Lebron will never equal Bird,Magic,MJ

[KG Living Legend]

 He's 28 now and averaging about 17 in the finals. We know he's a great great player. But with what Larry and Magic did right out of the gate, and what MJ was by the same age. I don't think it's much of an argument right now that he's a step below the all time greats.

[KG Living Legend]

 In case you didn't here Magic last night ripped into Lebron saying I don't want to hear anymore excuses. And with all the talk about how he's going to be better than Jordan, I wanted to put it out there that he's not in the same league as any of those guys and not even in the same league as    Isaiah,Kobe,Duncan not yet anyway. Anyone disagree

[wdleehi]

Too early to tell.

[Monkhouse]

Who cares if he fails to beat the Spurs... He has plenty of time to win accolades... Magic has lost plenty of times in the finals too...

I don't get why everyone is so negative towards Lebron... Despite the Decision, and certain things like flopping, and complaining about not receiving DPOY, etc.

Its hard to really hate Lebron, because he does seem like a genuinely nice guy to his teammates, and friends. Competitively, I don't like him cause he is the best player in the League right now. But don't discredit him..

I'm pretty sure with his athleticism, and his ability to see the floor while drawing fouls. He can have a healthy career until he's 36 at least. Plenty of time to win rings, break records which he has broken plenty, and still prove the haters wrong.

[Sketch5]

Lebron is a superior athlete but not a superior basketball player.

I always wonder how he would do against a none watered down NBA and when the defense could put their hands all over some one. And when if he would to flop some one would lay him out the next play and still stay in the game and just receive a tech.

When he talked about being tired, I shocked my head. Dude your 28 and suppose to be in amazing shape, because thats your job. And your talking about being tired? MJ played with the flue and still dropped it on the Jazz, Thomas played on a broken ankle. And he's tired?

Young fella, when I was your age I worked 55 hours a week, walked to work up hill both ways in 8 feet of snow, and still played ball at night after the snow melted.

[wdleehi]

Lebron is a superior athlete but not a superior basketball player.

I always wonder how he would do against a none watered down NBA and when the defense could put their hands all over some one. And when if he would to flop some one would lay him out the next play and still stay in the game and just receive a tech.

When he talked about being tired, I shocked my head. Dude your 28 and suppose to be in amazing shape, because thats your job. And your talking about being tired? MJ played with the flue and still dropped it on the Jazz, Thomas played on a broken ankle. And he's tired?

Young fella, when I was your age I worked 55 hours a week, walked to work up hill both ways in 8 feet of snow, and still played ball at night after the snow melted.

You want to allow Lebron to be even more physical on defense?


Be honest with yourself.  If Lebron was forced to grow as a player in the NBA when physical defense was allowed, do you really think with his size and strength he couldn't adjust? 


Is it his fault the NBA watered down the physicality before he got to the league?

[mkogav]

If the Heat lose this series to the Spurs, LeBron James will be 1-3 in the NBA Finals. Jordan 6-0, Bird 3-2, Magic 9-5.

Just saying...

Mk

[wdleehi]

If the Heat lose this series to the Spurs, LeBron James will be 1-3 in the NBA Finals. Jordan 6-0, Bird 3-2, Magic 9-5.

Just saying...

Mk

Might want to recheck Magic's numbers

[CelticConcourse]

If the Heat lose this series to the Spurs, LeBron James will be 1-3 in the NBA Finals. Jordan 6-0, Bird 3-2, Magic 5-4.

Just saying...

Mk

[Celtics4ever]

In pure athletic ability he surpasses them all easily.  Mental toughness he is the weakest.  But the league always promote their current stars as torch carriers.   LeBron has too much biases treatment from the league, he 'd  still be the best player without it, for my taste.

[Celtics17]

Lebron seems to be missing the key ingredient to being dominant-vision. Some players like Bird and Magic had the ability to see the game long before it unfolded while others like MJ had that ability, albeit to a lesser dgree, and the physical tools to impose his will on it.

Lebron has the physical ability to take over games but it just doesnt seem that he sees the game unfold soon enough. To be an all time great you have to have both.

I'm also not noticing any players like McHale, Parrish,Worthy or Kareem playing with him thogh either. A case can be made both for and against Lebron due to a 'watered down' league. Magic and Larry were both great but also had other greats playing with them.

[Neurotic Guy]

Bird was 24 in 1981 and had the benefit of a few key teammates -- McHale, Parrish, Tiny, Maxwell. Magic played with Kareem -- a top 10 player of all-time.   

Lebron has made it to 4 NBA Finals (only 2 fewer than MJ in his entire career) -- not bad by age 28.  One Finals appearance was attained virtually on his own. He's won, what, 5 MVP awards?

Whether LBJ wins this one championship or loses, he is well on his way to all-time great status.   Whether he is considered in the stratosphere of greatness (Bird, Magic, MJ) or ends up being thought of as just below the gods of hoop will be dependent upon what happens over the next 8 years -- and will likely not be determined by the 4 games.

[More Banners]

Right now, there is no foil to Lebron.  He is unique at this moment in size, strength, and skill as a package, probably most comparable to Bird and Magic (who are/were all around the same size, ironically).

To play in the same era as them would likely mean, IMO, he would fare no better or worse than those guys.  In that case, he's a peer of the bunch, not the standout supreme deity he is being portrayed as now.

That said...

Right now, nobody can really keep him out of the paint on a drive.  In the 80's, he would have had more trouble most of the time, and may not have been able to simply drive to the hoop for game winners or and-1's anywhere near as often.  Given that and his inability to master the outside shot, he would have been an also-ran in the 80's behind Bird easily.  1 on 1, it would have been a pull-up contest, with Bird winning in a landslide (of course).

Still, as the best player of his era, Lebron can and likely will attain Wilt status. 

If the league continues the rules/game as it is and he remains healthy, his presence alone makes a team a contender, much as Wilt would have back then.

And he's bound to win some.

But this thing in Miami could just as well go to heck, it could go Lebron and the Lebronairres, and they could end up having had a peak similar to the Bad Boy Pistons back-to-back titles between the Celtic and Bulls dynasties in the East.

Lebron may have won a title (or two, maybe) between our run (which ended Detroit's) and the next one (Nets? Indy?).

[mkogav]

If the Heat lose this series to the Spurs, LeBron James will be 1-3 in the NBA Finals. Jordan 6-0, Bird 3-2, Magic 5-4.

Just saying...

Mk

haha, thanks. math was never my strong suit.

Mk

[nickagneta]

This series is far from over and Lebron's career is far from over so he could still rise to the level of Bird and magic and some other greats.

But if he loses this series and then doesn't win any more than one more ring, he could be this generation's Wilt Chamberlain. extremely valuable player during the regular season who puts up unbelievable numbers but was just missing something that made him one of the very very best in NBA history.