March 2019: LeBron James is no longer the best player in the world. So who is?

[lilteapot]

Re: March 2019: LeBron James is no longer the best player in the world. So who is?

I thought by this time he'd have changed the way he plays, being a lot less ball dominant and playing out of the post more. I doubt it will change with AD on his team now but I'm looking forward to seeing how and if he will adjust in an effort to extend his career. More off ball movement? Becoming more of a play finisher instead of always initiating offense? I guess a lot depends on if they re-sign rondo or manage to get another floor general.

[ehh]

Re: March 2019: LeBron James is no longer the best player in the world. So who is?

I'm not sure it makes any sense for any player to move into the post more in today's game. LeBron will have to go Magic Johnson/Mark Jackson and back people down from 25' out to get to his spot. He's still stronger than nearly everyone in the league so once he loses a good deal of his other athletic traits he should be able to get to his spot fairly often. His strength plus his size and smarts will be enough to be a contributor when he's older.

I imagine he'll handle some light playmaking duties and play off-ball a decent amount.

[TMagic]

Re: March 2019: LeBron James is no longer the best player in the world. So who is?

Ok ok ok. I get it you guys. LeBron ain't special. Dang [emoji849][emoji23]

Jk. But seriously. I really thought that was a rare feat. I think I was just thinking of Kobe, Jordan and of course TMac and didn't give it much of a thought since those are the GOATs and they've had their shares of losing seasons.

What also makes LeBron stand out to me that got me thinking about that initially, is that he walked into three completely different situations and was successful in each one. Especially factoring in the finals trips. This, compared to guys who stayed with one team/environment for their career.

But I'm glad I brought that up, because it has really opened my eyes to the all time greats and what they've accomplished. Really a testament to their greatness and it's just another thing that puts them in a tier above the rest.

[cima]

Re: March 2019: LeBron James is no longer the best player in the world. So who is?

Was 08-09 his athletic peak? Watching this **** is just unreal how quick he was

https://youtu.be/vd4nr9TURt4

[Chip Douglass]

Re: March 2019: LeBron James is no longer the best player in the world. So who is?

Everytime I hear something about LeBron I go to see if Kareem did it already...he only had two losing seasons out of 20 if I'm looking at this right.

Kareem always seems weirdly overlooked in GOAT discussions imo (to the extent that we even have them and don't already crown Jordan).

I'm guessing this is partly age-related - Jordan and LeBron are more familiar to modern fans than a guy whose prime was in the early 70s - and partly Jordan being better at his absolute peak than Kareem was in his peak years.

[cima]

Re: March 2019: LeBron James is no longer the best player in the world. So who is?

Just wanted to point out that Giannis himself has just recently stated LeBron is still the best in the world (and that LeBron is his idol)

[J_Posse]

Re: March 2019: LeBron James is no longer the best player in the world. So who is?

Just wanted to point out that Giannis himself has just recently stated LeBron is still the best in the world (and that LeBron is his idol)

Respect is a thing amongst these dudes, so it isn't surprising that Giannis acknowledges LBJ as the best.

(Didn't LBJ do the same with Kobe in '09 or '10 when he was clearly, IMO, the best player in the league?)

I don't agree. Giannis is the most dominant "big man" in the league & the best two - player in the world.

And unlike Davis & James, he doesn't have another top 5 player to play off of and take a lot pressure off of him.

We saw how disappointing the results were the year prior when Davis & James were on the Pelicans & Lakers, respectively.


Official HQ of Bills Backer/Spurs Nation

[cima]

Re: March 2019: LeBron James is no longer the best player in the world. So who is?

So...it's Giannis now, right? Like there's no question anymore? LeBron has declined too much athletically, couldn't do the carry job to even make the play-in tournament (injuries and injuries, I know).

KD got swept in the first round.

Kawhi didn't even play this year.

I think it's Giannis alone at the top now.

[ojandpizza]

Re: March 2019: LeBron James is no longer the best player in the world. So who is?

I don’t know that we have somebody who’s just clearly created what I would call a massive separation. I’d probably lean Giannis, I did that back when you made this too lol.

I don’t think KD is out of the question because a better team beat his team. The “swept” part is irrelevant, a loss is a loss. If the Bulls come back and beat the Bucks (they won’t but still) are you going to make another post saying it’s clearly not Giannis because he lost in the first round? That’s not in the control of just one player.

LeBron is that dude still, but in games/spurts. I don’t think he can just carry like that. I don’t think it should be expected either, I guess we’ll see how a healthier hopefully not completely dysfunctional team looks like next year. Injuries were far from their only issues. The LeBron argument would be if that guy he still is sometimes he’s able to be for a playoff run. It’s selectively there, can it be maintained for an entire playoff run? I know Bron is even older, and hella more miles, but does he have that extra gear for the playoffs like Jordan in 98 still in him? Idk

I can’t write off Joker and Embiid for the years they just had. Big dudes get less love but they were equally as incredible as anybody who played this season. Embiid is hurt again now (of course) so obviously his showing currently isn’t truly what he’s about. Nobody could do anything with him this year. And Joker has the worst draw possible for his defensive shortcomings, but he was a good defender this year (surprisingly massive improvement) in a very Marc Gasol ish sense. He’s also at basically 31-13-5 on 63 TS%.. they have no shot in this series but he’s putting up insane individual performances.

I don’t and never did have Kawhi there, so the injury makes that worse even. He’s one of the best two way players to ever play the game but his defense to me hasn’t been as “elite” consistently for awhile now. Offensively he improved a ton, that’s the trend we typically see, but even then he’s not KD’ing people with scoring. He doesn’t even what I would call “elite scorers” defensive attention when you watch games. It’s kinda like the LeBron thing you said he can’t carry anymore, I don’t think Kawhi ever showed that he could. He’s a great best player for a team that checks all the other boxes to me.

Steph and Luka are somewhere in the mix probably a notch behind some of these guys. Steph is always tough because in their system he’s as good as anybody, but he’s obviously got more shortcomings as an all-around player just sticking any of them on an average team IMO.. To me these past two seasons just compounded down on the takes that Draymond is instrumental to Steph’s as well as the teams dominance. Tatum making strides towards being somewhere in that top 10 talk. Who knows about a healthy AD until we see that again if ever.

[DamnYanks2]

Re: March 2019: LeBron James is no longer the best player in the world. So who is?

It's Giannis. And the league fears him too.

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[tru11]

Re: March 2019: LeBron James is no longer the best player in the world. So who is?

Giannis easily.


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[J_Posse]

Re: March 2019: LeBron James is no longer the best player in the world. So who is?

It's Giannis. And the league fears him too.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

It's pretty much been him since this thread was created. Some people just like being in denial about the truth.

The gap between him and the "field" (Embiid, Jokic, Durant & James) isn't that wide either. He still is ahead, though.

Official HQ of Bills Backer/Spurs Nation

[NBA TALKS]

Re: March 2019: LeBron James is no longer the best player in the world. So who is?

Let's appreciate the guy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpaqSdyzP18&list=PLFYS4mvSczhCDakI4K_UG0-1upQrkcKWx&index=4&t=56s&ab_channel=NBATalks