LeBron James and Michael Jordan became the NBA's greatest players with a leadership style that differed in a key way
- As two of the best players in NBA history, LeBron James and Michael Jordan's leadership styles have been compared.
- Former Bulls player B.J. Armstrong told Insider that Jordan really was as intense and ruthless on the floor as has been depicted.
- James is known to be a demanding teammate, but he is also said to go above and beyond to organize team dinners and parties to forge bonds with his teammates.
LeBron James and Michael Jordan have both achieved success at the highest levels in the NBA, and their methods of getting their haven't been entirely different.
As covered in ESPN's docuseries "The Last Dance" on Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, Jordan could be a ruthless leader. Teammates admitted to fearing Jordan, who would trash-talk, belittle, and criticize players to motivate them.
James is known as a tireless worker, like Jordan, who can be hard on teammates but generally uses a kinder, more positive method off the court to get there.
Jordan tested teammates while James forges bonds
"Was he like that every day? Yes," said Armstrong. "He was like that every day."
Steve Kerr, who played with Jordan during the Bulls' second "three-peat" from 1995 to 1998, told Bill Simmons that Jordan's philosophy was to harden players to prepare them for the biggest moments.
"You knew he was going to be harsh on you. You knew he was going to be tough on you, was going to talk trash to everybody in practice, test you," Kerr said. "And his reasoning was: If you couldn't handle the trash talk in practice, there's no way you could handle the pressure of the NBA playoffs.
"It made perfect sense. He was right!"
Meanwhile, James' philosophy has been to befriend teammates off the floor so that they know his on-court critiques aren't personal, former Cleveland Cavaliers forward Richard Jefferson told ESPN in 2017.
He said James goes above and beyond to keep teammates together off the court and strengthen relationships.
"The amount of time he spends being great with lifting and shooting and training, he is as equal when it comes to spending time trying to be a good teammate," Jefferson said. "Having people over to his house for dinner, throwing a Christmas party or a Halloween party, having guys orchestrating a dinner here or a movie night here. He spends as much time trying to be great on the court as he does trying to make sure that the team is a cohesive unit off the court."
Jordan and James earned their stripes by out-working everyone
Armstrong told Insider that Jordan's methods of leadership worked because Jordan worked harder than everybody else.
Armstrong added: "No one can deny one thing: he only wanted to win. He didn't have another agenda."
In "The Last Dance," Jordan addressed his reputation for being tough on teammates. Jordan said his teammates could never say that he asked them to do something he wouldn't do himself. As Jordan spoke, a clip played of him beating other Bulls players in wind sprints.
"That man was 30-something-years old, still winning the drills!" Armstrong said. "You understand what I'm saying? The level of conditioning - look, when you get to be that age, I don't think the coaches or anybody are expecting you to still win the drills. He's not only winning the drills. He's talking trash to everybody. So this is what I'm saying - he's not asking you, he's not saying, 'Do as I say and not as I do.' No. 'I'm doing this.'"
Jefferson said James' work ethic in training was unparalleled.
"His approach to the game - a lot of people don't see how hard he works," Jefferson said. "Being in the weight room, the training regimen that he has - I've never seen it. I can honestly say that."
Former Cavs teammate Iman Shumpert told Complex in 2017 that James puts his training and body care above everything else.
"He just takes care of his body," Shumpert said. "He's got his trainers there. He put that ice on right after the game - he gonna sit there.
"Like, people may think it's diva-ish, but that man will get his treatment and be late. 'I'll be late to this event, even though y'all paid me all this money to be here. Because I gotta do everything I gotta do to make sure I preserve my body so I can do this tomorrow.'"
James told Business Insider in 2016 that he believed he had to set an example for teammates by putting in the work himself.
"I don't just talk about it - I actually do it as well," James said. "When you're able to come through on your word, it allows the guys that you're leading, male or female, to be able to say, 'OK. We can follow this person because he won't let us down. No matter if it's going good or bad.'"
What were they like off the court?
As Jefferson said, James puts in extra effort to throwing parties and team outings to keep players close to one another.
Anthony Davis, who was traded to the Lakers in the summer of 2019, told The Athletic that James is like a kid off the court, always having fun, setting up events, and making teammates laugh.
