"Air Tight"

"You know I wanna tell 'em LeBron but I gotta live there bruh!"

The critically acclaimed author Naim Akbar once wrote that there is a huge difference between a student and a scholar. A student will religiously go to class and absorb the information that the professor teaches and masterfully regurgitate it on command. However, a scholar will take that same information and test the validity of it all while learning how to apply it in it’s proper context. In other words, students are more likely to get hustled and scholars are more likely to recognize game.

Earlier this week both Mike Krzyzewski and Jim Boeheim were interviewed on ESPN Radio about their Olympic experience and what it was like to coach LeBron. Coach K had this to say, “He is the most unique player to EVER play basketball because he can play every position both offensively and defensively.” Now this ain't some cat coaching AAU ball down at the YMCA bruh! This is the Hall of Fame Coach K that is the winningest active coach in the game(927 wins) that has won 4 National Championships, been to 11 Final Four's, has won 12 ACC regular season titles, 13 ACC Tournament titles and two Gold Olympic medals talking. This cat has been around the game of basketball longer than most cats have been alive and has forgotten more about the game than most folks have ever known bruh, so to use the word “EVER” is to use the word “BEST.”

Kryzyzewski didn’t use “BEST” because he’s smarter than the average bear and knows that he wouldn’t get any sleep from the media trying to clarify whether he thought that LeBron was better than Jordan. Secondly, he lives in North Carolina and is the head coach at Duke! The rivalry on Tobacco Road is enough to deal with without having to live the rest of his life dodging LeBron vs. Jordan questions. He's a scholar bruh!

Jim Boeheim, who is 2nd among active coaches with 880 wins one more than Dean Smith, had this to say, “I’ve always felt that Michael Jordan was the best player that I’d ever seen. I always have, and I didn’t think it was close- and I’m not so sure anymore, and I love Michael Jordan…and (James) is getting better…He’s like Magic with Michael Jordan-type skills as well.”

Let's keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! These two guys are what you would call experts in analyzing and teaching the game of basketball. As Malcolm Gladwell explains in his best seller "Outliers" The Story of Success, in order to be considered an expert in any field you must spend more than 10,000 hours in your craft. I would say that these two cats reached that plateau years ago bruh! They are no different from an experienced lawyer teaching Law at Harvard or Steve Jobs and Bill Gates lecturing on computer technology. You simply CANNOT dismiss the knowledge these boyz just spit!

Now y’all can sit back and act like y’all can’t understand what these cats are saying if you want to! But I can read, comprehend, watch Sports Center, count money, play domino's and decipher a hustle at 3 o’clock in the morning all at the same time bruh. I’ve been telling you boyz for at least a year that LeBron was better than Jordan but when I say it, it's blasphemy. I’ve already authored the Hottest Joint ever written that points out all of the facts to substantiate my claim in "Bamboozled" but you acted like I wrote that joint in Swahili.

I heard Stephen A. Smith wrestling with Skip Bayless on First take and neither one of these duns have a clue. Stephen A. keeps bringing up the 6 NBA titles that Jordan has as the litmus test for greatness but doesn’t understand that Jordan is only one of 12 cats on the list with 6 titles or more. How can titles be the determining factor when there are plenty of guys that have won just as many or more that we never even talk about bruh?

Sit down and let me take you to school pimpin‘! If titles are the criteria we’re using to unlock the door to greatness then why aren’t we talking about Bill Russell 11, Sam Jones 10, John Havlicek 8, Tom Heinsohn 8, K.C. Jones 8, Tom “Satch” Sanders 8, Robert Horry 7, James Loscutoff 7, Frank Ramsey 7, Kareem 6, Bob Cousy 6 and Scottie Pippen 6! Now 5 of these Joe’s I wouldn’t know if they walked up to me and punched me in the mouth, gave me a wet willy and stole my bike bruh! So don’t talk to me about winning titles as the criteria for being the greatest player of all-time.

 It’s asinine to believe that nobody will ever dethrone Jordan as the G.O.A.T. LeBron at 27 has already accomplished more than Jordan did at 27 and he’s just getting started bruh. Remember, Jordan didn’t win his first title until he was 28! Stop it! Just Stop it!

I know you’re reading this joint with a pair of Jordan’s and a Jump Man 23 warm up on but LeBron is a far better basketball player than Michael Jordan. Stop watching highlights of Mike and look at this cat play all five positions on both ends of the floor. Then go back to the highlights and tell me if Jordan was ever wrestling in the paint with James Worthy(small forward), posting up with Kareem(Center), guarding Magic(point guard) and averaging 30 and 13 in the Finals!  If he wasn’t doing that at 6’8” 260 with a 42 inch vertical then all you’re doing is talking and swinging on his jock. Like I keep saying “Stop asking LeBron at 27 to be more accomplished than Jordan was at 34! It’s ignorant to do so bruh!

That's like me comparing my W2 or resume with some hot shot 27 year old salesman. He can't hold a stick to my pay check regardless of how good he is because I've been doing it longer. Of course, I've got more accomplishments than he does because I'm older than is he but is he better than I was at 27? Well...let's look at what I was able to accomplish up to that point, if he's accomplished more and is better skilled than I was at 27 then ABSOLUTELY! This is why it shows you that Jordan is a selfish clown because he just won't admit it. We can't compare their careers post 27 because they don't exist for the sake of the comparison.

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Get @ me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport