round. Jordan led the 1985 Bulls to 38 wins in his rookie year, leading them in 4/5 categories, and the 2004 Celtics made the 8 seed with 36 wins. The 2005 team (LeBron's second season) probably would have gotten at least 45-wins and lost in the 2nd round if Jordan didn't break his foot and miss almost all of his season like he did in 1986. 

Remember, a hobbled and crippled Jordan at 38 was putting up 25-6-5 under tougher defensive restrictions and getting a 19-win team a winning record pre-injury (Point 1 and 2), so a 2nd year, non-broken foot Jordan in the post-2004/05 era definitely would have enjoyed much more offensive freedom. This is the same Jordan that averaged 44-6-6-2-1 on 51% on a top 5 team of all-time in the 1986 Celtics in his 2nd year, coming off a broken foot season. 

A healthy 2nd year Jordan could have definitely have gotten the 2005 Cavs at least 45 wins, considering that's what a 38-year old shell of Jordan had the 2002 Wizards on pace for prior to his knee injury. With Rip Hamilton out for 5 weeks, the 2002 Wizards were 26-21 prior to MJ's knee injury, after which they lost 9/10 games, and the Wizards had won 19-games the previous year with Rip playing 78 games. (Point 1). There's no reason to believe a 2nd year, non-broken foot MJ couldn't get around 45-47 wins with the Cavs and beat the 2005 Wizards, Bulls, or Celtics in the first round, and then lose to the defending champ 2005 Pistons or Wade/Shaq 2005 Heat in the 2nd round.

2006 Cavaliers

Unlike Jordan's third year, he wouldn't have to be dealing with two cocaine addicts getting kicked off the team in Orlando Woolridge and Quintin Dailey. This was the first year that Jordan started showing signs of great defensive dominance, as he accumulated 200+ steals and 100+ blocks, something that only Scottie Pippen and Hakeem Olajuwon, the 2 best defenders at their position (arguably Russell along with Hakeem) can say. Jordan averaged 2.9 spg and 1.5 bpg in this season, Hakeem being the only other player to average 2.5+ spg and 1.5+ bpg in a full season (Gerald Wallace played 55 games in 2005/06 when he did it).

Jordan had taken the 1986 Bulls from top 10 worst in ppg allowed to number 2 in ppg allowed in 1987, despite the loss of Woolridge. Without having to worry about any drug addicts getting kicked off the 2006 Cavaliers, it's safe to say Jordan would make the 2006 Cavs much better on defense than their number 10 in ppg allowed ranking. In spite of that, Jordan would have probably ended up in the same position as LeBron, losing in the 2nd round to the league-best record Pistons with 4x DPOY Ben Wallace protecting the paint. 

Jordan in his 3rd year still wouldn't have been
developed enough to beat the 2006 Pistons
or Heat, though a 2nd-round appearance is
definitely the most likely scenario

Again, based on how old, crippled Jordan turned around the 19-win Wizards pre-injury (Point 1), a 50-win season and 2nd round exit to the 2006 Pistons is very realistic for 1987 Jordan on the 2006 Cavaliers, without any drug issues to worry about from teammates. It would be easier for Jordan to dominate following the 2004/05 rule changes (evidenced by 01/02 Jordan dropping 25-6-5 under tougher defensive restrictions pre-injury) (Point 2), so there would be a slight chance for 3rd year Jordan upsetting the Pistons in Game 7, whereas LeBron was 1-9 in the 2nd half of Game 7, but not as likely. Jordan was still developing on both ends in his 3rd year. 

Even if Jordan did miraculously get past the 2006 Pistons, there's no way he could have handled Wade and Shaq's Heat with the 2006 Cavs backing him up. This is the same Wade that dropped 26.7 - 5.2 - 5.5 - 1.8 - 1.5 on 62% on the 2006 Pistons along with Shaq dropping 21.7 ppg and 10.5 rpg with 2.3 bpg on 66% in the 2006 ECF. Jordan wasn't at his defensive prime yet, so there's no way he could have slowed down Wade enough to give the Cavs a chance. Even if MJ did, Shaq would have killed the rest of the Cavs' defense. 

2007 Cavaliers

This would easily be a free pass to the 2007 Finals for 1988 DPOY Jordan, who once again accumulated 200+ steals and 100+ blocks, the only player to do it twice, along with averaging 3.2 spg and 1.6 bpg, making Jordan the only player to average 2.5+ spg and 1.5+ bpg in 2 seasons, and the only one to average 3.0+ spg and 1.5+ bpg in a season.

The 2007 East was by far the weakest road to the NBA Finals in recent memory, 2013 being a close second. LeBron didn't make the 2007 Finals because of how good he was, he made it because of how bad the opposition was. LeBron beat two 0.500 teams, the Nets and the Wizards with no Gilbert Arenas or Caron Butler, and the Pistons with no 4x DPOY Ben Wallace protecting the paint, and no HoF coach Larry Brown, far from the 2004-2006 Pistons' level. The Cavs were also the #1 Playoff Defense in PPG allowed

Letting a prime Jordan lead the 2007 Cavs against that type of bum competition would result in an easy 3 round 12-0 sweep on the way to the 2007 Finals. The 2007 Cavs are the only team since the 1987 Lakers to face two 0.500 or worse teams to make the Finals. The 2007 East was so bad, that the 2007 Pistons have the 3rd-worst record for a 1-seed in the 4-round format at 53-29, behind the 52-26 Nets in 2002 and 50-32 Pistons in 2003. Jordan never lost to a team under 54 wins, and the entire 2007 East conisted of teams under 54 wins.

Remember, the only thing that stopped 38-year old Jordan with no knees from making the 2002 Finals with an even worse 19-win Wizards team was injuries to him and Rip (Point 1). Putting a prime, healthy, Jordan on a better Cavs team would definitely be an easy trip to the 2007 Finals in an incredibly weak East.

By his 4th year, Jordan was just about to enter his prime, and as we remember, a 38-year old shell of Jordan took the Wizards from 2nd worst defense with Rip Hamilton playing 78 games to absolute best defense in ppg allowed alongside Rip Hamilton, along with being the best in opponent's FG% when those 2 played together after being 3rd worst the previous year. And this was with MJ as the only notable addition (Point 3). The 2007 Cavs were already a top 5 defense, so you just have to imagine how amazing their defense would be with a fully prime and 100% healthy Jordan taking over.

The 2007 Cavs were also top 2 in rebounding with LeBron being third on the team in rpg with 6.7 rpg. Wizards Jordan in 01/02 was averaging 6.2 rpg prior to his injury, and was 3rd in rpg on his team both before injury and by the end of the season. As we recall from point 4, a 38-year old shell of Jordan took a top 10 worst rebounding Wizards team to top 10 best in rebounding, and following the slow 2-9 start, they were averaging 44.34 rpg in Jordan's final 35 games pre-injury, only to average 40.40 rpg in Jordan's 35 post-injury games, which would be 4th worst in the league (Point 4) . Again, putting prime, healthy, Jordan on the 2007 Cavs would make their great rebounding even greater, just like their defense. And Jordan's individual rebounding would also be greater than the pre-injury 6.2 rpg he had as a 38 year old shell of himself.

It's also worth noting that Jordan led the 1997 Bulls team to the championship with little offensive help. Pippen was the only other double digit scorer for the Bulls in the playoffs at 19 ppg on 42%, with all other Bulls averaging under 8 ppg. This is the only time anyone led a team to the title with only one double digit scoring teammate, and Jordan did this against much better overall competition (44-win Bullets, 56-win Hawks, 61-win Heat, 64-win Jazz) as opposed to Lebron beating two 0.500 teams and a 53-win Pistons team with no Ben Wallace or Larry Brown). The 1997 Bulls, along with the 1995 Rockets, are the only team to beat 3 56+ win teams in one title run (1995 Rockets beat 4 57+ win teams).

For comparison

2007 Cavaliers

• LeBron had 3 other players in double figures and 5 others with 8+ ppg. 
• Rodman was the 1997 Bulls leading rebounder with 8.4 rpg, Ilgauskus had 9.7 rpg and Gooden had 8.0 rpg 
• Jordan also beat way better competition, (44-win Bullets, 56-win Hawks, 61-win Heat, 64-win Jazz) as opposed to Lebron beating two 0.500 teams (41-wins) and a 53-win Pistons team with no Ben Wallace or Larry Brown), then facing a 58-win Spurs team in the Finals. The 1997 Bulls, along with the 1995 Rockets, are the only team to beat 3 56+ win teams in one title run (1995 Rockets beat 4 57+ win teams).
• Cavs were the #1 Playoff Defense in PPG allowed. Jordan never had that in a non-title seaosn, only in 1991 and 1996.

Suddenly LeBron's 2007 run doesn't look so impressive. Jordan also became the closest player to lead a title team in 5/5, besides Hakeem who actually did it in 1994, at age 34 when he was 10 rebounds (0.53 rpg) and 1 block (0.05 bpg) short of leading the 1997 Bulls in 5/5 for the playoffs. 1988 Jordan easily could have filled in for any holes on the 2007 Cavs if it was necessary, as 34-year old Jordan nearly led the 1997 team in 5/5 against vastly superior competition. Jordan did, in fact, lead the Bulls in 5/5 categories for the last 3 rounds, Hakeem is the only other player to do that on a title team when he led the 1994 Rockets in 5/5 for all 4 rounds. This is a key point to remember when wondering to what degree Jordan could carry a team, and he was playing in a triangle offense which makes it much harder to lead a team in assists. 

And to top it all off, Jordan beat 3 56+ win teams and 2 60+ win teams in 1997, at the past-prime age of 34 while carrying the Bulls to a historically high degree, whereas LeBron has never beaten 3 50+ win teams or 2 60+ win teams in any playoff run of his career. In fact, Jordan beat 3 56+ win teams in 1997 alone, but LeBron never beat a team with more than 53 wins (2007 Pistons with no Ben Wallace or Larry Brown) during his entire first run in Cleveland, and that was the only 50+ win team he beat in that stretch.

Considering how vastly superior Jordan's defensive impact was, proven by a 38-year old shell of Jordan making the 2nd worst defense in ppg allowed easily the best when he was playing with Rip Hamilton (Point 3), and the best in opponent's FG%, it's very plausible to see 1988 Jordan, who was beginning to enter his prime, win the 2007 Finals. Jordan would have an easier time offensively (38-year old Jordan averaged 25-6-5 pre-injury under tougher defensive rules - Point 2) and his defensive dominance alone would swing the series in his favor. The Cavs did a great job containing the Spurs under Lebron's vastly inferior defensive leadership, holding the Spurs to 86.5 ppg in the Finals, 12 ppg below their season average. The Spurs had 85 points or less in 3/4 games, very good defense by the Cavs' supporting cast. Duncan was also held under 45%, which was 10% below his season average. 

