LeBron James Discussion: Not Returning To The Lakers

There are more MVP who are centers than other positions combined

 

Good point! Brian Scalabrine is a Power Forward.

 

Determining the GOAT is tough, I still have Jordan. Clear undisputed best player on 6 title teams and was awesome on both offense/defense.
Russell's offense wasn't all that great. Wilt had trouble beating Russell. Magic and Bird's defense was meh.
Lebron not enough titles, Kobe not enough titles as best player. Duncan way too boring.

The only knock on Jordan and it is a legit one is that he only truly became the GOAT when the league was seriously watered down. He reached his peak before the Euro invasion and after 4 teams were added between 88 and 92. Frankly look at some of those teams like Knicks and Utah. After the top 2 and 3 they sucked frankly (the awesome shannon anderson/russell/horny with ostertage come on. the knicks backcourt was Starks, old as hell blackmon/rivers, greg anthony). This has been lost in the sands of time but no one should mention level of competition and the watered down league Jordan went thru

The one thing that Lebron has over the rest: he had by far the weakest supporting cast of any GOAT candidate for his first 7 years in the league.

For FInals - those Lakers and C Bags were stacked so in terms of competition (Philly was awesome as well) and GS/Cleveland and Lakers/C Bags Kobe/Garnett were the unreal as well. DOn't know about the 70's to comment

 

i still have MJ as the GOAT as well but there's certainly an argument for lebron considering he's 38, played nearly 1700 games combined in the regular season and playoffs (not to mention those olympic runs,) and is still putting up elite numbers 20 years later

it's just something you've never seen before

 

Lots of different arguments to be made, but for MJ vs LeBron, I think most of it boils down to near-peak longevity vs titles.

 

Replace Barkley with a prime Lebron on the 93 Suns, I still have the Bulls winning in 93 even after a tired and burn out 3 peat run. What separates Jordan from Lebron is his ability to make plays in the half court with less space in traffic, Lebron of course is better in transition, but a finals game usually is won in the half court.

 

You play who you have to play, that's not on James. 9 Finals in 10 seasons, is still incredible regardless. I think the East was weak during Jordan's run too. Kobe and Lebron had different paths, Kobe got to develop behind a dominant Shaq, Lebron was thrown straight into the fire, right out of High School. Greatness just has a way of finding it's way to a Lakers uniform. I'm cool with that.

 

The GOAT is a center..

 

It is not on James but still has go be considered. You kind of repeated what I said...lol.

 

Barkley was 29 that series. After Dallas, age 27 and older Lebron has been incredible in the Finals in transition, halfcourt, wherever against elite defenses in SA and GS for the most part. Over 30 ppg on 50% shooting. The numbers are even better in elimination games: it maybe due to era but lebron's 3 pointer was better than Barkleys and Barkley did take 3's

He was also a much better defender than Barkley.

 

Not just the East was weak for Jordan but the NBA finals competition was weak when you compare what Magic, Bird, Lebron had. There was no team anywhere as good as the KG Celts, Steph's GS that Jordan beat. When jordan beat the Lakers, Scott was hurt, WOrthy had become a shell of himself

 

We have a similar take on it true indeed..I will say this though..Shaq was a flat out monster, and more of a dominant force, than anyone Lebron ever played with. That's still a part of Kobe's story that kind of gets downplayed. If James had a Shaq or Tim Duncan he'd probably have 8 rings. If Kobe went to Charlotte, would he have dominated in the same manner as James? Hard to say...it's fun to speculate

 

would he have left to join two other future hall of famers in their prime and still only manage 2 rings from it, though?

 

Longevity aside, prime vs prime, I’ve got Bird > Lebron.

 

Still would lose to jordan, stats only get you so far you have to execute when it matters

 

Not sure I'd agree with that. In his prime, when engaged, Bron was 3 times the defender Larry was, while clearly being a great scorer and distributor.

 

Larry Bird is so overrated.

 

Lebron has been awesome in every Finals since the Dallas including the 4th quarter.