It's with great remorse, as a baseball and Rangers fan first, that due to the Rangers' level of play so far this year, I've regressed to discussions about basketball. If you've been around our office for any extended amount of time, you've probably heard Logan and I arguing about some sports-related topic. Usually it's baseball related, but with how hard it is to watch the Rangers this year and the NBA finals beginning, we've navigated toward basketball-themed debates. Admittedly, I'm not nearly as knowledgeable about basketball as I am about baseball. I played the game until my freshman year in high school, but I never really studied the game like I did with baseball. 

With that being said, you can probably guess one of the more popular basketball discussions we've been having for the last couple of weeks. It's one that every basketball fan has had at some point and one that, due to current circumstances, is on the tip of a lot of peoples' tongues:

Who's the G.O.A.T.? MJ or Lebron?

My contention: "Lebron is a lot closer to GOAT status than people think he is, and he has an awfully conceivable shot at tallying the accolades that would make it hard to argue against him."

Logan's contention: "MJ is the GOAT and I'm not willing to seriously consider otherwise until Lebron gets more rings." 

Note: Me being a baseball guy, I love stats, which you will quickly find out. Bear with me.

The top arguments going on right now:

1. Though Lebron passed MJ as the NBA's all-time playoff scoring leader, it took him 33 more games to do it.

What I say:

Yeah, Mike did it in less games, but Lebron did it with less field goal attempts and contributed more assists.

Historic bucket. 👑 #DefendTheLand pic.twitter.com/bVAmGOYGcT

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) May 26, 2017 

2. Lebron bought two of his rings.

What I say:

Sure, the whole "I'm taking my talents to South Beach" press conference and the ensuing media circus – "not one, not two, not three, not four" etc. – were annoying and uncalled for, but it doesn't diminish what Lebron did in Miami. Neither does him joining the so-called superteam. Let's take a look at this superteam compared to the opposition in the 2012 finals and 2013 finals. 

So, the 2012 Miami Heat superteam consisted of Lebron, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh. The next best player as far as stats during that playoff season was Mario Chalmers. Yes, Mario Chalmers. Now, they faced an Oklahoma City Thunder team who had a superteam of their own: Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Russel Westbrook. The Thunder's next best player was a respectable Serge Ibaka. The top three players from the Heat contributed 67.1 points per game during the 2012 playoffs. The Thunder's top three? 67.9. Let's take out the best player from each team, Lebron and Kevin Durant. The two players Lebron joined to make the superteam for the Heat contributed 36.8 points per game. The top two contributors outside of Kevin Durant contributed 39.4 points for the Thunder. The superteam argument doesn't work here, seeing that the Thunder's top players contributed more than the Heat's top players. How did the finals end? The Heat won in 5. What did Lebron do? He averaged 28.6/10.2/7.4 during the finals and won finals MVP.

Now, lets take a look at the 2013 Miami Heat superteam. They added another player in the likes of Ray Allen, so the team consisted of Lebron, Wade, and Bosh, with Allen being the next best player. In 2013, they faced a San Antonio Spurs team who, again, had a superteam of their own: Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili. Can you guess who their next best player was? Current MVP-candidate Kawhi Leonard. The top three players from the Heat contributed 53.9 points per game during the 2013 playoffs. The Spurs' top three? 52.2. Again, let's take out the top scoring players from each team, Lebron and Tony Parker. The two players behind Lebron averaged 28 points per game together. The top two contributors behind Tony Parker contributed 31.6 points per game together. The superteam argument doesn't work here either, seeing that the Spurs tops players contributed more than the Heat's top players. How did the finals end? The Heat won in 7. What did Lebron do? He averaged 25.3/10.9/7 during the finals and won finals MVP.

Now, let's compare what happened to Lebron's superteam when he left after the 2014 season and what happened to MJ's team when he left after the 1993 season. Michael Jordan's 1993 team had a 57-25 record. Lebron's 2014 team had a 54-28 record. When MJ left after the 1993 season, his former team won only two fewer games than the previous year and ended the season with a 55-27 record. When Lebron left after the 2014 season, his former team won 17 fewer games than the previous year and ended the season with a 37-45 record. Turns out, maybe other superteams were more super than Lebron's "superteam."

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Lebron beat the best regular season team in basketball history in the 2016 playoffs. Each of his rings has been against a superior superteam; but, those superteams were missing one person, Lebron James. 