"You wouldn't know it unless you're his teammate or you're around him a lot, but he's a big kid," Davis said. "He's high on life, loves life, lives his life to the fullest. I get to see that every day. Win, lose or draw, he's got a smile on his face ... He's always setting up team dinners. He's about the team, and he's always making us laugh."
Though James' efforts to be friendly to teammates have received praise, Armstrong cautioned about drawing a straight line between team success and off-court friendship.
"We didn't have to hang out," Armstrong said of his Bulls teams. "Not that we didn't hang out, you know, we were a very close group. But just because you hang out doesn't necessarily mean that that's a close team or close group or what have you."
Armstrong said Jordan wasn't the type to organize team dinners or group outings like James does. However, Armstrong said the Bulls teams were full of "truth-tellers" - a necessary component to a successful team.
"You have to tell each other your truth because if you don't, then there is something missing where you don't feel comfortable, or that other person doesn't feel comfortable with you," Armstrong said.
Armstrong also said Jordan had a way of making anyone he met feel like a close friend.
"He has this incredible gift where he can make you feel like he's known you his entire life," Armstrong said. "Like, he just has it. He has that charisma about him that he just understands people. I don't know if that was natural or he worked on it. I have no idea, but I just knew he was always aware of what was going on around him … He relished in that. He enjoyed it."
Armstrong added that Jordan is also very funny, with a sharp sense of humor.
"He loves being one of the guys. He loves it. That's the side that I know. I'll always remember, like, the bus rides and plane rides and all of the things like that, because he's really funny."
Downfalls to their leadership styles?
Jordan and James' high expectations could also make it challenging to play with them.
Kerr told Simmons that at times it felt like he was playing for Jordan, rather than with him.
Jordan has also been accused of alienating teammates. Former Bulls forward Horace Grant has said he and Jordan were not particularly close off the floor.
Sam Smith, the author of the famed book "Jordan Rules," recently said on a KNBR podcast that Bulls players used to tell him that Jordan would deny Grant food after bad games.
"Players would come to me over the years and said, 'You know what he did? He took Horace [Grant's] food away on the plane because Horace had a bad game.' [Michael] told the stewardesses, 'Don't feed him, he doesn't deserve to eat,'" Smith said.
Former Bulls assistant coach Tex Winter told Michael Leahy in the 2004 book "When Nothing Else Matters," that Jordan could be too tough on teammates and that those methods didn't always pay off. Winter said some teammates "resented" the way Jordan treated them (via CBS's James Herbert).
James has also been accused of alienating teammates. In the 2018-19 season, his first with the Lakers, James was criticized for distancing himself from his younger teammates. During a bad loss to the Indiana Pacers, James was seen sitting several seats away from his teammates, many of whom were in trade rumors.
ESPN's Dave McMenamin reported in 2019 that Lakers players even called James out for his poor body language that season.
"[James] copped to the critique, telling his teammates that, in essence, cutting out behavior like slumped shoulders and sideways glances has been something he has tried to work on his entire career," McMenamin wrote.
Teammates would go to battle with Jordan and James all over again
Jefferson said James' willingness to shoulder the burden of leading the team impressed him.
"Not many people in the history of sports have said, 'Everyone get on my back,'" Jefferson told ESPN. "The city, state, organization, team … 'Get on my back. If we win or fail, I'll take the blame - but I'm going to lead you.'
"How many people have ever said that? I can't think of too many players who have put that type of pressure on themselves and then have delivered more times than not. And he embraces it."
Kyrie Irving, who later requested a trade from the Cavs to get out from under James' shadow, said after the 2017 Finals that learning from James changed his career.
"Man, he's freaking awesome," Irving told reporters. "As a student of the game, it would be a disservice to myself if I didn't try to learn as much as possible while I'm playing with this guy. Every single day demanding more out of himself, demanding more out of us, the true testament of a consummate professional."
Irving added: "That's the type of guy that I want to be with every single time I'm going to war, because I know what to expect, and you stand your ground, too, with a leader like that."
Similarly, Armstrong marveled at the way Jordan rose to the occasion.
"How many people can say that? ... That was the lesson that I picked up very quickly from him, is I can try to be my very best every single time I do something, whatever the outcome is, I can live with the outcome. But what I can't live with is not doing my very best."