We are talking about finals appearances and wins not regular season or playoff wins against trash teams. Finals are the great equalizer. That's what counts cause the east was weak. How do we know it was weak? Simple, Lebrons teams dominated the east but outside of the gsw collapse in 2016 they got destroyed in the finals in recent history. Other teams out west put up more of a challenge to the western champs in the playoffs so one could argue they would have beat lebrons eastern team too if they got through gsw or spurs in 2014. Bron got swept in 2018. Lost 4-1 in 2017. Lost 4-2 in 2015 and Lost 4-1 in 2014. Those were not even competitive series but you want to give him credit for that. I'd would give him more credit if he pushed those to 7 games but he didnt.
Lebron gets credit for his rings. He just doesn't get any extra credit. Bron can keep ALL his 3 rings. Its still less than the others in the top 5. BUT IF you want to discredit some of kobe's 5 rings or Jordans then you can make that argument to discredit brons 2 in Miami. So if all of brons rings count then all of kobes and everyone elses do too. You are the one trying to downplay the importance of winning chips cause that argument doesnt favor lebron being top 5.
He got swept against the most stacked team in NBA history. I guess him jeff green and Larry Nance couldnt beat 5 all stars.
2017 again most stacked team in history.
In 2015 he lost kyrie and Kevin Love. Wtf. Jordan couldnt win a ring without hof teammates why is it not okay for Lebron to lose when all he had was Matthew delladova? Did you watch then? How can you consider that a detriment to his legacy?
Let me be clear, lebron isnt perfect. But you have to be fair. If you are going to hold a series against Lebron James, choose the Mavs series, not the one where he's lost his 2 best teammates or the ones where he's against completely stacked teams constructed specifically for the one goal to beat him.
And if were talking about east vs west. He just ran the west this year and let's not pretend the lakers arent at the very least hitting wcf and favored to go into the finals.
Also I don't know what you mean by extra credit for his rings. Lebron deserves credit for being the fmvp for his rings, what I dont give credit for is being a #2 or role player on a team for multiple rings and suddenly they're better than lebron. You can have 7 rings but if you're a Robin it's not nearly as impressive as what lebron has done.
How we really gonna say the east has been weak as shyt for 8 years straight? Every year these teams load up just to beat Lebron and they still cant do it. The bucks have their own version of lebron and they still cant do it. You can only play who's in front of you so we cant hold that over lebron.
So were just back to the root of the argument. Which is the value of making the finals.
When other players lose in the second round noone holds it against them and they can still be in the top 5.
When lebron goes to the finals 8 times in a row, he loses legacy points? That isnt rational. Larry bird can lose in the second round, never even sniff the finals, it's cool.
Lebron loses in 6 games without his 2 best players in the finals, wow what a choking piece of shyt.
Theres reasons to hate on LeBron, this is not the one.
this is best of the best we're talking about 
That cancels out the "only 2 players have more finals mvps" argument.