With LeBron averaging 22-7-7 on 36% with 5.8 TO per game, 3 out of 4 losses were still in single digits, including LeBron missing the game-tying shot in Game 3 and going 10/30 (33%) in Game 4 with 6 TOs and 2/6 FTs, to only lose by 1 point. No way is prime Jordan going to have that much offensive struggles when a shell of MJ in 01/02 put up 25-6-5 pre-injury in a tougher defensive environment (Point 2). Jordan never shot under 40% in an NBA Finals, and shot over 50% in 3 straight Finals during his prime, something LeBron only did once, while padding his stats to do so in the 2014 Finals (we'll get to this later). 

In fact, only once has Jordan ever shot under 40% in any playoff series, when he shot 39% against the 1997 Heat. However even this was due to an anomaly in Game 4, when Jordan shot 9/35 and the Bulls lost. In the 4 wins of that series, Jordan still averaged 30-8-4-2-1 on 43%. In the 2007 Finals, LeBron became the only player to shoot under 40% FG with 5+ TOpg in an NBA Finals, and he was well beyond those minimum requirements. Despite a historically terrible Finals performance, the Cavs' 4 losses were still decided by a mere 6 PPG.

The 2007 Cavs already had a top 5 defense
that would be even more improved under DPOY
Jordan. And adding Jordan brings the perfect
piece to kill the Spurs' offense and their biggest
 offensive threat in these Finals, Tony Parker

The Cavaliers didn't have anyone who could guard Tony Parker, as he schooled LeBron with 24.5 ppg on 57%. Putting prime, healthy, Jordan in his place solves that problem, along with making the already great Cavs team defense and team rebounding even greater (Point 3 and 4). In fact, Tony Parker was the only Spur who played well offensively. Duncan played well defensively, but only had 18 ppg on 45% and 63% on FTs. Ginobili had 18 ppg on a terrible 37%. Every other Spur averaged 6 ppg or less. 

Jordan is the perfect matchup to shut down Tony Parker, as he shut down many PGs who were vastly superior to Tony Parker, including Isiah Thomas as we saw above, Gary Payton, and Kevin Johnson, the only player along with Oscar and Isiah to average 20 ppg 10 apg for 3 straight years (nearly tied them for a 4th straight). Even past his defensive peak, Jordan troubled John Stockton in the 1997 and 1998 Finals both on and off-ball at age 34 and 35. With Jordan easily being able to shut down the Spurs best and only efficient offensive threat, the Spurs would be in major trouble. The Spurs did not have to worry about LeBron's overrated defense.

Lastly, Deron Williams at age 22 and only his first year as a full-time starter averaged 26-4-8-2 on 53% against these same Spurs in the 2007 WCF, with his only help coming from Carlos Boozer. And Boozer was only good because of Deron Williams' passing - having never averaged over 15 ppg without Williams in a series aside from the 2013 1st Rd against the Nets. Even with his teammates shooting 33% on shots not taken or assisted by Williams, D-Will still schooled the Spurs defense. Imagine what 1988 Jordan would do.

Due to Jordan's 

• Ability to take any terrible defense into the best in the league as a 38-year old shell (Point 1), and having this enhanced by the Cavs defense that held the Spurs to 85 or less in 3/4 games
• Ability to make a weak rebounding team into an elite one under his presence as a 38-year old shell (Point 4)
• Putting up great numbers (25-6-5 compared to 2007 LeBron's 27-7-6) in a tougher defensive environment pre-injury as a 38-year old shell (Point 2)
• Being able to shut down multiple PGs of much higher caliber than the Spurs biggest and only consistent offensive threat in those Finals, Tony Parker
• At age 34 in the 1997 title run, being able to carry a limited offensive team and being the closest player to join Hakeem in leading a title team in 5/5 categories to fill in any holes in the team system
• Jordan also did this while playing two sub-90 ppg defenses in the Hawks and Heat. LeBron has never faced a true sub-90 defense, as the 2012 Celtics were missing their best perimeter defender and starting playoff guard, Avery Bradley.
• and with the Cavs already holding Duncan under 45% and the Spurs to 85 or less in 3/4 games, it would be unimaginable how great their defense would be under prime, healthy, Jordan, given how the Wizards were the best defense in the league with MJ and Rip together after being 2nd worst the year before, (Point 3) and the best in opponent's FG% when those 2 played together
• the 2007 Cavs held Duncan to his 2nd-worst FG% in any Finals series after the 2005 Finals against Detroit.
• In the 2007 Finals, LeBron became the only player to shoot under 40% FG with 5+ TOpg in an NBA Finals, and he was well beyond those minimum requirements. Despite a historically terrible Finals performance, the Cavs' 4 losses were still decided by a mere 6 PPG.
• The 1997 and 1998 Bulls have the two lowest scoring supporting casts by a winning team in the NBA Finals since 1954, and lower than any of LeBron's scoring supporting casts in an NBA Finals.

In the shot-clock era, Jordan has
- 5 of the 8 lowest scoring playoff supporting casts for title teams
- 4 of the 6 lowest scoring playoff supporting casts for title teams
- 3 of the 5 lowest scoring playoff supporting casts for title teams
- The 2 lowest scoring playoff supporting casts for title teams

- Jordan is the only player to lead multiple top 10 lowest-scoring playoff supporting casts among title teams

Jordan took a worse team than the 2007 Cavs to 6 games against a much better team than the 2007 Spurs in the 1989 Pistons. The 1989 Pistons were 15-2 in the playoffs, tied for the 2nd-best playoff record ever in the 4-round format. The 2007 Spurs lost 4 games in the Western Conference alone.

1989 ECF best scoring teammates Hodges 12.0 ppg on 45% Cartwright 10.5 ppg on 41% Pippen 9.7 ppg on 40% Grant 9.3 ppg on 50% 2007 Finals best scoring teammates Gooden 12.8 ppg on 50% Gibson 10.8 ppg on 44% Pavlovic 9.8 ppg on 36% Varejao 7.5 ppg on 67%

The Cavs were also ranked 2 of 30 in rebounding, as opposed to the Bulls' 22 of 25 rank in rebounding. The 2007 Cavs held Duncan to under 45% FG in the Finals, the 2nd-worst shooting series in Duncan's Finals career after 2005. The 2007 Cavs clearly had far superior defensive and rebounding help than the 1989 Bulls.

And remember, MJ played great in the 1989 ECF (30-6-7-2 on 46%) unlike LeBron in the 2007 Finals (22-7-7 on 36% FG and 5.8 TOpg) so MJ was doing way more to create those opportunities for his teammates, and was far more responsible for whatever production they had than LeBron for his teammates, and MJ was playing against a way better team

There's every reason to believe that a prime, healthy Jordan's offensive production would far exceed LeBron's under more lenient defensive rules, and that his defensive presence would definitely be enough to shut down the Spurs even moreso than what the Cavs defense had already done. Jordan could definitely make the 2007 Cavaliers champions due to his great defensive dominance (team and 1-1) as well as how much easier he would have it offensively post 2004-05 rule changes. And his 1-1 defense solves the Cavs' biggest matchup problem in Tony Parker. Jordan could definitely take down the 2007 Spurs due to the huge defensive impact he would have and in an era geared to help his offensive game, getting the Cavs their first ring.

2008 Cavaliers

The 2008 Celtics were great in the regular season, but their playoff dominance left much to be desired as they went 7 games with the 37-win Hawks in the first round, and 7 games against LeBron's Cavs, with LeBron averaging a horrendous 35.5% FG and 5+ TO per game. The 2008 Celtics were far from invincible when the playoffs came around. In Game 1, LeBron shot 2/18 with 10 turnovers but was still in a position to get to OT, only to miss the game-tying shot. The Cavs defense was huge in this series, never allowing the Celtics to reach 100 points in all 7 games, after the Celtics averaged just over 100 ppg in the regular season. Ben Wallace, though past his prime, still made a huge contribution defensively even in limited minutes.

Before acquiring Ben Wallace
- the 2008 Cavs allowed 98.2 ppg through 55 games
- this would be ranked 11th in the league

In the 22 regular season games that Ben Wallace played with the Cavs
- the 2008 Cavs allowed 91.6 ppg
- this would be ranked 4th in the league

In the 2008 playoffs, with Ben Wallace starting every game
- the 2008 Cavs allowed 87.8 ppg
- this was the lowest ppg allowed by any team in the playoffs

Ben Wallace, even in limited minutes, made a much bigger contribution defensively than any post-defender Jordan had pre-Rodman, and Jordan was past his prime when Rodman came to the Bulls. Giving prime Jordan someone like 2008 Ben Wallace would be a death sentence for opposing teams. As you can see, Ben Wallace singlehandedly turned the Cavs from a solid, but not great, defense to the best defensive team in the playoffs. Jordan would have a field day playing with such an elite rim and paint protector to anchor the defense, a luxury that he never had in his prime. 

As more proof of how vital Ben Wallace was to the 2008 Cavs' success, when he only played 3:40 in Game 2 against the Celtics, the Cavs got blown out by 16, which would be the only double-digit loss they suffered against the 2008 Celtics. In fact, the only 2 double-digit losses that the Cavs suffered in the 2008 Playoffs were the 2 games that Ben Wallace played the least minutes, the other double-digit loss being a 36-point blowout against the Wizards in Game 3.

Again, Jordan's vastly superior defensive impact would be a huge reason for his ability to beat the 2008 Celtics in LeBron's position, along with the Celtics struggles to dominate in the playoffs. Jordan took the 2nd worst Wizards defense with Rip Hamilton to the best playing alongside Rip as a complete shell of himself (Point 3), and the best in opponent's FG% when those 2 played together. Injuries were the only thing stopping him and Rip from going from 19-wins to NBA Finals on a much weaker team than any of LeBron's playoff teams (Point 1). Can you imagine what a prime, healthy Jordan would do on a Cavs team that held the Celtics under 100 in all 7 games, and with a past-prime but still effective Ben Wallace? Their defense under Jordan would be incredibly stacked. Remember, Jordan only had 2 years in 1991 and 1996 with the number 1 playoff defense in least PPG allowed

Jordan never in his career shot as poorly as LeBron did in this playoff series (35.5% FG), nor did he average 5+ turnovers a game in any series. The only time Jordan shot under 40% in a playoff series was at age 34 against the 1997 Heat when he shot 39%, and that was because of a 9/35 anomaly in Game 4 that the Bulls lost. Jordan still had 30-8-4-2-1 on 43% in the 4 wins against the 1997 Heat, whereas LeBron pushed the Celtics to 7 games with a much, much worse performance. Even in the 3 Cavalier wins, LeBron still had poor averages of 24.7 ppg - 7.7 rpg - 9.0 apg on 35.6% FG (21/59) and 4.7 TOpg against Boston.

