My favorite thing in the world is Kobe stans who are still desperately holding on to the delusion that Kobe is better than Lebron.
In my opinion LBJ is the best all-around(not the goat yet though) player of all time. He could effect the game in more ways than anyone in history. His combination of size, strength, and agility is unprecedented in any sport ever. If i hadnt seen him play softball about 12 years ago in TMacs celebrity softball game in League City id say he was the greatest athlete of all time. He was terrible...couldnt swing a bat or throw a softball. On the court however he could literally guard anyone 1-5. His defense on Derrick Rose in the playoffs a couple years back when drose was named mvp was legendary. Earlier in his career he held his own during long stretches in the playoffs guarding bigs like KG and Rasheed Wallace. None of the other players in the discussion for greatest of all time were able to switch on ANY pick in roll ran at him. Some of them may have been better defenders at their position than LBJ but none could guard everyone. Lebrons vision and passing also are head and shoulders above the other non-point guard(and only slightly behind the best pg's) greatest players of all-time. To me, the thing that separates Jordan(my GOAT) from LBJ is mj was a better scorer, was a much more clutch player, and his killer instinct was a 12 on a 1-10 scale. Also, its hard to argue with 6 rings and 6 finals mvps.
Not quite. I could see if Kobe switched teams every 2-3 years after he lost. Should he have chose to go to Boston and team up with Paul Pierce & KG? Or if he teamed up with J.Kidd & a young Richard Jefferson in New Jersey would that be acceptable? Changing teams and handpicking another team with ridiculous talent taints Lebron's legacy. Great player just not top 5
Remember the time when he ranted about Lakers not trading Bynum for Jermaine O'Neal? Kobe has just been lucky Lakers had their GM **** together during his run and gave him 2 championship level teams. Why would he leave the Lakers they were giving him a great team? The distinction between "choosing your team" and having the team draft or trade players is pretty dumb, at the end of the day they still had great teammates why does it matter how they were obtained? If Cleveland had Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom on the team waiting for Lebron you think LBJ would have left in the first place? Kobe isn't even top 5 Tim Duncan kicks his ass any day of the week. More MVPs, just as many rings, the first option on every single one of his rings. And he won with less help too, Manu and Tony Parker aren't the difference makers Pau Gasol and Shaq are.
Lest we forget if it weren't for Gasol and Artest coming up big in Game 7 against Boston Kobe would have one ring less. He almost killed the Lakers' chances with that subpar performance
Top 5 for sure. I'd say definitely at least #3 (behind Michael and Kareem), and probably #2 when all is said and done.
Rodman was not a max player. He was 34, 35 and 36 years old with the Bulls. He only played in 64 games in the 72 win season and 55 games in the 69 win season.
He led the NBA in rebounding all three years in Chicago and was still a very good defender. If players like Andre Drummond and DeAndre Jordan can sign max-level deals producing similar stats in today's NBA, then Rodman was a "max level" player.
That's fine. Old Rodman is a max player. 3 max per team is the norm for most championship teams that contend many years and not just 1 win and fade back into irrelevance. So what exactly was being argued? Kryie and Love are NOT max players?
Question. If it works for LeBron to carry these "scrubs" like Wade, Bosh, Love and Irving to the Finals through a bunch of teams with no future HOF'ers other than in the Finals. Why does it not work for Hakeem to have led the Rockets with no all stars(1 former All Star in Otis Thorpe, but then again Jamaal Magloire was an All Star so lets just say Hakeem played with no true franchise star and NO im not comparing Thorpe to Magloire, just saying he's more of a blue collar role player.) to an NBA championship victory with wins over Clyde Drexler, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, John Stockton and Patrick Ewing. All top 25 players of all time except maybe Drexler who's probably in the top 35. Is that not the greatest and most impressive feat any of the top 10 players of all time acheived? Jordan always had Pippen and or Grant and Rodman. Kareem had Oscar and Magic and Worthy. Russell had Jones, Hondo, Cousey, etc etc. LeBron has had Wade, Bosh, Allen, Kyrie, Love. Shaq and Kobe had each other or Wade or Gasol. Oscar had Kareem. Duncan had Admiral, Manu, Parker Kawhi + countless role players. Moses and Dr J had each other and Mo Cheeks, Bobby Jones. Wilt had Hal Greer. Who am i leaving out? Why is Hakeem penalized for only winning 2 rings in the reign of Magic and Kareem, Bird and McHale and Parish, Isiah Thomas and Dumars and Rodman, Jordan and Pippen, and countless other teams led by players of the 80s and 90s who make up the majority of the greatest players of all time? Give Hakeem any of the players mentioned above for as long as they had them and i guarantee you Hakeem will come away with more rings. **** you guys! There's no one outside of Wilt and Jordan that i am taking over Hakeem The DR34M Olajuwon.
