Sports Daily: LeBron's Declaration

[jeebs9]

Re: Sports Daily: LeBron's Declaration

The 3rd part of LeBrons career should be very interesting....I'm intrigued to see what "old manl" LeBron is like...

That's basically what I'm waiting for before I really say anything.

[lilteapot]

Re: Sports Daily: LeBron's Declaration

It'll be interesting if he can adapt his game to be more refined and skillful and if his perimeter shooting improves, much like kobe had to change it up when he got older.

[ojandpizza]

Re: Sports Daily: LeBron's Declaration

That's basically what I'm waiting for before I really say anything.

Part of me wants him to leave at a younger age like MJ so he can go out on top, part of me wants him to stick around and pile up ridiculous accolades... Either way all waiting around to see him play while he's older isn't going to count for much except for his stats and possible all-NBA awards, or rings.. None of which really matter all that much in my view.. Players at their very best goes way father in my opinion on how they stack up with other players at their best.. Very few players age as nicely as Kareem, Kobe, Malone, and Duncan and most are out of the league before it even gets to that point.. But regardless it doesn't really matter to me who's better at age 35 anyways lol.

[thedream2k13]

"Hey look everyone, it's LeBron James again. He can dunk and he can talk -- about himself even."

EXACTLY

[ehh]

Re: Sports Daily: LeBron's Declaration

Random but how come Tim Duncan never gets talked about being one of the top 4-5 players to have played the game? Always noticed his name never comes up in that conversation although it pops up when expanding it to Top 10 players of all time.

1) Look at the Finals TV ratings when the Spurs have been in them. They're dreadful. People don't watch him play that often and/or don't like watching him play which obviously has an impact on how they rank him. His "substance over style" game hurts him.

2) Not sure you can make a compelling case for him against Kareem, Wilt or Russell. You can make a case vs Hakeem and Shaq though. Neither of those last two guys ever get into Top 5 arguments (or shouldn't at least) so it makes sense that Timmy doesn't.

3) He has the "Kobe Effect" going against him. For much of his career you can argue he wasn't the best player in the league or even the Top 2 in some years.

4) Something like getting destroyed by Amare that one series can hurt a guy's legacy. Just look at the Hakeem vs the Admiral situation, it's almost the first thing people bring up when discussing Robinson's legacy. Granted that was on a much larger scale than Amare/Duncan (and Duncan easily won the series and played well) it still leaves a lasting impression. Seeing a guy get lit up over an entire series isn't going to give you a "damn, that's Top 5 player" type of feeling inside. It's pretty easy to say Amare was the better PF in that series.

5) His statistics are good but not great. Hasn't averaged over 20.0 ppg since he was 28 years old. He's a bit of a compiler like Karl Malone. Only two MVP's - both of which came at a time when the league's talent level was extremely low.

6) Same thing that I hold against Shaq, the league was void of quality big men when they won titles. I can't help but think how Timmy would have fared if he was born a decade earlier and had to face a league full of good big men. He'd be great but probably wouldn't have won as much.


All in all I think he deserves to be in the Top 10 so he's properly ranked there when most people have these discussions. When he finally retires I'll probably never be able to decide how I'd rank Shaq, Hakeem and Timmy (always said I'd take Hakeem over Shaq though). If the Spurs had managed to beat LeBron last year and get Timmy that 5th title I think it would have done wonders for his legacy.

[The 24th Letter]

Re: Sports Daily: LeBron's Declaration

"Hey look everyone, it's LeBron James again. He can dunk and he can talk -- about himself even."



EXACTLY

.....what?

[ggsimmonds]

You disappoint me OS. LeBron did not declare that he was a top 4 player of all time, he said he is going to be.

There is a difference, and with that difference in mind, I do not have a problem with what he said at all. As a matter of fact, his goal should be to be number one of all time.

[24]

Re: Sports Daily: LeBron's Declaration

I think he certainly has the potential to be if he keeps up the current pace he's at now. He's approaching the make or break part of his career when it comes to aging however. It will be interesting to see if he's able to adapt to a new style of play as he ages. I have no doubt that He will be able to do it.

[TjJunior]

Confidence and consistent play are key to being a professional athlete in my opinion, so I would say the same thing. Its where he wants to be and maybe saying it aloud for himself and everyone else is motivational. Whatever gets you to your end game, do it. No matter how its recieved by the public.

[Vni]

Re: Sports Daily: LeBron's Declaration

Next player Lebron teams up with is a point guard. As he gets older he will becomre more of a high post roll man power forward type of player and he will need a great point guard.

[lhslancers]

Re: Sports Daily: LeBron's Declaration

Interesting you basically said LeBron can't be up there unless he can keep winning, while Oscar never won until he got Kareem, Wilt only took 1 ring from Russell's dominance before he finally teamed with other stars and took a backseat role to win another in LA.. Magic and Bird could never fully keep the other from winning, DR. J didn't win **** without Moses, and Duncan never full solidified his stretch of rings over Shaq and various other teams through this modern era.

Oscar never won and neither did anyone else beat Russell's Celtics teams.

It is hard to argue against Russell being on the list over Wilt but Wilt had to be the most dominating player ever to play the game. Throw out the 100 point game but the guy averaged like 35 25 for his career or close and when he wanted to dish he lead the league in assists one year.

Wilt
Magic
MJ
The Big O

[Rocky]

Re: Sports Daily: LeBron's Declaration

I don't think Lebron will ever reach the reverance that MJ, Russell, Bird, or Magic have. Those guys meant so much more to the game than there on the floor statistics would indicate. I think Lebron will be grouped in with Wilt, KAJ, Oscar, etc. Great players, probably as good if not better than the players listed above, but they just didn't have the impact that my "Mount Rushmore" has.

[jcmreds]

Big talk from someone who had his second title handed to him by Pop sitting out Duncan at the end of game 6.

[jcmreds]

Sorry Bron but someone who starts the NBA finals with 3 straight sub 20 point games and shoots under 45% 5 of 7 games isn't a goat contender. He's lucky he was playing against 37 year old Duncan(who still dominated) instead of 27 year old Duncan.

[ojandpizza]

Re: Sports Daily: LeBron's Declaration

Are you series with that stuff? He still played great in that finals series, hit every big shot they needed in game 7 and they won.. Hell some of these other guys weren't even finals MVPs the years their teams won championships, and you're gonna say LeBron wasn't good enough in one finals series to be considered as good as them? That's ridiculous.