Yeah a few strange ones. Ginobli at 61? Blake at 75? - when Bosh is at 86 (he should be higher given Ginobli and Blake's ranking.
anybody that shoots enough can put up 25 a game. Who would you rather have shooting the last shot of a game: KD or Lebron? I rest my case. Lebron is not an elite score on any level.
you're so wrong.... had you said lebron is not an elite SHOOTER then I would agree with you... lebron can score in any and every way he wants to... it's like people forget just how incredible it was for him to lead that Cleveland team in 05 to the finals with absolute SCRUBS
Also, is there any one of you that, if Shaq and Lebron were in the same draft, that any one of you would take Lebron, you're lying. I really don't know what the fascination with Lebron is. Kobe Vs. Shaq is a debate. Because Kobe had more longevity and he could take over games and win championships with a lot less than Lebron. But I'm taking Shaq over all comers in the last 20 years.
Honest question; I wonder how Bill Russell's game would translate in this day and age. Or even the 90's
I'm not purposely leaving that out. In fact i think it's overblown how bad his teams were. LeBron missed the playoffs his first 3 seasons. His first year in the playoffs, they faced the 40 win wizards and had a 9th best offense with 4 other players averaging double digits. The next year is the big year everyone talks about how he carried such an awful team to the Finals by himself. This such an awful team was 4th in Def rating and 5th opp ppg. 3 other players in double digits. Big Z, Gooden and Varejao locking up the paint and gobbling up rebounds. They faced once again the 40 win Wizards, then a Nets team with Jason Kidd as the leading scorer and then the toughest team he ever beat- The pistons without Ben Wallace or Larry Brown. The next 2 years he had another top 10 D with the same post defenders + Ben Wallace. The next year same roster + Mo Williams and the #1 Defense. His last year with the Cavs before taking the easy way in Miami, he had Shaq, Antwan Jamison and JJ Hickson. 6th best D, 9th best O. People act like he had absolutely unheard of nobodies on his team his whole first stint with the Cavs. If you think those players are bad, you don't want to look at MJ's roster his first few years. Now those are mostly nobodies. Sure, Magic and Larry played with about 4 HOFers but Magic joined a Kareem led team that only won 47 wins before Magic was drafted. 60 wins plus the championship when Magic was drafted. The Celtics? They won only 29 games the year before Larry. With Larry and the same roster? 61 wins and lost in the ECF. 62 Wins and NBA champs by Larrys 2nd year. Those tremendous teams LeBron beat, one was too young and inexperienced and the other chocked and Chris Bosh and Ray Allen saved the day after a LeBron miss and what was going to be a Spur series win. Great wins though not really a defining moment for LeBron in terms of clutch plays like with the many plays Magic and Larry had in their finals victories. Though you could also say Magic was a healthy Isiah Thomas ankle away from having 1 less title and Larry played an inexperienced Hakeem and Sampson. Last year wouldn't have made a difference if Love and Irving played. They are offensive players. The Warriors having Deladova and Thompson playing D is what helped them win 2 games. Kyrie and Love can't defend anybody. LeBron scored a ton of points with such awful efficiency and most of his attempts were at the basket. He missed so many layups and point blank looks and shot 26.8% outside of the paint in the entire 2015 playoffs which brings me to my final point. How is LeBron unmatched as a perimeter player if the dude can't consistently score outside? Outside of those seasons with Miami where he was allowed to be selective, he's been awful even though he has several other players as scoring threats on the floor to draw attention. "The scariest statistic is the fact that LeBron is shooting just 20.7% on wide-open three-pointers (defined by NBA.com as shots where no defender is within six feet.)" He's also relatively poor FT shooter. Hell, Magic Johnson and Larry bird both can give you 90% FT while attempting 7 to 8 a game. Larry's consecutive 50,40,90 season averages were 29ppg, 9rpg, 7apg. Magic Johnson proved that if he took the 3 consistently enough, he could hit 38% while taking 3.5 per game. Same with MJ apparently before he developed a shot as everyone likes to say, he made 36.6% while taking 3 a game in 1989-90. These are guys who played in a different league though and didn't focus on developing the 3 while LeBron plays in the 3 pt era and works every summer on that skill specifically. So he has no excuse where you could argue most of Magic and MJ's poor 3PT% were because they didn't take enough to get it going or many could have been late clock heaves. How can LeBron hit 40% one year and shoot 27% another year with consistent amount of attempts? How is he so unmatched by anyone other than MJ with these %'s? Seems to me the best career move he can make is a full time switch to PF where his only scoring threat is deep inside and limit his 3pt attempts to maybe 2 a game. I agree with defense though Larry is a very underrated team defender. He had incredible hand-eye coordination. Larry actually has the same exact career averages of 1.7spg and .8bpg as LeBron, and actually has more Defensive Win Shares than LeBron.