He has been on a team with 3 other potential HOFers Miami: Wade, Allen, Bosh (Bosh is the question mark).
LBJ has the highest PPG of all time in Playoff elimination games (eclipsing Jordan #2 on the list) LBJ is clutch, but not in the last 5 minutes of a game, but he gets locked if he's facing getting knocked out. That is killer instinct (Game 6 against Boston in a great example). LBJ doesn't get enough props for his dominance in huge games.
Gave him 2 championships? lol. The Lakers with Pau wasn't even the most talented team in the NBA at that time, Boston was. Lucky? Only as lucky as Lebron, MJ, Magic, Bird, Isiah & any other superstar who played with ridiculous talent The difference with Kobe was he had a legitimate reason to leave LA when they went through the rebuilding phase. He chose to stay. I respect that even more given he could've very well formed a "superfriends" team and won 3-4 more championships while doing less. The "superfriends" idea must be a idea popular among the younger generation. I just don't see MJ, Kobe, or Magic joining up when their teams fall short. It's a shortcut
Completely agree! the 6-6 is complete BS, LeBron haters always bring up his finals record, but he should get credit for just getting them there. Bill's 11-12 finals record is more impressive than Jordan's anyway. Furthermore, imo the league was watered-down, due to expansion, when MJ started his true GOAT campaign. MJ has just become such a big brand, he'll never be usurped as the GOAT. I still believe Wilt, Kareem or Russell have very strong arguments to be considered GOAT, but people dismiss them because of the era, which is ridiculous. However, "MJ" the brand has become bigger than MJ the player. People will always call him the best of all-time, despite the fact that even now his GOAT status is debatable, but no one really entertains the debate.
How was Boston more talented? Kobe and Shaq feuded to such a degree that the Lakers were forced to trade one of them. And since they were forced to trade one of them, they received pennies on the dollar. How is that a legitimate reason for Kobe to leave LA? He didn't "choose" to stay. The Lakers couldn't find a trade partner willing to pay what Kobe was worth. How could he have formed a "superfriends" team? He feuded with Shaq and would later feud with Dwight. A key part of a "superfriends" team is being friends with the other stars. Another key part is the willingness to take a pay cut, and Kobe has publicly criticized players who take pay cuts.
We argued who had better supporting cast, Jordan or current LeBron. Of course Jordan's teammates were a notch above current LeBrons. In reply to your next post/rant about Hakeem: I could argue LeBron's current team is just as "dry" as Hakeem's first championship team. Yes he has Kyre, who plays no defense though. Kyre is the only player whose impact can't compare to anyone on Hakeem's first championship Rockets. J.R. Smith, who can just as easily lose you the game as win it? K. Love, who can't fit in the offense and had horrible stats compared to Minnesota era? T. Thompson, the most one-dimensional player of the series? Shumpert? Dellavedova? Mozgov? If I want to name championship team with as little talent outside of main star, I'd rank them like this (1st has most talent): 1. Dallas (outside of Nowitzki, noone stood out - Kidd was old, JET came from bench, T. Chandler had defense and lobs) 2. Cleveland (see above) 3. Houston Rockets' first championship team
