What a bunch of BS. These writers need nerd stats to make a case for their idol. Lebron has had a easier road since his Miami days, and even then they only won two out of four, and one of those two because Ray Allen saved his butt. But during that time the east got weak, Boston was getting old, and no one was stepping up. Since return to Cleveland he's one for three. While it's impressive to get to the finals that many times on paper, they need to start looking at the full picture.
Jordan had to go through tough Cavs teams,NY teams,Detrioit teams, and Indy teams. An NBA with hand checking and a era that it wasn't unusual for a player to play both ways. And Centers that played in the pant and were walking block parties. How many Mutombos, Ewings,Robinsons are in the league right now? Jordan dunked on all those guys. Even got a finger wag in before it was taken away from the league.
I still take Jordan every day of the week with out even thinking about it.
Have you actually looked at those NY, Cleveland, and Indy teams. Detroit was good for like the first title season, but then fell off the map. I mean NY was Ewing (a HOFer, but not an all timer) and then a bunch of role players like Charles Oakley, Mark Jackson, John Starks, Greg Anthony, Anthony Mason, and a well past his prime Kiki Vandeweghe. In other words, a pretty bad overall team. Indiana never played Chicago in the playoffs, but the year MJ wasn't playing they made the ECF with this as their playoff rotation: Reggie Miller, Dale Davis, Derrick McKey, Vern Fleming, Rik Smits, Haywoode Workman, Byron Scott, Antonio Davis, and Sam Mitchell. That team is awful for a Conference Finals team. It might very well be the worst Conference Finals team ever.
This notion that the 90's was a great era filled with great teams from top to bottom is just nonsense. The 90's might very well be the worst decade the sport has ever seen (certainly on par with the 70's which is the only other decade that could be the worst). The Bulls were a great team, an all time great team, but their competition was pretty weak both in the East and in the Finals after the first season (Seattle is the only other truly elite competition they played in any season). I mean look at the Jazz. Malone and Stockton great players, but the 3rd and 4th best players were Bryon Russell and Jeff Hornacek. Greg Ostertag was their starting center. Adam Keefe, Howard Eisley, and Shandon Anderson were in the playoff rotation. That is a good team, but certainly not some great team that many make it out to be.
wow you overplayed your hand on that one. A lot. You have to look all the way back to... last year.. to find a worse conference finals team than that. We had 2 all-stars on our team. However, Thomas was an extreme liability on defense and played one full injury plagued game in the series. I love Horford, but neither of those guys is in Reggie Miller's class.
Reggie Miller is obviously in the hall of fame and was a great player for many season. Smits was either an all-star or coming off an all-star season that year I am not sure which year you are referencing. Antonio Davis was also a very good player that made an allstar game in his career and was good for close to a double double most of his career. Dale Davis was also a highly rugged post player that had a very lengthy career and would also make an all-star game himself. These were all very solid to good players and I don't think the players starting for us as various points last year including Crowder, Amir Johnson, Gerald Green are in the same class as players like the Davis frontcourt...
Of all the things Lebron worshippers do, the weakest in my opinion is the constant effort to discredit these teams from other eras and pumping up an era were 3 of the top 6 players in one conference joined up on one team through free agency.
IT finished 5th in MVP voting last year. Reggie Miller received MVP votes 2 seasons, he finished 13th and 16th those 2 seasons. He had 3 All NBA 3rd Team selections (and that was it). He made just 5 all star games. He played for a very long time, with great health, and generally had good seasons, but he never had great seasons. The back to back ECF teams when Jordan was on hiatus, Indiana won 47 and 52 games. They weren't juggernauts. The league was weak and that team was weak. At least their one team that actually played Chicago in 98 had Mullin (and Jalen Rose), but that team was still incredibly weak historically.
I'd absolutely take last year's C's over the Pacers (even the later years). Thomas was better than Miller last year. Obviously Miller will end up with a much better career, but peak Thomas was better than peak Miller and frankly it isn't that close (I mean you can't pretend that Miller was even an average defender, he wasn't, he was a terrible defender). I think you can reasonably argue that Horford is better than Miller was (obviously Miller has longevity that Horford doesn't have, but that is a different argument). Bradley was certainly on par with either Davis. Crowder is basically the wing version of Smits (who averaged 7 boards just 1 time and was only over 17 ppg, 3 times). Both were role players.
I may have missed a Conference Finals team here or there that was as weak as the Pacers, but it certainly wasn't the C's last year.
Oh man... you keeping digging your own grave on this. Rick Smits made an all-star team. He had his limitations on minutes played because he battled chronic foot problems and they managed his minutes, but he was extremely effective when on the court. Before the injuries ended his career at 33 he had been a starter his entire career. Jae Crowder is already coming off the bench at age 27 and it highly doubtful he is starting anywhere the rest of his career. It shows the absolute peak of your agenda here that you can try and say with a straight face that a player like Crowder is on bar with the Dunking Dutchman.
You think there will be article written about Crowder 20 years after he retired?
https://8points9seconds.com/2018/01/26/center-fridays-rik-smits/"As touched on, Smits was an impactful defender and excellent rim protector while also being an excellent dunker and finisher around the rim. He was really good in the 90s when those skills were used differently, but in the modern NBA, he might be the perfect center.
In fact, 1993-94 Rik Smits would possibly be the most sought-after big man in the league, if he played today. By most metrics, that was his most impactful season.
Per basketball reference, Smits had a true shooting percentage of 58 percent that year. That would be above average this year, nonetheless in the 90s before it was cool to be efficient. That season was also tied for his second best defensive season with a defensive rating of 103. An efficient guy who can protect the rim? Sign me up.
Only four centers with 1000+ minutes have those stats in the current NBA season. Their names? Clint Capela, DeMarcus Cousins, Al Horford, and Joel Embiid. Three All-Stars and the starting center for the NBA’s second-best team. Smits would be in that group, and given how the NBA has gravitated toward efficient centers who can protect the rim, the Dunking Dutchman would fit right in.
I'll repeat, the worst thing of people that like Lebron is his fans trying to tear down Jordan's accomplishments with inaccurate statements. Some of these arguments you are throwing out here are honestly among the worst I have seen on any forum on this topic (and it is a topic that is beat to death). This Smits is comparable to Crowder take is about as bad as your covington is similar to Gobert take from a few weeks ago. Just tough to take seriously.