Chicago Bulls News: Jordan Vs. LeBron James…Guess Who Wins?

This story alone shows how desperate the media, the players and the fans are for the season to start. This is probably one of the more ridiculous subjects  to get out into the media in some time. No let’s check that, remember when LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony had to make their decisions in free agency? I know Chris Broussard does. I felt so sorry for him that week. But I digress.

Don’t worry everyone the season is almost here and articles like these will cease for about six to eight months. But this one was too good to pass up.

For some reason, there are still some people out there that believe that LeBron James is as good or better than Michael Jordan. As we basketball purists always do when we hear or read about it…laugh. There are millions of reasons why Michael Jordan will always run circles around the Fresh Prince of Cleveland, LeBron James. Here’s reason number 54, 789.

The NBA competition committee recently had a meeting discussing the possibility of shortening the games from 48 minutes to 44. As strange as this sounds it looks like the idea is gaining traction. It was announced by former Chicago Bulls general manager and current NBA president of basketball operations, Rod Thorn that the NBA will play a 44 minute game on Sunday when the Brooklyn Nets play the Brooklyn Nets. This game will be used to gather information to compare the flow between the shorter games versus the standard 48 minute format.

Rod Thorn’s statement per NBA.com.

"“At our recent coaches’ meeting, we had a discussion about the length of  our games, and it was suggested that we consider experimenting with a shorter format.”“After consulting with our Competition Committee, we agreed to allow the Nets and Celtics to play a 44 minute preseason game in order to give us preliminary data that will help us to further analyze game time lengths.”"

Now after the news got out, you had to know that the media was going to ask LeBron James what he thought about the idea. Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com got the insight from James…

"“It’s not the minutes, it’s the games. The minutes don’t mean anything. We can play 50 minute games if we had to. It’s the games that I think we all as players think is too many games in our season. 82 games is a lot. But it’s not about the minutes, taking away minutes from the game is not going to shorten the game at all.Once you go out and play on the floor, it doesn’t matter if you’re playing 22 minutes, like I’m playing tonight, or you play 40 minutes. Once you play, it takes a toll on your body. So it’s not less minutes, it’s games.”"

Now remember, this is the same guy that thought the All-Star break should be extended. I mean what does this dude have to do? Promote a rap album like Ron Artest? I’m a tad bit confused here? How many games did the NBA teams play in LeBron’s rookie year? Let’s check here, oh here it is…82!

Okay, how many games did the NBA teams play before LeBron James’ arrival? Checking that, oh here it is…82 again!

One more question! How many games did Michael Jordan play every year in the regular season? Checking that as well…yep, 82 games!

Now to be fair, Dirk Nowitzki, of the Dallas Mavericks thinks the season is too long as well.

Leave it to Michael Jordan to remind us why he the greatest and why LeBron is the latest. Jordan weighed in on LeBron James and his comments.

From ESPN’s Chris Broussard:

"“I love both of those guys, but as an owner who played the game, I loved playing.” Jordan who owns the Hornets, told  ESPN during a telephone interview. “If I wasn’t playing 82 games. I would’ve been playing somewhere else because that’s the love for the game I had. As a player I never thought 82 games was an issue.”“It’s not like football.” he said. ” We don’t really have to worry about concussions and some physical damage that football players deal with after they retire. I can understand football players wanting to play fewer gamesfrom a physical standpoint. But basketball’s not the same. I’m not diminishing the fact that we go through a grueling season. But I wouldn’t want to shorten the game or play 15-20 fewer games.”"

Now if you are a Chicago Bulls fan, you know the man is not lying. Remember that “Love of the game” clause in his contracts which stipulated he could play whenever and wherever he wanted? That clause what put in after his dispute with Jerry Krause and the Chicago Bulls after breaking his foot back in the 80’s.

Here’s yet another reason why LeBron James will always be frustrated when he checks for his name for icon status and will never find it. All the legends of the NBA never complained over playing basketball games! If you remember, NBA players back then did not have their own team planes. They flew commercial like everyone else. The players back then did not stay in five-star hotels back then. They had the regular hotels like everybody else. I’m not even going to even touch the era when black players such as Mr. Oscar Robertson or Mr. Bill Russell who couldn’t even go into certain restaurants or hotels at all. That might go over LeBron’s receding hairline. The more the man speaks, the more he looks like a fat happy player who is sitting on top of a manufactured image of being the best of his era.

Oh by the way, there is no way that this rule is going through. As we all remember, the NBA signed that zillion dollar TV deal with ESPN and TNT to broadcast  their games. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the deal probably based on 48 minutes and not 44. Less coverage means less revenue. Shorter games eliminates commercials which companies pay money to air during games. In simpler terms, no games means no money. With that TV deal running through 2025, good luck with pushing that rule through until then. Let’s not forget…

Fewer ticket sales.

Less advertising money.

Less money for concessions.

How about jobs LeBron? It does help families out when they work. These people have to work games too.

Oh, you don’t believe me? Let’s check out what his “Airness” has to say about the business side of not playing per ESPN’s Chris Broussard…

"“But if that’s what they want to do, we as owners and players can evaluate it and talk about it. But we’d make less money as partners. Are they ready to give up money to play fewer games? That’s the question, because you can’t make the same amount of money playing fewer games.”"

Game over LeBron…another lesson learned from the greatest.