OT: LeBron, good at basketball?

[WichitaSooner]

Personally, I have LBJ at number 4. Hard to overlook the worst performance in Finals history by a star player ever against the Mavs.

A few reasons why I use this example:

1. His team had 3 HOFers on it and still lost to Dirk and a bunch of old guys and Tyson Chandler.
2. He was outscored by Jayson Terry in the series (Terry never made an All-Star team).
3. He scored 8 points in 46 minutes in game 4. EIGHT FREAKING POINTS.

Longevity wise, not many are touching him. But to continue to compare him to MJ when MJ still has a full HOF career over him accolade wise is, well, disrespectful to MJ.

I don’t think a ton of people put him ahead of Jordan, other than current NBA players who obviously didn’t really see MJ play or compete against him. But I’d say the real disrespect is people putting Kobe ahead of LeBron. I can’t think of a single thing Kobe did better than LeBron. Maybe he was a better defender at his position but that’s offset by LeBron being able to guard so many more positions. I guess some people like Kobe because of him “taking over” games, but a lot of that is subjective and he also shot his team out of plenty of games.

 

[TSSR]

I don’t think a ton of people put him ahead of Jordan, other than current NBA players who obviously didn’t really see MJ play or compete against him. But I’d say the real disrespect is people putting Kobe ahead of LeBron. I can’t think of a single thing Kobe did better than LeBron. Maybe he was a better defender at his position but that’s offset by LeBron being able to guard so many more positions. I guess some people like Kobe because of him “taking over” games, but a lot of that is subjective and he also shot his team out of plenty of games.

I have Kobe in my top 10 but that's it.

 

[WTSooner]

It's tough to give Lebron the credit that some of you want to given that he was the original creater of the super teams. Literally nobody else before him did what he did to make sure he had that kind of talent playing along side him. I don't know what the proper way to handicap that is, but for me personally, that added to his Finals record, I'm going to use it to drop him down the list.

Lebron came to the NBA at the perfect time for him. The NBA needed a new face of the league. The NBA was wanting more offense. And Lebron being big and athletic was able to play bully-ball under the new/current NBA "rules/emphasis", and that is something he does really, really well.

Dude is also one of the most unlikable "all time greats" that I can remember in any sport. I wasn't a big fan of MJ or Kobe, but I sure as heck respected their games. I can't say the same about Lebron. Maybe that part doesn't matter in this conversation. Maybe Lebron not being likable doesn't matter at all. But in my views, it factors in.

 

[Eielson]

It's tough to give Lebron the credit that some of you want to given that he was the original creater of the super teams. Literally nobody else before him did what he did to make sure he had that kind of talent playing along side him. I don't know what the proper way to handicap that is, but for me personally, that added to his Finals record, I'm going to use it to drop him down the list.

We're counting it against him that other stars wanted to play alongside him? Odd take.

He won titles in Cleveland and LA as well. Those teams were absolutely not super teams that he was joining. The fact that he won titles in three different cities, with different management, different coaching, and completely different teammates is actually a bigger feat than winning the same amount for the same organization.

Lebron came to the NBA at the perfect time for him. The NBA needed a new face of the league. The NBA was wanting more offense. And Lebron being big and athletic was able to play bully-ball under the new/current NBA "rules/emphasis", and that is something he does really, really well.

The league did not need a face of the league at all. That was prime Kobe. He became the face of the league because he was a generational talent and became one of the greatest athletes (regardless of sport) of all-time.

Dude is also one of the most unlikable "all time greats" that I can remember in any sport.

Do you know anything about MJ? And did you miss Kobe's rape trial?