It doesn't get much simpler than that. Jordan, Magic, and Bird (if he follows suit) have nothing to lose and everything to gain by calling out LeBron for taking less money to play with another superstar teammate in Dwyane Wade.
First of all, let's not give them points for originality. The talking heads of sports were saying it days before Jordan parroted the comments, and Magic said it days after Jordan.
Second, making a comment at all puts their names on websites, blogs, maybe papers, etc. and makes them more relevant. Of course, those names will never go out of style, but still, it's free press.
Third, coming out and saying they would never do what LBJ did, that they were only trying to beat each other, is self-serving. The statements mean "we were so good that we didn't need each other to win championships." While that may be true, the statement ignores and belittles the contributions of those they played with.
Now let me interject and state that I'm not an NBA fan and I certainly didn't watch Magic and Bird play in the primes, if at all. I did see Jordan. And I know all of these guys had good support. Jordan had Pippen and Phil Jackson. Magic had Kareem. Bird had some good guys, I just don't know their names.
OK, so none of their teammates were as good as Jordan, Magic or Bird (except Kareem, though I know he was past his prime at that point). But they were still good, really good.
Who did LeBron have? Guys playing out of their minds at just the right time, sometimes? He was stuck in a perpetually bad franchise in a city beset with perpetually bad franchises. His team wasn't doing everything it could to help it win, either because they didn't know what that was, or because they weren't working hard enough. If there was a Pippen available, they weren't getting him.
And Shaq doesn't count. He pushed Kobe to greatness, he did the same for Wade, he couldn't do it for Nash, and he doesn't have enough gas in the tank for LeBron.
I'm losing my point here, but it's this: Jordan, Magic and Bird played for franchises who knew what they were doing, who surrounded their stars with talent, albeit not on the level of another (current) superstar. That wasn't happening in Cleveland. LBJ gave them seven years but they couldn't bring it together.
His options were to go to New York (because they have a great track record with winning...), New Jersey (same, arguably worse), Chicago (possibly viable, hard to say), and some other places. Or, he could go to Miami where established stars are playing. If we follow the "wisdom" of Jordan and Magic, LeBron should have stayed in Cleveland, OR gone to a lesser franchise, all in the name of greatness? There are other terms for that: arrogance, selfishness, egotistical, etc. To believe that you have to be THE guy on a franchise or it doesn't have the same value is simply ridiculous.
Finally, a question out into the void, because I'm not an NBA fan and don't know the answer: Were these two making the same comments about Shaq and Kobe? Didn't they do exactly the same thing, only they brought it together with Phil Jackson? Did Kobe somehow get out of their sights by winning with Pao Gasol? If so, how much of a discredit is that to Pao? The biggest difference between Pao and Shaq is Pao is not a me-first hog. He's smart, he's European, he flops, and after trying to be a superstar in his own right, he knows where his meals and his money come from. Is he as good as Shaq was? Maybe not, but maybe he's better because he knows how to play his role and shut his mouth (most of the time, anyway).
Anyway, the long story is that Jordan's and Magic's comments only serve to increase their legacy, and it comes at the price of the reputations of their supporting teammates and coaches. Shame on them.
EDIT: My brother Nick chimed in on Facebook:
First of all, let's not give them points for originality. The talking heads of sports were saying it days before Jordan parroted the comments, and Magic said it days after Jordan.
Second, making a comment at all puts their names on websites, blogs, maybe papers, etc. and makes them more relevant. Of course, those names will never go out of style, but still, it's free press.
Third, coming out and saying they would never do what LBJ did, that they were only trying to beat each other, is self-serving. The statements mean "we were so good that we didn't need each other to win championships." While that may be true, the statement ignores and belittles the contributions of those they played with.
Now let me interject and state that I'm not an NBA fan and I certainly didn't watch Magic and Bird play in the primes, if at all. I did see Jordan. And I know all of these guys had good support. Jordan had Pippen and Phil Jackson. Magic had Kareem. Bird had some good guys, I just don't know their names.
OK, so none of their teammates were as good as Jordan, Magic or Bird (except Kareem, though I know he was past his prime at that point). But they were still good, really good.
Who did LeBron have? Guys playing out of their minds at just the right time, sometimes? He was stuck in a perpetually bad franchise in a city beset with perpetually bad franchises. His team wasn't doing everything it could to help it win, either because they didn't know what that was, or because they weren't working hard enough. If there was a Pippen available, they weren't getting him.
And Shaq doesn't count. He pushed Kobe to greatness, he did the same for Wade, he couldn't do it for Nash, and he doesn't have enough gas in the tank for LeBron.
I'm losing my point here, but it's this: Jordan, Magic and Bird played for franchises who knew what they were doing, who surrounded their stars with talent, albeit not on the level of another (current) superstar. That wasn't happening in Cleveland. LBJ gave them seven years but they couldn't bring it together.
His options were to go to New York (because they have a great track record with winning...), New Jersey (same, arguably worse), Chicago (possibly viable, hard to say), and some other places. Or, he could go to Miami where established stars are playing. If we follow the "wisdom" of Jordan and Magic, LeBron should have stayed in Cleveland, OR gone to a lesser franchise, all in the name of greatness? There are other terms for that: arrogance, selfishness, egotistical, etc. To believe that you have to be THE guy on a franchise or it doesn't have the same value is simply ridiculous.
Finally, a question out into the void, because I'm not an NBA fan and don't know the answer: Were these two making the same comments about Shaq and Kobe? Didn't they do exactly the same thing, only they brought it together with Phil Jackson? Did Kobe somehow get out of their sights by winning with Pao Gasol? If so, how much of a discredit is that to Pao? The biggest difference between Pao and Shaq is Pao is not a me-first hog. He's smart, he's European, he flops, and after trying to be a superstar in his own right, he knows where his meals and his money come from. Is he as good as Shaq was? Maybe not, but maybe he's better because he knows how to play his role and shut his mouth (most of the time, anyway).
Anyway, the long story is that Jordan's and Magic's comments only serve to increase their legacy, and it comes at the price of the reputations of their supporting teammates and coaches. Shame on them.
EDIT: My brother Nick chimed in on Facebook:
The NBA is about the individual marketing the individual (Jordan created this phenomenon). LeBron was setting himself up to be the talk of the summer. It is genius for his personal Brand and the Association as a whole. The NBA needs this type of hype during the off-season. When is the last time ESPN has ran multiple days worth of NBA coverage in July? Stern knows that any publicity is good publicity in the summer, and that the superstars run the Association. Stern knows he can't attack the hype before the hype is ignited into a frenzy.I have to agree for several reasons, but mostly because Nick knows more about basketball and the NBA than I do.
Jordan and now Magic are both trying to serve themselves up to the public as the quintessential superstars that stuck through the good times and the bad times to create winning franchises. They were in great markets with great coaches and had team owners that spent the money to win. If Jordan went to Portland as the first pick in the draft we all know that he would have got out as soon as possible to go to a team where he had a chance to win.
