Hello community and welcome to my first post.

I grew up watching and admiring Michael Jordan play for the Bulls. Ever since his retirement, there have been several players that rise to stardom to become the best of their eras like Kobe and LeBron. But for people like me, there is a mystical essence when we think about what MJ was able to do. He had all the traits like talent, dedication and the ability to be cold blooded when closing a game.

Our opinions are fixed and in our minds number 23 is the greatest of all time, and we strongly believe this fact will remain the same for the rest of our lives. While this could be true, it leads to another internal conflict. The conflict of change. Our pride in a way is directly correlated to what we have been saying for years about Michael, and we do not want to lose that.

I remember when LeBron came to the scenes at first I admired him and marveled at how talented he was. At the time I didn't know he would become the best player of the decade but I simply enjoyed watching his play. As the years went by, people started to compare him with Jordan and almost like a self defense mechanism, I started looking for flaws in his game.
-He can't win in the finals
-The decision
-He could not have won a champiosnhip without Wade and Bosh
-And the list goes on

But then it hit me. I understood that instead of enjoying a once in a lifetime player like LeBron, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, I was obsessively looking for a flaw that would derail them from becoming the GOAT. After all, I want to have the bragging rights of being one of those kids who watched MJ in his prime while everybody else gets stuck with inferior players and competition.

Regardless of how we think we feel, deep inside we enjoy the current NBA talent and competition. I still like to believe MJ would have never left like Durant to the one team that beat him in the semi-finals. But good for him regardless. Our society measures by success, and not ever getting a chamionship ring, would leave Durant in the same situation as someone like Charles Barkley, a really good player, but in our minds now, not good enough. Given Kevin's talents, I am glad he did what he did, and the same is true for LeBron.

Let me know if you feel the same or totally different.