Amen's highlight reel isn't matching up with that, and yes, younger Lebron would stay in front of Curry if he had Amen's role of being like the 4th option on offense not even averaging 15 ppg.
He did a great job guarding Derrick Rose in the playoffs the year Rose won MVP -- when they were matched up. It was incredibly impressive, especially in the 4th quarter. Prime Bron was the original real life 2k NBA player
He was definitely more talented than Kobe, but he never put the work in in the offseason the way Kobe did. The true greats, including Harden, Durant, Lebron, and Kobe, all went back to the lab in the offseason to add something new to their game every year. T-Mac could have been the wing version of KG, even better than Kobe. Even after saying all that, us oldheads here (I'm 40 now) will still tell you that T-Mac was more of a functional athlete than an all world leaper, or burster. Amen Thompson has him beat in fast twitch, lateral quickness, first step, leaping ability, and deceleration (see the game winner he hit over Jaylen Brown). It's why he's already the best defender in the league outside of Alien Wemby. T-Mac was way more skilled, with such a beautiful finishing game around the basket. And even though his laser beam shot was nothing to write home about, at least he could reliably shoot it at a 34-35% clip so long as he wasn't jacking up shotclock-beating prayers or poor-decision off-the-dribble heat checks. And boy did he love his heat checks. Would step back two feet from his last shot every time he attempted one. Idiot.
grednotto states "Amen is best athlete we've ever seen in league" so that's better than LeBron right? He also doubled down on that assertion after I challenged it. Didn't even look after finding that one without much effort, just learn to read instead of trying to act like people are making stuff up?
Nevermind that Baby Lebron's also probably 40lbs heavier than Amen, an inch taller and STILL faster with more hops? People are on crack if they think Amen's even close to approaching LeBron tier. That tier of gifts doesn't come off the bench for a season and a half until somebody gets injured. It's literally undeniable. Imagine LeBron having Amen's career progression? Laughable.
People seem to forget that some of us watched young LeBron and are watching Amen. It's truly not remotely close. Neither in frequency of ridiculous things he's done but also in how extreme the instances were. Amen couldn't dream of the type of highlights LeBron would break out regularly.
I'm not sure they realise that in truth, LeBron is still a debatable #1 pick in a draft with Wemby. That's the tier of athlete he is. He'd never, ever have gone and played against high school kids until his 20's and been a debatable 4th pick. Ever. In any draft in history. Probably in every draft yet to come too. It's ****ing LeBron, it's actually crazy that people even think it's a debate.
We are all aware that Amen lacks & lacked any offensive or natural play-making game. As such, focus on things that involve being off the ball.
Did you forget to take your meds today? So one or two people on the Rockets board said that Amen is the most athletic ever. But most of the people didn't say that. No need to have a panic attack lol. You will find one person on any forum saying just about anything, no need to act like it's the majority here though. Amen is more athletic overall than T-Mac though
And in those he is still not as fast, as explosive or as athletically dominant as young LeBron James. It's not close. Seriously. LeBron has him beat with significantly more mass/size too.
Show the proof, where's the crazy "functional athleticism" outside of running fast (doesn't look as fast as Fox or several other NBA players in history) or jumping blocks (doesn't look the most athletic either if we're honest?) Tmac in Toronto jumps over NBA players, Amen runs past and jumps around them, he doesn't seem to get up and over with anywhere near the same power or ease. I've looked at others and I also don't think he comes close to: Tmac, Vince, peak Giannis and peak Dwight either. Like at all. Their highlights in their most explosive make Amen look pedestrian in comparison. I've looked since this thread's been open. Don't see it I'm afraid.
I guess I don't really have back-to-back video comparisons. I do see a ton of flash reverse dunks by lebron and flying posters. Statistically At the age of 22 (4th year in the league) Lebron 2006-07 : 40.9 MPG - 6.7rb / 6.9 assists / 1.6 Stl /0.7 blks / .698 FT% Amen (2nd year in the league) 2024-25: 32.2 MPG 8.2rb/ 3.8assists / 1.4 STl / 1.3 blks .684 FT% Of course, we are not adjusting for pace and or style the game is played. But I imagine Amen would average more Rb/assist/ Stl and Blks if he played 8 more minutes a game. He also should score more than 14pts a game.
That's fine, you're in the minority then, no big deal. T-Mac was an athlete and was long and could definitely get up there. He was one of my favorite non rockets since he got into the league. But as other's have mentioned, outside of vertical leap, Amen is clearly faster than him, quicker than him, much twichier, quicker first step, quicker laterally, second jump faster, etc. T-Mac was nice for sure, but I feel like you're basically just focusing on highlight dunks over people. Yes, T-Mac will likely have more of those lol, doesn't mean he's more athletic overall. It's not all about highlight dunks when you talk about athleticism.
Anyone saying Amen is the most athletic player ever forgot about at least 1 player. Michael Jordan Discussion over.
Lebron year 4 108 dunks in 3190 minutes Amen year 2 138 dunks in 2225 minutes lets just say lebron and amen are both 1% of the 1%
Convenient to leave out the scoring. Go look at where Lebron was rated in the league that year and you'll understand how stupid it was to try and compare year 4 Lebron with a guy who came off the bench half of the season. Talk about spinning stats lmao!
That was done, because, as we said..we're talking about athleticism.. not all around offensive game. Lebron at 22, (2006-2007)_Lebron averaged 27.3 points and was NBA 2nd team and 5th in MVP votes. No denying he was destined for greatness and given the keys to do what he needed to do. His EFG that year was .515. Amen at 22 (2024-2025) averaged 14.1 points in the 8 less minutes per game. his EFG was .575 Again, Lebron is an all-time great, and in the conversation of best ever. Not denying that, nor even putting Amen in that category as a playmaker. The topic here is athleticism sir...Lebron recorded a 44" veritcal... Amen also has recorded a 44" vertical. His all -around stats (besides scoring and assists show he is on that level.