And as we've said many times, 38-year old, tendinitis knees and cracked ribs Jordan's 25-6-5 in a tougher defensive environment, pre-injury, makes it hard to believe a prime, healthy Jordan wouldn't have lit up the 2008 Celtics under easier defensive rules (Point 2). And Jordan as a Wizard was shutting down a 26 ppg version of Paul Pierce, the 2nd highest mark of his career. Jordan could also rotate on Ray Allen, even past his defensive prime Jordan shut down one of the best shooters of all-time in Reggie Miller at age 35, along with 21 ppg on 48% Peja Stojakovic at age 38. 

Prime, healthy Jordan could easily take care of the Celtics' biggest perimeter threats with his vastly superior 1-1 defense. In the 2008 NBA ECSF, Paul Pierce had a poor 4 points on 2/14 (14%) FG in Game 1, but over the last 6 games, Pierce dropped 22 ppg on 44% and had an easy time when LeBron was guarding him. That's not happening against prime Jordan, when a old Wizards Jordan shut down a better version of Paul Pierce.

Jordan also carried the 1997 Bulls to the title as the only player to win a title with just one double figure scorer (Pippen 19 ppg on 42%) at age 34, with all other teammates averaging under 8 ppg in the 1997 run. LeBron had 3 players in double figures and four with 8+ ppg in the 2008 run. Jordan also nearly led the 1997 team in 5/5 categories for the title run at age 34 (short 0.05 bpg and 0.53 rpg), and did, in fact, lead the Bulls in 5/5 categories for the last 3 rounds, so there's no reason to believe he couldn't beat the Celtics with a great Cavs defense backing him up in his prime, and with more offensive depth while filling in for any holes in the Cavs lineup. 

And to top it all off, Jordan beat 3 56+ win teams and 2 60+ win teams in 1997, at the past-prime age of 34 while carrying the Bulls to a historically high degree, whereas LeBron has never beaten 3 50+ win teams or 2 60+ win teams in any playoff run of his career. In fact, Jordan beat 3 56+ win teams in 1997 alone, but LeBron never beat a team with more than 53 wins (2007 Pistons with no Ben Wallace or Larry Brown) during his entire first run in Cleveland, and that was the only 50+ win team he beat in that stretch. He also did this while playing superior defenses, as the Hawks and Heat both allowed under 90 ppg. LeBron has never faced a true sub-90 ppg defense, as the 2012 Celtics were missing their starting playoff guard and best perimeter defender Avery Bradley in the ECF.

In LeBron's 3 wins against the 2008 Celtics he had 24.7 ppg 7.7 rpg 9.0 apg on 35.6% and 4.7 TOpg, very sub-par for his standards. LeBron shot under 40% in all 3 of the Cavalier wins. For the series, LeBron's teammates shot 149/344 (43.3%) whereas LeBron shot 55/155 (35.5%). LeBron's teammates collectively shot better than the Celtics as a whole (42.5%). LeBron had more than enough help to get the job done in this series (when you look at production instead of name-dropping), especially with the Celtics scoring under 100 in all 7 games (84 ppg) after averaging 100 for the season, but still failed. Putting a prime Jordan under the easier defensive rules all but guarantees a win over the 2008 Celtics given how they were pushed to the brink with LeBron playing so poorly. Jordan would never and has never played that poorly in any playoff series.

Old, crippled Jordan had no problem
shutting down a 26 ppg version of Paul
Pierce. Putting prime Jordan on the 2008
Cavs along with his team defensive impact
would be a huge problem for the Celtics

Again, considering the near-worst version of Jordan could take the 2nd worst defense in the league to the best in ppg allowed when playing with Rip Hamilton (along with best in OPP FG%), and how much easier he would have it post-2004/05 rule changes, not even mentioning the enormous impact he had on the 2001/02 Wizards' team rebounding (Point 4), there's every reason to believe he could shut down the Celtics greater than what the Cavs did under LeBron. If the Cavs held Boston under 100 in all 7 games, adding prime and healthy Jordan's impact on team defense and rebounding would kill Boston (Point 3 and 4). Jordan also never struggled in a playoff series as badly as LeBron did against these Celtics. Under the easier rules, Jordan would have killed their defense (Point 2). And once again, the 2002 Wizards were far worse than any of LeBron's playoff teams, yet injuries are the only thing that stopped them from making the 2002 Finals under a 38-year old Jordan and Rip. (Point 1). Ben Wallace was also still a monster defensively, and pairing him with the best perimeter defender of all-time in his prime would be a nightmare for opposing teams. 

From this point on, the 2008 Pistons with no Ben Wallace protecting the paint would be easy pickings for Jordan, and the 2008 Lakers with no Ariza to defend Jordan and make him work or Bynum in the paint would also be easy pickings. Prime Jordan would definitely do a stellar defensive job on Kobe while lighting up the 2008 Lakers on the way to a 2nd ring.

The Cavs were also ranked 3 of 30 in rebounding, as opposed to the Bulls' 22 of 25 rank in rebounding. The 2008 Cavs had the best playoff defense, better even than the Celtics led by DPOY-Garnett. The 2008 Cavs clearly had far superior defensive and rebounding help than the 1989 Bulls. The 2008 Celtics also went to 7 games with the 37-win Hawks, the worst-record team to ever push a champion to elimination. Replacing LeBron with Jordan would be more than enough to knock off the vulnerable Celtics.

Even in the 3 Cavalier wins, LeBron still had poor averages of 24.7 ppg - 7.7 rpg - 9.0 apg on 35.6% FG (21/59) and 4.7 TOpg against Boston. Jordan easily would defeat the Celtics as he never had nearly that poor of a series statistically, yet it was "good" enough to push Boston to 7 games thanks to the Cavs' number 1 playoff defense after adding Ben Wallace. In the only series that Jordan shot under 40% FG, he still had 30-8-4-2-1 on 43% in the 4 wins of a 5-game series against the 1997 Heat in the ECF.

The 1997 and 1998 Bulls have the two lowest scoring supporting casts by a winning team in the NBA Finals since 1954, and lower than any of LeBron's scoring supporting casts in an NBA Finals. 

In the shot-clock era, Jordan has

- 5 of the 8 lowest scoring playoff supporting casts for title teams
- 4 of the 6 lowest scoring playoff supporting casts for title teams
- 3 of the 5 lowest scoring playoff supporting casts for title teams
- The 2 lowest scoring playoff supporting casts for title teams

- Jordan is the only player to lead multiple top 10 lowest-scoring playoff supporting casts among title teams

2009 and 2010 Cavaliers

Due to Dwight Howard and the Magic, Jordan would likely not have made the Finals with the 2009 and 2010 Cavaliers. LeBron averaged 38.5 - 8.3 - 8.0 on 49% and had led the Cavs to the best defense in the league in least points allowed, though it still wasn't enough to beat the Magic. His teammates greatly failed to step up in this series. Jordan surely would have beaten the 39-43 Pistons and 47-win Hawks with an injured Al Horford and Marvin Williams, but without anyone to limit Dwight Howard, the Magic would have been to much to overcome. Jordan still would have had a similar or better statistical series compared to LeBron, however.

Dwight Howard actually poses a huge matchup
problem for any player replacing LeBron
on the 2009 Cavs, with the exception of an
 all-time great big man to take care of him

The 2010 Celtics were worse than the 2008 Celtics, especially after KG's season-ending 2009 knee-injury, and we already saw that Jordan's offensive and defensive dominance, both 1-1 and team-wise, would have no problem shutting down the 2008 Celtics as a team (Point 3), along with their biggest perimeter threats in Allen and Pierce. Garnett was coming off his 2009 knee injury, averaging just under 30 mpg in the regular season. On top of that, Pierce and Allen's ppg were at their personal lowest since their rookie seasons. LeBron blew a 2-1 series lead by shooting 34% with 6 turnovers a game over the final 3 games to lose in 6, which isn't happening to Jordan under the easier rules (Point 2). And remember, Jordan's 2002 Wizards were worse than any of LeBron's playoff teams, yet injuries were the only thing stopping a shell of Jordan from taking them to the 2002 Finals along with Rip Hamilton. (Point 1)

Jordan had all the tools to take out a prime 2008 Celtics
team in LeBron's position, so there's no reason to believe
a weaker 2010 Celtics team could handle him

Prime Jordan had all the tools, team and individual-wise, to kill a much better 2008 Celtics team, there isn't any reason to see him losing to a weaker and older 2010 version. Jordan also never lost to a team below 54 wins, and the 2010 Celtics only had 50 wins. The Cavs would then run into the Magic again, which would be a tough matchup problem because of Dwight Howard.

2011 Heat

This would be an absolute guaranteed victory for Jordan. Jordan never had a teammate that could put up 30-7-5-2 on 53% like Wade in the 2011 ECSF, or 26.5 - 7.0 - 5.2 - 1.5 - 1.5 on 55% in the 2011 Finals. Jordan was never outplayed by anyone on either team in any playoff series after his rookie year (Terry Cummings) like LeBron was by his own teammate, Wade in both of these series. Jordan's enormous team defensive and rebounding impact as an old shell of himself (Point 3 and 4) along with Wade's defensive dominance on the perimeter would easily shut down the likes of Pierce and Allen in the ECSF. Wade averaged 25-7-4-2-1 on 49% in the 2011 Playoffs as a whole, pretty even with Pippen's 20-8-6-2-1 on 48% in the 1991, 1992, 1993 Playoffs combined. And much better than Pippen's 18-7-5-2-1 on 41% in the last 3peat. Even with all this help, LeBron still lost.

Jordan also would definitely shut down Derrick Rose in the 2011 ECF, and not just guarding him for 2 fourth quarters in the whole series like LeBron. As a 38-year old shell, Jordan shut down prime Vince Carter to 0 points in the 2nd half. Prior to a Feb 7 injury against the Spurs, Vince in 2001/02 averaged 25.8 ppg on 43% (higher scoring numbers than 2011 Rose's 25.0 ppg on 45%). A prime Jordan would easily crush Rose defensively.

