- Commissioner’s statement on Ventura, Marte
- Ronnie O’Sullivan: Masters champion ‘felt so vulnerable’ in final
- Arron Fletcher Wins 2017 WSOP International Circuit Marrakech Main Event ($140,224)
- Smith challenges Warner to go big in India
- Moncada No. 1 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- Braves land 2 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- Kingery makes MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- New Zealand wrap up 2-0 after Bangladesh implosion
- Mathews, Pradeep, Gunathilaka to return to Sri Lanka
- Elliott hopes for rain for Poli
Armstrong cautions LeBron: Don’t chase a ghost
- Updated: August 3, 2016
11:41 PM ET
B.J. Armstrong played six seasons and won three championships with Michael Jordan, which gives him an up-close, personal and unique perspective on the psyche of the player widely regarded as the greatest of all time.
Armstrong, 48, does not believe it’s impossible for a current player to surpass Jordan, so it was with great interest that he read comments made by LeBron James that appeared in a Sports Illustrated article on Tuesday.
Now that he has delivered Cleveland its first championship in 52 years, James said his chief motivation is catching or eclipsing Jordan as the best player ever: “My motivation is the ghost I’m chasing. The ghost played in Chicago.”
Armstrong, now a player agent who represents Derrick Rose, has some advice for James.
According to B.J. Armstrong, LeBron James has to adopt the mentality that comparing himself to any other player, including Michael Jordan, is an insult. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
“Chasing a ghost is in make-believe land,” Armstrong told ESPN.com in a telephone conversation. “That’s far out, that’s unattainable, that’s something you can’t achieve. This ain’t no ghost. If you want to do it, there’s a blueprint. It’s possible. There’s only one way to get there. It’s not possible for him to do what Jordan did because the circumstances are different, everything is different.
“What is possible for him is to be bigger than every situation that’s put in front of him, to dominate every situation that’s in front of him.”
Armstrong, who won titles in Chicago in 1991, 1992 and 1993, said James has to adopt the mentality that comparing himself to any other player, including Jordan, is an insult.
“This is to LeBron James: If you want to be the best, get rid of the comparisons,” Armstrong said. “Get rid of all the comparisons that are out there. That’s what Michael Jordan did. Jordan realized that in order to be the best you had to get rid of all the comparisons. When you compared Jordan to somebody else, it made him more …
continue reading in source espn.go.com
