Hey! It's one of our least favorite kinds of sports stories. Sports Celebrity A (in this case Scottie Pippen) says something deemed controversial but not at all quantifiable (in this case that LeBron James could be a better all-around player than Michael Jordan), and then Celebrity B (and maybe more, in this case Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Isiah Thomas) taking the opposite stance. Per this story:
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar released a letter Tuesday saying he disagrees that James may be the greatest player of all time and Jordan is the greatest scorer of all time, while Isiah Thomas said the potential is there for James to match Jordan, but he's not sure that the Heat's superstar will pass Jordan.
"I have nothing but respect for you my friend as an athlete and knowledgeable basketball mind. But you are way off in your assessment of who is the greatest player of all time and the greatest scorer of all time," Abdul-Jabbar wrote on kareemabduljabbar.com. "Your comments are off because of your limited perspective."
And from Thomas:
"Right now, Jordan was such a complete player on both ends, he was a great foul shooter, he turned into a 3-point shooter, he had midrange game, he had low-post game, he was a lock-down defender and LeBron is getting to that in all those areas. Now, he hasn't gotten there yet and we don't know if he will get there. But if he does get there, he will probably only be equal to, I don't know if he can ever be better."
The best part about this type of argument is that it works for controversial or non-controversial topics! Simply state an opinion and let the good times roll. Here, we'll try it: While many Twin Cities folks enjoy Surly Furious as their Brooklyn Center-based craft brew of choice, we've always found Surly Bender to be a better alternative. Sure, both are very good. But Bender goes the extra mile.
We're not wrong. Neither are Pippen, Furious fans, Abdul-Jabbar and Thomas.
