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Love him or hate him - LeBron has delivered

Speaks to his longevity. He has played a long time and has taken good care of himself - kept himself in good condition, ate well and has stayed away from the drugs that could harm him.

And he has played in the “scoring era.”
 
Speaks to his longevity. He has played a long time and has taken good care of himself - kept himself in good condition, ate well and has stayed away from the drugs that could harm him.

And he has played in the “scoring era.”
He played long enough to play in the scoring era. In LeBron’s rookie year, only two teams averaged more than 100 points. He averaged 21 points a game as an 18 year old rookie. He has never averaged under 25 points a game since. So, the era has never mattered with LeBron.

Edit: To compare how much the game has changed over LeBron’s 20 years, The Miami Heat is the lowest scoring team in the league this year at a little over 108 points a game. That’s 3 points more than the highest scoring team, Dallas Mavericks, in LeBron’s rookie year.
 
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No one had to tell us Jordan was great, everyone knew it.
Aren’t you telling us? Jordan fans with this LeBron hate are hilarious. Both can be great. They are never going to play. So, this elevate one guy to pull another down is pointless. The OP didn’t mention Jordan. I like Jordan, but Jordan fans make me criticize him and remind them he wasn’t perfect because they always enter LeBron conversations belittling the man’s accomplishments
 
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Numbers do lie. Rules change. It affects numbers.

Some numbers do lie, I agree. Or, really they don't represent the whole truth, not necessarily lie. Such as, there is no way that Andrew Luck was better than Unitas, but he certainly had better QB rating numbers.

One number that is amazing and shocking at the same time about LeBron that can't be taken in any other way is that the dude has been All-NBA 18 times. That is when placed against his peers, he's been one of the best 15 players in the league 18 out of 19 seasons. This is obviously the record (Kobe, Kareem and Duncan all sit second with 15 All-NBA awards).

Even bigger than that, he also has the record for first-team All-NBA awards (13). So for 13 seasons, he's been one of the top five players in the league. You can only really be judged by your current competition - and he has dominated his like no other. Other notable first-team All-NBA seasons - Jordan (10), Cousy (10), West (10), Duncan (10), Kareem (10), Kobe (11), Malone (11!), Petit (10).

Jordan would easily have a couple more if he didn't "retire" for a couple of seasons, but that goes to the excellence of both.
 
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One thing we can all agree on is that a prime Michael Jordan would dominate a Twelve Year Old LeBron James and a prime LeBron James would dominate a 60 year old Michael Jordan. All this talk of what the two could or woulda done against each is conjecture and pointless. They are two different players in two different eras. They probably wouldn’t have guarded each other if they had played during the same time. Bulls would have probably guarded LeBron with Pippen. Frankly, I think LeBron being the only non-guard to be in the Top 10 in assists is more impressive than being the career scoring leader. To put it in perspective, the closest non-guard on the Career assists list is Scottie Pippen at 35. Number lie sometimes. However, there comes a point where you have to give it up when they accumulate in so many areas.
 
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Aren’t you telling us? Jordan fans with this LeBron hate are hilarious. Both can be great. They are never going to play. So, this elevate one guy to pull another down is pointless. The OP didn’t mention Jordan. I like Jordan, but Jordan fans make me criticize him and remind them he wasn’t perfect because they always enter LeBron conversations belittling the man’s accomplishments
I rarely see Jordan lovers horning in on conversations to put down Lebron. Now, if a Lebron lover is talking nonsense about him being the GOAT a Jordan lover might interject, but that doesn't mean they're putting down Lebron. There is no need to elevate Jordan to pull down Lebron, because MJ is and always will be above Lebron. And that isn't a put down of Lebron, because he is an all time great.
 
