Lebron James, I’m convinced
 

Greatest athlete of my time, 1980-current.
40 years old (Dec 30) and dang near averaging a triple double while capable of playing ~ 40min a game.
Freak of nature
[emoji238]

I’m mostly in the baseball forum and we say we’re lucky to witness Ohtani, well we’re lucky to have Lebron too! And jfc, LA is incredibly lucky to have’em both at the same time.

He has one of the greatest tool-boxes of any athlete in NBA history.

It’s shocking he didn’t translate that to more nba titles.

[QUOTE=hermanotarjeta;19751249]He has one of the greatest tool-boxes of any athlete in NBA history.

It’s shocking he didn’t translate that to more nba titles.[/QUOTE]

is it really shocking though? no one was shocked he didnt win the first stint in Cleveland because they never had a championship caliber team. everyone agrees it was shocking the one loss to the mavs. the end to the heats run wasnt that shocking because wade was cooked. no one was shocked when the warriors won the first showdown after love and kyrie were injured. no one was shocked when the durant/curry warriors went on their run. the win with the lakers was kind of shocking. only one player has more finals mvps. so it seems that lebron has exceeded expectations because it proves how hard it is to win in the nba, especially now with how deep teams are. durant going to the warriors is probably the single biggest effect on the history of the nba. i could easily see kyrie never leaving Cleveland, lebron staying longer, and the cavs winning at least 3 titles if not for durant joining the warriors. lebron being lone #2 with 4 titles/fmvp and winning with 3 different franchises is shockingly impressive. the nba is a tough road with many things that have to go right to have team success. take a look at jokic. he will probably finish his career with 1 title. imagine him being drafted by the lakers or somehow ending up on the warriors early on or any great franchise, how many titles could he rack up? hes still one of the most talented players to ever play but he wont have the team success to his resume to really vault him up to the top of the mountain. sometimes i dont like how much weight goes into team success to rate a player but i know its neccessary.

[QUOTE=pingbling23;19751282]is it really shocking though? no one was shocked he didnt win the first stint in Cleveland because they never had a championship caliber team. everyone agrees it was shocking the one loss to the mavs. the end to the heats run wasnt that shocking because wade was cooked. no one was shocked when the warriors won the first showdown after love and kyrie were in[B][COLOR="Red"]j[/COLOR][/B]ured. no [COLOR="red"][B]o[/B][/COLOR]ne was shocked when the du[COLOR="red"][B]r[/B][/COLOR]ant/curry warriors went on their run. the win with the lakers was kin[B][COLOR="red"]d[/COLOR][/B] of shocking. only one pl[COLOR="red"][B]a[/B][/COLOR]yer has more fi[COLOR="red"][B]n[/B][/COLOR]als mvps. so [COLOR="red"][B]i[/B][/COLOR]t seem[COLOR="red"][B]s[/B][/COLOR] [COLOR="red"][B]t[/B][/COLOR]hat lebron [COLOR="red"][B]h[/B][/COLOR]as [B][COLOR="Red"]e[/COLOR][/B]xceeded expectations because it proves how hard it is to win in the nba, especially now with how deep teams are. durant goin[COLOR="red"][B]g[/B][/COLOR] to the warriors is probably the single biggest effect [B][COLOR="red"]o[/COLOR][/B]n the history of the nba. i could easily see kyrie never le[COLOR="red"][B]a[/B][/COLOR]ving Cleveland, lebron staying longer, and [COLOR="red"][B]t[/B][/COLOR]he cavs winning at least 3 titles if not for durant joining the warriors. lebron being lone #2 with 4 titles/fmvp and winning with 3 different franchises is shockingly impressive. the nba is a tough road with many things that have to go right to have team success. take a look at jokic. he will probably finish his career with 1 title. imagine him being drafted by the lakers or somehow ending up on the warriors early on or any great franchise, how many titles could he rack up? hes still one of the most talented players to ever play but he wont have the team success to his resume to really vault him up to the top of the mountain. sometimes i dont like how much weight goes into team success to rate a player but i know its neccessary.[/QUOTE]

Well said.

[QUOTE=jplarson;19751296]Well said.[/QUOTE]

Nicely done.

This version of "NBA" is unwatchable.

everyone shoots threes and then jogs back to stand on their own end of the court until its time to try for another three pointer.

wash, rinse, repeat

thats why he is still able to play.

MJ , Tiger and Tom Brady are all higher imho, but no denying he's terrific and has been a pleasure to watch .

One good game. LeBron is back. Climate change doesn't exist. I will say this, the refs and players allowed the old guys to strut their stuff and show how basketball is played with style. Panache Lakers for the win.

Steph was one Reaves layup past a half-trying Kuminga or whoever from having this thread about him.

[QUOTE=ThoseBackPages;19751304]This version of "NBA" is unwatchable.

everyone shoots threes and then jogs back to stand on their own end of the court until its time to try for another three pointer.

wash, rinse, repeat

thats why he is still able to play.[/QUOTE]

Yeah I tried to watch some Christmas Day games as I haven't paid much attention to the NBA since the 90's and it was atrocious.

[QUOTE=PuddleMonkey;19751330]Yeah I tried to watch some Christmas Day games as I haven't paid much attention to the NBA since the 90's and it was atrocious.[/QUOTE]

Regular season NBA is worthless.

Only the playoffs matter and even the players know that.

Tell that to a team like the 76ers vying for 12th. That game interested me much more than the others.

[QUOTE=jplarson;19751296]Well said.[/QUOTE]

Haha! 100%

[QUOTE=ThoseBackPages;19751304]This version of "NBA" is unwatchable.

everyone shoots threes and then jogs back to stand on their own end of the court until its time to try for another three pointer.

wash, rinse, repeat

thats why he is still able to play.[/QUOTE]
Indeed.

