At no point in time, including now, could LeBron shoot like Bird. The Spurs almost beat the Heat last year by going with a strategy that gave LeBron jumpers all day. LeBron is a much improved shooter but he is nowhere near the level of Larry.
Well, in general LeBron isn't the shooter Larry was, but statistically this year he is shooting 41% on 3 3s a game, which is comparable to Larry's best. And the 60% overall (albeit a lot of layups) is nothing to scoff at.
Birds career 3pt percentage is 37 percent. Bird had two years that he shot 42-43 percent. Lebron is shooting 41 percent from 3pt land the last two seasons.
LBJ is one of the greatest of all time in his stage of his career, there is just no denying that...he has clearly been the dominant player in the last 5 years in the NBA. However, ppl should not get carried away and start throwing the GOAT or branding him a top 3 player of all time. His still got a long way to go, but his definately in the top 5 in my list. His size and ability to play in the perimiter definately gives him an advantage over a lot of players in todays NBA rules since todays defenders are really limited on stopping the offense (especially his size and speed) since todays defense really rely more on team defense to help out. For ppl that don't really understand how handcheck effects the game, here is a good clip to explain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iMZ1lUz9rI Here are some clips on what type of defense Jordan faced during late 80s and 90s. Count how many flagrants would have been called in todays game. vs Bad Boy Pistons https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLv2F33snCE vs Gary Payton's Sonics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WpkXlrJxtw
And this, ladies and little boys, is a prime example of someone going by hype instead of numbers. Look up Larry Legend's actual stats sometime will you?
I think this is a good ranking of LBJ currently, if he continues his trajectory he'll be the GOAT when he retires but just the past 3 seasons of dominant play isn't gonna cut it, if you want absolute dominance in a short period of time then it's gotta be Shaq, the league had to implement new rules (and a new backboard design) just for him.
Look at how effortless he threw this one down. If he currently ain't the best player right now, I don't know who is. Mclemore turned into Mcnugget 10 pcs. <object width="560" height="315"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/2t0ZFOmtdjI?hl=en_US&version=3&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/2t0ZFOmtdjI?hl=en_US&version=3&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>
Played 46 minutes tonight against ATL, the Heat were without Wade, and LeBron went 16/28 for 57%. Crazy efficient.
There are still a few Kobe and Laker kids floating around trying to hang onto the past and what little hope they have left in hating on LBJ. Sorry, people, doesn't get much better. Scoring, rebounds, assist, controls game, efficient, team-player, defense, consistency, size, etc. 4 MVP's in 5 years; back to back and 2x FMVP; still best player in the league Career 27/7/7 stuff on 49% FG (some players never get this efficient for an entire season) Dope.
No way LeBron is top 5 already. Are you guys crazy? Putting him above Jordan, Kareem, Magic, Bird, Russell, or Wilt already is just disrespectful to the game.
Bird is one of my all time favorite players, but it's pretty hard to make an objective argument that puts him ahead of LeBron, even with LeBron's career being incomplete. Bird had one more title but LeBron is ahead of him in everything else (both awards and numbers). And by the end of the year, LeBron will have played almost as many games as Bird did in his career. Magic had five titles so I can see people making an argument there, although I think LeBron's far superior numbers make up for that too; I doubt this will even be a question in a few more years. Wilt & Russell really shouldn't be in the discussion because it's just a different game now. That is not saying they weren't greats, but it's just really hard to make that comparison across eras where the rules and competition is so different. Even putting Kareem in there is pushing it since the majority of his statistical achievement was in the 70s (the Lew Alcindor years). Although I certainly wouldn't argue against someone who wants to rank Kareem as the GOAT or #2, since I believe that even today a man of his prime skillset would be the best player in the league. In the modern era, the only player who I think you can definitively rank above LeBron is MJ, and LeBron has a way to go to match that.
So now this is the post that adobo wishes he had back. Team A - 104.7 points/100 possessions (3rd in the league), held opponents to a .447 FG%, and forced 1225 turnovers Team B - 105.4 points/100 possessions (16th in the league), held opponents to a .435, on pace for about 1220 turnovers forced. Spoiler Team A = the World Champion Bad Boy Pistons circa 1989 Spoiler Team B = the 2013/2014 Houston Rockets And there you have it. Defense has evolved - upward, not downward. /thread.
It's hard to make people realize it because they saw these guys playing when they were kids and people like Russell, Wilt etc. probably seemed like gods to them. Truth is advances in science, training, education and just plain old evolution makes the average player today much, much better than the players 30-40 years ago, much in the same way that Attila the Hun is regarded as one of the most fearsome warriors in history but he will be killed by a common thug with a handgun. But wait this is b-ball, obviously NBA players in the 80's were so good no one before and no one after them will be better
*sigh* no ur missing the point. If u read my other posts ive always said todays game is different to what it was in 80s and 90s . Todays nba favour the perimeter guys and allow easier penetrqtion to the hoop. Before it was post driven. Im saying its a different game and lbj is well suited for todays game
How in the hell would you know? You have never seen Russell play, so how can you make such a strong statement. It's like me saying George Washington was a bad president, how would I know?
