Michael Jordan on LeBron James' decision to play for the Miami Heat

NBC asked Jordan about the three All-Stars teaming up during an interview at a celebrity golf tournament in Nevada.

"There's no way, in hindsight now, I would have never called up Larry [Bird], called up Magic [Johnson] and say, 'Hey, let's together and play on one team.' But things are different. I can't say that's a bad thing. That's the opportunity these kids have today. I mean, in all honesty, I was trying to beat those guys. I don't know if they would have been on my team. If they had been on my team...then obviously, if you look at the dream team, they were on my team and it wasn't too much of a competitive thing."

The point is Jordan would not have made the decision James did.


Michael Jordan also talked about it in Miami recently. Watch the clip below to hear more.

[YOUTUBE]Dce3o8LuVXY[/YOUTUBE]

 

Yeah, but he's Michael Jordan! He was winning rings with his Bulls. Of course he wouldn't have thought of creating a mini-dream team. He did have the help of Grant and Pippen, though.

 

I think people have to understand now that Lebron James while possessing abilities that only a handful of guys have had he doesn't possess the one competitive desire to be like Mike, Kobe, Magic, and Bird. From my perspective part of winning a championship is about beating the best out there and Lebron made sure that he didn't have to go through a couple of players to get there. Its one thing if Lebron, Bosh, and Wade were drafted/traded to Miami but they decided that is would be easier to create a dream team. They all took the easy way out. If I was Wade I would have never wanted to play with Lebron or vice versa. Bosh is not one of the best players out there he is only a complimentary player so he doesn't count.

 

are you serious? Wade probably convinced lebron to come over. Why would he tell him not to come? Last time, Shaq came over and wade got a ring. Those rings look mighty nice for nba players.

 

Again where's the honor in that. Championships are meaningless when you take the easy way out. Jordan wouldn't have been Jordan if he didn't play against Bird or Magic. Dude to this day I watch old reels of Jordan and I'm amazed.

 

People have goals and they are suppose to get them done. This is a business. Without the NBA business, Jordan would be a no body just llike the rest of these players. I keep trying to get you people to understand this. same thing with college! If you are not making any one any money then they will let you go. I don't see any honor any where. Each team including the bulls have let go or traded a lot their players when they weren't making money. This is not a business about honor. It is all about money. The rings and records just help you get more money.

 

everybody hatin on lebron for being smart this time. good for him. it improves the league too because it makes other teams stack talent as well. it's a new nba, and jordan and the rest of the old timers can sit in a vip lounge somewhere smokin cigars while the new jacks get it done. you want ol skool basketball, watch espn classic.

Lakers need to 3-peat this season but after that, i wouldn't mind seeing miami thrice get a couple trophies.

 

At what point does passion matter more and trust me every single guy in the nba isn't hurting financially they are in a rare position where they can actually play for fun and not worry about the money. Btw Jordan was a phenominal athelete he would have excelled at something else trust me.

 

I might say passion matters more when it is passion for money. Just because you aren't hurting doesn't mean you don't want more money. Micheal, kobe, and especially magic are proof of this. Micheal has his own shoe line and owns a basketball team. Magic owns starbucks(I believe) and a basketball team. Kobe has so many deals besides being on a team. Greed is within us all. A lot of people could become millionaires if they used their money wisely. Too many use their money on frivolous things like $300 tickets to watch basketball. Jordan is indeed an excellent athlete. He got there through practice. Let us not forget that he couldn't get on the basketball team in his high school. I would question how good he would have been if he remained 5'11. He already tried another sport and wasn't an all star like in basketball.

 

Of course he wouldn't be that great if he stayed 5'11 but that's most sports since height matters but the point I'm making is....
Arch you're not a competitive person by nature are you? Because if you were I wouldn't have to explain this to you. I'm assuming you're more of a beta just really layed back.

 

See here is the thing. I just went through explaining what matters. A competitive person knows what matters. In the nba(and the world), it is the money. So you didn't explain it to me. I just pointed to you what you should be competing for and what lebron is competing for.I know this so called honor and the other traits you mentioned but they are not in the nba. I don't submit to this alpha beta thing but if you were to look at it as alpha and beta then jordan is not an alpha. The alphas make the most money. The warrens, the gates, the waltons. They know what matters. money. You can't do anything without money. You can't feed children. You can't build houses. You can't give equal opportunity. I just got my eyes on the prize.

I'm not laid back. I know people don't like my approaches because they are very heavy but when you come from a family that lived in a country where there is no welfare. You can't afford to keep your eyes on false glory, honor and w/e you may call it. You got to compete for the real prize. The people who were making at least twice what jordan was making while jordan was jumping for balls and running know this. It is just sad that so many don't. to my advantage of course! less competition for me!

 

And you act like professional atheletes aren't making way more money than any doctor lawyer or engineer. The small handful of people with more money usually inherited it and while money is cool its not everything. Its not the soul motivation of why we live and to correct you Michael Jordan is absolutely an alpha. He's proven himself to be both physically and mentally superior to the competition.

