At some point in the near future, LeBron will take his talents to a max contract. The team that signs him to a max deal is going to regret it halfway into it. It may not be obvious to the untrained eye, but he is showing signs of slowing down. Athletic only players don't age well, and he has so many miles on the tires. He has no jumpshot or 3 pointer to fall back on, so once the motor starts to die down, he's finished.
Add to that our serious (i.e. we are the favorites to win every year) championship window is in about 3 years from now when Horford comes off the books (re-signs for Vet Min or MLE, please?) and Tatum is a top 20 player in the league, and you shouldn't concern yourself too much with LeBron. He should be doing his farewell tour by then on an inflated contract.
He's also not going to Philly. A young team and a 34 year old looking to win now are incompatible. He's going to join a sure thing like the coward we all know him to be.
I don't even know where to begin with this post. Just so much wrong with it.
First, James has had 5 of his last 7 season shooting over 36% from three. While not elite, that certainly is good enough. Those same 5 seasons, he also shot well over 40% from 10-16 feet. Again, not elite, but again good enough. His TS% in each of the last two seasons is 61.9% and his eFG% is pushing 60%, which is most definitely elite. He doesn't get all of those shots solely because he is an elite athlete, he gets them because he is highly skilled and incredibly strong as well.
Second, physically Karl Malone is probably the best comparison. He was a similar height and similar strength. James is obviously far more athletic than Malone ever was, but they look fairly similar physically. Malone was never injured until his final year in the league at age 40. At age 39 Malone played in 80 games and was still averaging over 20 a game. He won the MVP at age 35, finished 4th at age 36, and 7th at 37. Now obviously James isn't Malone, but the physical similarities can't be disregarded either.
Third, the Sixers are the exact type of team a guy like James would join if his goal was to continue winning championships. They have at least 2 franchise level talents in Embiid and Simmons (that doesn't mean they both fulfill that potential or that they stay healthy) as well as Fultz (who was the #1 pick for a reason), Saric (who has all star level talent), and Covington (solid 3 and D level starter). They have other young NBA bench level players (McConnell, Holmes, Luwawu-Cabarrot, Korkmaz). They have the Lakers or Kings pick in addition to every single one of their own picks. With a simple salary dump of Bayless, they have room to offer James a max contract. They can then use some of their assets to acquire another top level player (think the Love trade), while still keeping Embiid and Simmons. The Sixers are a 50 win team (or right near it) without James and basically without Fultz (thus making them a far better team than the Cleveland team James joined when he went back home). You add James to that team, they are the clear favorites in the East for at least the next couple of seasons, and it really isn't much of a debate.
James is easy to hate and easy to dislike, so I don't know why anyone needs to just make stuff up to hate on him.
Definitely a popular opinion. Can't say I blame you. In two years from now, you'll see that I'm most likely correct. Numbers rarely lie and "father time always wins." A few points:
1) Karl Malone came into the league at 22. If comparing them, you need to compare LeBron's current season to Malone's at 36. As you can see, sure he might give you 1 or 2 more "good" years, but is Malone's production at 39 worth a max deal? Definitely not. Also, Malone had a disgusting post game. Other than athleticism, LeBron's real only spectacular offensive ability is court vision/passing. He can be a point guard at some point once the legs and back start failing. Like I said, though, it's an overpay. There are far better ACTUAL point guards than him that can be gotten for dirt cheap. He's just impressive because he's athletic AND can be a PG. Again, it all goes back to athleticism.
2) His shooting levels are not max worthy. You can't hype them enough to have a leg to stand on in this argument. He's a very average shooter. In fact, teams used to just dare him to shoot when he was actually unstoppable driving to the lane. Now that he isn't that explosive anymore and his shooting is up, they're taking the compromise and guarding him midway. He still has a long way to go, though, to be useful in his twilight years.
3) Embiid and Simmons are already franchise levels talents? Give me a break. I'm afraid to inform you that the koolaid was poison. You also had the nerve to even mention Markelle Fultz? Saric? Covington? McConnell?? Jesus Christ you sound like a 76ers fanboy or Danny Ainge when talking about Terry Rozier. While the team MAY be good (depending on Embiid's health) in say 3 or 4 years, LeBron will be long past his prime by then. This isn't a good situation for him.
I believe that he goes to a team like the Rockets or Spurs.
Disgusting? Is that like "sick" or "dope"?
Lebron is a much better athlete than Malone. Leaps and bounds better. His athleticism should last much longer than Malone's did. While Malone did play college (and you play less games in college), are we supposed to discount Malone's mileage in college?
You're trying to break Lebron down into components when analyzing his skills. This doesn't work because the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Lebron's combo of size, skill, and athleticism is unmatched in NBA history. You can nitpick his jump shot all day long, but he is the size of Malone with Magic passing. When he drives to the lane, no one can stop him. They can foul him, but no one will consistently get clean blocks down low.
I don't think we need to preface that Embiid is an injury waiting to happen. That Fultz takedown was super flukey. Embiid has had good movement this year, and seems to have gotten over the lower body injury bug. PHI should manage his time, so I doubt you'll ever get 80 reg season games out of him, but I expect you'll be seeing him in the playoffs for years to come. None of us really can tell if he will continue to get hurt. I'm sure the Philly GM would love a crystal ball. What we do know is that he can play at a very high level in the NBA, and other players/GMs have given rave reviews of his game early in his career. Embiid
can be similar to Olajuwon- he's that talented.
Simmons is also unique. While I'm not sure how Lebron and Simmons would play together, I'm very intrigued by the mismatch in size/athleticism. Throw in a Klay Thompson type shooter and its game, set, match.