Exactly.
I get why Curry is in the discussion too, but he just can't impact the game enough of the defensive end or inside for him to be up with the other three.
He's absolutely the most effective driver and scorer in the NBA, and you can argue that's the #1 most important offensive skill, because you singlehandedly get the ball from the perimeter to the hoop for the #1 most high percentage shot.
He's still easily the best passer/distributor of all the elite scorers in the NBA.
When he's able to focus on defense he's still the scariest team defense player of any elite scorer. I ain't buying that Durant suddenly passed him there just because KD looks good on D when he's surrounded by three All-Defensive players AND gets a light load on the offensive end. With the injuries to Love/JR this year and the lack of any backup point whatsoever, Lebron took on too much on offense and had to save energy on defense as a result. But when he's allowed to lock in he's still a better rim protector and help defender than anyone else on the elite list.
He's the best elimination game player in the NBA. No one else performs as consistently as him when the chips are on the line.
The NBA's GM's voted him the best leader in the NBA when the season started.
On the other side, he's not nearly as good a shooter as Durant or Curry, Kawhi seems to have passed him there too, Kawhi plays MUCH better one-on-one defense than him. Besides that, what are any of those guys better than him at?
No one in the NBA transforms the game as much when they enter. The Warriors are still great without Durant, Spurs still look like a machine without Kawhi, but Lebron can take literally any 4 teammates from the Cavs and make them look like a Finals team. Lineups like Kyrie-JR-Jefferson-Love-TT got destroyed by mediocre squads this year, but stuff like Shump-Liggins-Korver-Lebron-Frye out there destroying teams. Who else can do that?
1-3 in ya last 4 finals is borderline Buffalo Bills status. Playing in the east
Ya'all are so braindead with this "logic". Doesn't playing in the East make it HARDER to have a good Finals record?
And his last three Finals were:
1. Took a loaded Warriors to 6 with a lineup of Delly, JR, Shump, and TT.
2. Beat the 73-win Warriors in 7 after being down 3-1.
3. Lost in 5 to a Warriors team starting four All-NBA players from last year plus the 2015 Finals MVP.
No one else in the NBA is doing #1. No one else in the NBA is doing #2. Kawhi is the only other player in the NBA who could do #3, and I doubt he could do it outside of a Pop-coached team.
How are Lebron's accomplishments a knock on his NBA status when literally no one else in the NBA could have pulled it off?
Lebron still had 3 of the last 6 titles, and the other 2-3 were up against literally impossible odds on a historic level.
Barack ain't president no more fellas.
