Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
1- Magic or Jordan
2 - Jordan or Magic
3 - Bill Russell
4 - Kareem Jabbar
5 - Kobe Bryant
6 - Shaquille O'neal
7 - Timmy D
8 - Lebron James
9 - Oscar Robertson
10 - Larry Legend
Since there's no metric for what makes someone the greatest I'll just go by players that led their teams to championships because if we go by stats than Wilt and Oscar are the best.
And in today's time,Westbrook is the triple double stat king.
So stats barely tell the whole story.
1 ) Bill Russell [ 11 Rings ]
2 ) Jordan [ 6 Rings ]
3 ) Kareem [ 6 Rings ]
4 ) Magic [ 5 Rings ]
5 ) Kobe [ 5 Rings ]
6 ) Duncan [ 5 Rings ]
7 ) George Mikan [ 5 Rings ]
8 ) Shaq [ 4 Rings ]
9 ) Lebron James x Bird x Wade [ 3 Rings ]
10 ) Wilt x Hakeem [ 2 Rings ]
Since there's no metric for what makes someone the greatest I'll just go by players that led their teams to championships because if we go by stats than Wilt and Oscar are the best.
And in today's time,Westbrook is the triple double stat king.
So stats barely tell the whole story.
1 ) Bill Russell [ 11 Rings ]
2 ) Jordan [ 6 Rings ]
3 ) Kareem [ 6 Rings ]
4 ) Magic [ 5 Rings ]
5 ) Kobe [ 5 Rings ]
6 ) Duncan [ 5 Rings ]
7 ) George Mikan [ 5 Rings ]
8 ) Shaq [ 4 Rings ]
9 ) Lebron James x Bird x Wade [ 3 Rings ]
10 ) Wilt x Hakeem [ 2 Rings ]
The flimiest arguments nowadays are the ones that argue against Lebron in the Top 4. By my money, he's 2 or 3 and you can't compile a legitimate argument to take him out of the Top 4, no less than 5 at the very worst...
Lebron has played in 8 of the last 11 Finals. He's played in 7 straight, and he's made The Finals in 8 of his 12 postseasons. That's a 75% playoff conversion rate--hes made The Finals 75% of the time he's been in the tournament. He's taken two different teams to 4 Finals apiece, and in a truly elite statistic, he's the only GOAT who has NEVER had elite coaching. He's taken 4 different head coaches to The Finals on his shoulders...
So it's high past time to dragging his name through the mud. Some of his feats may never be accomplished again. Hell, we may never see another player run to 8 Finals ever again--some of the more recent GOATs made it to fewer (Kobe 7, Duncan/Shaq 6, etc). There will never be another player or team to run off 7 in a row. And he's won 3 while playing tougher competition than EVERY SINGLE OTHER GOAT. Russell's Celtics wouldn't be 11-2 with The Five Year Murderer's Row (Spurs/Spurs/Warriors/Warriors/Warriors). Showtime Lakers would not have even made 9 Finals with The Row. Jordan would undoubtedly NOT be 6-0 with that Five Year Murderer's Row. The Kobe/Shaq Lakers and Duncan's Spurs would have fewer wins and more losses with The Row....
The Kobe argument is as weak as the ring argument. Not even worth refuting anymore...
Finals conversion rate is now a stat? My guess is that MOST greats (Jordan/Bird/Magic/Wilt/Kareem/Shaq/Kobe/Duncan) could do that in the east with teams built around them. No other top 5 NBA players play in the east...hell, are their any top 10 players? Perhaps Paul George is close?
What would have been interesting is if say Durant went to the Wizards. A Durant/Wall/Beal trio would have likely challenged Lebron/Kyrie/Love.
The flimiest arguments nowadays are the ones that argue against Lebron in the Top 4. By my money, he's 2 or 3 and you can't compile a legitimate argument to take him out of the Top 4, no less than 5 at the very worst...
