Sports Daily: LeBron's Declaration

[lhslancers]

Quote: Originally Posted by ojandpizza

Interesting you basically said LeBron can't be up there unless he can keep winning, while Oscar never won until he got Kareem, Wilt only took 1 ring from Russell's dominance before he finally teamed with other stars and took a backseat role to win another in LA.. Magic and Bird could never fully keep the other from winning, DR. J didn't win **** without Moses, and Duncan never full solidified his stretch of rings over Shaq and various other teams through this modern era.

Oscar never won and neither did anyone else beat Russell's Celtics teams.

It is hard to argue against Russell being on the list over Wilt but Wilt had to be the most dominating player ever to play the game. Throw out the 100 point game but the guy averaged like 35 25 for his career or close and when he wanted to dish he lead the league in assists one year.

Wilt
Magic
MJ
The Big O

[Rocky]

I don't think Lebron will ever reach the reverance that MJ, Russell, Bird, or Magic have. Those guys meant so much more to the game than there on the floor statistics would indicate. I think Lebron will be grouped in with Wilt, KAJ, Oscar, etc. Great players, probably as good if not better than the players listed above, but they just didn't have the impact that my "Mount Rushmore" has.

[jcmreds]

Big talk from someone who had his second title handed to him by Pop sitting out Duncan at the end of game 6.

[jcmreds]

Sorry Bron but someone who starts the NBA finals with 3 straight sub 20 point games and shoots under 45% 5 of 7 games isn't a goat contender. He's lucky he was playing against 37 year old Duncan(who still dominated) instead of 27 year old Duncan.

[ojandpizza]

Are you series with that stuff? He still played great in that finals series, hit every big shot they needed in game 7 and they won.. Hell some of these other guys weren't even finals MVPs the years their teams won championships, and you're gonna say LeBron wasn't good enough in one finals series to be considered as good as them? That's ridiculous.

[The 24th Letter]

Wouldn't waste your typing OJ

[Dice]

I see no problem with it. I really don't have to wait for him to retire to validate his greatness. I think he's one of the top 4 players of all-time.

Heck, when Michael Jordan was in his 8th season, there was no question in my mind that he was the greatest basketball player I've seen play. And he only had 2 rings and 3 MVP's at that time. I didn't have to wait for his career to end. I already knew, like everyone else at that time.

[ojandpizza]

Quote: Originally Posted by Rocky

I don't think Lebron will ever reach the reverance that MJ, Russell, Bird, or Magic have. Those guys meant so much more to the game than there on the floor statistics would indicate. I think Lebron will be grouped in with Wilt, KAJ, Oscar, etc. Great players, probably as good if not better than the players listed above, but they just didn't have the impact that my "Mount Rushmore" has.

I've kinda wondered this for awhile now. Regardless of how good I think LeBron is I've always sorta questioned if he would have the "legacy" guys like Russell, Jordan, Magic, Bird have... Even if he got to the point to where individually he was a better player than any of them (not saying that's the case, just a what if scenario) would he have the legacy to get him in that conversation..

It's like with my personal preference, I can list off a handful of players who I think individually were all around better basketball players than Magic was.. But I rank Magic 3rd on my All-Time list, and it's more-so for his legacy and impact on the league, and various other intangible factors, rather than his numbers or how great he was individually.

It's like with Dr. J.. He's an iconic basketball figure, helped pave the way for the above the rim excitement we see from other guys since him. Basically the ABA's Jordan, and regarded as one of the very best players of all time.. But in reality there are very few aspects of his game that were really at that elite level, he was never at the dominance level that the other guys who's names he's always mentioned with. But he has the "legacy" he's an icon.