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

[ojandpizza]

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

Only issue is Giannis is better than both those dudes, IMO.

Giannis is now the best "two-way" player in the NBA & it ain't even close. We'll see if he can truly "prove" that point with a NBA title. Since apparently that is the only way to prove you are the best.

Official HQ of Bills Backer/Spurs Nation

No arguments on that from me.

I don’t think he has to win a ring to prove anything, but he’s at least got to get his team in position to have a shot. We need to see better decision making from him if/when a team walls up on him this year, he’s such a freak in the raw sense, but he’s not at the point where his mental game is always a step ahead yet.. if he doesn’t make it out of the East and to the finals this year with no LeBron, no Kawhi out East it needs to be because the other team just played out of their minds. He is by a good margin the best player in the East on the most talented team by an equally good margin.


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[ProfessaPackMan]

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

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Such expert analysis with great context and nuance.

Gotta love NBA Twitter!

[ojandpizza]

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

Such expert analysis with great context and nuance.

Gotta love NBA Twitter!

Agreed [emoji1373][emoji23]


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[cima]

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

OP is an idiot, stupid thread. Teams (Clippers for example) still building a huge portion of their roster to stop LeBron. No one builds their roster to stop Kawhi.

[J_Posse]

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

OP is an idiot, stupid thread. Teams (Clippers for example) still building a huge portion of their roster to stop LeBron. No one builds their roster to stop Kawhi.

How do you "stop" Leonard on offense? He's nearly unguardable on that end of the court & has even become an adequate passer (his biggest weakness on offense).

And it is hard to "build a team" to stop Leonard when he has nearly no offensive weakness like LeBron does (his perimeter jumper).

It is surprising to say that it is Kawhi's, yes, I said his actual name (he still is "Nephew" to me, damn it), defense that has regressed as he's aged (and bulked up). He can't consistently defend quicker, more fleet footed PG's on a nightly basis like his San Antonio days.

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?

How do you "stop" Leonard on offense? He's nearly unguardable on that end of the court & has even become an adequate passer (his biggest weakness on offense).

And it is hard to "build a team" to stop Leonard when he has nearly no offensive weakness like LeBron does (his perimeter jumper).

It is surprising to say that it is Kawhi's, yes, I said his actual name (he still is "Nephew" to me, damn it), defense that has regressed as he's aged (and bulked up). He can't consistently defend quicker, more fleet footed PG's on a nightly basis like his San Antonio days.

Official HQ of Bills Backer/Spurs Nation

Copy whatever the Raptors did earlier this year, lol.

I just mean he's a great scorer and he's gotten better as a passer but he could never take over a game as a playmaker like LeBron could. You can try and take LeBron the scorer away but he can still control the game with his passing, hence him leading the league in APG.

Clips paired Kawhi/PG, tried to get Iguadola and ended up with Marcus Morris too, all with the objective of having plenty of bodies to throw at LeBron in their inevitable showdown.

[cima]

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

This thread and this article aged like milk. I wasn't the only one thinking it though. This is hilarious to read now in Sept 2020 with the Lakers in the WCF.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2825420-what-could-the-lakers-get-for-lebron-not-as-much-as-you-think

[3304Life]

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

Meh, I think it’s Kawhi.


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[Jukeman]

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

As I said when this thread was created, LBJ is still the best players lol.

To put things into perspective, when Dirk won, he was suddenly better than Timmy.


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[ProfessaPackMan]

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

Lol silly *** thread

[Master Live 013]

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

I stand by this:

https://forums.operationsports.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2049829443&postcount=4096

[TheFinalEvent97]

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

This thread and this article aged like milk. I wasn't the only one thinking it though. This is hilarious to read now in Sept 2020 with the Lakers in the WCF.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/...h-as-you-think

Even more so now

[CaseIH]

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

Lebron probably isnt the undisputed best player on the planet now, but I dont know, who i would put ahead of him. Before KD's injury he was right there with Lebron, 2 different players obviously skills wise, but you could make a case for KD then, but until he comes back, from injury, he shouldnt even be in the discussion as best player.
I dont even like Lebron, for a few reasons, but as of right now, counting this whole regular season and playoffs combined, I cant put anyone above him as best player on the planet. there is a few nipping at his heals, that will pass him soon, more than likely, but for now Lebron is still the best player, when counting all skills.
The greek freek may have won MVP, and I dont normally base playoffs, and titles on who the best player is, but the Greek Freak, and his team was knocked out pretty easy, I dont care about him having a sprained ankle, Ive seen worse than what he had, and it not stop a great player, my gosh look at the miles on Lebron, and look what he played thru, a few yrs ago in the finals, and almost single handedly beat the mighty Warriors, by himself and he was banged up.

Kawhi dont play enough games, to be considered the best, as far as Im concerned, he shouldnt even be in discussion, with as many games as he sits out. Not a fan of this gen, of players and this load management crap on young guys, and nothing will convince me, so no need to try. I know what I deal with everyday of my life, and I dont want to hear nothing about load management on any of these young elite athletes.


I may feel differently depending on how the rest of the playoffs play out, on who the best is in the game right now, if Lebron aint, but until then, Lebron is the best player, and likely still will be depending on how the rest of the playoffs go.

[ojandpizza]

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

You can tell by the aftermath of this season and the reactions from the sports media/interwebz that regardless of if you think someone is better than LeBron or not there is not a single player in the league who has as much expected of him or receives the level of backlash and criticism as he does.

Could you imagine if he was Kawhi right now? Would be "LeBron is no Jordan", "LeBron really lost with that team", "LeBron picked his super-team and still lost", "LeBron choked the the 4th", "Did you watch the 4th quarter it was clear LeBron just quit", "LeBron doesn't have killer mentality", "wow LeBron really got his coach fired", "LeGM just going to pick his teammates and the new coach", etc..

[cima]

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

Yet everyone is giving Kawhi a pass because he's quiet. It's super annoying.

If I learned anything from the past two seasons it's that Kawhi doesn't belong in the conversation for best player in the world. The only reason he entered the conversation was because he hit the luckiest GW of all time and KD/Klay got hurt. I'm not saying he's one of the top guys, he's for sure and will be top 5-10 but I don't ever foresee a scenario where he's considered #1. People can defend and pout about the Clippers chemistry issues but Kawhi is apart of that team therefore he's part of the problem, especially when he choked hard in Game 7 like the rest of his team did. And he was getting ALL the praise in the offseason. "Real Gs move in silence like lasagna". "Kawhi out GMed LeBron". "Kawhi is the GM LeBron thinks he is" "It's his city now". Etc.

The reports of Jimmy Butler being his first choice to team up with make total sense because Butler would've been the leader of the squad. I don't think Kawhi is comfortable in that role but if I want to be fair it's also a new role for him because he didn't have to be that in SA or TOR.

Truth is though Kawhi doesn't move the needle and that's why no one is talking about him. But yeah if it was LeBron that had this meltdown, they'd all talk about it every week.