We can only hope for greatness starting Thursday

We still have a few more days to prepare for the NBA Finals and a few more days to hope for greatness.

After some terrible NBA playoffs to get to this point, we deserve at least that much. And the NBA desperately needs that to happen.

The other 28 teams in the NBA aren’t remotely competitive with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors. That’s not a good look. But if the Finals are as bad as the rest of the playoffs and one of these teams isn’t competitive with the other one, well that’s a look the NBA just can’t have.

Everyone around the NBA has pointed to this matchup for a full year, and if the Finals don’t deliver an epic showdown ... well, that’s a damaging knock against the NBA.

There are a lot of story lines filling the Finals this year, and that’s understandable when you get the same two teams in the Finals for third straight season. Will Kevin Durant finally get his first ring? Can Kyrie Irving continue his outstanding play in the postseason? Can Stephen Curry and the Warriors get revenge for last year’s Finals collapse?

But the biggest debate will focus on LeBron James and his legacy and the ridiculous comparisons with Michael Jordan. That talk has been around for years, but it really has heated up the past two seasons, especially this season as James made his way to his seventh straight Finals appearance.

And it’s just silly.

James is an unbelievable talent, unlike anything we have seen before in this league. But he’s not Jordan — the gold standard in the NBA in my lifetime (and all I can judge by is what I have seen with my own two eyes).

But why does James have to be compared to Jordan? Why can’t we just appreciate James’ greatness while also remembering Jordan’s? Why does it have to be one or the other? It’s a dumb debate, really. But it’s one that we’re going to hear a lot until Thursday’s first game ... and probably beyond.

But seriously, if James wins a second straight title (and a fourth overall) does he surpass Jordan? Well, what happens if the Warriors win a second title in three years? Does that destroy James’ legacy? No way.

He’s an all-time great player, and in my mind has moved into the starting five top players I’ve seen play, joining Jordan, of course, Tim Duncan, Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (with Kobe Bryant and Larry Bird coming off the bench). That starting five had included Jordan, Duncan, Johnson, Abdul-Jabbar and Bird until the past two seasons, but in returning to Cleveland and delivering that city a long-awaited title last year, James took his legacy to another level.

Yes, James did great things with the Miami Heat in winning two titles in four Finals trips with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, but winning one title with the Cavaliers is a bigger accomplishment than winning those two with the Heat.

And now, James has a chance to win another. Instead of falling into the idiotic James vs. Jordan debate, we should just sit back and appreciate James’ greatness and hope with everything we have for a great Finals between the Cavaliers and Warriors.

This story was originally published May 28, 2017 at 11:33 AM with the headline "We can only hope for greatness starting Thursday."