Is LaBron A Top 10 Of All Time?

Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Register Log in

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
HCP said:
It's funny to me to imagine players like Elgin Baylor, Oscar and Bird trying to stop LeBron. The guy is a PG almost as big as Karl Malone.
Click to expand...

Depends on which era's rules the game was played under. LeBron is amazing but you stick him back in the 70's, 80's or 90's and it would take him a little while to get used to how physical the game is. Lucas or Malone in their prime would punish and freak the shit out of Lebron. He ain't faced anything like that in today's NBA.
 
He is as big as Luke with handles and a jump shot! You honestly think they would shut him down?
 
HCP said:
He is as big as Luke with handles and a jump shot! You honestly think they would shut him down?
Click to expand...

Never said they would shut him down, he'd get his. I'm saying he's never faced that physical of play before and he'd be in for a very painful learning curve.
 
SlyPokerDog said:
Never said they would shut him down, he'd get his. I'm saying he's never faced that physical of play before and he'd be in for a very painful learning curve.
Click to expand...

I immediately think of the McHale-Rambis clothesline.
 
In terms of ability, he's way way up there, but if his career ended today, he wouldn't even sniff top 10. When it's all said and done though, assuming he gets a couple championships and stays relatively injury free, he'll be top 10 for sure.
 
LameR said:
In terms of ability, he's way way up there, but if his career ended today, he wouldn't even sniff top 10. When it's all said and done though, assuming he gets a couple championships and stays relatively injury free, he'll be top 10 for sure.
Click to expand...

If his career ends today, he's Dominique Wilkins.
 
My top 5:

PG - Magic
SG - Jordan
SF - Bird
PF - Duncan
C - Wilt

I chose these 5 for the fact that all are great scorers, great passers, great rebounders (for their positions) and good/great defenders.

People seem to forget that basketball is a team sport. LeBron is a great individual talent, but Bird was a better team player. People remember Bird as a slow footed white guy, but he played great team defense. He was 2nd team all defense 3 times, led the league in Defensive Win Shares 4 times, was top 6 in defensive rebounds 9 times, was top 10 in steals 3 times and top 10 in Defensive Rating 6 times. Those are pretty impressive accomplishments for any player, and pretty fucking amazing for a slow footed, unathletic white guy. And, it's not like Bird did it against weak competition. He went head-to-head with guys like Dr. J., Dominique Wilkens, Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, James Worthy, etc, his entire career - and more times than not, got the better of them.

Bird, Jordan, Magic, etc. all also have that one thing that separates LeBron from greatness - leadership. Those guys absolutely refused to allow their teams to lose. Jordan's flu game, Bird returning and playing his ass off after getting a concussion, Magic playing center and going for 42 when Kareem was injured. Those guys, in true greatness, carried their teams on their backs when the stakes were highest. LeBron hasn't won a single game seven in his 9-year career. He's had some amazing game fives and sixes, but the true test of greatness is carrying your team to victory when facing elimination. He has also inexplicably disappeared for entire big games and regularly in the 4th quarter with a series on the line. He is an amazing athlete and a remarkable individual talent, but he isn't close to top 10 in greatness. He's an amazing individual athlete playing a team sport. Yeah, there have been other greats that haven't won a championship, but notice none of them is on my list either. I may not be right, but I am consistent.

BNM
 
Without a single doubt. IMO anyone who says he's not is just trying too hard to hold on to the past. Had LeBron been born and played in the NBA 20-30 years earlier, he would be the greatest talent of all time. Yeah he hasn't faced that physical play, but with his strength and athleticism he would have gotten used to it and he would have absolutely man handled guys like Mo Lucas. No one back then could hold up against him.
 
If LeBron were playing in the 1980's, he'd be a much more terrifying player. With his frame he'd just destroy other SF's in a much more physical game. To say that he would somehow be less awesome in that era is absurd. Everything that makes him a great player now (ridiculous strength and size for his PG skills) would only be augmented then.

