OT Will this be Dame in 10 years? (1 Viewer)

[Natebishop3]

Apparently Corey Benjamin talked some shit about MJ after he retired (for the second time.) MJ showed up to the Bulls practice and then this happened... I wonder if this will be Dame working on some rookie hot shot in ten years?

 

[magnifier661]

Apparently Corey Benjamin talked some shit about MJ after he retired (for the second time.) MJ showed up to the Bulls practice and then this happened... I wonder if this will be Dame working on some rookie hot shot in ten years?

As much as I hated this guy, mainly because he was so much better than my favorite player, he was better than anything or anyone currently, the past and the future. He was something purely amazing

 

[Rastapopoulos]

I hope Lillard would have more class than Jordan.

 

[DaLincolnJones]

to compare Lillard with The Mike to any degree is silly. More to the point, Do I think we will still see people blowing by him into the paint? Yeah, probably, though I would not be saddened to see him in a different uniform.

 

[julius]

I hope Lillard would have more class than Jordan.

I hope by that time, Lillard at least has a title with the Blazers.

 

[Mediocre Man]

We should have asked for this guy instead of Henderson. He could still drop 20 on a whim

 

[riverman]

We should have asked for this guy instead of Henderson. He could still drop 20 on a whim

I think Olajuwon would as well, probably Karl Malone too

 

[Natebishop3]

I think Alajuwon would as well, probably Karl Malone too

That is the most interesting way that I have seen someone spell Hakeem's name. And no, he looked god awful when he was in Toronto. Completely washed up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[riverman]

That is the most interesting way that I have seen someone spell Hakeem's name. And no, he looked god awful when he was in Toronto. Completely washed up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

fixed but I might add...MJ didn't look too fresh with the Wizards either at the end

 

[Denny Crane]

It used to be Akeem.

 

[riverman]

It used to be Akeem.

Romanizations have a lot of versions when they try fit it into english..could have been Hakim..

 

[bodyman5000 and 1]

Unfortunately as a Blazer fan this is what I think of when I think about the definition of the perfect player.

 

[Minstrel]

I enjoyed watching Jordan play more, but I think LeBron James is probably the better player. Jordan had a grace and elegance to his game, whereas James has the physical inevitability of a runaway train. People compare him to (Karl) Malone and Jordan and Magic and Pippen, but I think he's morphing into a Shaq who can shoot. Shaq was one of the most unstoppable players I've ever seen, but he wasn't all that much fun to watch play, in my opinion.

That said, I think Steph Curry may be the most watchable player in NBA history.

 

[OneLifeToLive]

, though I would not be saddened to see him in a different uniform.

Tell me if Interpreted this right, you would not be saddened if Dame was moved to some other team right now. Or is this after his career?

 

[OneLifeToLive]

I enjoyed watching Jordan play more, but I think LeBron James is probably the better player. Jordan had a grace and elegance to his game, whereas James has the physical inevitability of a runaway train. People compare him to (Karl) Malone and Jordan and Magic and Pippen, but I think he's morphing into a Shaq who can shoot. Shaq was one of the most unstoppable players I've ever seen, but he wasn't all that much fun to watch play, in my opinion.

That said, I think Steph Curry may be the most watchable player in NBA history.

I know you've been around for awhile as a poster. Not only here but in other forums but if you believe that about Steph and Lebron. You have to have short term memory

 

[Minstrel]

I know you've been around for awhile as a poster. Not only here but in other forums but if you believe that about Steph and Lebron. You have to have short term memory

No, I'm just not one who's blinded by nostalgia. Older sports fans tend to be myopic about current players...older players were always much better, the sport was always better in the past, etc.

In the first half of the '90s, older sports fans would have said, "If you think Jordan is the best you've ever seen, you clearly never watched Magic Johnson or Larry Bird play!" In the '80s, if you thought Magic was the best, then you clearly didn't have sufficient memory of Abdul-Jabbar, Robertson, Chamberlain or Russell.

So it goes. I've seen everyone since the early 1980s and James is far from my favorite player (I prefer Magic Johnson and the aforementioned Jordan, among others, and Pippen is my favorite player as some here may recall), but I don't think there's anyone who's been able to impact the game and change styles as much as James.

 

[OneLifeToLive]

No, I'm just not one who's blinded by nostalgia. Older sports fans tend to be myopic about current players...older players were always much better, the sport was always better in the past, etc.

In the first half of the '90s, older sports fans would have said, "If you think Jordan is the best you've ever seen, you clearly never watched Magic Johnson or Larry Bird play!" In the '80s, if you thought Magic was the best, then you clearly didn't have sufficient memory of Abdul-Jabbar, Robertson, Chamberlain or Russell.

So it goes. I've seen everyone since the early 1980s and James is far from my favorite player (I prefer Magic Johnson and the aforementioned Jordan, among others, and Pippen is my favorite player as some here may recall), but I don't think there's anyone who's been able to impact the game and change styles as much as James.

And you watched in the 80's eh?

 

[Minstrel]

And you watched in the 80's eh?

Yup. The Showtime Lakers were my first basketball love.

 

[OneLifeToLive]

Yup. The Showtime Lakers were my first basketball love.

They were fun. I made this comment before, LeBron isn't even the best at what he is, IMO. I give that to Magic Johnson. I agree with much of your argument above about nostalgia and stuff. But the top two players since I have been watching are 1. Michael Jordan 2. Magic Johnson. And it's in the fundamentals. I don't believe for a moment Lebron works on his game in the offseason the way Michael and the players of the 80's did. His game doesn't show evidence of it, IMO. I think he relies on his huge advantage of being physically better than everyone else...I don't even think is a better basketball player than Kobe.

With that said, not knocking your opinion. Just disagree.

