Mendoza: LeBron being frank becomes grist for debate
-A A +AAll Write
Friday, February 15, 2013
SAYS the Internet: “It doesn’t matter to me. If you take Kobe one and I go second, it doesn’t matter. I don’t get too involved in what guys say about me or if you take Kobe or if you take LeBron. As long as I’m on the floor and I make plays for my teammates, I don’t do what I do for other people’s approval.”
First, the proper identifications.
Kobe is Kobe Bryant, the star of the Los Angeles Lakers in the US National Basketball Association (NBA).
Lebron is LeBron James, the star of the Miami Heat, the defending NBA champions.
The above-quoted Internet report was from LeBron James.
It was his answer to a comment made by Michael Jordan in an interview with NBATV.
Jordan had said he considered Kobe a better player than LeBron.
Says the Internet further: “Jordan said if given a choice, he would pick Kobe Bryant over James. While Jordan said it would be a tough choice, he added that ‘five beats one every time I look at it,’ referring to Bryant’s five championships with the Los Angeles Lakers versus the one title James won with the Miami Heat last season.”
His choice
The interview with Jordan was occasioned by Jordan’s forthcoming 50th birthday celebration on Monday (Manila Time).
Very often these days, Jordan has been compared with LeBron, and the debate had picked up “steam” amid the recent consecutive 30-point performances of James resulting in the rewriting of the NBA record books.
If LeBron found Jordan’s choice of Kobe offensive, I think James is out of line.
I believe that when Jordan chose Bryant over James, he was just being objective.
Anytime, Kobe’s five NBA titles would easily dwart LeBron’s one title.
It’s the same as saying Talk ‘N Text is much better than Rain Or Shine because TNT has won 7 PBA crowns as against RoS’s one crown. No debate there.
You talk of comparisons, you next base decisions from accomplishments.
But I think LeBron had a fairly good enough reaction to Jordan’s choice of Kobe.
Now, if Jordan, or some people, would consider inappropriate, if not rude, LeBron’s comment, that’s another matter.
Really, it’s not what people say, it’s how we take what people say.
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on February 16, 2013.
Sports
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