 

I like your lawyer pick. I am sure Barack Obama would agree to it. lol How much has he made because of his degree and not going after being a basketball player?
Many of the billionaires are self made and funny enough most of them have had the occupations you mentioned.
the athletes combined don't make more than the chemical engineer who is currently the world's richest man(Carlos Slim Helú). They don't make more than Warren buffet(business man ). They don't make more than several of the computer science or engineer majors(bill gates, the google creators). Some do make more but there are few billionaire athletes compared to engineers, business men and lawyers. The richest athlete is who Tiger woods. Would you want to compare that to Carlos Slim Helú(richest engineer)? Jordan superior to the competition? I can name a few people who are way ahead of Jordan. Several of them I have already mentioned in this reply. There have been only 44 presidents. There is a very short list of billionaires. A lot of people make millions but just don't have it all at once. Few are billionaires and even few become president. It takes an extreme amount of so called alpha to do it. I just don't see Jordan ever accomplishing this. I don't see the mental part. I see the physical but not the mental. If it were not for the physical, He would be a nobody just like so many other players.

Money is not everything but you will find that everything you may need has some connection with money.

 

Wow I don't know where to begin. Well for one most of the mega rich inherited their wealth they didn't earn it like all of those atheletes. Being a president doesn't make you an alpha it makes you privileged. George Bush was superior to no one he had a good name and stole an election. A true alpha doesn't have to cheat to win. An alpha is clearly superior the likes of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are alphas but to be more clear I meant alpha in their respected field and Jordan is clearly the alpha of all alphas in terms of basketball. One more point would be being president doesn't make you an alpha because there is no definable way to judge success or failure except in extreme crisis. Most governments are run based on economy not congressional or presidential decisions.

 

Out of the top 10 richest, 3 are inherited. Those 3 are still working to make more money.
Carlos Slim Helú was born in Mexico City, Mexico.[6] His father, Julián Slim Haddad ), a Maronite Christian, immigrated to Mexico in 1902 from Lebanon, alone at 14 years of age and speaking no Spanish. He fled the Ottoman Empire, which at the time conscripted young men into forced labour. Carlos Slim's mother, Linda Helú, was born in Parral, Chihuahua. She was the daughter of José Helú and Wadiha Atta, Lebanese immigrants who arrived in Mexico at the end of the 19th century. They founded one of the first magazines for the Lebanese community in the country. In 1911, Julián established a dry goods store called La Estrella del Oriente (The Eastern Star) and purchased real estate in downtown Mexico City. In August 1926, Julián Slim and Linda Helú married in Mexico City. They had six children, of whom Carlos was the youngest son. Julian died in 1952.Slim studied engineering at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. By the time he was 26 years old, his net worth was $40 million.[8] He married Soumaya Domit Gemayel, also a Lebanese-Mexican, in 1967. They had six children and were married for 32 years until Domit died of a kidney ailment in 1999. The youngest of their three daughters, Johanna, is married to Arturo Elías Ayub, a board member of some of Slim's companies.

Some are inherited but a lot are not. Carlos Slim Helú, the richest man, is proof of that. It doesn't get any more mega rich than this guy. EVEN if they do inherit, someone had to work for it. You are just dashing away the work that was done to get there. You don't just instantly become a billionaire. Someone had to work for it.

What about Barack Obama? You have to work to get there. They don't just instantly give you the job. It is the most stressful job you could ever have in your entire life(that's privileged). Barack won in a country where even his own people doubted that there would be a black president in their life time. Now, they doubt if a black president will get a second term or if there can be a second black president. No one doubts if there can be a black basketball player. George Bush won. I don't see where he cheated. Gore even conceded.

It does make you an alpha. Do you know how much work you have to go through just to get there? After you get there, you got so many things that can go wrong. Any enemy can attack at any second. You are constantly bombarded with the people problems everyday. It requires high intel. It is one of the most stressful jobs(if not the most stressful) To think that is nonsense. Everyone is tested in the office. Every president has had an extreme crisis that has come into office that could do great harm to the country. You are just saying that because we never have had a coup in our history. Even bush didn't let the great repression go even further than it is now. Barack will also perform to try and change this disaster of an economy.

 

The fact you just tried to argue Bush winning fairly against Gore proves we can't continue this conversation. I'm tapping out you win my friend.

 

Arch I read your post and you went off on some crazy tangent. If it was all about money then Lebron would have went to the Knicks. It was estimated that he could have made 1.5 Billion dollars if he went there. He would also made more money playing in Chicago or for the Nets. Both teams are in the top 3 metro's areas in the country. Michael Jordan has stated several times that playing in Chicago was blessing because it was a big city that gave him more exposure something that Miami doesn't have. Also staying in Cleveland he would have made more money from a contract standpoint. If you want to talk about championships he would have had a better chance going to Chicago also. They had a better team than Miami. In Miami they 3 stars but not much else and if you know anything about basketball you need a TEAM to win not just star players(reference the 2004 LA Lakers).

The fact is Lebron wanted to win a championship but he didn't want to put in the work nor did he want the pressure of being the man and winning on his own. From day one Lebron has demonstrated that it is not in his DNA. When the moment gets too big he defers to others instead of embracing the challenge. Lebron plays basketball because he is tall, good at it, you can make a lot of money, and of course the fame(look at the dumb "Decision" ESPN show). Lebron isn't the only one, I would argue that is how most NFL and NBA players are. In today's game there are very few people that play for the love of the game like past players.

Going to Miami did not make sense from so many reason and it just shows that he doesn't deserve to be put in the same category as Jordan, Magic, or Kobe for that matter. If you talk about legacy, money, and fame going to Miami just didn't make sense.