LeBron faced more Hall of Fame players in the Finals, Jordan still had tougher competition
Chris Broussard, a sports analyst for Fox Sports made the argument that LeBron James played against more (future) Hall of Fame players in the NBA Finals than Michael Jordan did in his career.
One of the main reason why James played against more (future) Hall of Fame players in the NBA Finals than Jordan is of probability, giving the fact that eight finals appearances are more than six finals appearances.
James played against some of the greats in the NBA Finals, who will be in the Hall of Fame, such as Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson three times, Kawhi Leonard, and Kevin Durant twice, and Dirk Nowitzki, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, and Jason Kidd once.
However, when James faced Harden in the Finals, he was not the superstar that he is on the Houston Rockets, for he was only in his third year where he was the sixth man, averaging 16.8 points per game on the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Kidd was not the superstar he once was, for he was 37 years old and in his 19th NBA season on the Dallas Mavericks.
Jordan in the NBA Finals played against six Hall of Fame players, including Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley, Gary Payton and Clyde Drexler once, and Karl Malone and John Stockton twice.
Although Shawn Kemp is not in the Hall of Fame, he was another Hall of Fame caliber player that Jordan had to face in the Finals.
James' era is driven by super-teams, such as the Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, and Golden State Warriors, for the same "super-teams" are facing each other in the Finals more frequently than in Jordan's era. Thus, by default James is going to play against more Hall of Fame players in the Finals, yet it doesn't equate to the notion that James' competition was better.
James played the same teams in the NBA Finals more frequently than Jordan, such as playing the San Antonio Spurs and Warriors three times each which brings into the question, the level of competition.
Hall of Fame players, including Magic, Larry Bird, and Hakeem Olajuwon never took part in this idea of a "super-team", which kept Jordan's era more competitive throughout the entire playoffs for both conferences.
The real questions that should be brought to the table are:
How many more Hall of Fame players did James have to beat in the Eastern Conference in order to get to the Finals?
How many Hall of Fame centers did James have to face in his career?
Was there hand-checking allowed in the NBA and are defenses as physically intensive in James' era?
Jordan retired prematurely from the Chicago Bulls during the 1993-94 season.
When he came back after his first retirement, he only played in 17 games during the 1994-95 season before losing to Shaquille O'Neal's and Penny Hardaway's Orlando Magic team in the Eastern Conference semi-finals (4-2).
Number "45" Jordan was more like a Diet Michael Jordan, for Jordan's game was a little flat when he came back after his first retirement.
It's unfortunate that Jordan never faced Olajuwon's Rockets in the finals, who won back to back NBA Championships in 1994 and 1995.
During the Bulls Dynasty they won six championships in eight years from 1991-98, and when excluding the years of Jordan's first retirement and the 1994-95 season of where he only played in 17 games, he had a record of (6-6) against Olajuwon's Rockets in the regular season during that span of years.
I strongly believe that if Jordan never retired or changed his number to the infamous "45", post his baseball career, he would have beat Olajuwon in back to back NBA Finals during the 1994 and 1995 seasons.
For most of James' career, he had a much easier road to the NBA Finals, for James never even lost in the first round of the playoffs in his career.
Also, the East was a lot stronger in Jordan's era because the center position was actually relevant with Hall of Fame centers, such as O'Neal, Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning, and Dikembe Mutombo.
James only faced one future Hall of Fame center in the East, which was Dwight Howard.
Today's NBA is all about super-teams, for the individuality of teams are becoming obsolete because every team is copying the Warriors blueprint.
In Jordan's era, he wasn't facing the same teams at such a high frequency, for smaller market teams, such as the Indiana Pacers, Seattle SuperSonics, and Utah Jazz had individuality and were actually contenders for longer periods of time.
If you look at the top-fifteen Hall of Fame players that Jordan had to face in comparison to James you will see that Jordan had tougher competition.
Jordan:
[if !supportLists]1.) [endif]Magic Johnson
[if !supportLists]2.) [endif]Larry Bird
[if !supportLists]3.) [endif]Hakeem Olajuwon
[if !supportLists]4.) [endif]Shaquille O’Neal
[if !supportLists]5.) [endif]Karl Malone
[if !supportLists]6.) [endif]Charles Barkley
[if !supportLists]7.) [endif]Isiah Thomas
[if !supportLists]8.) [endif]David Robinson
[if !supportLists]9.) [endif]Patrick Ewing
10.) John Stockton
11.) Gary Payton
12.) Dominique Wilkins
13.) Grant Hill
[if !supportLists]14.) Clyde Drexler
15.) Reggie Miller
[if !supportLists]
James:
[if !supportLists]1.) [endif]Kobe Bryant
[if !supportLists]2.) [endif]Tim Duncan
[if !supportLists]3.) [endif]Kevin Durant
[if !supportLists]4.) [endif]Stephen Curry
[if !supportLists]5.) [endif]Dwayne Wade
[if !supportLists]6.) [endif]Kevin Garnett
[if !supportLists]7.) [endif]Tracy McGrady
[if !supportLists]8.) [endif]Dirk Nowitzki
[if !supportLists]9.) [endif]Jason Kidd
[if !supportLists]10.) Allen Iverson
[if !supportLists]11.) Paul Pierce
[if !supportLists]12.) Chris Paul
[if !supportLists]13.) Russell Westbrook
[if !supportLists]14.) Kawhi Leonard
[if !supportLists]15.) Dwight Howard
In short, I believe that if Jordan didn't retire after his first three-peat with the Bulls, then he would have made it to eight straight NBA Finals appearances too.
The only difference is that Jordan would not have lost four times in the NBA Finals, for he would have won eight straight NBA titles.