 

[Minstrel]

With that said, not knocking your opinion. Just disagree.

Disagreement is fine. I don't really believe in "undisputed best players." I think there are (good) arguments to be made for players like James, Jordan, Chamberlain, Robertson, etc. I just think it's James.

As for whether he works on his game in the offseason, it's always been reported that he works like a demon in the offseason and there's plenty of evidence of it. He improved his shooting markedly from his rookie season to his Miami years. His post game was non-existent when he entered the league and now it's extremely polished. He entered the league as a gifted passer and a decent if inconsistent defender but has become one of the all-time greats at distorting a defense and making the perfect pass, and his defense has become consistently top-tier.

Magic Johnson has always been an interesting comparison to James, but Magic was never an elite defender, nor was he an elite scorer, and James is both in addition to being a great play-maker for others.

 

[RoyToy]

LeBron's lack of a reliable jumper is a problem. While still ridiculously hard to guard, just simply giving him the jumper as the Spurs did in The Finals is not a bad strategy against him. I mean the Spurs got away with Diaw on James for stretches because of LeBron's mediocre jumper.

Despite being the more physically gifted athlete and playing in an era where defenders can't hand check or be as physical as Jordan's era, MJ was still more unstoppable in a tougher era of basketball when defenses could really beat you up and make you earn it. Hand checking changes everything. You could also prevent players from cutting by grabbing and holding. You can't grab or even touch a player on the perimeter these days.

MJ averaged 32.5ppg on 52% shooting over the course of his career before his first retirement ( I excluded his injury shortened 18 game season in 85-86 where he only started 7 games)

Now the argument will be but LeBron plays more of a PG roll and is the better rebounder, but over that same span Jordan still averaged 6 assists per game and 6 rebounds per game. Over the course of that time Jordan also averaged 3 stlpg and was #1 in steals in the NBA 3x. LeBron's the better playmaker and Jordan is the better scorer, but I think Jordan is closer to being the playmaker LeBron is than LeBron is to being the scorer Jordan is.

32.5ppg/6rpg/6apg/3stlpg/52 FG% is his line from 84-93

LeBron also gets credit for taking borderline scrubs far in the playoffs, but the eastern conference is usually a joke so it's hard to gauge. While in Cleveland how many impressive teams have they actually beaten in the playoffs over his entire career? I'll let someone else put that list together. Off the top pf my head I have the Pistons who were at the end of their run.

From my standpoint there's no argument, and it's not because I'm trying to deny LeBron of anything.

MJ is just simply the best.

 

[OneLifeToLive]

Magic Johnson has always been an interesting comparison to James, but Magic was never an elite defender, nor was he an elite scorer, and James is both in addition to being a great play-maker for others.

Magic Johnson having a line up of himself, Byron Scott, James Worthy, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, AC Green, Kurt Rambis, Mychal Thompson, Mychal Cooper, Tony Campbell, Wes Matthews was never asked to be an elite scorer. He was asked to distribute and to get his teammates involved. In 87-88 7 different guys averaged 10 plus points a game and four averaged 15 plus points a game. When he was asked to score, he could and in abundance. Let's not forget he averaged 20 pts per game in his career. One instance that proved his scoring ability was when the stakes couldn't have been any higher. Go back to Game 6 of the 1980 Championship series in which the Lakers was forced to start Magic at center for the ailing the Kareem Abdul Jabbar. He come away from the game with 42 points in 15 rebounds and 7 assists all the while having to guard and shut down Sixer Center Darryl Dawkins.When it was required for him to score he had no problems. He was an elite who didnt have too because he had several other guys that could.

As for defensive purposes. The man could guard 5 different positions on the floor and give up nothing. He was an above average defender. And never hurt his team on that end.

The reason why I say he is better than Lebron at what he does because he could play 5 different positions on offense and defense and he did it in an era where there were more elite 7 footers in the game. He could play with the big boys and the small boys. Magic just might be the best of all time. But I think defensively he falls short and therefore falls below Michael.

 

[Denny Crane]

LeBron's lack of a reliable jumper is a problem. While still ridiculously hard to guard, just simply giving him the jumper as the Spurs did in The Finals is not a bad strategy against him. I mean the Spurs got away with Diaw on James for stretches because of LeBron's mediocre jumper.

Despite being the more physically gifted athlete and playing in an era where defenders can't hand check or be as physical as Jordan's era, MJ was still more unstoppable in a tougher era of basketball when defenses could really beat you up and make you earn it. Hand checking changes everything. You could also prevent players from cutting by grabbing and holding. You can't grab or even touch a player on the perimeter these days.

MJ averaged 32.5ppg on 52% shooting over the course of his career before his first retirement ( I excluded his injury shortened 18 game season in 85-86 where he only started 7 games)

Now the argument will be but LeBron plays more of a PG roll and is the better rebounder, but over that same span Jordan still averaged 6 assists per game and 6 rebounds per game. Over the course of that time Jordan also averaged 3 stlpg and was #1 in steals in the NBA 3x. LeBron's the better playmaker and Jordan is the better scorer, but I think Jordan is closer to being the playmaker LeBron is than LeBron is to being the scorer Jordan is.

32.5ppg/6rpg/6apg/3stlpg/52 FG% is his line from 84-93

LeBron also gets credit for taking borderline scrubs far in the playoffs, but the eastern conference is usually a joke so it's hard to gauge. While in Cleveland how many impressive teams have they actually beaten in the playoffs over his entire career? I'll let someone else put that list together. Off the top pf my head I have the Pistons who were at the end of their run.

From my standpoint there's no argument, and it's not because I'm trying to deny LeBron of anything.

MJ is just simply the best.

Jordan played PG for part of a season and nearly averaged a triple double. He hated playing PG, though.