Lebron needs to punch more teammates, threaten more opposing players with violence, have more coaches fired, develop a healthy gambling addiction, and just be a bigger piece of shit than Jordan was. If he wants to be in the same class as Jordan he needs to do a much better job at being all around awful. It'll translate onto the court in his play [Reply]
Originally Posted by banecat:
Lebron needs to punch more teammates, threaten more opposing players with violence, have more coaches fired, develop a healthy gambling addiction, and just be a bigger piece of shit than Jordan was. If he wants to be in the same class as Jordan he needs to do a much better job at being all around awful. It'll translate onto the court in his play
MJ was a huge asshole
Makes Kobe look like a super nice guy by comparison [Reply]
Yet millions around the world wanted to Be Like Mike.
Today most of us adults have to try to not get our children to be like Lebron. From being a self centered douche, The King of flopping, to being a SJW. We have our work cut out for us. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BigCatDaddy:
Yet millions around the world wanted to Be Like Mike.
Today most of us adults have to try to not get our children to be like Lebron. From being a self centered douche, The King of flopping, to being a SJW. We have our work cut out for us.
That is laughable. Imagine raising your child to be a good guy that does a lot of charity work behind the scenes.... [Reply]
Originally Posted by BigCatDaddy:
Yet millions around the world wanted to Be Like Mike.
Today most of us adults have to try to not get our children to be like Lebron. From being a self centered douche, The King of flopping, to being a SJW. We have our work cut out for us.
Originally Posted by :
By continuing to play at near-peak levels so deep into his career, James has almost caught up. In terms of unadjusted regular-season and playoff championships added, the count through the end of the 2017-18 regular season was Jordan 4.74, James 4.48. If James can approximate last year's playoff run (.35 championships added), he'll pass Jordan in career championships added next month.
NBA Finals Performance:
Originally Posted by :
Second, for the most part, James' teams losing on the biggest stage can't be traced to his own performance. That tag was accurate in 2007, James' first Finals appearance at age 22, and in 2011, when he struggled badly as the Miami Heat lost to the Dallas Mavericks. Since then, as measured by my wins above replacement player (WARP) metric, James' performance in Finals his team lost (2014, 2015 and 2017) has compared favorably to Jordan's performance in his team's Finals wins -- and even to James' own during his three title seasons, when he's won three Finals MVP trophies. That makes six Finals in which James' performance has stacked up well with Jordan's performance.
Though Jordan has a comfortable lead in Finals WARP per game played, James, by virtue of the two extra appearances, has accumulated more WARP in the Finals (10.9) than Jordan (10.1) or anyone else since the ABA-NBA merger.
Quality of Competition:
Originally Posted by :
Because Jordan and James weren't separated by much time, the difference isn't as dramatic as with Mikan. Yet James' leagues still rate on average as 12 percent better than Jordan's, which makes sense given the influx of international talent in that span. I estimate the pool of talent from which the NBA draws players has grown by 28 percent since 2003, while the league has added just one team.
When I adjust for league quality, James is no longer merely on the verge of catching Jordan as the greatest player in cumulative value. He already has Jordan in his rearview mirror, with 4.66 total championships added to Jordan's 4.28.
Conclusion:
Originally Posted by :
The alternative hypothetical is this: Imagine a draft where we're picking every single NBA player at the start of his career. The team gets the player's career exactly as it played out, with no chance of anyone taking his talents to South Beach. This is exactly the question championships added is trying to answer, and to the extent it's close now, James' eventual superiority is all but inevitable. After all, look at what happens when we graph championships added by age instead of experience.
Now, James comes out ahead at every age, thanks in part to starting younger but also because he reached peak performance sooner. Before adding in this season's playoffs, and without the adjustment for league quality, James already has more championships added through his age-33 season than Jordan did at 34. Barring injury or an improbable decision to walk away from the game as MJ did, James will soon pass Jordan in career points. He's already ahead by a wide margin in career rebounds and assists.
A team drafting James' entire career would assure itself championship contention for more than a decade given his metronomic consistency and ability to avoid injury. Jordan might have been better at his best, but James has already put together the best NBA career we've ever seen.
As I've stated before, the debate is already over and LeBron has won. It's just going to get increasingly more obvious over the next few years. [Reply]
