I honestly can't understand any argument for Lebron to be in the top 5 other than finals played which to me is ridiculous. His stats are inflated, his conference was trash during the majority of his career, how can y'all put him above the likes of Magic, Duncan, Kareem, etc is just beyond me.
The media made an incredible job of brainwashing people on this nikka. He got 3 rings but somehow rings don't matter only to when it comes to Lebron
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You dumb as hell trying to use conference strength to put Kareem/Magic above Lebron. The 1980s Western Conference was FAR worse than anything Lebron has ever seen. You had two teams with losing records playing in the fukking Conference Finals one year... Both got there and Magic/Kareem teamed together didn't. That's 100 times worse than losing to Dallas in six in the Finals.
You're ignoring the fact that since he's been in the league, he, Nike, ABC, ESPN, etc. have allowed himself to be hyped as the greatest ever. He permitted himself to be compared to best player to have played in the modern era (Michael Jordan).
What do you mean by he "allowed himself" to be hyped as potentially as good as Jordan? Was he supposed to say, "No, I will never be as good as Jordan"? Then you'd be using that against him instead.
No one in history has claimed, "More humble NBA players are better", otherwise Russell, Wilt, Kareem, Magic, Larry, Jordan, Shaq never would have gotten the shine they did. All of them were arrogant as fukk pretty much from the moment they stepped into the league, but it don't hurt their legacy.
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Jordon wouldn't have lost 4 finals....plus like u said..total dominance. Nobody gonna be able to top that...at least not in near future...probably not ever.
Jordan-world: where he can lose four first rounds but not four Finals, because apparently first rounds are harder than Finals.
And I'm sure that Jordan at the age of 23 would single-handedly defeat the 2007 Spurs with TP/Ginobli/Duncan all near their peaks despite Boobie Gibson being his #2 and Mike Brown his coach. ..when actual Jordan only won one career playoff GAME before the age of 25.
Or somehow win 1-on-5 against the 2015 Warriors or defend every one of the 2014 Spurs simultaneously when they're all shooting 60%.
Jordan has a fantastic resume, but it's a narrow one. He won as a veteran with Phil as his coach and Pippen as his #2 with solid players in every role against man defenses in an expansion era. That describes ALL his championships. We don't know how he would have performed without a great coach or a great sidekick or with holes on his team or against a zone defense or when facing a stacked team. The closest we saw to that, when he was under 28 or over 36, he lost. (Also 1995.)
If lebron can win a few more rings then yea he'll be top3 but he ain't right now
So who is top three then? Only Jordan has more than three Finals MVPs. To base ranking on titles won when the guy wasn't even dominant player in the series seems off.
Nope because he's done. The Servant has closed the case on the chasing of the ghost in Chicago.
I'm not even entertaining the conversation until he gets at least 5, til then I'm not even rocking with him being better than Kobe. Unfortunately the Servant has closed the door on the chasing of the ghost in Chicago.
Whether or not Lebron is a better player than Jordan depends on what team Durant plays on? You realize how dumb that sounds?
But if, say, Durant gets hurt and therefore the Cavs win the title, does that make Lebron a better player than if he'd lost to a Warriors team with a healthy Durant?
Even IF everything you pointed out was true. As a person that has been blessed enough to see pretty much all of there primes. When the GAME/SERIES/SHIP is on the line who you want taking the final shot?
So screw defense, passing, rebounding, leadership, all that matters is shooting.
I guess before Jordan came around, you were calling Jerry West the GOAT over Wilt and Russell, and then Bird was the GOAT over Magic and Kareem?
Not to mention that sometimes you need three...and how many game-winning threes did Jordan hit in his career? I remember John Paxson and Steve Kerr hitting them though.
There's literally nothing Lebron does better than Jordan tho.
You mean, other than passing, rebounding, hitting threes, defending bigs, and team defense, right?
Brons legacy falls apart without numbers though.
I guess 4 MVPs, 3 Finals MVPs, 8 playoff game-winners, the greatest elimination and Game 7 performances in history, Detroit Game 5 and Indiana Game 4 and Boston Game 6 and San Antonio Game 7 and defeating the 73-win Warriors after down 3-1 while leading everyone on the court in everything are all technically "numbers".
He's top 5 rn, top 2-3 if he knocks this Warrior's Team off in the finals. But as somebody who grew up on MJ legends and tales what he's done and watched most, if not all of Bron's run since he first got drafted? I can't in good conscience say he'll surpass MJ as the GOAT. He's the most athletically gifted player of all time and will go down as one of the greatest, but probably not THE greatest.
