“Nobody feared LeBron. I’ve heard people say including myself that they feared Michael Jeffrey Jordan” Shaq

[Kaypain]

What about Iguadala, Klay, George Hill, Derozan, JJ Reddikk, Kyle Lowry and Paul George?

 

[Professor Emeritus]

I don’t know. The Pistons seemed to be scared. They resorted to using wwe tactics.

Sent 4 guys onto him on the last play of the game and still couldn't stop him from getting to the rim for the game-winner and his 25th consecutive point.

 

[bigde09]

Bill Cartwright didn't fear Jordan, that's for damn sure

Jordan said he was trash and he did nothing about it “If you say that A-again I-I’ll break your legs”

 

[Mars]

How can people say no one feared Lebron when Golden State signed Durant specifically to stack the deck against Lebron?

 

[Woodrow]

this might be the single goofiest argument you can make to justify someone's GOAT status. subjective semantics.

 

[Kaypain]

What about Iguadala, Klay, George Hill, Derozan, JJ Reddikk, Kyle Lowry and Paul George?

Add

Isiah Thomas
Larry Bird
Jason Kidd
Allen Iverson
Eddie Johnson
Cade Cunningham
Even Paul Peirce started giving him props

 

[Coli Hoecomb]

Sent 4 guys onto him on the last play of the game and still couldn't stop him from getting to the rim for the game-winner and his 25th consecutive point.

My bad bro I should have been clearer. I was taking about MJ and the Bad Boys Pistons.
That being said, I’m sure Bron kept the opposing team up at night during his peak years. He was definitely feared at one point.

 

[threattonature]

The claim was that that Pistons team was "3-4 years" past their best, when they were literally coming off of their best year. It made it out like they had all aged out when most of the starters were still peaking.





Sheed was still playing at an All-Star level and was better integrated into the team, Billups/Rip/Prince were all better in 2007 than they were in 2004, and they added Webber who was good enough he would have been the #2 on Bron's squad. There's a reason that team still won 59 games in 2008 and made the ECF for the 6th straight season, which was the season AFTER LeBron had beaten them and 5 more wins than they had in 2004 or 2005.

And LeBron came literally one rebound away from beating Detroit in 2006, when they still had Big Ben and were in their absolute prime winning 64 games.

Compare that to the '91 Pistons, who had an injured Isiah Thomas who would never be the same plus Laimbeer, Vinnie, and Edwards all 33+ and on the verge of retirement. Only won 50 games that year with a shell of a squad, the next year they won just 48 and were dismissed by the Knicks in the first round. Yet Jordan gets credit for beating the "Big Bad Pistons" for the first time in four tries, while Bron's defeat of an objectively better (at the moment) Pistons squad is being dismissed solely because Big Ben had been traded out for Webber.

Rasheed was putting up 12/7 that year. Only reason he'd be close to all-star team is due to how weak the East was at that time. During that 06-07 season Detroit went 17-13 against the West. Barely above 500. They feasted off the east going 36-16. What the hell does the old 91 Pistons team have to do with anything?

And why you moving the goalposts. I didn't even comment on the actual thread just pointing you hyping up the Pistons like they were the same squad. Their GM knew they were done for which is why they traded Big Ben in the first place.

 

[BlackMajik]

Jordan said he was trash and he did nothing about it “If you say that A-again I-I’ll break your legs”

Jordan never disrespected him again

Stop dikk eating

 

[Professor Emeritus]

My bad bro I should have been clearer. I was taking about MJ and the Bad Boys Pistons.
That being said, I’m sure Bron kept the opposing team up at night during his peak years. He was definitely feared at one point.

Yeah, the Pistons absolutely feared MJ, but they did what every professional squad does and dealt with it. I think every team that faced MJ feared what he could do, but they didn't walk onto the court shook (well, except maybe the Blazers in 4th quarters). Even squads like the Cavs and the Sonics were giving him everything he could handle.

Same with Bron. Teams are shook of him the same way they're shook of MJ, but are professionals just gonna sit down on the court and fold? Maybe the Raptors did that, or the Harden/Westbrook Rockets, but that's it.

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Rasheed was putting up 12/7 that year. Only reason he'd be close to all-star team is due to how weak the East was at that time.