3. Michael Jordan played harder competition during the playoffs. 

What I say:

Did he, though? When you look at it, it's way too close to call. If anything, this argument is in Lebron's favor. MJ faced Hall of Famers 49 times in his playoff career. Based on projections (since the players Lebron have faced are still active or recently retired), Lebron has faced projected Hall of Famers 50 times in his playoff career and that number will only go up because he still has years left in the tank. Fox Sports even says that, when compared to MJ's playoff runs, Lebron has faced a tougher road through the playoffs in seven of his 12 trips to the playoffs. 

MJ beat 7 Hall of Famers in the finals. Lebron has already beaten 9 projected Hall of Famers in the finals, including series wins against two teams with three or more projected Hall of Famers on the team. Now, you might say, "Yeah, but Lebron also had two future Hall of Famers alongside him during his runs with Miami." So did MJ for three of his six, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman. 

4. Michael has 6 rings, Lebron only has 3.

What I say:

Nothing, really. For arguments sake, I can say that if Lebron can finish this year, he'll have four with plenty of time to get two more to match Jordan.

Herein lies the point, there's statistics and there's championships. You can have impressive numbers and memorable playoff runs, but if they don't convert to championships, it doesn't really matter. I can do all the digging around for stats that I want, but all that is essentially for nothing when I can just look at the one thing that matters the most, rings.

I can look at their similar career stat lines, 27.1/7.3/7 for Lebron and 30.1/6.2/5.3 for Jordan, and come to the conclusion that Lebron has actually contributed a little bit more overall, including rebounds and assists, than Jordan did. I can look at their career playoff stats, 28.3/8.8/6.8 for Lebron and 33.4/6.4/5.7 for Jordan, and surmise that Lebron's playoff career is just as good, stats wise, as Jordan's, despite being more ridiculed than any other superstar I can remember in my lifetime. I can look at Lebron's career playoff true shooting percentage (.573) and see that it's higher than Jordan's (.568) despite people picking apart his jump shot constantly. I can look at their career playoff VORP scores (which estimates a player's overall contribution to their team) and see that Lebron's (28.6) is six points higher than MJ's (22.8) despite playing in one less postseason. That's why my contention is that Lebron is closer than people think he is and that he has a good shot to gather the necessary accolades to surpass MJ. But, he'll have to convert his impressive numbers into more rings first. 

So what exactly does this have to do with the success of your company?

It's really quite simple. There's a ton of data out there. You can have the best engagement rates, the most page likes, thousands of video views, a high click through rate, a low bounce rate, a low cost per result, extensive reach numbers, etc., but if these numbers don't result in customers, what's the point? If all you have to show for your marketing efforts are good-looking numbers, your business isn't going to grow.

Without sales, without customers, numbers are meaningless. To actually be in the discussion of successful businesses, you have to find a way to convert your advantageous numbers into something tangible, people. 

There's a few things you can do to convert your numbers into actual customers

1. Growth-driven design: Today, a great website is one that accurately articulates the challenges and goals of the person visiting that site. It not only captures the attention of your buyers, it fits their needs and it keeps them engaged. Then and only then, can it generate leads and grow your business. Through continuous learning and improvement, growth-driven design allows us to make informed performance improvements to your site based on testing and research that’s derived from visitor behaviors. This information is used to improve the strategies and tactics of marketing and sales and vice versa.

Related: Growth-Driven Design: The Change In How Websites Should Be Built

2. Inbound marketing: Inbound marketing is the best way to turn strangers into customers and promoters of your business. Content is what fuels the inbound methodology. When you create the right content, you'll effectively attract your ideal visitors, convert them into leads and close them into customers. It's all about timing. Inbound Marketing provides content at exactly the right time. It builds trust and allows buyers to buy when they are ready.

Related: Why Your Marketing Strategies Need to Evolve With Time

3. Create SMART Goals: We all want to grow and reach new people, but how?  Most people start with the platform or method before even defining what they are trying to accomplish.  Your goals should determine how and where you market, so how do you set good quality marketing goals? We use SMART goals. SMART Goals are goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely 

Related: How to Set Your Marketing Goals 

4. Download our FREE resources: Click ebooks below to download!

At the end of the day, championships matter; and for your business, customers matter. If all you have to show are good numbers, it's always going to be difficult to make a case for GOAT status. 

Let us know who you think is the GOAT! Comment below with LeBron or MJ!