Prime Jordan and Wade would have easily cruised

to the 2011 NBA championship as teammates

And the 2011 Finals would be easy pickings. Haslem held Dirk under 42%, and Jordan would never let bench player Jason Terry outscore him like LeBron did. Nor would he have a problem shutting down 2011 Marion, as he did this when he was 38 years old against a better version of Marion (and after his knee injury), whereas Marion and Terry exposed prime LeBron's overrated defense in the Finals. And of course, prime Jordan would have a much easier time under the new defensive rules (Point 1 and Point 2). The Mavs would easily be crushed in 5, or swept, and this would be a 100% guaranteed championship under prime Jordan, no debate, for several reasons. 

• Wade putting up better numbers than Pippen did in the last 3peat, and on-par with prime Pippen in the first 3peat
• Haslem holding Dirk under 42% in the 2011 Finals, though some of Dirk's misses were great looks or open shots
• Jordan being the perfect defensive matchup to crush the Heat opponent's perimeter offensive threats (Pierce, Allen, Rose, Marion, Terry)
• never in his entire career did Jordan come close to choking as bad as LeBron did in this series
• The 2011 Mavs lost a 15 ppg scorer in Caron Butler due to injury, so they were undermanned in these Finals. 
• Jordan being capable of carrying weaker supporting casts (Point 1), with easier individual dominance under modern rules (Point 2), and greatly improving the Heat team defense and rebounding (Point 3 and 4)
• Jordan won the 1997 title with only one double digit scorer in Pippen, 19 ppg on a poor 42%. This is the only time anyone has done that in a title run, and while playing better competition. LeBron has never beaten 3 50+ win or 2 60+ win teams in any playoff run of his career, which Jordan did in 1997 at age 34 with minimal offensive help, and while leading his team in 5/5 for the last 3 rounds.
• Jordan also did that against superior defenses, as the Hawks and Heat both allowed under 90 ppg. The only playoff opponent LeBron faced that was a sub-90 defense, the 2012 Celtics, were missing their starting playoff guard and best perimeter defender Avery Bradley.
• The 1997 and 1998 Bulls have the two lowest scoring supporting casts by a winning team in the NBA Finals since 1954, and lower than any of LeBron's scoring supporting casts in an NBA Finals. 
• LeBron had 70+ PPG from his teammates in the 2011 Finals. Jordan's teammates only did that once in his 6 Finals, in 1991, due to Jordan averaging 11.4 APG - more than anyone besides Magic Johnson in an NBA Finals.
• The Heat had a 3-1 all-star advantage over the Mavericks, including LeBron himself. Jordan never lost a series with even a +1 all-star advantage including himself.

2012 Heat
The 2012 Heat actually won the title as a top 10 worst rebounding team in the league.  Replacing LeBron with prime Jordan would greatly improve the team's rebounding, as proven by how the presence of the Wizards shell of Jordan turned a top 10 worst rebounding team to a top 10 best rebounding team (Point 4). This would make the 2012 Heat's title run much, much easier under Jordan. Wade also averaged 23-5-4-2-1 on 46% in this 2012 title run, which is better than Pippen's 1996, 1997, and 1998 Playoff runs (a combined 18-7-5-2-1 on 41% in the 3 playoffs of the last 3peat) when Jordan won his last 3 rings, and that wasn't the best version of Jordan winning with an injured Pippen. 

And of course, prime Jordan's defensive impact would be much, much greater than LeBron's. We will always keep going back to Point 3 to confirm this, when the near-worst version of Jordan singlehandedly turned the 2nd worst defense in ppg allowed to a top 5 defense with Rip Hamilton out 5 weeks, and by far the best defense when playing with Rip Hamilton. The Wizards were also the best in opponent's FG% when those 2 played together, after being 3rd worst with Rip playing 78 games the previous year. Not to mention how much easier Jordan would have it offensively, when an old shell of Jordan was dominating a tougher (but easier than the Jordan Era's) defensive environment in 2001/02 (Point 2). 

Jordan already had all the tools to beat a better 2008 and 2010 Celtics team, beating the 2012 team with no Jeff Green or Avery Bradley would not be a problem. Just like every other year, Jordan would have no problem shutting down Pierce when a 38-year old version of Jordan did it against a prime Pierce (26.1 ppg on 44%), and he could easily shut down past-prime Ray Allen, as good as a shooter as he was. Even at 35, Jordan shut down prime Reggie Miller with the season on the line, and at 38 shut down 21 ppg on 48% sniper Peja Stojakovic. The Celtics would only have had 48 wins in a full season, and Jordan is 10-0 against sub-50 teams in the playoffs, and never had the luxury of playing a sub-50 team in the ECF like LeBron. This explains how the Heat were able to get through the East with mediocre rebounding, as the best team they played in the East wouldn't even be good enough to get 50 wins in a full season.

Jordan easily would have done a
better job defensively on Durant
than LeBron did in the Finals

Jordan would also do a much better defensive job on Kevin Durant or Russell Westbrook in the Finals than LeBron did. Even as a 38-year old shell, Jordan was shutting down 2 of the best scorers of this era (Pierce and Vince), with Vince being the most athletic guard of all-time alongside Jordan. Durant is a unique scorer, but there's no reason to suggest that a prime, healthy Jordan wouldn't be able to adjust to Durant's style when the old, hobbled 38-year old version of Jordan adjusted to a new era, and shut down two other 25+ ppg scorers. Durant is better than both of those scorers, but likewise a prime and 100% healthy Jordan is far superior to any individual or team defender that Durant has matched up with. Durant has had by far his biggest problems against 6-4 Tony Allen, so Jordan's 6-6 frame and long wingspan, and superior overall defense, wouldn't exactly be a hindrance for him to slow down Durant.

In the 2012 Finals, Chris Bosh also outrebounded all of the Thunder players with 9.4 rpg, Perkins was the leading OKC rebounder with a mere 6.8 rpg. Only in the 1993 and 1996 Finals did Jordan have a teammate with more than 9.4 rpg. Grant had 10.3 rpg in 1993 and Rodman had 14.7 rpg in 1996. Jordan would have had an easy time going against an OKC team that was so weak on the glass, even Jordan at age 34 had 10 rebounds a game against the 1997 Hawks with DPOY Mutombo in the paint. Prime Jordan easily would have outrebounded everyone on the OKC team in these Finals and gotten an easy win in 4 or 5 games.

This is another easy ring for Jordan for several reasons

• A prime and healthy Jordan would greatly improve the Heat's team rebounding and defense, based on what old and hobbled Jordan did on the 2002 Wizards (Point 3 and 4). OKC's rebounding was also very mediocre in these Finals
• Wade put up better numbers than Pippen did in the last 3peat
• Jordan perfectly matches up with the Heat opponent's biggest offensive threats (Pierce, Allen, Durant, Westbrook)
• An old, injured Jordan had no problem carrying one of the worst supporting casts of all-time in the 2002 Wizards (Point 1). Having the luxury of Wade and Bosh would make things very easy for a prime and healthy Jordan
• Jordan won the 1997 title with only one double digit scorer in Pippen, 19 ppg on a poor 42%. This is the only time anyone has done that in a title run, and while playing better competition. LeBron has never beaten 3 50+ win or 2 60+ win teams in any playoff run of his career, which Jordan did in 1997 at age 34 with minimal offensive help, and while becoming the closest player to join Hakeem in leading a title team in 5/5 categories.
• Jordan also did that against superior defenses, as the Hawks and Heat both allowed under 90 ppg. The only playoff opponent LeBron faced that was a sub-90 defense, the 2012 Celtics, were missing their starting playoff guard and best perimeter defender Avery Bradley.
• LeBron had 3 double digit scorers on the 2012 Heat in Wade, Bosh, and Chalmers, and Wade had 23-5-4-2 on 46% in the 2012 title run. Looking at what old Jordan did in 1997 against better competition, putting prime Jordan in LeBron's path in 2012 is easy pickings
• An old hobbled Jordan already schooling a tougher defensive era than the post-2004/05 era (Point 2)
• The 1997 and 1998 Bulls have the two lowest scoring supporting casts by a winning team in the NBA Finals since 1954, and lower than any of LeBron's scoring supporting casts in an NBA Finals.
• LeBron had 70+ PPG from his teammates in the 2012 Finals. Jordan's teammates only did that once in his 6 Finals, in 1991, due to Jordan averaging 11.4 APG - more than anyone besides Magic Johnson in an NBA Finals.

2013 Heat
The 2013 Heat won the title as the worst rebounding team in the league, though in large part due to playing 0 50-win teams in the East. Remember, Jordan is 10-0 against sub-50 teams, never played a sub-50 team in the ECF, and never played 3 sub-50 teams in any playoff run of his career. This rebounding wouldn't be an issue with prime Jordan on the team, especially considering the bum competition in the East. Remember again, a 38-year old shell of Jordan singlehandedly transformed a top 10 worst rebounding team to a top 10 best rebounding team with the 2002 Wizards before his injury due to his presence (Point 4). That takes away one of the Heat's biggest obstacles in this title run. 

Wade and Bosh's offensive production slipped in these playoffs, but Jordan already proved he could win with an offensively limited team, at age 34 he became the only player to lead a team to the title with just one double digit scorer, Pippen at 19 ppg on 42% on the 1997 Bulls, with all other Bulls averaging under 8 ppg. On the 2013 Heat, LeBron had 3 teammates in double figures, and Wade and Bosh shot 46%, more efficient than Pippen's 42%. LeBron also had 4 teammates with 9+ ppg, Jordan only had one in Pippen. Ray Allen in 25 mpg off the bench outscored all of Jordan's 1997 teammates in the playoffs not named Pippen. LeBron had much, much, much more offensive help than old Jordan did in 1997, and against easier competition. Jordan beat 3 56+ win teams and 2 60+ win teams in the 1997 title run, LeBron has not done either in any playoff run of his entire career, and beat 3 teams with under 50 wins in the 2013 title run, a luxury that Jordan never had.

And where the Heat offense slips, that's where Jordan's vastly superior defensive impact takes over. We will keep going back to how a 38-year old shell of Jordan transformed the 2nd worst defense in the league to the best defense in ppg allowed playing with Rip Hamilton (with Jordan as the only major addition), and the best in opponent's FG% when he and Rip played together. A prime and fully healthy Jordan would easily make up for the Heat's offensive struggles with his defense alone. (Point 3). Always keep in mind, Wizards Jordan singlehandedly took the near-worst defense to the best in OPP FG% and PPG allowed when playing next to Rip Hamilton. Plus, Jordan showed the capability of taking a 19-win team to Eastern Conference contender as a shell of himself (Point 1). The 2002 Wizards were worse than any playoff team LeBron has had.

