I know the Super Bowl is coming up but did anyone notice that LeBron James is a new member of the 30,000 point club I think he is the youngest to reach that milestone IMHO that alone should qualify him for inclusion in the discussion in the G.O.A.T. discussion.
I listened to a discussion on sports talk radio about who's the greatest pro athlete of all time & LeBron's name came up along with Jordan, Brady, Nigurski, Russell, Williams, and several others. What criteria do you think should be in the mix? World records? Championships? Leadership? Ability to make teammates better? Athleticism? Longevity? Interesting topic
Uh, no. Lebron is a physical freak of nature. 6-8, 250 lbs and can move the way he does is just not normal. But greatest of all time ? No even close. He's not even the greatest right now. Kevin Durant is. Lebron has won 3 championships, but he needed a lot of help getting those. He has a very good team right now and they are not winning. He's gotten to 30,000 points at a young age because he started playing at a young age. Is he hall of fame? Absolutely. GOAT ? Not in the discussion. That title belongs to MJ.
Yeah yeah you're implying I'm a fucking racist and/or Nazi.
Lebron is human filth and it is a fact that he has only won titles with forming aforementioned super teams that decimate competitive balance. He has NEVER carried a team on his back like Steph Curry or Nowitzki has. Jordan was and is a douchebag, but he was so much better than Lefraud it isn't even funny.
Also, if I were a Nazi, Sandy Koufax sure as hell wouldn't have made my list. And in naming hockey players, there wasn't exactly a huge pool of black guys to draw up. Grant Fuhr was awesome, but not in the discussion.
Le Bron and his 3 championships is the goat over Jordan and his six and Russell and his 2 ncaa championships, one olympic gold, 9 nba championships, including 2 as player coach? Not even close. If they ever called offensive fouls on LeBron he'd be Charles Oakley. Schumaker is an athlete compared to a chess player only. Nowitzki is like Carl Yazstremski - stats due to longevity, not greatness. Bobby Orr was the greatest hockey player of all time. Brady the greatest football player. Jordan the greatest basketball player. Frank Robinson the greatest baseball player.
@JT You outed yourself with the stupid part of your comment why is LeBron human filth, seems to me he takes care of his family never has gotten into trouble unlike a lot of other highly paid athletes.
Your list of greats is severely lacking. Boxing Muhamed Ali, Golf Tiger Woods, in baseball you are neglecting tons of athletes for Sandy Koufax that’s laughable he only played a few seasons how about Jim Brown Football, I agree Brady deserves mention but you are just talking to hear the sound of your own voice. There are many that deserve such consideration, but prefacing your comments of this subject with slurs makes you irrelevant at best.
Jim Brown did something that no other athlete has ever done: He walked away when he was still #1. No Barry Sanders wasn't when he did. Jim Brown - best running back ever and a better lacrosse player.
It is always difficult to compare generations. Championships in team sports are also hard to attribute to one player. So, my list is just my personal opinions:
Jim Brown
Michael Jordan
Babe Ruth
Wayne Gretsky
Jack Nicklaus
Roger Federer
Michael Phelps
Usain Bolt
Did anyone ever think that ALL these athletes may be the best that played their games. BUT, perhaps there were 5,000 guys out in the world that could have run circles around Jordan, but never bothered to pick up a basketball. Just sayin'!
Remember before James was in the NBA there was a question about a vehicle he was given "by his mother"? A big ol' SUV. Some paper supposedly stated that Labron's mother gave him a Hummer.
30k points is an incredible achievement of not onlh talent but durability to be able to play long enough at a high level to achieve that many points - not to mention he's an all-around great-player (elite defender; elite passer; and very-good rebounder) - being the youngest to get to 30k points but I think doing it in the fewest games is more impressive - supposedly LeBron is 4th on the 30k-list in terms of # of games it took to get there - "... James did it in the fourth-fewest games, trailing only Abdul-Jabbar, Jordan and Chamberlain ..." (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/sport…)
In terms of athletic ability, he is obviously great. That is axiomatic.
On all other levels, not so great. Anyone who think he has a GOAT level of making his teammates better is on another planet. He has played de facto head coach and GM of his teams and continues to make them worse. Ray Allen's clutch 3 pointer when he was on the Heat and 2016's Curry foul out and Draymond Green suspension are the reasons why he has three rings instead of one. He has gotten multiple coaches fired. He makes teammates beg to leave his team (Kyrie comes to mind, and look how great he and his team are doing now). There is always constant drama surrounding Lebron's when things are chaotic (which is often), like the most recent attack on Kevin Love for missing a game due to being sick. Every trade, signing, and even draft choice is heavily weighted on what Lebron wants and he is still unable to construct a contending team even when he spent the off season acquiring more all-star caliber players. If something goes wrong, he blames other people when he is the reason everyone on his team is on his team. He is also the reason they leave when they do. In my mind, he will never reach the level of people like MJ or Wilt Chamberlain. We can throw in Gretzsky, Phelps, Bolt, and not to mention Serena Williams, the best female athlete ever.
Lebron may have entered the 30,000+ club (so will KD and several other current players) but I wouldn't expect much more from him --- he finished January with the worst plus/minus levels of his career. It looks like if he doesn't get his team together, the Celtics will beat them in the ECF. Retiring with 3 rings and 5+ finals losses does not earn the title of GOAT in my book, especially when in nearly the last decade, he's been playing on teams stacked with talent.
I guess flagooner has a different opinion than you do Nina as far as I’m concerned I believe he belongs in the conversation but it’s still too early to tell.
