Barkley called him Pippen too right? Also said he was closer to a Magic Johnson than Jordan, in that he was an over-sized athlete that preferred to pass the ball than score.
Even if LeBron completely stopped passing and focused 100% on scoring, I still don't think he can be compared as a scorer to MJ (even though he did both). He simply can't hurt you from anywhere on the court. That's why Melo and Durant and better scorers than he'll probably ever be.
You can't be an unstoppable force if you can only "sometimes" shoot. Teams will ALWAYS dare LeBron to do his work from the outside. He simply can't make teams pay for giving him the smallest bit of space, and you need that AND incredible talent inside to truly be a completely reliable offensive threat.
That's also the reason why he struggles in the clutch. If he's hitting fade-away 3s with Paul Pierce in his face, then he's unstoppable. But 95% of the time he can't do that. Maybe one day he'll become a triple threat, but until then the Jordan comparisons really have got to stop, and even then he'll never catch up in rings.