Lets not forget that Paul George exposed LeBron's overrated defense in the 2013 NBA ECF, dropping 19 ppg on 48% after shooting 40% through the first 2 rounds, and 42% in the regular season, a big reason why a mediocre team like the Pacers were able to push the Heat to 7 games. Old, Wizards Jordan on no knees had no problem shutting down many equal or better offensive players than 2013 George (Pierce, Vince, Sprewell, Marion, Peja). No way is Paul George going to light up prime, healthy Jordan when a crippled shell of Jordan shut down many offensive players that were superior to him. Prime Jordan shut down some of the best offensive players of all-time, which you can read in full detail here. The 2013 Pacers would be lucky to go past 5 games against prime Jordan. You also have to consider that Jordan is 10-0 against sub-50 win teams in the playoffs, and all 3 Heat playoff opponents in the 2013 Eastern conference were sub-50 win teams. More proof of how much easier LeBron has it in the easy modern era.

This would never have a chance of happening
to Jordan in the 2013 ECF, a big reason why
the Heat under Jordan would have finished
these Pacers off much sooner

The 2013 Spurs would be a legit test for Jordan, but as we saw on the 2002 Wizards, even a hobbled Jordan's presence can singlehandedly turn one of the weakest rebounding teams to one of the best, so adding prime Jordan makes up for the Heat's biggest disadvantage (Point 4). Bosh also had a solid 8.9 rpg in these 2013 Finals, more than any of Jordan's teammates in the 1992, 1997, and 1998 Finals. LeBron did a good job on Tony Parker in these Finals, but had problems guarding Kawhi Leonard who only averaged 11.9 ppg on 49% in the regular season compared to 14.6 ppg on 51% in the 2013 Finals. 

Wade also put up 20-4-5-2-1 on 48% in the 2013 Finals vs the Spurs, and Bosh with 8.9 rpg outrebounded all of Jordan's teammates in the 1992, 1997, and 1998 Finals. Prime and 100% healthy Jordan would have definitely taken down the Spurs with that kind of help, especially considering that the Spurs were not up to par with Jordan's best competition. As proof of how Jordan's competition was superior, let's take a look at what happened when a 40 year old Karl Malone and 35 year old Gary Payton played against the 2004 Spurs, right in between their 2003 and 2005 championship seasons.

In the 2003 WCSF, the Lakers lost to the Spurs who went on to win the championship. Enter a 40 year old Karl Malone and 35 year old Gary Payton

• In the 2004 1st round, Tony Parker averaged 21 ppg and 8.5 apg on 53%, which was better than Parker's numbers in any Western playoff series during the 2007 Playoffs

• In the 2004 WCSF vs a 35 year old Gary Payton, He was shut down to 16.7 ppg on 38%, including Game 5 in which Parker never scored once on Payton.

• In the 2004 WCSF, prime Tim Duncan averaged 27 ppg on 65% in the 2 wins

• Then in the 4 losses, Duncan had 17.5 ppg on 38% with 4+ turnovers per game, and very rarely scored on 40 year old Malone. Almost all his points in the 4 losses came on Shaq.

The Spurs are the best dynasty of the post-Jordan era, and they got shut down by his washed up leftovers. That says it all about the disparity in quality of competition 

LeBron did a good job on Tony Parker in these Finals, but Jordan already shut down many PGs greater than Parker, and to a higher degree than LeBron did (Isiah, Payton, KJ), and even the near-worst version of Jordan had no problems shutting down much better offensive players than Leonard and George. Jordan's team defensive impact would also greatly trouble the Spurs (Point 3), we keep going back to how the near-worst version of Jordan singlehandedly turned around the 2nd worst Wizards defense to top 5 pre-injury, and with Rip Hamilton missing 5 weeks, and easily the best when playing alongside Rip. They also went from one of the worst teams in opponent's FG% to a top 10 team in opponent's FG% pre-injury, and the best in opponent's FG% when MJ and Rip played together.

And of course, In a tougher defensive environment, old Wizards Jordan on no knees proved how much easier it was to score in the post-Jordan era as he dropped 25-6-5 pre-injury, something only T-Mac averaged by the end of the 2001/02 season (Point 2). Letting prime Jordan go against the Spurs in the post-2004/05 era would be murder. LeBron's passiveness in the first half of the series also allowed the series to go longer than it should have. LeBron only averaged 16.7 ppg on 39% from Games 1-2-3, allowing the Spurs to take a 2-1 lead. Under the more lenient offensive rules, that's not happening with prime Jordan (Point 2).

For the same points as always, the ability to carry a terrible Wizards team at the end of his career (Point 1), having an easier time under modern rules (Point 2), vastly superior team and 1-1 defense as a 38-year old shell (Point 3), and Jordan's presence covering up the Heat's biggest weakness in rebounding (Point 4), there isn't anything to suggest Jordan would not take down the 2013 Spurs quicker than LeBron did for a Heat 3peat. And of course, 34-year old Jordan won with greater odds against him in the 1997 title run against better overall competition, while carrying a bigger load than LeBron ever has, as LeBron still had 25 ppg from Kyrie Irving in the 2016 Playoff run when he led 5/5 categories. No teammate of Jordan ever had 25 ppg for even a single playoff series, let alone 4-round title run. Oh, and Jordan played two sub-90 defenses in the 1997 run at age 34 while leading his team in 5/5 for the last 3 rounds, whereas LeBron never played a true sub-90 defense thanks to the absence of Avery Bradley in the 2012 ECF.

The 2013 Heat statistically had one of the top 5 easiest roads to the championship among teams who played 4 rounds. Against such easy competition, Jordan would have no problem.

Top 5 WORST Collective Win Percentage of Playoff Opponents - Title Teams who Played 4 Rounds
(0.581) - 2013 Heat (190-137)
(0.573) - 1986 Celtics (188-140)
(0.567) - 1984 Celtics (186-142)
(0.564) - 1988 Lakers (185-143)
(0.540) - 1987 Lakers (177-151)

LeBron had 70+ PPG from his teammates in the 2013 Finals. Jordan's teammates only did that once in his 6 Finals, in 1991, due to Jordan averaging 11.4 APG - more than anyone besides Magic Johnson in an NBA Finals. The 1997 and 1998 Bulls have the two lowest scoring supporting casts by a winning team in the NBA Finals since 1954, and lower than any of LeBron's scoring supporting casts in an NBA Finals.

In the shot-clock era, Jordan has
- 5 of the 8 lowest scoring playoff supporting casts for title teams
- 4 of the 6 lowest scoring playoff supporting casts for title teams
- 3 of the 5 lowest scoring playoff supporting casts for title teams
- The 2 lowest scoring playoff supporting casts for title teams

- Jordan is the only player to lead multiple top 10 lowest-scoring playoff supporting casts among title teams

2014 Heat
There is a misconception that LeBron actually played well in the 2014 Finals, due to people who only read the stat sheet without watching the actual games. We'll get to that in a second, but first we'll analyze prime Jordan in LeBron's position during the 2014 ECF. LeBron played wack defense and was outscored by Paul George who dropped 24 ppg on 45% in that series. Jordan was never outscored in a playoff series by anyone, after his rookie season. Jordan, prime and as a Wizards shell, shut down many players greater than George, so shutting him down in 2014 isn't going to be a problem. The 2014 Pacers, just like 2013, would easily get crushed by Jordan's defensive impact (Point 3) and have the obstacle of trying to contain a prime Jordan under more lenient defense rules (Point 2).

Now to analyze LeBron's 2014 Finals in full context. LeBron was only productive for the first 2 games of the series. In the final 3 games, LeBron didn't show up on offense or defense, and was completely outplayed by 13 ppg Kawhi Leonard across the board. The majority of LeBron's stats over the last 3 games were padded in blowout situations (being down 15+). LeBron by no means was "carrying" his team in these Finals.

LeBron failed his team over the final 3 games
of the 2014 Finals, allowing Kawhi Leonard to
totally outplay him over the final 3 games,
and failed to deliver until Miami was getting
blown out. I can 100% guarantee you
that isn't happening under Jordan.

Games 3-4-5 Lebron scored 51 of his 81 points (63%) being down 15+  Leonard scored 27 of his 71 points (38%) being up 15+ Leonard outscored Lebron 44-30 in non-blowout situations  Leonard 23.7 ppg on 69% LeBron 27.0 ppg on 55% (Leonard 14% more efficient) And again, Lebron stats were heavily padded in garbage time, in non blowout situations Leonard outscored him  Leonard 9.3 rpg LeBron 7.7 rpg Leonard 2.0 spg LeBron 1.7 spg Leonard 2.0 bpg LeBron 0.7 bpg
Leonard 2.3 apg with 1.7 TOpg LeBron 4.7 apg with 3.7 TOpg Leonard had a slightly better ast:TO ratio  Through games 3-4-5, Leonard scored much more efficiently (and more in non blowout situations) and outrebounded, outstole, and outblocked Lebron with a better ast:TO ratio Game 3 Lebron had 14 points and 0 TO in first quarter, then 8 points and 7 TOs for the last 3 quarters. LeBron had 22-5-7-5 with 7 TOs on 64%, Wade had 22-4-2-2 with 5 TOs on 67%. But over the last 3 quarters, LeBron had 8 points and 7 TOs to Wade's 20 points and 3 TOs. The Heat cut the lead from 15 to 9 without LeBron, after Wade subbed in for him, from the 5:00 to 1:00 mark of the 3rd quarter, but even with that help LeBron still lost. Game 4 Lebron had 9 points in first half and the Heat were blown out by 19 at halftime. He padded his stats from there, and he did not score on Leonard in the first half. Game 5 Lebron had 1 FG in 2nd quarter (2:30 mark) to bring the Heat within 5. Then he did not score again until the Heat were down 21 with 4:40 in the 3rd. LeBron shot 1-6 against Leonard this game.
Leonard clearly outplayed Lebron over the final 3 games, even with Lebron padding his stats, and Lebron failed to score consistently until after his teams were getting blown out. LeBron did not play well in the 2014 Finals after Game 2, he only padded his stats. LeBron's 2014 Finals was a repeat of the 2011 Finals after Game 2, the only differences being that LeBron's teammates disappeared along with him, and LeBron padded his stats to save face. So any notion that LeBron had an "amazing" series, and still lost because of his teammates is false. LeBron failed his team over the Final 3 games, and that's why he lost. He did not contribute offensively or defensively. The Spurs did have great offensive execution in this series, but a lot of that had to do with the poor defensive leadership of LeBron, who got exposed by Kawhi Leonard. Remember, this is the same Spurs team that went 7 games against a top 10 worst defense in the league, the 8-seed Mavericks. They were far from an invincible team.

