It has gone up every season except for 06-07 where it dropped a whopping .004 points. He's hitting almost 60 percent of his shots. His numbers are just sick. I consider Lebron the best player that ever played the game.
The best ever? No, but the best over the last 20 years and clearly the best of his generation. The game is very different than it was 20 years ago. The rules do not allow defenses to hand check or play as physically as they did when Jordan played. James is an all time great player, and an enjoyable player to watch, but he is not as good as Jordan was, especially come crunch time.
I'm not ready to go there yet, but if he keeps winning he very well may be. I thought he couldn't get any better, yet every year he gets better. he's shooting 41% from 3 over the last 2 years, with a mind boggling 60% FG this year. To go on top of being maybe the best perimeter defender in the game. He still has his haters, but most of us have thrown up our hands and have to admit his greatness, still not the GOAT yet though.
James is without question the best player in the NBA and should win the MVP every single season he plays. However, Jordan won 6 titles in 6 complete seasons, his teams won close to 88% of their games at their peak. James would have to win 3-4 more titles in a row to touch that, and I just cannot see that.
I actually wonder if the shooting % is a bad thing. LBJ should probably be shooting more often, but doesn't.
I'm not completely disagreeing with you, but players adapt down to the system AND the competition. Most see Lebron, now, as whiny or soft but put him in a league where playing hard is OK and not a cause for penalty, then he'll do it. With Lebron's physical strength, height, and agility, he would be just as dominant in Jordan's era as he is here.
So it took over a decade of being a CF member before he finally decided to watch a basketball game? Makes no sense.
This can't be stressed enough. If Jordan played with today's rules he would of been even better than he was.
He good. He real good. 60% from the field on 15.6 shots per 36 minutes. And 41% from three? Ridiculous. It's almost boring how dominant he's become. It's not even a storyline anymore. Spoiler He'd be a great stretch 4 off the bench for the Rockets.
People keep mentioning the hand-checking but defense has actually improved in the NBA since the Jordan years. Lebron will be in the conversation for GOAT if he wins a couple more titles imo.
No, defense has not improved. The defensive systems are more sophisticated than they were in the past, largely as a result of the rule changes and offenses becoming more sophisticated. Coaches like Thibs, VanGundy and Clifford have helped develop defenses. However, it does not over come the lack or hand checking, physical play in the post driving to the basket and the general lack of calls in the past. The game is just very different now, far more perimeter friendly and that has helped James.
The rules also allow zone defenses -> which have vastly outweighed the loss of the hand check in terms of overall deffectiveness. This is always conveniently forgotten when the back-n-the-day-ism starts up. The idea that Derek Harper handchecking LeBron James is going to counter his effectiveness is crazy. Yes, it's more sophisticated and there are fewer ISO's and post-ups - Don't throw LeBron in the 90's era briar patch of posting up/ISO'ing! It woudl totally destroy his game
Although his shooting % is real good, it is skewed by the fact that he does not take shots with the clock winding down at the end of the quarter i.e. he does not heave the ball from half court. When he does that, it's usually right after the buzzer Call it smart from his part but he does well to maintain his stats
I have been critical of LeBron over the years. But he surprised me in the past couple of years. I think a lot of people just don't want to admit that Jordan could ever be pushed aside as the best ever. (For the record, I've always believed that there no such thing as best ever because there is no fair way to compare players across eras.) Citing "hand check" rule as if LeBron was somehow physically weaker than Jordan or any of the old timer is just ludicrous. Citing number of championships is also illogical because Bill Russell should have been the undisputed GOAT according to this criterion. The only legitimate gripe about LeBron is his flopping. But it's more about the current culture than about the guy's talent. LeBron would have been even more dominant, especially on the defensive end, if he played in an environment where more physical contacts are allowed on the perimeter.