Actually closer to 13/7, and he was putting up less than 14/7 for Detroit in 2004, lol. You just killed your own argument. He was still the same guy.

What the hell does the old 91 Pistons team have to do with anything?

Because the entire premise of the thread was that teams were afraid of Jordan, but not of LeBron. When we pointed out actual teams that were shook of LeBron, posters tried to dismiss it with "but those players sucked" or "but those teams were past their prime." And I'm showing they don't have that same energy for the past-their-prime squads that Jordan built most of his rep on.

washed Pistons (with Isaiah hurt)
washed Lakers (with Worthy hurt)
washed Jazz who had never done anything
perennially choking Blazers
perennially choking Knicks
young Sonics
one-year-wonder soft ass Suns

Those are the teams that Jordan built his entire rep on, right in the heart of the expansion era when every squad outside of Chicago was diluted as hell. Not a single squad who actually looked like an elite all-time team the year Chicago beat them other than maybe the no-defense Suns. There's no 2013 Spurs or 2016 Warriors on his body count, even the 2007 Pistons, 2011 Celtics, 2011 Bulls, 2012 Thunder, and 2020 Nuggets would compare well with the teams Jordan won against.

So why are we dismissing actual elite, veteran, healthy teams that Bron beat, yet letting those easy-ass squads from MJ's era slide?

And why you moving the goalposts. I didn't even comment on the actual thread just pointing you hyping up the Pistons like they were the same squad. Their GM knew they were done for which is why they traded Big Ben in the first place.

LOL, they had won SIXTY-FOUR games in 2006, but the GM knew they were "done"? No, they just saw the league was changing from the slow-ass non-shooting era that had dominated 1995-2005 and they wouldn't be able to complete anymore with an offensive non-factor on the floor that could be fouled in the clutch with zero consequences, especially as Big Ben was aging.

Billups was 29yo, All-Star, 2nd-team All-NBA, 2nd-team All-Defensive, 5th in MVP voting, hit his career high in scoring, stayed All-Star level through 2010.
Rip was 27yo, All-Star, was just 0.3ppg off of his career high in scoring, stayed All-Star level through 2008.
Prince was 25yo, 2nd-team All-Defensive, got DPOY votes, was just 0.6ppg off his career high in scoring, stayed All-Defensive through 2008.
Sheed was 31yo, All-Star, got DPOY votes, had his highest scoring year for the Pistons that season, stayed All-Star level through 2008.
Big Ben was 32yo, All-Star, 2nd-team All-NBA, 1st-team All-Defensive, DPOY

That 2006 team was easily the best version of the Pistons, and LeBron got a 3-2 lead on them and came 1 rebound away from finishing them off. That's why they traded Big Ben for Webber who had averaged 20 and 10 for Philly the previous season. Pistons were at their absolute peak all the way through 2006 and legitimately close to three-peating if a couple things had gone differently, and they were still an elite squad through 2008 when they won 59 games and gave the Celtics superteam a tough match in the ECF.


Dismissing a 59-win ECF squad with 3 All-Stars and a 4th All-Defensive as "done" just because they had traded out one player is ridiculous.

 

[Roger king]

Absolute nonsense by shaq, tons of players feared bron, he ran an entire conference for a decade in the premier basketball league

 

[Jalether]

Is he lying? How many players and teams faced by lebron have expressed their fear of going up against him

Either provide evidence that shaq is lying or stop attacking the messenger

This is what I hate about sports analysis in the social media era, instead of rebutting the assertion with facts, they troll the messenger instead

 

[Peruvian Connect]

With the exception on those cowards in Toronto who was scared of LeBron? Paul George got deemed a "superstar" for playing well against Miami. Victor Oladipo got propped up for going 7 against LeBron. Oh yeah one biitchass play by Tayshaun Prince where he coward when LeBron went for a dunk. That Pistons team was trash anyway, too arrogant and disrespectful. Chauncey Billups acting like he was Steph Curry before Steph Curry existed and shiit. They also was without Ben Wallace

 

[lib123]

That's not a terrible comparison for MJ and LeBron. Hard to see how Kobe fits in there considering that he wasn't ever winning dominant like that.....


If MJ is Tyson and Bron is Floyd, then Kobe is Oscar de la Hoya.

Lol former NBA players would disagree. Former players have Kobe ranked higher than the media.