Putting Jordan on the Heat guarantees that he won't be waiting until the Spurs are up 15+ before he starts scoring. And I can guarantee you a 13 ppg role player like Kawhi Leonard would never have outplayed Jordan over 3 straight games, prime or not-prime. LeBron put almost no pressure on the Spurs' defense over the last 3 games until they were already getting blown out, making it much easier for San Antonio to execute on both ends. This also resulted in LeBron's teammates not stepping up. You can't expect the rest of the team to play great when their best player isn't doing anything. With Jordan on the court, and given how easy it was for a pre-injury, hobbled Wizards Jordan to dominate at age 38 in a tougher defensive league (Point 2), the Spurs would have their hands full trying to contain Jordan defensively. And with Jordan playing much better than LeBron, this also would open the game up for his teammates like Wade, Bosh, and Allen, taking the defense off of them and making it easier for them to step up. LeBron didn't provide them with this opportunity after Game 2.

Replacing LeBron with Jordan in the 2014
Finals ensures that the Heat won't be waiting
until they were already getting blown
out before Jordan starts delivering. 

And defensively, oh man, this is the number 1 thing that would separate LeBron's failures from Jordan's success in this position. As we will continue to say, the near-worst version of Jordan on no knees, cracked ribs, and at age 38 took the 2nd worst defense with Rip Hamilton to the best defense in ppg allowed with Rip Hamilton in 2001/02 (Point 3). Not to mention the Wizards being the best in opponent's FG% when those 2 played together, after being 3rd worst under Rip the previous year. Jordan's vastly superior defensive leadership (1 on 1 and team-wise) would spell major trouble for the same Spurs team that was pushed to the brink by the 8-seed, top 10 worst defense Mavericks.

Not to mention the 2014 Heat were the worst team in rebounding, and the same shell of Jordan made the 2002 Wizards into an elite rebounding team, who immediately became one of the worst rebounding teams after his injury (Point 4). This would give the Heat another advantage under Jordan. Jordan's team defensive impact would spell major trouble for the same Spurs, and he would make things much tougher for the Spurs on both ends, especially since he would be putting pressure on the Spurs defense, which LeBron didn't do over the final 3 games as he was only padding his stats. And I can guarantee you there is no way that 13 ppg Kawhi Leonard would have outplayed prime Jordan across the board in the final 3 games of the series.

Jordan had many instances where Pippen disappeared and was forced to take over for him. He could do the same here if Wade and Bosh didn't step up, though they would be more likely to step up if their leader showed up over the last 3 games. Which Jordan would be doing, and LeBron didn't.

2014 Finals LeBron's top 3 teammates - Wade 15 ppg on 44% - Bosh 14 ppg on 55% - Allen 10 ppg on 42%

1996-1998 Finals Jordan's top 3 teammates
- Pippen 17 ppg on 39%
- Kukoc 12 ppg on 45%
- Longley 8 ppg on 55%

Jordan had no problem winning with less offensive help than LeBron in the 2014 Finals.

1997 Finals Jordan's top 3 teammates - Pippen 20 ppg on 42% - Kukoc 8 ppg on 41% - Brian Williams 7 ppg on 47% (RIP)

He had one inefficient 20 ppg scorer and nothing offensively after that. Jordan had to score/assist 50% of his team points in this Finals assuming all assists = 2 points and score/assist 55% of team points over the last 2 clinching games. In the 1997 title run, Jordan became the only player to lead a team to the title with only one double digits scorer, Pippen at 19 ppg on 42%. Every other Jordan teammate averaged under 8 ppg. LeBron never carried a team with such little offensive help to the title. Jordan was 10 rebounds (0.52 rpg) and 1 block (0.05 bpg) shy of joining Hakeem as the only players to lead a title team in 5/5 categories in this run, at age 34 no less. 

And Jordan did this against much better overall competition, beating 3 50-win teams in the 1997 run alone, and 2 60-win teams. LeBron beat 0 60-win teams in his 2 title seasons, and adjusting the 2012 lockout teams for 82 games, LeBron only beat 3 50-win teams in his 2 title seasons combined. In fact, LeBron has never beaten 3 50+ win or 2 60+ win teams in any playoff run of his career, when Jordan had to do both in 1997, past his prime at age 34, and with mediocre help. Jordan also did that against superior defenses, as the Hawks and Heat both allowed under 90 ppg. The only playoff opponent LeBron faced that was a sub-90 defense, the 2012 Celtics, were missing their starting playoff guard and best perimeter defender Avery Bradley.

As we mentioned, Jordan is the only player to lead a team to the title with just one double figure scorer, Pippen at 19 ppg on 42% in the 1997 Playoffs. All other Bulls had under 8 ppg. LeBron had 18 ppg on 50% from Wade and 15 ppg on 51% from Bosh in the 2014 Playoff run, along with 9 ppg on 41% from Ray Allen. In 2014, Wade and Bosh scored slightly less than 1997 Pippen, but much more efficiently. Ray Allen in 26 mpg off the bench also outscored all of the 1997 Bulls in the playoffs not named Jordan or Pippen. LeBron also averaged the same amount of assists in the 2014 Playoffs as Jordan in 1997 (4.8 apg), despite the fact that Jordan's assists were limited by the triangle offense. Jordan would have an easy time crushing the 2014 Heat's playoff opponents.

1998 Finals Jordan's top 3 teammates - 16 ppg on 41% - 15 ppg on 50% - 5 ppg on 36%, 5 ppg on 44%

In the shot-clock era, Jordan has
- 5 of the 8 lowest scoring playoff supporting casts for title teams
- 4 of the 6 lowest scoring playoff supporting casts for title teams
- 3 of the 5 lowest scoring playoff supporting casts for title teams
- The 2 lowest scoring playoff supporting casts for title teams

- Jordan is the only player to lead multiple top 10 lowest-scoring playoff supporting casts among title teams

The 2014 Finals would definitely end in a 4-peat for the Heat under Jordan for several reasons.

• His incredible defensive impact (Point 3) both team-wise and 1-1 would spell doom for the same Spurs team that needed 7 games to beat the top 10 worst defense Mavs. The near-worst version of Jordan could make the 2nd worst defense with Rip Hamilton into the best one in ppg allowed playing with Rip Hamilton, as well as the best in OPP FG%. Putting a prime Jordan on the superior 2014 Heat's supporting cast would be murder for the Spurs offense.
• Jordan's ability to make a weak rebounding team into an elite one under his presence (Point 4) would make up for the Heat's biggest weakness along with LeBron's poor defensive leadership.
• Jordan wouldn't be waiting until his team gets blown out by 15+ to put pressure on the Spurs defense, and he'd have an easier time offensively under the modern rules, proven by the near-worst version of Jordan putting up 25-6-5 pre-injury (Point 2)
• This would make it harder for the Spurs to execute both on offense and defense, which also potentially leads to Wade, Bosh, and Allen stepping up if their leader stepped up and took some defensive pressure off of them. LeBron didn't step up in the final 3 games, and his teammates followed suit. And no way in hell would 13 ppg Kawhi Leonard have outplayed prime Jordan in 3 straight games
• Jordan's ability to take over a series even if his teammates didn't step up, like Pippen on many occasions. Though as mentioned above, Wade, Bosh, and Allen would have an easier time stepping up if their leader did so over the last 3 games, so this might not be necessary.
• Jordan's ability to carry an even worse supporting cast as a total shell of himself (Point 1), with injuries being the only thing stopping a 2002 Wizards-Lakers Finals. Prime Jordan would definitely have no problem taking a better Heat team to the Finals, and winning, for all of the above reasons.
• Jordan won the 1997 title with only one double digit scorer in Pippen, 19 ppg on a poor 42%. This is the only time anyone has done that in a title run, and while playing better competition. LeBron has never beaten 3 50+ win or 2 60+ win teams in any playoff run of his career, which Jordan did in 1997 at age 34 with minimal offensive help, and while becoming the closest player to join Hakeem in leading a title team in 5/5 categories.
• Jordan also did that against superior defenses, as the Hawks and Heat both allowed under 90 ppg. The only playoff opponent LeBron faced that was a sub-90 defense, the 2012 Celtics, were missing their starting playoff guard and best perimeter defender Avery Bradley.
• LeBron had 2 double digit scorers during the playoffs on the 2014 Heat in Wade and Bosh, with 18 ppg on 50% and 15 ppg on 51%. Looking at what 34-year old Jordan did in 1997 against better competition, putting prime Jordan in LeBron's path in 2014 isn't much of a challenge.
• The 2016 Heat without LeBron or Bosh made it to Game 7 of the ECSF, just like the 1994 Bulls, but the Bulls had a fully healthy team whereas the Heat were playing without their 2 best big men, Bosh and Whiteside (he was injured early in Game 3). 
• The 1997 and 1998 Bulls have the two lowest scoring supporting casts by a winning team in the NBA Finals since 1954, and lower than any of LeBron's scoring supporting casts in an NBA Finals. 
• LeBron's teammates had 60+ PPG in these Finals, whereas Jordan had sub-56 PPG supporting casts when he won the 1997 and 1998 Finals at age 34 and 35.
• The Heat had a 3-1 all-star advantage over the Spurs including LeBron. Jordan never lost a series with even a +1 all-star advantage including himself. 
• The Spurs went 7 games with an 8-seed Mavericks team. Replace LeBron with Jordan on the Heat and they win for sure.

In the shot-clock era, Jordan has
- 5 of the 8 lowest scoring playoff supporting casts for title teams
- 4 of the 6 lowest scoring playoff supporting casts for title teams
- 3 of the 5 lowest scoring playoff supporting casts for title teams
- The 2 lowest scoring playoff supporting casts for title teams

- Jordan is the only player to lead multiple top 10 lowest-scoring playoff supporting casts among title teams

2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 Cavaliers
Jordan would have made the 2015 Finals in LeBron's position, but lost to the Warriors with Kyrie Irving injured. LeBron did lose Kevin Love in the first round, but Tristan Thompson averaged 10 ppg and 12 rpg for the last 3 rounds after Love went down. Although they lost Love, Thompson stepped up his game in Love's absence. And LeBron still had Irving through the majority of the first 3 rounds, so LeBron did have decent help before Irving went down in the Finals. The Cavs also faced injured Bulls (Gasol) and Hawks (Korver) teams prior to the Finals.