Lebron has played in 8 of the last 11 Finals. He's played in 7 straight, and he's made The Finals in 8 of his 12 postseasons. That's a 75% playoff conversion rate--hes made The Finals 75% of the time he's been in the tournament. He's taken two different teams to 4 Finals apiece, and in a truly elite statistic, he's the only GOAT who has NEVER had elite coaching. He's taken 4 different head coaches to The Finals on his shoulders...
So it's high past time to dragging his name through the mud. Some of his feats may never be accomplished again. Hell, we may never see another player run to 8 Finals ever again--some of the more recent GOATs made it to fewer (Kobe 7, Duncan/Shaq 6, etc). There will never be another player or team to run off 7 in a row. And he's won 3 while playing tougher competition than EVERY SINGLE OTHER GOAT. Russell's Celtics wouldn't be 11-2 with The Five Year Murderer's Row (Spurs/Spurs/Warriors/Warriors/Warriors). Showtime Lakers would not have even made 9 Finals with The Row. Jordan would undoubtedly NOT be 6-0 with that Five Year Murderer's Row. The Kobe/Shaq Lakers and Duncan's Spurs would have fewer wins and more losses with The Row....
The Kobe argument is as weak as the ring argument. Not even worth refuting anymore...
Chill out brother !!! Everything doesn't have to be about Kobe. The trolls are so upset right now that i had to reincarnate and that still didn't help
Facts is Lebron road to the finals were way more easier than Jordan and Kobe and the numbers back it up.He doesn't make the finals 7 straight years out West !!!
According to you,everyone is a troll that goes against Lebron and it's sad.Not everyone is drinking that Kool - Aid man.
Stat padding is the name of the game today.
Westbrook and James Harden damn near put up triple doubles never seen before because they play in an era where if you breathe on a player a foul is called.2 players that play no defense at all put up stats not even Jordan put up and it's a reflection on this soft era.
Now Lebron is great but stop crying when he isn't on everyone's top 5.
I could care less if ESPN ranks a 5x champion # 12
When All time greats like Jordan,Pippen,Shaq,Reggie say something i would think that holds more weight than any Lebron apologist on some radio station.
Status:
""...I wrote it down, now I follow thru...""
(set 22 days ago)
Location: North Raleigh x North Sacramento
5,774 posts, read 5,537,824 times
Reputation: 7052
Quote:
Originally Posted by eddiehaskell
Finals conversion rate is now a stat? My guess is that MOST greats (Jordan/Bird/Magic/Wilt/Kareem/Shaq/Kobe/Duncan) could do that in the east with teams built around them. No other top 5 NBA players play in the east...hell, are their any top 10 players? Perhaps Paul George is close?
What would have been interesting is if say Durant went to the Wizards. A Durant/Wall/Beal trio would have likely challenged Lebron/Kyrie/Love.
No, not technically, but it falls under the impact Lebron has had on the gane that can't be looked up on a stat sheet. We know Jordan's Finals conversion rate was far less...
I just hop you're still here when Lebron retires in 2023 with a 5-6 record, owning most of the important records in League history, and nearly doubled Jordan's Finals appearances, while both beating and losing to teams better than any team Jordan ever faced. I'd like to hear your excuses then...
I guarantee you if you put Durant on any East squad in his prime, he's not going to 7 straight Finals. I guarantee you Duncan, Kobe, Shaq, KG, Paul, Curry, probably 99.9% of all GOATs who've played in the NBA, including Michael Jordan, can't play in today's climate in the East and go to 7 straight Finals. So your second sentence is still a validation of Lebron being one of the single most dominant players to ever suit up...
Conversely, if he was drafted and played his entire career in the West, I agree that he would never have been in 7 straight Finals. I'll take the bet, however, that through Year 14 as he is now, he'd still be a 3x champion. He's just have fewer losses by virtue of fewer appearances...
Only on CD-Basketball is it better to not make The Finals than to actually make it. How does that work?
Last edited by murksiderock; 06-14-2017 at 09:44 AM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.