I rarely see Jordan lovers horning in on conversations to put down Lebron. Now, if a Lebron lover is talking nonsense about him being the GOAT a Jordan lover might interject, but that doesn't mean they're putting down Lebron. There is no need to elevate Jordan to pull down Lebron, because MJ is and always will be above Lebron. And that isn't a put down of Lebron, because he is an all time great.
No one said anything about Jordan. Flanders just simply gave LeBron credit for his All-Time achievements and the name calling started first. Tried to paint LeBron as the only guy in bed with China until I reminded them that every Nike guy, including Jordan, is in business with China. Then the LeBron will never be Jordan started. I get this problem because I am old enough to be a Dr. J fan. That’s my guy and I hated Jordan and could not enjoy Jordan for the great that he was because I didn’t want him to live up to Dr. J. By about the 3rd Championship, I gave that non-sense up and enjoyed his second run much better. The problem in my mind is that Jordan and LeBron fans alike live in absolutes like both players are retired. LeBron is showing only slight signs of slowing down. His full story is not yet complete. Let’s say he plays 3-4 more years and pushes this scoring mark out to 43,000-44,000 points and even wins another title. That makes for a more compelling argument. So, my issue with the Jordan fans is the never part of their argument like LeBron is washed up.
 
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Well he got the record - sometime in the middle of the night. I seem to remember very vividly watching when Kareem got the record. You'd think they'd reschedule the games this week to get the most eyes on LeBron as possible. Oh well, very anticlimactic.
 
Well he got the record - sometime in the middle of the night. I seem to remember very vividly watching when Kareem got the record. You'd think they'd reschedule the games this week to get the most eyes on LeBron as possible. Oh well, very anticlimactic.
He probably would have gotten the record in the primetime game in New Orleans if he didn't take a game off during their recent road trip. I think most people wanted him to break the record at home. Sort of hard to play a weekday game in Los Angeles at 5:00pm or something for the East Coast. Nonetheless, I watched it. Lebron was determined for the record to go down last night with 36 points in 3 quarters. All the stars were out more than normal for the game last night. You even had guys like John McEnroe and Jay-Z travel across the country for the moment. The problem was that none of his teammates, including Anthony Davis, played well. I think their team became spectators last night waiting on the record. Kareem got his record in the Mountain Time Zone. They played Utah in Las Vegas. Utah was playing a few of their home games there back then. It was less climatic frankly. Kareem scored a baseline sky hook. Wilt gave him the ball and they kept playing. No speech or anything. NBA wasn't quite as big back then as it is now.
 
This will be my last LeBron post until he retires (or wins another championship, but that will be a real long shot with the way the Lakers are run these days).

One "criticism" that I kept hearing about his breaking Kareem's record (or at least a way of diminishing that accomplishment) was that he only got it because he played so long. He's good, but his longevity somehow takes away from his numbers. But guess how long it took Kareem to set that mark? 20 years! So yea, it should probably take about 20 years to break it. And it did.

And it will take that long for anyone else to break it as well. As interesting as the "scoring era" is with teams scoring so much, the scoring leaders for the league still max out in the 30-32 ppg range each season (with some outliers, but no more than in the past). So teams score a lot, but it's not like there are 40ppg scorers out there that can cut the time to get the record by 1/3.
 
This will be my last LeBron post until he retires (or wins another championship, but that will be a real long shot with the way the Lakers are run these days).

One "criticism" that I kept hearing about his breaking Kareem's record (or at least a way of diminishing that accomplishment) was that he only got it because he played so long. He's good, but his longevity somehow takes away from his numbers. But guess how long it took Kareem to set that mark? 20 years! So yea, it should probably take about 20 years to break it. And it did.

