Bill Laimbeer is still taking shots at Michael Jordan, but at least the one he landed earlier this month is somewhat warranted.
The legendary Detroit Pistons centre, known for his gruelling and punishing playing style as part of the ’90s Bad Boys, helped fuel the LeBron James vs. Michael Jordan debate by saying the King is the better player of the two.
“I’ll take LeBron James, absolutely,” said Laimbeer on The Rematch podcast.”You can’t double-team, he’s too big, he powers through everything. Michael was a guard. Yea, he was 6-6, but he wasn’t a real thick and strong guard. It took him a lot of years to learn how to involve his teammates in order to win championships.”
It’s obvious Laimbeer still has some disdain for Jordan, evident by the fact that he took shots at MJ’s physical strength – something Jordan definitely needed to get through the blows he absorbed from Laimbeer and his teammates while sweeping the Pistons in 1991.
Laimbeer would give Jordan his dues, calling him an assassin, but he would ultimately give the nod to LeBron.
“LeBron can do anything. Michael couldn’t get all the rebounds. He couldn’t be the assist man like LeBron James can. He was very focused on scoring, a deadly assassin, but the rest of the part of his game, LeBron James is better than Michael Jordan.”
James’ reputation as an all-around player has followed him throughout his entire career. Even on Thursday night when he passed Jordan to take sole possession of first place on the all-time post-season points list, James spoke about how he doesn’t want to be viewed as just a scorer.
“I’m not a scorer, man,” James told Bleacher Report. “I’ve worked too hard in my career to have that label, from the beginning. I want the right play, I’ve always loved the success of my teammates — and so, I’m not a scorer. I’m fortunate to be No. 1 in all-time playoff points. But I think that’s just a byproduct of me just playing the game the right way.”
Clearly, James has been doing something right, with the King now getting ready to play in his seventh consecutive NBA Finals after beating the Boston Celtics last night.
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