Amazing how desperate people are here to pump the corpse the NBA has become.

[QUOTE=ThoseBackPages;19751304]This version of "NBA" is unwatchable.

everyone shoots threes and then jogs back to stand on their own end of the court until its time to try for another three pointer.

wash, rinse, repeat

thats why he is still able to play.[/QUOTE]

He probably got some spiffy treatments the past few weeks to spice him up for these games

[QUOTE=Rbradleigh;19751240]Greatest athlete of my time, 1980-current.
40 years old (Dec 30) and dang near averaging a triple double while capable of playing ~ 40min a game.
Freak of nature
[emoji238]

I’m mostly in the baseball forum and we say we’re lucky to witness Ohtani, well we’re lucky to have Lebron too! And jfc, LA is incredibly lucky to have’em both at the same time.[/QUOTE]


He’d do well to make the top 5

[QUOTE=Rbradleigh;19751240]Greatest athlete of my time, 1980-current.
40 years old (Dec 30) and dang near averaging a triple double while capable of playing ~ 40min a game.
Freak of nature
[emoji238]

I’m mostly in the baseball forum and we say we’re lucky to witness Ohtani, well we’re lucky to have Lebron too! And jfc, LA is incredibly lucky to have’em both at the same time.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, it's not that his peak years were better than anyone else (though you can argue that they were), but the fact he's been able to be a top 5 player pretty much every year he' been healthy for 20+ straight years is insane. That kind of longevity you just don't see period. 10 or even 15 years, sure, but to perform at such a high level for such a long period of time is really unheard of. And this isn't some Frank Gore rack up numbers purely because he played so long thing.

[QUOTE=davidantx;19751328]MJ , Tiger and Tom Brady are all higher imho, but no denying he's terrific and has been a pleasure to watch .[/QUOTE]

MJ and Brady for sure. Easily. But many still have Jack Nicklaus as the golf goat.

[QUOTE=ThoseBackPages;19751304]This version of "NBA" is unwatchable.

everyone shoots threes and then jogs back to stand on their own end of the court until its time to try for another three pointer.

wash, rinse, repeat

thats why he is still able to play.[/QUOTE]



Basically ..been like that for at least 10 years now ..just jack up threes and all I hear is these players now are just so much more athletic these days but I don’t see it .

Incredibly physically gifted human being. He easily could have done the bare minimum and still had a long career due to being so physically gifted. But, he did the work and has utilized his physical gifts to put up numbers.

But I'd rather have a stone cold killer like MJ on my team.

Don’t post this here. Blowout doesn’t know basketball.

[QUOTE=bmf;19751595]MJ and Brady for sure. Easily. But many still have Jack Nicklaus as the golf goat.[/QUOTE]

Jack may be the golf goat, but at the absolute peak of their powers (2-3 year stretch), it's Tiger over Jack, and I don't think it is particularly close.

And I love MJ (probably goat overall like Jack), but if you apply the same peak conversation to basketball, I'd take LeBron over MJ. Physically there was just nothing LeBron couldn't do on offense and defense in his prime. And he was so good at elevating his teammates.

[QUOTE=Asian62150;19751903]Jack may be the golf goat, but at the absolute peak of their powers (2-3 year stretch), it's Tiger over Jack, and I don't think it is particularly close.

And I love MJ (probably goat overall like Jack), but if you apply the same peak conversation to basketball, I'd take LeBron over MJ. Physically there was just nothing LeBron couldn't do on offense and defense in his prime. And he was so good at elevating his teammates.[/QUOTE]

Apples and Oranges for Golf. Jack hit with a freaking wooden mallet for all intents and purposes

Different thread though

[IMG]https://media1.tenor.com/m/Hn4RPDx7TtYAAAAd/joker-the-dark-knight.gif[/IMG]

[QUOTE=pingbling23;19751282]is it really shocking though? no one was shocked he didnt win the first stint in Cleveland because they never had a championship caliber team. everyone agrees it was shocking the one loss to the mavs. the end to the heats run wasnt that shocking because wade was cooked. no one was shocked when the warriors won the first showdown after love and kyrie were injured. no one was shocked when the durant/curry warriors went on their run. the win with the lakers was kind of shocking. only one player has more finals mvps. so it seems that lebron has exceeded expectations because it proves how hard it is to win in the nba, especially now with how deep teams are. durant going to the warriors is probably the single biggest effect on the history of the nba. i could easily see kyrie never leaving Cleveland, lebron staying longer, and the cavs winning at least 3 titles if not for durant joining the warriors. lebron being lone #2 with 4 titles/fmvp and winning with 3 different franchises is shockingly impressive. the nba is a tough road with many things that have to go right to have team success. take a look at jokic. he will probably finish his career with 1 title. imagine him being drafted by the lakers or somehow ending up on the warriors early on or any great franchise, how many titles could he rack up? hes still one of the most talented players to ever play but he wont have the team success to his resume to really vault him up to the top of the mountain. sometimes i dont like how much weight goes into team success to rate a player but i know its neccessary.[/QUOTE]

There were a lot of people that expected LeBron to win his last two years in Cleveland. The Cavs had the best record in the NBA both years. At a minimum they should have made the Finals and we could have seen LeBron and Kobe go head to head on the biggest stage.

It was shocking when he formed his superteam in Miami and LeBron was 3rd on the team in scoring as they lost in the Finals to Dallas. The last season, people did expect the Heat to win against the team they beat the previous season.

It wasn't a surprise that the Lakers won in 2020. They did have the best record in the Western conference as well as 2 1st team All NBA players.

Keep on trying to rewrite history.

Agreed. I'm a Bulls fan to the death but he surpassed Jordan in my rankings a couple years ago.