I've seen five truly great basketball players since I started following hoops in the mid-90's. Jordan, Shaq, Duncan, Olajuwon and LeBron. Five guys with just jaw-dropping talent that you just can't compare them to the rest. I'm a huge fan of Pippen, and I respect what Bird did, but I have a hard time imagining either getting the better of LeBron. He's going to go down as the best SF of all time, unless Durant can somehow surpass him.
 
The 3 that I think should be set in stone are (SG) Jordan, (SF) Bird and (PF) Duncan. After that, its completely up for debate. I'm a strong believer (in basketball especially) that titles are the greatest measure of greatness.

It reminds me of an old Bret "the Hitman" Hart saying....

"To be the best, you gotta beat the best"
 
MickZagger said:
The 3 that I think should be set in stone are (SG) Jordan, (SF) Bird and (PF) Duncan. After that, its completely up for debate. I'm a strong believer (in basketball especially) that titles are the greatest measure of greatness.

It reminds me of an old Bret "the Hitman" Hart saying....

"To be the best, you gotta beat the best"
Click to expand...

I think Magic has the PG position on lock down.

Lebron isnt a top 10 player. There are just to many legends ahead of him. I think he might be in the next tier with Zeke and Ewing.
 
Big Frame said:
I think Magic has the PG position on lock down.

Lebron isnt a top 10 player. There are just to many legends ahead of him. I think he might be in the next tier with Zeke and Ewing.
Click to expand...

Oscar Robertson and Magic is debateable at PG.
 
Short answer: His Prime? Certainly it is tied for the best of all-time, maybe the best, but his career is still young. He has to play longer.

MickZagger said:
The 3 that I think should be set in stone are (SG) Jordan, (SF) Bird and (PF) Duncan. After that, its completely up for debate. I'm a strong believer (in basketball especially) that titles are the greatest measure of greatness.

It reminds me of an old Bret "the Hitman" Hart saying....

"To be the best, you gotta beat the best"
Click to expand...

At least in that pseudo-sport you do 1 on 1 battles, such is not the case in the NBA where clearly inferior players already have 5 titles.


The reality is that the movie Moneyball encompasses what I have long thought about sports. We live in a medieval era where people have no clue how to judge players, or compare players from different eras.

LeBron's PER/etc. speaks for itself but he needs to play longer though.
 
Last edited:
As of today, LeBron James has a higher PPG average in playoff game 7s than ANYONE IN HISTORY (who faced several such games).

LeBron James: 34.3
Michael Jordan: 33.7

What a choker.
 
LeBron James is the Wilt Chamberlain of his day: so ridiculously physically superior to his peers, yet somehow unable to get over the hump. Of course, without Phil Jackson and Scottie Pippen, the same would've been true of Jordan. It was for the beginning of his career, when he was most statistically amazing.
 
Rastapopoulos said:
As of today, LeBron James has a higher PPG average in playoff game 7s than ANYONE IN HISTORY (who faced several such games).

LeBron James: 34.3
Michael Jordan: 33.7

What a choker.
Click to expand...

Yet that was the first game 7 LeBron has won in his career.
 
It seems to me players and the league just let James do his star player act these days. Old time players would not have let him do some of chit he does.

For instance, running in from the three point line, timing his jump for a rebound. In the old days, guys like Jim Loscutoff would have made sure he was up ended doing that chit.
Coming down up side down a few times would not be star quality play. Even other old time star players would not appreciate his shtick nor let him have the act, like Elgin Baylor.

No, he isn't in any top all time list.
 
Last edited:
SlyPokerDog said:
Yet that was the first game 7 LeBron has won in his career.
Click to expand...

Also the first time he had a team remotely close talent wise to MJ's Bulls teams.

Don't get me wrong, MJ = great, great player. But MJ probably would've struggled with those Cavs teams LeBron had, too.
 
Rastapopoulos said:
LeBron James is the Wilt Chamberlain of his day: so ridiculously physically superior to his peers, yet somehow unable to get over the hump.
Click to expand...

This. After being criticized for years (led by Celtics fans, who ran public opinion the way Lakers fans do now), Chamberlain finally won a championship in his 8th year. James is in his 9th.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top