When Lebron is done, if he wins another 3 rings or more like I suspect he will, he will be talked as the best ever, because sports media has short memories and by that time (another 10 yrs or so) they would have forgotten how great MJ was, just like today a lot of people have forgot (or too young to remember) how great Magic and Bird were.
Bird pretty much owned MJ his whole career. Too bad his back injuries cut it so short. Man, I can't believe how much Larry Legend is disrespected by kids these days.
Lol i dont know if u remember, but the only time lebron faced duncan on the playoffs he got swept, and this guys dirk he also destroyed him on the finals, when lebron chocked for the second time ( and got owned by the jet lol). The 90s where harder than this league... and per dosent mean ****, u cant value heart and determination with stats.
I don't think KG, Paul Pierce, Dirk, Wade, Parkers are in their primes but they are still playing very good for their age. IF you mentioned those players, How did you forget Duncan? Anyways, you can actually add to the list for next year... Bynum, Jrue Holiday, Steph Curry, Harden (all going into their prime years)... The league today > Leauge from 90s. There might not be as many tall titans in the league but there are players that are much much more athletic than the 90s causing more havoc in the paint. These players nowadays are stronger, faster, and with more athleticism which makes it very very hard to score. You can say that the 80s, 90s era had more "skilled" players but nowadays its more "athletic" players that get skilled by their prime years.
Kareem has more MVP's, more career points and the same amount of titles as Jordan. He also held the blocks record when he retired, was able to dominate longer than any other person and had the most effective shot in league history. Laugh on I guess.
A couple more championships will definitely help but what I think Lebron needs more of are legendary moments. Consistent 27/8/7 is great but a couple 55 pointers in the playoffs or a game winner in a game 7 or a 20/20/20 or something nuts like that is what he really needs to cement his legacy. At the end of the day, the GOAT is the player who dominated the court the most and made the hardest basketball feats look easy. Right now, Lebron doesn't have anything that will come out in a "Greatest Moments in NBA History" commercial.
Yeah he only has the one of the absolute greatest stat lines over a sustained playoff run in history...when he had all that "help" in cleveland in 2009 with 35-9-7, for a ridiculous, highest ever 37.4 PER....only singlehandedly played every single position for the Heat last year in another epic playoff run with several massive 40 point performances in must win games, dragged lousy cavs teams to the finals....but other thant that, he hasn't done enough.
Pretty silly to argue about which era was tough. I'm also eager to see the age of the folks arguing about which era was tougher.
I usually don't refer to join dates when judging posters, but there is a very strong correlation between recent members (09+) and the quality of their posts. It's unbelievable how unreasonable some of these people are when comparing players to Jordan. There needs to be a filter to block people out from your screen, kinda like when you're shopping for a computer and you get to check boxes to match what you're looking for.
get more rings than Bill Russell, more personal accolades (MVP, All Defensive team etc. like MJ) then I think people will consider him the best ever
Honestly what makes it tough to call him the best of all time is the fact that he plays in a much easier era of basketball than some previous greats did. These days you aren't allowed to play much defense without getting called for a foul. So how can we really say he would be as dominant in previous eras as he is in this one?
It's not really a debate about depth. The era Jordan played in was far better defensively not just in terms of talent but just because they were allowed to be better by the rules and officiating. NBA is a lot like the NFL in the sense that the way the games are officiated makes it much easier to play offense than it use to be. By that I'm not just talking about being fouled and getting sent to the free throw line but also look how many people literally just avoid playing defense these days. It's unbelievable the rate you see guys just step out of the way and let the guy score or give him a ton of space. I think almost any superstar that plays today would have less impressive numbers if they played back then. Not to the point where they wouldn't be superstars but still less impressive than what they're able to put up now.
Real way is to win another w/ Miami. Leave to anther team and again win one to two more. If he does this he will go down as the best ever. Better than MJ, IMO
You cannot seriously tell me in the 90s, they didn't give space to people. If said player could not shoot, why guard him close? Also, the pace was higher back then, so the numbers would actually increase in general. In addition, if Lebron was allowed to play more physical, that would probably help his game more than hurt. He's a freight train coming down the lane.
Players literally avoid playing defense on purpose these days because a foul gets called if they stare at the shooter. So yes you did not get anywhere near the same level of free space that shooters get today. My point is that they would be guarded closer. That effects a game's overall score more than it does an individual player's stats (James Harden being a perfect example) if you're trying to say the proportions would be significant. Especially in regards to actual shooters. It would allow him to play better defense. I don't see how that helps his offensive game more than it hurts it. It just means little guys won't try to go in and take charges. It also means big guys won't just let him get an easy basket.
