Who Was the Better Player In His Prime?

  • Larry Bird

    Votes: 68 41.5%
  • LeBron James

    Votes: 76 46.3%
  • Delonte West Won

    Votes: 20 12.2%

  • Total voters
    164

KOBE

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Bird played with hall of fukking famers. Miss me with that. Brons been playing with up to par teammates since 2010. And has made the finals every year since then.

He spent his first 7 years with who?

Ya he was, so his stats as a whole were going to go down as they actually had to share the ball back then rather than let Bird dominate alone.

Bird started the whole 50/40/90 thing and had multiple seasons of it before it become a thing again in recent years as more players started doing it(and hardly with ease).

Lebron also had the benefit of the whistle these days because whether you like it not, it is easier to draw a call and go to the foul line these days because of the rules. I'm not saying Lebron isn't tough or whatever nonsense there is about the "tougher" eras, but it is BY FAR easier to draw fouls in this day and age than it was back then.

You say Lebron would have had "5 rings" easy had he had the right team around him. I mean, Bird's team would have had 5+ rings easy had they been together in this era rather than playing against those equally stacked Lakers, Philly, and Celtic teams of the 80's. It goes both ways, Bird wasn't the only one playing with HOF squads back then. No one is going to forget that legitimate issue of Lebron's finals performance in 2011 too nor the beatdown he got in 2014. It's easy to say he could have won more rings, in reality those Spurs/Lakers teams would still have been dominating the west and would still have just as good of a chance at taking Lebron down as anyone else.

I'm just saying anyone putting Lebron over Bird is placing him in the top 6 of all time and I don't think he's done enough to deserve that. Unless you don't even have Bird in your top 10 at all and that in itself is insulting.
 

William F. Russell

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Larry has a better jump shot and post game... thats it.


If they both play 1 on 1 in their primes Lebron Kills larry, stop mythologizing these players.


Larry was more clutch than LeBron. He hit more big shots. He elevated his game when necessary. He was without a doubt the most important player on those 80s Celtics and the reason they won.

Stop lionizing LeBron.
 

William F. Russell

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Look at his career. He played in Miami for 4 years only. When its all said and done and hes had a 19 or so year career. Yall gone be talking about them 4 years still? Thats a very small fraction of his career, and he had a 50% FINALS WIN rate with them. Which should be 75% because she should have won in 11'. And last year we know what happened. But :cook:

But outside of those 4 years, he disappointed in remarkable fashion. When it's all said and done, LeBron could be 2-4 or even 2-5 in NBA Finals. And he's better than Bird who was 3-2?
 

Taadow

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Look at his career. He played in Miami for 4 years only. When its all said and done and hes had a 19 or so year career. Yall gone be talking about them 4 years still? Thats a very small fraction of his career, and he had a 50% FINALS WIN rate with them. Which should be 75% because she should have won in 11'. And last year we know what happened. But :cook:

That ain't what I asked you.
Your knock on Bird is he "played with Hall of fukking famers".


LeBron played with Shaq. And we know Wade is goin' in. Bosh might, too. So what are you saying, Todd?
 

onelastdeath

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That ain't what I asked you.
Your knock on Bird is he "played with Hall of fukking famers".


LeBron played with Shaq. And we know Wade is goin' in. Bosh might, too. So what are you saying, Todd?
He played with Shaq for one year in 2009, and he averaged 12 points and 6 rebounds. Like what the fukk :heh:

He didnt even play with Miami version Shaq or even Phoenix. C'mon :comeon:
 

onelastdeath

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Larry was more clutch than LeBron. He hit more big shots. He elevated his game when necessary. He was without a doubt the most important player on those 80s Celtics and the reason they won.

Stop lionizing LeBron.
I get that you're a Celtics fan. But theres a reason why Bron is universally recognized as the greatest SF. Because he is the greatest SF. Im sorry to tell you that. He just is.
 

Consumed

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Nah, LBJ's better. The clutch argument goes out the window when you realize that he is one of the greatest do or die performers in league history with elimination numbers on par with Jordan. You pretty much have to ignore defense in this comparison if arguing for Bird, and offensively LBJ has put up even greater scoring volume on average with great efficiency and was no less skilled of a playmaker. IIRC he's already surpassed him in career minutes too so longevity isn't lacking here either
 

William F. Russell

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I get that you're a Celtics fan. But theres a reason why Bron is universally recognized as the greatest SF. Because he is the greatest SF. Im sorry to tell you that. He just is.

Very debatable. But we can agree to disagree.

Bird has 3 rings (out of 5 Finals appearances); hit more clutch/game-winning shots; had better stats in his prime; held his own in his legendary rivalry against Magic; elevated his game and inspired his teammates to elevate theirs....I just don't see how people can have LeBron as the better SF when he's 2-4 in the Finals; won as a member of a super-team in a watered-down league; is nowhere near as clutch
 

LurkMoar

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Larry was more clutch than LeBron. He hit more big shots. He elevated his game when necessary. He was without a doubt the most important player on those 80s Celtics and the reason they won.

Stop lionizing LeBron.



How the fukk do we use clutchness as a measure of a player? considering lebron has the most last second game winning shots ever :snoop:


you put Lebron and Larry in a vacuum and its not even a contest.
 

William F. Russell

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Nah, LBJ's better. The clutch argument goes out the window when you realize that he is one of the greatest do or die performers in league history with elimination numbers on par with Jordan. You pretty much have to ignore defense in this comparison if arguing for Bird, and offensively LBJ has put up even greater scoring volume on average with great efficiency and was no less skilled of a playmaker. IIRC he's already surpassed him in career minutes too so longevity isn't lacking here either

Jordan, Magic, and Barkley have all said that they'd rather have Bird take the final shot than LeBron.

Bird was a fukking assassin sharp-shooter in a much more competitive era. I get it's the Coli and Bird is a cac but the disrespect he gets on this site is mind-blowing.
 

MAKAVELI25

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Look at his career. He played in Miami for 4 years only. When its all said and done and hes had a 19 or so year career. Yall gone be talking about them 4 years still? Thats a very small fraction of his career, and he had a 50% FINALS WIN rate with them. Which should be 75% because she should have won in 11'. And last year we know what happened. But :cook:

Dude, you're younger than me. I strongly doubt you ever saw Bird play.
 

William F. Russell

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How the fukk do we use clutchness as a measure of a player? considering lebron has the most last second game winning shots ever :snoop:


you put Lebron and Larry in a vacuum and its not even a contest.


But you can't. You have to look at their respective careers and accomplishments.

3 > 2

3/5 > 2/6

Bird vs. Magic > James vs. Duncan

And Bird NEVER underperformed in the playoffs/finals like Bron did in 2011 Finals.

You can't be top 5 when you've lost 4 Finals.
 
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