As far as changing the conversation that was what was on my mind so I posted
"I believe he belongs in the conversation but it’s still too early to tell."
I don't know how it can be 'too early to tell' when the guy has been in the league since 2003. And again, I'll reference last month where he had his worst +/- stat of his career, an indication that we can't really expect him to suddenly just get even better.
He will most likely not win another championship with the Cavs. I think he might be planning on leaving and heading out west after this season if the Cavs don't miraculously get their shit together because right now, the Celtics are looking like the EC champs and they don't even have one of their key players they acquired during the off-season (Haywarth). When he comes back from his injury they'll be an even bigger problem for the Cavs. Then you have the obvious best team in the league with the Warriors, plus Houston who the Cavs wouldn't win a series against if Houston is healthy. The Cavs, right now, are not looking like contenders to win a championship or even beat the Celtics in the ECF.
The Warriors will probably win the next 3 or so NBA championships, and if they lose to anybody it would be a healthy Houston or a healthy San Antonio in the west, or a healthy Boston in the east. LBJ will have to leave the Cavs (again) to win a championship.
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LeBron = GOAT
The continued performance over time will make a stronger case for him.
MJ was and is all about himself
LeBron distributes the ball and helps make his teammates better.
LeBron is GOAT
Best athletes ever are Brady, Gretzky, Lemieux, Bobby Orr, Koufax with Kershaw on his heels, Ted Williams, Federer & Michael Schumacher.
Lebron is human filth and it is a fact that he has only won titles with forming aforementioned super teams that decimate competitive balance. He has NEVER carried a team on his back like Steph Curry or Nowitzki has. Jordan was and is a douchebag, but he was so much better than Lefraud it isn't even funny.
Also, if I were a Nazi, Sandy Koufax sure as hell wouldn't have made my list. And in naming hockey players, there wasn't exactly a huge pool of black guys to draw up. Grant Fuhr was awesome, but not in the discussion.
He’s a great player - a HOF player - but he’s not the GOAT (yet)...
It's not opinion, it's fact.
Time will tell the true story...
Your list of greats is severely lacking. Boxing Muhamed Ali, Golf Tiger Woods, in baseball you are neglecting tons of athletes for Sandy Koufax that’s laughable he only played a few seasons how about Jim Brown Football, I agree Brady deserves mention but you are just talking to hear the sound of your own voice. There are many that deserve such consideration, but prefacing your comments of this subject with slurs makes you irrelevant at best.
Jim Brown
Michael Jordan
Babe Ruth
Wayne Gretsky
Jack Nicklaus
Roger Federer
Michael Phelps
Usain Bolt
Remember before James was in the NBA there was a question about a vehicle he was given "by his mother"? A big ol' SUV. Some paper supposedly stated that Labron's mother gave him a Hummer.
That would be 2 pts for every assist and 1 for every rebound and steal (assuming an avg of 1 pt per possession which is actually low).
You keep picking LeBron over MJ b/c you're a racist - it's easy to see
;-)
He is.
It's fact.
On all other levels, not so great. Anyone who think he has a GOAT level of making his teammates better is on another planet. He has played de facto head coach and GM of his teams and continues to make them worse. Ray Allen's clutch 3 pointer when he was on the Heat and 2016's Curry foul out and Draymond Green suspension are the reasons why he has three rings instead of one. He has gotten multiple coaches fired. He makes teammates beg to leave his team (Kyrie comes to mind, and look how great he and his team are doing now). There is always constant drama surrounding Lebron's when things are chaotic (which is often), like the most recent attack on Kevin Love for missing a game due to being sick. Every trade, signing, and even draft choice is heavily weighted on what Lebron wants and he is still unable to construct a contending team even when he spent the off season acquiring more all-star caliber players. If something goes wrong, he blames other people when he is the reason everyone on his team is on his team. He is also the reason they leave when they do. In my mind, he will never reach the level of people like MJ or Wilt Chamberlain. We can throw in Gretzsky, Phelps, Bolt, and not to mention Serena Williams, the best female athlete ever.
Lebron may have entered the 30,000+ club (so will KD and several other current players) but I wouldn't expect much more from him --- he finished January with the worst plus/minus levels of his career. It looks like if he doesn't get his team together, the Celtics will beat them in the ECF. Retiring with 3 rings and 5+ finals losses does not earn the title of GOAT in my book, especially when in nearly the last decade, he's been playing on teams stacked with talent.
LeBron = GOAT
Of course they do! They win by w TDs.
Even funnier seeing twentyfive change the topic of his own post to divert from my well-explained argument.
Haha.
As far as changing the conversation that was what was on my mind so I posted
I don't know how it can be 'too early to tell' when the guy has been in the league since 2003. And again, I'll reference last month where he had his worst +/- stat of his career, an indication that we can't really expect him to suddenly just get even better.
He will most likely not win another championship with the Cavs. I think he might be planning on leaving and heading out west after this season if the Cavs don't miraculously get their shit together because right now, the Celtics are looking like the EC champs and they don't even have one of their key players they acquired during the off-season (Haywarth). When he comes back from his injury they'll be an even bigger problem for the Cavs. Then you have the obvious best team in the league with the Warriors, plus Houston who the Cavs wouldn't win a series against if Houston is healthy. The Cavs, right now, are not looking like contenders to win a championship or even beat the Celtics in the ECF.
The Warriors will probably win the next 3 or so NBA championships, and if they lose to anybody it would be a healthy Houston or a healthy San Antonio in the west, or a healthy Boston in the east. LBJ will have to leave the Cavs (again) to win a championship.