Agreed. Even without looking at his numbers, watching him dominate has really been incredible this year.
Sorry but he jumped over Bird a few seasons ago. The stats and the hardware back it up. LeBron is def the best small forward of all time, it's not close, IMO.
Top 5 for sure, and you can argue between 2-5. At the end of his career, very likely at 2, and possibly challenging MJ for GOAT.
I know this is a cop out, but Jordan and Lebron really are 1a and 1b to me. They're so differently dominant it's hard to say. Jordan obviously has more accomplishments but I don't think it can be argued that he had better teams. In terms of playing GM and deciding who to choose to build a team around I pick Lebron every time. He's so versatile being able to dominate every position on both ends of the floor. This will be forever a debate. Lebron just made it a lot more interesting one.
Lebron is actually a once in a life time talent, it's cool we get to watch him. He's actually a freak of nature that dominates every part of the game. The only flaw was his shooting, but now it's pretty decent that you can't pick on it anymore
One argument you can make for Lebron being the best is that you can stick him on almost any team, they automatically become contenders. Cleveland with Kyrie was bad enough to get the number 1 pick. When Lebron left Cleveland, they were bad enough to get the number 1 pick to get Kyrie.
Imagine if Lebron had that team around him with 3 other HOFers. His Miami cast was good but nowhere near that Celtics team.
These are dumb questions, because there isnt a set of defined parameters to determine it. Do you go by number of championships? Number of MVPs? Personal stats??? First you need to define what do you consider the greatest? I assume if its based on these things I outlines above then there wouldnt be much arguements. If you are asking based on individuel opinions of their greatest, than prepared to get trashed. For those who grew up in the Jordan era would think he is the greatest. Some may argue that if they grew up in the walt chamberlain era. Those who grew up in Kobe era may make the same arguement. Same if some of you who favors certain position or others or team, coaches...etc. you see there are just too many variables. set your parameters first than ask.
it's all about the eye test and bias. young kids having never seen jordan play will think LBJ is the GOAT. He's definitely top 5 though..
Easily top 5 and the best all around player the game has ever seen. I dont know if I would ever rank him ahead of MJ though because I believe the gap between MJ and Lebron as an all around player is smaller than the gap between their offensive games. LBJ obviously can score but there are just too many times when he can disappear offensively in a game, just like last night. Had the Cavs lost last night, I think people would be calling for his head even though he had a brillant all round game rebounding and assist wise. He was simply a non factor all night yesterday on the offense end and was very reluctant to shoot the ball.
A better question is, what does LeBron have to do to be #1? Win another ring / another Finals MVP? Win 2 (or more) MVPs? Lead his own team to 70+ wins?
No mention of Hakeem 2 pages in. Hakeem was better for 2-3 seasons than anyone in the history of basketball.
People will never let MJ not be the greatest. But I'd say He'd have to surpass MJ's numbers because of "Lack of talent in conference" "lack of talent in league" etc. So, 7 titles, 5-6 MVPs, 7 Finals MVPs, another scoring title, a DPOY award. That might do it. But those are all highly unlikely.