There is the stat that says certain Cavs were a combined 0/21 without LeBron on the court, but that's only a sample size of 3.5 shots per game on average, so the results will be skewed in such a small sample. On top of that, LeBron was off the court for only 19 out of 293 minutes in the 2015 Finals, which is only a 3.2 mpg sample size, and a lot of the situations when LeBron was off the court were blowout or garbage time situations like the end of Game 4, 5, and 6. This is an extremely misleading stat.

LeBron did put up near triple double type numbers in the ECSF, ECF, and Finals, but he was also playing in a system where he was allowed to control the offense on every possession and take on all the playmaking responsibility. Jordan wasn't allowed to do so in the triangle offense where everyone has to share the ball - Rodman averaging career high assists at age 34-36 under the triangle for example. Although Jordan would lose to the 2015 Warriors with the 2015 Cavaliers, he would still perform better than LeBron.

Jordan was easily capable of putting
up monster stat-lines when given
full control over the offense.

When Jordan's playmaking responsibility wasn't limited by Phil Jackson's triangle, he too was capable of putting up these type of numbers, when he averaged 35.7 - 9.5 - 8.3 - 2.5 - 1.3 on 55% against the Knicks in the 1989 ECSF, becoming the only guard to lead a team in 5/5 categories during a playoff series. You'll also notice that Jordan shot much more efficiently at 55% compared to LeBron shooting just under 40% in the 2015 ECSF and Finals, and 44% in the 2015 ECF. When put in this type of position, and in a situation where he had full control over the playmaking, Jordan could put up the same triple-double type numbers on much more efficient shooting. In fact, Jordan only shot under 40% in one playoff series for his career, against the 1997 Heat at age 34. LeBron did this in both the ECSF and Finals at age 30. And as we said earlier, even in Jordan's lone sub-40% series, it was due to a Game 4 anomaly when he shot 9/35. In the 4 wins against the 1997 Heat, Jordan still had 30-8-4-2-1 on 43%.

And lastly, LeBron was given a free pass to completely coast on defense in the 2015 Finals. At age 38, with tendinitis in both knees as well as his wrist, and after getting his ribs broken in the offseason by Ron Artest, Jordan had no problem taking the 2nd worst defense in the league to top 5 through 46 pre-injury games, and with his 2nd best player Rip Hamilton out for 5 weeks. They were easily the best defense when Jordan and Rip played together, as well as the best in opponent's FG%. Despite also shouldering the offensive load, (averaging 25-6-5 pre-injury, something only T-Mac could do at the end of the season) Jordan in this deteriorated and hobbled state had no problem taken on the team's defensive burden and guarding superstar players. (Points 1, 2, and 3). Jordan is the only player to score/assist 50% of his team points in multiple Finals, assuming that all assists are 2 points (1991, 1993, 1997). As far as I know, LeBron is the only other one to do this when he did it for the first time in 2015. However, he also took more shots/game than Jordan did in every Finals besides 1993, taking 32.8 shots/game on under 40%. Jordan took 33.2 shots/game in the 1993 Finals and had 41-9-6-2-1 on 51% while also playing amazing defense.

A prime Jordan, given free reign to control the offense like LeBron did in 2015, would definitely be able to match or exceed his statistical production while also taking on the defensive burden, and shooting much more efficiently than LeBron did. Klay Thompson was shut down to 16 ppg on 41% in the 2015 Finals compared to his 2014/15 season's 22 ppg on 46%, and LeBron almost never matched up with him. Harrison Barnes, despite shooting over 50% on LeBron, shot 37% for the series thanks to the rest of the Cavs defense. Nobody showed up on offense for the Warriors besides Curry and Iguodala, who was LeBron's responsibility to slow down, and he didn't. LeBron had a lot of defensive help in the 2015 Finals while he only had to focus on one end, and still shot under 40%.

LeBron had little to do with the Cavs' success in shutting down the Warriors' starters, this is what replacing him with Jordan would make up for. You could either put Jordan on Curry and stop the Warriors at the root, or you could put Jordan on Iguodala and leave Curry to try and beat the Cavs on his own offensively, as no one besides Iguodala and Curry showed up on offense against LeBron's poor defensive leadership. LeBron failed to make the 2015 Cavs top 10 in ppg allowed, and it was not until adding Mozgov and Shumpert that they improved on defense. Jordan at 38 singlehandedly turned the Wizards defense around from 2nd worst with Rip Hamilton to the clear best with Rip Hamilton in opponent's ppg and FG% (Point 3).

The Cavs could easily trust Jordan with taking on the responsibility of shutting down Curry, as Jordan had shown many times that he was capable of shuting down some of the best PGs and shooters of all-time, while the rest of the Cavs were taking care of the likes of Green, Barnes, and Thompson offensively. LeBron was also unable to effectively guard Curry for the brief moments that he did guard him. And of course, Jordan's incredible team defensive impact (Point 3) cannot be ignored. Jordan's team defensive impact alone would give the Cavs the edge in this series.

And as mentioned before, Jordan took one of the most limited offensive teams to the title at age 34 with the 1997 Bulls, as Pippen was the only teammate averaging double figures on a poor 42%. All other Bulls averaged under 8 ppg, and this is the only time anyone led a team to the title with just one player in double figures. Not including Love, LeBron had 3 teammates in double figures for the 2015 playoff run before Kyrie went down in Game 1 of the Finals. He also had 5 teammates with 9+ ppg including Kyrie, Jordan only had Pippen in double figures and everyone else had under 8 ppg in the 1997 run. Thompson also averaged more rebounds than any of the 1997 Bulls in the playoffs. 

Let's not also forget that the 2015 Cavs were a bottom-15 team in rebounding. As we saw on the Wizards, an old shell of Jordan, for whatever reason, was able to singlehandedly turn the top-10 worst rebounding Wizards into a top 10 best rebounding team under his presence. Along with Tristan Thompson averaging 13 rpg in the 2015 Finals (more than any Jordan teammate in the Finals aside from Rodman in 1996), the Cavs team rebounding would be greatly improved under a prime Jordan's presence. (Point 4)

The last thing to address is LeBron's failures in the clutch during this series. 
- LeBron was 0/3 on game winners
- had 0 points in the OT of Game 1 before a garbage time layup
- had 0 points in the 4th quarter of Game 4 with a chance to go up 3-1

LeBron's failures in the clutch of the 2015 Finals
would not have been an issue for Jordan

Jordan is the most clutch player in history, so these issues wouldn't be a problem in Jordan's shoes. Jordan is 4 for 8 on game-winning/tying attempts in the Finals with 25 seconds or less, and has the most game-winning/tying plays in Finals history.

As always, the 4 main points give us enough reason to believe that Jordan would easily have won the 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 Finals in LeBron's shoes. The only issues would be the 2009 and 2010 Magic due to the matchup problem of Dwight Howard and no legit interior defenders on the 2009 and 2010 Cavs, though Jordan could offset this with his incredible team defensive impact (Point 3) along with how much easier Jordan's offensive production would come in the modern era, along with his ability to carry a weak team at his crippled old age (Point 1 and 2), let alone his healthy prime. And of course, in the 1997 run Jordan won at age 34 with very little offensive help and nearly leading the team in 5/5, and actually leading them in 5/5 for the last 3 rounds. A prime Jordan could easily take LeBron's Cavs and Heat to great heights against much easier competition. 

In 2016, LeBron had Kyrie Irving averaging 25 ppg for the entire playoffs. Jordan never had a teammate who averaged 25 ppg in a single playoff series, so he easily would have gotten the job done in 2016 as well. The East opponents were easy as usual - two sub-50 teams and the Raptors with Valanciunas missing most of the series. 

Kyrie Irving outplayed Steph Curry in the 2016 Finals by a large margin, and Jordan would play far better defense than LeBron did as well. Jordan easily would have won in 2016 as well. LeBron had 70+ PPG from his teammates in the 2016 Finals. Jordan's teammates only did that once in his 6 Finals, in 1991, due to Jordan averaging 11.4 APG - more than anyone besides Magic Johnson in an NBA Finals. 

In 2017, the Cavs had one of the weakest roads of all-time to make the Finals. They faced a 42-40 Pacers team, the Raptors with Lowry missing 2 of 4 games, and the Celtics with Isaiah Thomas missing 3 of 5 games. The East was weak enough even when those teams were healthy. The 2017 Celtics tied the 2007 Pistons for the 3rd-worst record by a 1-seed in the 4-round format at 53-29. Jordan never lost to a team under 54 wins, and the entire 2017 East conisted of teams under 54 wins.

LeBron had far more help than Jordan ever did in the 2017 Playoffs. Kyrie averaged 26 ppg for the 2017 Playoffs and 29 ppg in the Finals, Jordan never had a 25 ppg teammate for even one single series. LeBron also played poor defense on Durant, who averaged 35 ppg in the Finals after 25 ppg for the season and 25 ppg in rounds 1-3 combined, while facing 3 injured teams to make the Finals. Give Jordan that insane amount of help, and he'd easily win the 2017 Finals while holding Durant at or below his 25 ppg averages.

The 2018 Cavaliers were subpar offensively and defensively, as Kevin Love was the only double digit scorer at 15-10 on 39% FG. Jordan would have surely made the 2018 Finals as the Cavs' toughest East opponent was the Celtics without Kyrie or Hayward. Without Kyrie Irving to put up his 25+ PPG, however, it wouldn't be possible to win the 2018 Finals against the Warriors.

2019 Lakers
LeBron missed the Playoffs when he came to the Western Conference, ending his streak of 8 straight Finals and proving what an overrated accomplishment it was. Jordan only missed the playoffs/had a losing record in his first 3 years and with the Wizards, and had led a 19-win team to a 26-21 record before his knee injury in 2001/02.

Due to Jordan's superior offense and defense, he surely would have made the Playoffs with the Laker, though he would have lost to the Warriors in the WCSF or WCF depending on their seeding. The other top West teams in the Rockets, Blazers, and Nuggets wouldn't pose much of a threat to Jordan. He'd be more than capable of defending any of the top perimeter threats in the game, but the Warriors all-around talent would be too much to overcome with the 2019 Lakers' supporting cast.

2020 Lakers
If the coronavirus pandemic had not occured and if Jordan replaced LeBron on the 2020 Lakers, he surely would have won the 2020 Finals. Jordan never had a teammate that could average 27-9-3 on 51/34/85 with 1.5 SPG and 2.4 BPG like Anthony Davis. If Jordan was ever paired up with another top 10 player and top 5 defender in the league, there'd be no stopping him. Oh, wait, that is what happened with Jordan and Pippen in the 1990s, and Pippen wasn't as good as Anthony Davis.

