Originalgangsta317
Banned
at the bolded.
It's interchangeable, my top 5 is fluid to be honest, but these are a short list of players I'd rank over Lebron:
MJ
Kareem
Magic
Bird
Russell
Wilt
Oscar
Kobe
Shaq
Duncan
These are the types of players I'd say Lebron is more or less on par with:
Olajuwon
Drexler
Isaiah
etc.
I would say at this point Lebron is definitely top 25, after that it depends on what you look at. Here's my criteria:
Degree of difficulty faced
- E.g. the 80s NBA, the 90s Eastern Conference, and the '00s Western Conference were all full of GOAT type teams
Who didn't win because of them
-All the players I mentioned as being better than Lebron have HOF players who never won championships because of them, e.g.
Jordan - Malone, Stockton, Gary Payton, Ewing, Barkley, are all players who should have probably had rings
Kobe- Chris Webber, Allen Iverson, T-Mac, Dwight are all players who probably would have had rings
Lebron's list reading like Deshaun Stevenson and Gilbert Arenas
Did they dominate at the highest level?
-All the players I mentioned have winning records in the finals, were the direct reason for those records, and were generally considered by the peers to be the best at the time. Can't say that for the King
Would their squad be considered a GOAT squad?
-Everybody I mentioned were on teams that were arguably GOATs. Can we say that for the Heat?
Did they dominate their position on the floor?
- Never a question in any situation Kobe was the best SG on the floor. I saw Iggy and Kawhi give 'Bron that work in the NBA finals 2x in a row. Let's be real, that wouldn't happen to Jordan, that wouldn't happen to Kobe, we already know Magic would have gotten busy
While stats are a factor, they don't tell the whole story. I don't use stats to compare different eras that much. I'm very sure if Bird or Dr. J played the point forward position their assists would be way up as well. HOpe that explains my position for you
Nah,now if I leave the bias out,I can deal with Lebron not being top 5 yet,but you putting him around top 25? No way,stats alone Lebron is top 5 easily add in two rings,2 finals mvp,we talking top 3,now add in the losses in the finals then that could drop him to top 10,but no lower. Dude easily is a top 10 player ever regardless of anything.