And it will take that long for anyone else to break it as well. As interesting as the "scoring era" is with teams scoring so much, the scoring leaders for the league still max out in the 30-32 ppg range each season (with some outliers, but no more than in the past). So teams score a lot, but it's not like there are 40ppg scorers out there that can cut the time to get the record by 1/3.
Lebron actually did it in less games. Of course, he has the three point shot, but that only accounts for an additional 2200 points or so. So, even if you took the 3 point shot away, Lebron would have been on pace to break the record next year or early in the 24-25 season. You, also, have to account all the wear and tear of the extra rounds of playoffs modern teams have to play over teams in the 80's. Remember the old 3 game Mini-Series in the first round that the NBA used to have? Lakers have actually recovered and made a couple nice trades as the trade deadline approaches and they finally got rid of Russell Westbrook and got a Point Guard that can shoot the ball. Lakers depth chart actually looks like a real team now instead of two Maximum Contract guys with the others struggling to stick in the league. The problem is Phoenix responded by trading for Kevin Durant. The run down the stretch is going to be interesting as the margin between getting home court advantage in the 1st round of the playoffs and 13th place in the West is only about 4 games, Thus, all the trading that is going on right now.
 
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Cherry picked satstics. They are 1a and 1b but I think it’s asinine the pedestal that mj is put on. He was good but come on. Jordon didn’t play with scrubs and he also never won one with out Scotty. Lebron did it in multiple stops and basically single willed a win against the golden state warriors.
 
Cherry picked satstics. They are 1a and 1b but I think it’s asinine the pedestal that mj is put on. He was good but come on. Jordon didn’t play with scrubs and he also never won one with out Scotty. Lebron did it in multiple stops and basically single willed a win against the golden state warriors.
Lebron has played with better players. As far as the 2016 Finals, you act like Kevin Love and Kyrie were just innocent bystanders. And Tristan Thompson also had a really good series. Plus, Draymond was out of game 5.

Jordan was better, and it wasn't close. He was a better basketball player and a better athlete. Further, Magic > Lebron.
 
Lebron has played with better players. As far as the 2016 Finals, you act like Kevin Love and Kyrie were just innocent bystanders. And Tristan Thompson also had a really good series. Plus, Draymond was out of game 5.

Jordan was better, and it wasn't close. He was a better basketball player and a better athlete. Further, Magic > Lebron.
Better athlete? I didn’t see Jordan playing at this level at 38. Lebron is 2 if not 1 and 3 is not close.
 
Better athlete? I didn’t see Jordan playing at this level at 38. Lebron is 2 if not 1 and 3 is not close.
Yes. Jordan had superior athletic ability to Lebron in everything except strength, and even that would've been close.
 
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Yes. Jordan had superior athletic ability to Lebron in everything except strength, and even that would've been close.
And Bird has ZERO and in my opinion was a better teammate and player!!! I would take Larry Bird in his prime over LeBron in his!! But that’s me. I would want someone that will help make the other four better, not degrade them!! But hey, that’s just me.
 

All this really speaks to is Jordan playing for only one team - a team where he created a foundation with another Hall of Famer and was constantly supplied with complimentary pieces around him to keep things going.

Jordan is amazing, maybe the best of all time, but it's easier to maintain a championship team than to keep building new ones in different cities. That's always been the case. It's even the case now as evidenced by Golden State, and just previously with the Spurs.
 
That said, physically, he would have banged the crap out of the 80's. He's 6'9" and most think he plays at around 275 to 285 for most of his career (That's 40 pounds more than the Chief) - and he's way more athletic than pretty much anyone that's ever played. Of course he would have gotten more cheap shots back then, but he also would have been handing them out. He'd be his own enforcer - because he'd play like Jordan, but is bigger than Oakley.



I think this is what people miss about Lebron- his physical build is just a lot different than what most have seen with a man that can move like he has done.

He's a player that would have bulled himself through the Detroit Pistons great teams. He's just too physically imposing to push around. He'd be doing the pushing.
 
Don’t forget Elgin Baylor. He was poetry in motion and beautiful to watch play.

None of today’s players play hurt like in times past. They even take games off to rest. They are making too much money to risk their bodies, money that the former generation set them up for. Got better training staffs but miss a ton of games, particularly the so-called superstars. Maybe they get hurt when they flop 🤪.
 
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