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Michael Jordan is the best basketball player ever.

Few had better vantage points from which to make that kind of judgment than folks around here, witnesses one and all to his prowess. If Karl Malone and John Stockton were two of the best ever at power forward and point guard, the fact that Jordan blocked their combined two best quests for championships to gain two more of his own presents compelling evidence.

There are arguments that can be made for other greats, and we'll get into that and methodologies for coming to conclusions on a topic that, in reality, is impossible to prove. Everyone can come up with their own view.

But there is a legitimate contender now in the discussion, and we're watching it right in front of our eyes: this LeBron James fellow.

His case has grown, bit by bit, playoff performance by playoff performance. And his passing of Jordan at the top of the all-time playoff scoring list in Game 5 against the Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals is just one part of that case, if you're really into using scoring as a primary measure.

LeBron said he is not, and his vast overall game backs up that statement.

"The biggest thing for me sitting here after breaking the all-time scoring record in playoff history is I did it just being me," he said. "I don't have to score to make an impact on a game and that was my mindset when I started playing, if I'm not scoring how can I still make an impact on the game? It's carried me to this point now and it's going to carry me for the rest of my career because scoring is not No. 1 on my agenda."

Winning, one would presume, if not making money or gaining sheer eminence, is No. 1.

In that regard, the 32-year-old James trails Jordan in a major way. MJ won six titles, and LeBron is seeking his fourth, beginning on Thursday in the NBA Finals against Golden State.

Rings alone, though, don't measure the greatness of a player in a team sport because … well, there are the other guys taking shots, making and missing, rebounding, covering and blowing defensive assignments, doing what they do, alongside. If championships alone were the means for determining greatness, Bill Russell is your basketball king with 11 NBA titles.

On the other hand, they do mean something. Those who discount rings completely, sarcastically saying stupid things like — "Stockton and Malone didn't win championships, but Kurt Rambis and Robert Horry did, so Rambis and Horry must be greater, right?" — are missing the point that, yes, role players sometimes tag along on the way to championships, but true star players are the ones counted on to clear the path to bring them home.

We can measure players by way of statistics, analytics, longevity, records, and all of those things can be brought into the conversation. I prefer to give great weight to the size of the challenges great players face, how they react to those challenges, not just night in and night out, but in the biggest moments, under the brightest lights, and then, there's the eye test. What a player looks like, especially in clutch situations. What he's done in those situations and what he'll do.

That is the best way to judge a player's greatness.

And here's a personal story that hammers home the point.

When the Jazz faced off against the Bulls in the 1997 and 1998 Finals, particularly the second time around, I thought the Jazz were the better team. Depending on what measure you wanted to use, you could make that claim.

In a rather public pronouncement, I predicted the Jazz would beat Jordan and the Bulls in 1998. After the Jazz fell behind in that series, I appeared on a Chicago television show alongside David Halberstam, the noted author who was following the Finals, doing research for a book about Jordan. During the show, I thought I was dominating the Halberstam — who took the opposing view, favoring the Bulls — using all kinds of data to back up my theory about the Jazz's superiority. When almost all the talking was done, Halberstam ended the show by looking at me and saying words I've never forgotten: "Well, at least I'm smart enough not to pick against Michael Jordan."

Halberstam was pretty darn smart.

And ever since, I've thought Jordan was the greatest of all time — because I saw what I saw, just like I saw what Russell did, what West did, what Kareem did, what Bird did, what Magic did, what Kobe did, what they all did.

But what LeBron is doing now, I have not seen, not with this kind of size, power, speed, versatility and consistency, against this kind of competition. I have not seen a player the size of Malone move the way James moves. I have not seen a player who can play every position on the floor and guide his team to the Finals, year after year after year after year after year after year after year. Yeah, that's seven straight - against athletes now who are bigger, stronger, faster than athletes of the past.

Jordan is still the man. I have listened to Halberstam, who passed away a decade ago. I have not picked against MJ, again.

But if LeBron — with teammates Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love — finds a way to beat this Golden State Warriors team, one of the greatest collections of talent in basketball's history, I — all of us — might have to change our minds.

LeBron himself grew up idolizing Jordan. That's why he wears his number — 23.

If he beats the Warriors, he'll wear another of Jordan's numbers:

The No. 1.

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone. Twitter: @GordonMonson.