LeBron is the GOAT because he (1)indisputably had the longest prime ever; (2)during that prime had arguably the highest peak ever; (3)during that peak and prime he won everywhere he went in a manner that is comparable to team dynasties...
I don't care so much about him being drafted into a trash team, as what he did with whatever team he had once he came into his own...
(4)He's the GOAT because he's still carrying this shaky league 21 years into his career. 99% of All-Timers didn't play 21 years and fewer of them held the mantle of face of The League even close to as long as he's held it...
(5)He's the GOAT because he exceeded every standard predicted of him upon entrance. When he was drafted in '03, not a single soul said "well he needs to go undefeated in Finals" or, "he needs 6 titles". You didn't say it and no one you knew said it either, I was watching basketball back then as I assume you were too, nobody put this fantastical bullshyt on him...
But people
did say and have expectations that he needed to develop into an All-Time great player, and we know what that entails. Dominance thru play, MVPs, and championships, of course. He checked every box and did it a level higher than anyone in his era...
We didn't put a number to it, you LeBron antagonists started this shyt once his dominance started translating into titles. He didn't need a number on it, we got you in this thread saying a nikka with just one MVP is the best player ever, we got people who call Shaq the most dominant player with only 1 MVP. At the moment of Wilt's retirement 51 years ago, and for even a generation after that, we had people arguing he was the greatest and/or most dominant player ever with "only" 2 rings...
Until the post-Jordan era (post his retirement in '98)
there was never this standard in NBA history that you needed to win a specific amount of titles to be considered arguably the GOAT. It's not a historical standard, its some bullshyt you Jordan riders started with nikkas who came after him----->which is hypocritical because it's well documented that people were calling Mike the GOAT long before he won his 6th championship...
So when you bring up "Finals record", its dishonest and irrelevant, nobody gave a fukk about how many losses you ever had in The Finals if you were a proven great, it only mattered how many times you won. Nobody ever said "you gotta have a winning Finals record" with Wilt's 2-4 record, instead the knock on Wilt was always his Regular Season Warrior status, and how he played well below that level postseason after postseason...
Nobody ever focused on Wilt's number of L's in The Finals, no one cared but its the fact that Wilt routinely and repeatedly played substandard in that round, and in earlier playoff rounds, compared to what he was doing in the 82, that what nikkas talked about...
"Finals record" is a bullshyt metric Jordan nikkas came up with but they dont use this metric when Russell's name comes up. The lack of across the board consistency from Jordan Stans is the worst part of NBA discourse...
LeBron lost 6 Finals and only ONE, just one, is attributable to his play. And he's taken more than his share of arrows for that weak ass showing in the last dozen years, no one excuses it, no one denies it, no one disagrees that he's the chief reason his team didn't win that title...
"Team hopping" is another irrelevant metric that Jordan nikkas started. nikkas always pushed they way into advantageous positions, are you not aware of Wilt's career? Shaq's career? The angling Magic and Kobe's representatives did on their behalf before they were drafted?
Stop it, it's a dumb ass qualifier that nobody gave a shyt less about until the way LeBron created his success started adding rings...
Mike played in an era that allowed for a run of dominance that'll never be duplicated. That alone (2 3peats, undefeated in Finals), are legacy points but
they are NOT anything to hinge his GOAT case on. You Mike nikkas have the weakest arguments. That 90s era is dominated could've been done by several of the pantheon GOATs if they came of age at the same time...
I'm consistent though, whereas you Mike nikkas don't have a consistent standard anywhere. I say the exact same thing about Bill Russell---->
he played in an era that allowed for unprecedented dominance that will NEVER be seen again. It's a legacy point for him, and Mike, because they are the guys who did that relative to their competition, but its irrelevant when comparing across generations. These other nikkas with legit GOAT claims didnt come of age in the 60s or 90s, and they werent direct competitors to Mike or Bill. Therefore, the total number of championships or Finals record doesn't matter...
The strongest arguments for Mike, is that at his apex, he dominated his peers to quite possibly a higher degree than anyone else in their eras. And in doing so he hoarded championships along the way, and while he had some bad games, there is no "choke" on his resume. But we don't have to pretend that Mike's championships success came with the Showtime Lakers or Bird Celtics at their apex, and we don't need to pretend that the era Mike was winning all these titles had Kevin Durants and Kawhi Leonard's and fully developed Kobe Bryant's as competition...
The dishonest argument of Mike backers is fukking annoying. He was HERE in his era, and after Bird and Magic left...
the next closest guys were here...
But he's not running up 6 rings in any other era other than the one he won them in...
Kobe was arguably the best player of his era, right there with Duncan, no argument from me there. They dominated 00s ball and as young black kids we related to Kobe more than Tim because of Kobe's flash, his game was more exciting, he was more relatable, and he was loud whereas Duncan was this slow boring big who didn't talk...
I have no problem with saying Kobe was the greatest player of that era as long as the discussion is objective to what Duncan also did in that same era. It's funny, you love equating Steph and Bron as equals of their era, the gap in performance is larger between those two than it ever was between Duncan and Kobe
more Jordan Propaganda inconsistency...
Of course, you basement dwelling fakkit would know how nikkas talk in “real life.”
