How amazing for a guy to have the 3rd highest PPG average in LEAGUE HISTORY when he doesn't have a natural scorers mentality.
I'm saying he has no business saying for sure Lebron is a better basketball player than Russell because he is just assuming, or making a guess. People downplay the accomplishments of the greats because they didn't see them play.
Still it's not like this guy is an NBA scout... If Bill Russell grew up in today's age, and had analytics to tell him how to improve his game, who's to say he couldn't of been the best player ever? I mean when he played there was only so much knowledge about the game, it was played completely different and he was dominant at that game. Hell Wilt could be the best player ever or even Kareem, or Jordan or Magic, Or Bird or Oscar or Olajuwon! My point is, it's just dumb to compare players from the past to Lebron, or to try and pick one guy who is the "best ever" because there is really no way to know... Lebron is the best player playing today and that's about all we know.
his shooting percentage wouldn't be that high if he didn't have players who could space the floor for him to get good looks and get drives
Russell was never a great offensive player and the game back then was not as advanced as today's NBA. Would Bill be a great offensive player in today's NBA? i don't know for sure but I'm going to go with no the same way i don't believe Jerry West would be a 30 ppg scorer in the NBA. I think of Bill Russell like Don Hutson. Advanced player for his era but would really be better than Calvin Johnson in 2013? I'm gonna go with no.
when you play with other superstars, you will see less double teams and we know he will blow by most players in the NBA, he can be more efficient now because he can pick and choose when to take his shots and when to pass to Wade or Bosh or Allen, at the Cavs he had to take more shots and couldn't be as selective in his play as he can be now.
i do think lebron has somewhat inflated his FG% the last few years by being very selective with his shots in non-competitive games. basically just looking for fastbreaks, putbacks, cuts to the basket, and selective mismatches. very few jumpers. basically a few possessions a game that would probably be best if they were lebron forces are turned into a few possessions where the rest of the O tries to do something, which they won't do as well as lebron. on a single game basis, it might not be the optimal strategy, but bigger picture it actually probably is. the heat can probably beat 50 or so teams on their schedule fairly easily if they bring some effort. lebron could put up those few extra shots, but what does it matter if they win by 16 instead of 15 over some weaker eastern team? if lebron skips out on 2 or 3 shots per games, that's 2 or 3 less plays that will wear him down over the course of the season. 2 or 3 less plays that could end in injury. really he should be taking it as easy as possible against these teams. and if it comes with the added benefit that his FG% is crazy high and his teammates get a few extra shots and feel more involved, then all the better. why not go 8/11 instead of 11/17? now against good teams or games where the heat get threatened, i don't get the feeling lebron is protecting his FG% at all. he just does what he needs to do to win. and probably the underrated aspect of saying "well, he just waits until he gets dunks and layups" is the fact that everyone wishes they could just shoot dunks and layups. being able to generate so many of them to have such a high FG% while scoring so much is what makes it an achievement.
He's an almost perfect basketball player. He never let's the moment dictate how he plays... he just tries to get the best shot available whether he takes it or his teammate does. The funny thing is that people criticize him for this, because hero ball is so ingrained in the way think of the NBA thanks to Jordan (and then Kobe). I hope people appreciate LeBron while he is still in his prime, because he is the prototype on how to play basketball who happens to be given the perfect vehicle for it.
Watching Russell brick shots live against 6-7 skinny white guys isn't a prerequisite to know that he was not an outstanding offensive player.
Wade commented 2 years ago he (and LeBron) were making a bigger effort to be more efficient. Wade's 3PA subsequently dropped from 3+ to 1.1 and has been steadily declining each season. This year he's shooting 0.7 attempts... the lowest since his 2nd season.
I never said he was a great offensive player but what he did netted his teams 11 NBA titles... so maybe you don't have to be great on offense to be great at basketball, Because doesn't whoever wins determine who is best? Isn't the point of competition to win?
Making shots isn't "protecting your FG%". It's called winning basketball games. Not taking bad shots is part of that.
I agree. I am a better basketball player than Jordan and anyone else that didn't play for Russell's Celtics. -Robert Horry
Now you're just being dumb... comparing Horrys impact on his teams to Russell's is just lazy. Horry was a role player on championship teams, Russell was the centerpiece of the most dominant dynasty in American sports history.
So what? That's considered a weak era of basketball. Why do you think his success would translate into today's game? Do you think he'd be better than a prime Mutombo?
To compare winning championships when there were only 8 teams in the NBA and the HOF point guard could only dribble with one hand to now is just silly.