He was just a shade under 6'10 barefoot(they rounded down back then to his listed height of 6'9). So he'd be listed at 6'11 in modern shoes. He was an elite athlete. If he had been snubbed by the 56 Olympics team for playing as a pro(pros weren't allowed) then he was going to the Olympics as a high jumper where he and Wilt were both world class athletes. "My vertical was I could get my eyes above the rim. When I jumped up straight I could get my eyes above the rim & I could touch the top of the backboard." - Bill Russell He had incredible stamina like many players back then and one of the things that really pops out to you in what little footage exists of his playing days is that he would get the defensive rebound and outlet to a teammate, but also make it down to their basket just as fast as anyone else. One of the key things to ever look at with big men is how they run the floor. Look at all the big men in the top 20 of all time list. They all were exceptional at running the court. Big man Busts? Most run sluggishly up and down the court, especially the bigger they are which was a key in scouting Yao. Yao was so big and ran the floor incredibly well. I think the athletic ability that he already had naturally would be pushed to the limits with todays advancements. He'd obviously be stronger with weight training. But, it's his IQ that i think would still make him a super star today. He'd be just fine today.
This is actually one of the things i ask myself and others as well. Why isn't the GOAT list which should just be an individual talent based list ignore team achievement and look at it in terms of a fantasy draft pool with every player that ever played. When you look at it like that, you think GM's will first look at physical attributes. Wilt and Shaq are obvious. Then you have MJ with his cat like quickness and speed and incredible leaping ability with gigantic hands. You've got LeBron with incredible combination of straight on speed and power and leaping ability. You've got Magic with unheard of size and court vision for a PG. You've got Kareem so long and so tall with an unstoppable move. You've got Hakeem with incredible foot work and athletic ability with length and quickness for a big man. From there you start to think of guys like Tracy McGrady who's every bit the athlete LeBron is with a bigger wingspan and hand size and incredible top end speed but not as strong. You've got Kevin Garnett. Bill Russell. Dr J. Nique. You start to look at players who had everything physically but maybe never had the right team around them and as a GM would be attracted to think he could build the right team around a Nique or a T-Mac or Vince Carter. It is very interesting looking at it as just a fantasy draft pool. There just might be people who would value LeBron's physical attributes over Shaq's.
I'm just glad Olajuwon made Top 10. He's Top 5 easy, but I'll settle for Top 10 considering much ignorance exists. This isn't your first absurd post in this thread regarding Bird. Sane people know Bird's handles were FAR too weak to match Curry's shot array. Bird is given his just due... I've never seen him rated sub-6th. No need to invent fantasies.
You're telling me a player who averages 27PPG and 7 assists with a TS% of 58% (these are career, not peak numbers), who will almost definitely end his career in the top 5 in scoring is not an elite offensive player?
Who would you rather have take the last shot? Curry or Magic? What a stupid question. So Curry is better than Magic b/c he can shoot better? It's the best "player," not best offensive player or best defensive player or best shooter. It's called PLAYER.
Just stop. Lebron is already better than Kobe NOW and Lebron isn't done with his career. Just stack up the numbers and achievements. It's not even fair to compare these 2 if you want to look and what they have achieved individually and team-wise.
Is 'what' getting senile? Dude used to have some genuinely solid trolling material. Now? Now he's not even trying hard. Now it's just sad...
