Bird>James

[GreenFaith1819]

It's obvious many on this board are Celtic trolls.
This discussion has brought out the real Celtic fans and to my dismay there are not that many.

James couldn't hold Larry's jock.

So...what's a "REAL" Celtic Fan? What's your definition of a "REAL" Celtics fan? Wait a second let me grab my stuff...

[Banner18now!]

Attention all Lebron jock sniffers, who would rather have in the 4th quarter of a tight game Lebron or Larry??

[Banner18now!]

It's obvious many on this board are Celtic trolls.
This discussion has brought out the real Celtic fans and to my dismay there are not that many.

James couldn't hold Larry's jock.

So...what's a "REAL" Celtic Fan? What's your definition of a "REAL" Celtics fan? Wait a second let me grab my stuff...




I will answer for him, someone who doesn't have his head so far up James but that they can't see and diminish great players like Larry Bird.

[walker834]

Lebron to me is on steroids.  He works out and bulks up at twice the rate of the normal human being and is overly compensating for this lack of ability as a basketball player. He's basically a straight line to the basket vs all this other stuff people are doing. He's a freight train.  But if you ever saw spideman 2,  spiderman was able to stop the freight train.  There are obviously levels of that but that's why steroids are bad in general.  Lebron is a cheater.  He's no different than Bonds and should be treated as the enemy.  He's selfish.  If it were up to him the game would be about him and no one else.  He's not a team player.  He's a jerk and would kill us all if he could.  If that's greatness that basically sucks.

Players in general should be able to find a way that is healthy for everyone where everyone can play at their best.  That would be the true guage.   Lebron is a selfish ****.

It's no different than Donald Trump.  The guy's an idiot.  If you want to herald him as the best player you are stupid too.

Basketball is a team game.  So is life.  Lebron sucks.   He'd destroy the entire game if he could all for himself.

the object is to put the ball in the basket so that's good I guess. But it's still a bad brand of basketball.   It's like Chamberlain vs Russell.  It's the same thing.

I can't stand it when people say Russell was not as good as chamberlain.  Russell was a team player and beat him every time. He was a better basketball player. People say no he was a better team player.  Chamberlain had an allstar team too and didn't know how to utilize it correctly. It was all about him.

Basketball is a team game.  So is life.  Lebron sucks. Russell is still alive too and Wilt is dead.  Because ultimately Lebron would kill himself with his logic.

Being a team player is almost secondary to Lebron. The fact we are even talking about him is ridiculous. He's a selfish jerk.

He just signed a billion dollar shoe deal because he's a massive jerk  as well and is screwing up the world even moreso with his bs.

[Banner18now!]

Bird is not close to James as a defender. That is what pushes James ahead. Bird basically played a rover defensive position because his on ball defense was suspect. There has never been a player in the modern era who could impact a game in all facets like James. That block he made at the end of the game was just one more example.

James one weakness is shooting. That is why his scoring can come and go....but his ability to impact every game is second to none. I think James is now the best small forward in history.

****, there has never been a player in the modern era who impacted both sides of the ball?? Really? You want to rethink that statement? It amazes me how may people have tunnel vision with events of the moment and forget anything that has happened beyond a few days.

[Banner18now!]

cid:BA90C185-F961-47C4-9A12-80D65134B3FF

[oldtype]

I'm basically saying is if naturally both players were playing at their optimal level though.  I think bird is the better player.  He is smarter, better shooter etc.  He's basically a better, smarter, scrappier, better passer, version of Durant without the leaping.

Lebron can not match that at his best either imo.  He might be more similar to jordan physically but he does not have the smarts or any of that. He's a smart player but not nearly on those guys levels.   

It's basically an argument of health vs smarts.

I don't understand how you could watch Lebron and ever conclude that he has low BBIQ. Feels like lazy reasoning to me. "he's such a physical freak, it has to be that hes less smart"

[Ilikesports17]

Attention all Lebron jock sniffers, who would rather have in the 4th quarter of a tight game Lebron or Larry??

Bird. Who had had the superior career? James.

Cut this real fan bullEdited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline.. You can love the Celtics and still respect that James had now has a better career. I hate the dude his post game press conference disgusted me. It was all "me" and "I" and talking about how he was a beast. After I had to go watch Brady's super bowl 49 post game press conference to remind me what a classy winner looked like.

[budMovin]

Russell would have been a bigger stronger more athletic version of Ben Wallace and Dennis Rodman in the modern NBA.

A stronger Ben Wallace??? No, not even close.

The rest of that statement is possible though.

[Moranis]

Russell would have been a bigger stronger more athletic version of Ben Wallace and Dennis Rodman in the modern NBA.

A stronger Ben Wallace??? No, not even close.

The rest of that statement is possible though.

Yes, Russell would have been a stronger Ben Wallace. 

[kozlodoev]

Attention all Lebron jock sniffers, who would rather have in the 4th quarter of a tight game Lebron or Larry??

Bird. Who had had the superior career? James.

Cut this real fan bull****. You can love the Celtics and still respect that James had now has a better career. I hate the dude his post game press conference disgusted me. It was all "me" and "I" and talking about how he was a beast. After I had to go watch Brady's super bowl 49 post game press conference to remind me what a classy winner looked like.

Also, there was apparently some unpleasant stuff to the same effect on his Instagram page.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxUuDPNbkJk

[td450]

Bird is not close to James as a defender. That is what pushes James ahead. Bird basically played a rover defensive position because his on ball defense was suspect. There has never been a player in the modern era who could impact a game in all facets like James. That block he made at the end of the game was just one more example.

James one weakness is shooting. That is why his scoring can come and go....but his ability to impact every game is second to none. I think James is now the best small forward in history.

****, there has never been a player in the modern era who impacted both sides of the ball?? Really? You want to rethink that statement? It amazes me how may people have tunnel vision with events of the moment and forget anything that has happened beyond a few days.

People forget this but Bird made 2nd team All-NBA Defense 3 times.

Bottom line is that LeBron is possibly the most durable superstar in history, and has long left Bird behind in terms of how long he was dominant. But for 5 years or so, Bird's output was equal or better than anything LeBron produced, and he had a consistent killer instinct that LeBron could not maintain. If it came down to one series with both at their peak, I'd bet on Bird every time.

[Csfan1984]

LeBron is better. If Bird never hurt his back things could have been different overall but this last championship seals the deal for me. LeBron is past Bird.

[budMovin]

Russell would have been a bigger stronger more athletic version of Ben Wallace and Dennis Rodman in the modern NBA.

A stronger Ben Wallace??? No, not even close.

The rest of that statement is possible though.

Yes, Russell would have been a stronger Ben Wallace.

Wallace might have been the strongest player in history alongside The Mailman.

[Moranis]

Russell would have been a bigger stronger more athletic version of Ben Wallace and Dennis Rodman in the modern NBA.

A stronger Ben Wallace??? No, not even close.

The rest of that statement is possible though.

Yes, Russell would have been a stronger Ben Wallace.

Wallace might have been the strongest player in history alongside The Mailman.

That is just nonsense.  Ben Wallace's best bench was 460.  At the age of 59 years old Wilt Chamberlain benched 465. 

People have said in his prime Wilt benched over 500 pounds with ease and would do it multiple times.  Bill more than held his own with Wilt despite the significant size disadvantage. 

Now Wilt and Bill were freak athletes and far exceeded their peers in strength, athleticism, etc.  That is what made them so special and made their games just feel different than the games against everyone else.  And that is why there is no question, that especially with modern medicine, training, etc. they would have been every bit as good and dominant.