Here is the real truth: The player he will really be competing against is not Latrell Sprewell or Vince Carter. The player he will be competing against will be Michael Jordan, the best ever at that position, the Michael Jordan who emerged those six wonderful years with an almost perfect complement of talent around him.

That will be the toughest matchup of his career, going against the myth of the most charismatic and exciting player most of us ever saw, and who again and again -- in what was ostensibly a big man's game -- lifted his team above the odds and the competition. Those are images most of us would prefer to leave as they are.