Jordan would be more than capable of locking down the top perimeter threats in the West such as Harden, Westbrook, Leonard, or Paul George while lighting them up at the same time. With Anthony Davis by his side, they'd cruise through the West and the defensive duo of Jordan and Davis would take care of Giannis and Middleton to win the Finals.



Let's take a look at the 4 main points one last time to further emphasize why Jordan easily would have done more with less compared to LeBron.

Point 1 - Historical impact on W-L column

Jordan had the Wizards on track to be the first sub-20 team to get a winning record, and to this day it would have been the only time that it happened with just one major addition to the roster. The Wizards were 26-20 when MJ played pre-iniury (46/47 win pace), with Rip Hamilton out 5 weeks. They were 15-1 when MJ and Rip played together, making it pretty much guaranteed that an injury-free Rip and Jordan would get the 1 seed over the 52-win Nets and have a great shot at the 2002 Finals, with a worse supporting cast than any of LeBron's playoff teams.

Point 2 - Great individual and statistical dominance

Jordan averaged 25.1 ppg 6.2 rpg 5.3 apg 1.5 spg 0.5 bpg on 42% pre-injury (in a tougher defensive environment),Tracy McGrady being the only player to average at least 25-6-5 by the end of the 2001/02 season. And as we saw above, Jordan's individual numbers were continuing to improve as the season went on prior to his injury. The only negative was Jordan's efficiency, but it didn't stop him from winning games or improving his FG% as the season went on. And besides, Jordan was playing hobbled even before his injury happened on crippled knees with tendinitis and cracked ribs. So on top of being 38 years old coming off a 3-year layoff, it's no wonder he had poor efficiency.

Point 3 - The ability to take the 2nd worst defense to the best in ppg allowed.

With Rip Hamilton out 5 weeks, and with Jordan as the only notable addition, the 2002 Wizards went from 2nd worst to top 5 in ppg allowed in the 46 games that Jordan played pre-injury. And as we saw earlier, the Wizards were by far the best in ppg allowed when Jordan and Rip played together pre-injury. 

And of course, let's not forget that the Wizards with Rip and Jordan playing together were the best in the league in opponent's FG%, after being 3rd worst the previous year and 2nd worst in the games following Jordan's injury. Not only did Jordan have enormous team defensive impact, he still guarded the other team's best perimeter player many times and shut them down (Pierce, Vince, Peja, Sprewell (twice), Marion). There is a very strong case that Jordan is the best perimeter defender of all-time. 

Point 4 - The ability to take a top 10 worst rebounding team to top a 10 best rebounding team

For whatever reason, Jordan's presence also singlehandedly transformed the Wizards from a weak rebounding team to an elite one. The 2001 Wizards were top 10 worst in rebounding, yet a top 10 best team in rebounding pre-injury. And their rebounding was also improving as the season went on under Jordan, prior to his injury. Following their slow 2-9 start, the Wizards averaged 44.34 rpg in Jordan's last 35 games pre-injury, which would be top 3 in the league. After injury, the Wizards had a top-4 worst pace in rebounding over the final 35 games (40.40 rpg), and fell to 18th in rebounding for the overall season.

There is very strong evidence to support a prime,
unretired Jordan winning 8+ rings in LeBron's shoes.
2009 and 2010 against the Magic would be the
only issues, and prime Jordan still had the ability
to put up the monster numbers needed to offset
a huge matchup problem like Dwight Howard,
not to mention his team defensive impact

And once again, it has to be emphasized that this was a 38-year old hobbled and crippled shell of Jordan doing all of these amazing individual and team accomplishments. 

If the watered down, crippled version of Jordan pre-injury can

• Average 25-6-5, under tougher defensive restrictions than today (some handchecking was legal in 01/02)
• Singlehandedly transform a weak rebounding and defensive team to an elite one
• Shut down some of the top scorers of this era (Pierce + Vince)
• Get a sub-20 team a winning record pre-injury as the only notable addition, with his 2nd option out 5 weeks (a likely number 1 seed had both he and Rip stayed injury-free)

It's pretty much unfathomable how dominant a fully prime and 100% healthy Jordan would be in the modern era, on both the team and individual levels, and offensively and defensively. And the 1997 run further cements Jordan's ability to carry sub-par supporting casts to the title. Jordan won the 1997 title with only one double digit scorer in Pippen, 19 ppg on a poor 42%. Every teammate besides Pippen had under 8 ppg for the playoffs. This is the only time anyone has won a title with only one other double digit scorer, and Jordan did it while playing better competition. LeBron has never beaten 3 50+ win or 2 60+ win teams in any playoff run of his career, which Jordan did in 1997 at age 34 with minimal offensive help, and while leading the Bulls in 5/5 categories for the last 3 rounds

After seeing the load that 34-year old Jordan carried in the 1997 title run, and against better competition than what LeBron has faced in any of his playoff runs (beating 3 56+ win and 2 60+ win teams), it's clear that putting a prime Jordan on any of LeBron's teams from 2007-2015 is a guaranteed win, aside from 2009 and 2010 due to the matchup problem of Dwight Howard, and prime Jordan still may be able to overcome that, as 38 year old pre-injury Jordan in 2001/02 put up 25-6-5 in a tougher defensive environment than the post-2004/05 era. There is no reason to think that prime and healthy Jordan would not easily have surpassed LeBron's individual and team accomplishments in the same position.

SECTION 1 - Players From Jordan's Day Against 2000s Defenses

- Looking at how the Jordan Era players had an easier time in the modern era

SECTION 2 - How Washed-up Jordan Did Against the Top Defenders of the "Advanced, More Athletic, Superior" 2000s Era

- Looking at how a 38-40 year old Jordan himself schooled the 2000s defenders

SECTION 3 - Jordan's "Weak" Defensive Competition Compared to Lebron/Kobe's "Advanced" Competition
- Proving the vast superiority of individual defenders of Jordan's era compared to the 2000s

SECTION 4 - The "Jordan Never Faced Zone" Myth

- Destroying the myth that Jordan never played zone defense

SECTION 5 - The Myth That 80s/90s Defenses Can't Contain Modern Players Without the 80s/90s Rules

- Proof that 80s/90s players would still have success guarding 2000s players without the 80s/90s rules

SECTION 6 - The Myth of Jordan's Inability to Deal with 80s Teams, and the Truth About Expansion

- Looking at how Jordan did against the 80s teams and why expansion did not make it easier to win championships

SECTION 7 - "Jordan Played Weak Competition in the 80s/90s"

- Proof that Jordan's Competition was 80s-quality and far better than the 2000s era

SECTION 8 - The Myth that Jordan Was Not As Valuable to His Teams' Success

- Looking at the truth of how the Bulls did without Jordan, and how other great teams did without their stars.

SECTION 9 - "Jordan Got All the Calls"

- Did Jordan really get any more special treatment than other superstars? Nope.

SECTION 10 - Wilt Chamberlain: Great, but Far From the Greatest

- Exposing the myths behind the great, but misunderstood, Wilt Chamberlain

SECTION 11 - The "Lebron is a 6-8 250 Freight Train and too Big/Strong/Fast to be Guarded in the 80s/90s era" Myth

- Looking at how Lebron got locked down by defenders of the 2000s era and comparing them to the vastly superior 80s/90s

SECTION 12 - Lebron: The Most Overrated Defender of All-Time

- Destroying one of the media's biggest misconceptions regarding Lebron's solid but vastly overrated defense

SECTION 13 - "Lebron Doesn't Have Enough Help, and No One Can Carry a Team Like Him"

- Lebron fans think no player in history could succeed if their teammates don't step up, and that Lebron is the only one who has carried a team on his back. Is that really the case?

SECTION 14 - Jordan vs Lebron: The Truth

- The real Jordan vs Lebron comparison

SECTION 15 - Jordan vs Kobe: The Truth

- The real Jordan vs Kobe comparison

SECTION 16 - Jordan (and Hakeem) vs Kareem

- Kareem is great, but he is not even the greatest center of all-time, let alone the greatest of all-time.

SECTION 17 - The Truth about Michael Jordan Without Scottie Pippen

- The full context behind Jordan's struggles without Pippen

SECTION 18 - Michael Jordan's Wizards Years

- A look at how Jordan turned the Wizards around before his knee injury caught up to him

SECTION 19 - The Case for Jordan as the Best Perimeter Defender of All-Time

- Looking at Jordan's defensive impact in detail, both as a team player and 1 on 1 defender

SECTION 20 - Why Jordan Would Accomplish More In Cleveland and Miami than LeBron

- Looking at the strong evidence supporting that Jordan would have achieved more than what LeBron has in Cleveland and Miami 

SECTION 21 - Hakeem Olajuwon: The Greatest Center of All-Time
- Hakeem Olajuwon is the best center of all-time, and there is strong evidence to prove it

SECTION 22 - Chris Paul: The Most Overrated Point Guard Of All-Time
- Chris Paul is an extremely overrated playoff performer and defender, and isn't even a top 5 PG of his own era, let alone all-time

SECTION 23 - Kevin Johnson: The Most Underrated Point Guard Of All-Time
- Kevin Johnson is an extremely underrated and under-appreciated point guard, who should have been a first-ballot Hall of Famer and considered a top-10 point guard of all-time

SECTION 24 - The Three Greatest Playoff Runs of All-Time
- Analyzing the three greatest individual playoff runs in NBA history

SECTION 25 - The Worst Finals Performances of All-Time
- Analyzing the worst performances in NBA Finals history

SECTION 26 - Jordan vs Russell
- Comparing the two players who won the most championships as the best player on their team

SECTION 27 - The Five Greatest Coaches of All-Time
- Taking a look at the greatest coaches in NBA history

SECTION 28 - The Least Deserving Finals MVPs of All-Time
- Taking a look at the players who least deserved to win their Finals MVPs

SECTION 29 - Refuting 10 Myths About Michael Jordan
- Refuting certain myths about Jordan, as well as abridging of some of the main points in earlier sections for easier reference.

SECTION 30 - The 20 Greatest Conference Finals Runs of All-Time
- Ranking the 20 greatest playoff runs in which a player played 3 rounds before losing prior to the NBA Finals

SECTION 31 - The 1970s: The Weakest Decade of the NBA's Post-Infancy
- Why the 1970s was the weakest decade of any era from 1960-present

SECTION 32 - The 10 Worst Supporting Casts on NBA Finals Teams (1960-Present)
- Examining the worst supporting casts on teams that reached the NBA Finals

SECTION 33 - The 10 Greatest Rookie Playoff Runs of All-Time
- The most impressive playoff runs in which rookies led their team to at least one series win