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Curry is a good rebounding guard. He'll mix it up with bigger players, he has quick hands, and he has a nose for the ball. He boxed out Dwight Howard in a Rockets playoff series to secure a big rebound.
Assuming Jordan would average 35 or 40 today is silly. Defenses are much better now than they were then. MJ was a solid shooter, but not a great one. MJ was an unguardable player in the 80s & 90s. Harden is an unguardable player in the 2010s. Harden is an atrocious defender; MJ was an excellent defender.
I don't know of you are old enough to witness the peak version of Jordan (pre-baseball), but that man was twice as good as The Greek Freak at getting to the basket.
So even though Jordan became an elite mid-range shooter and an elite post-up player, his slashing ability alone would see him destroy the NBA far more than The Greek Freak does.
And The Greek Freak and Harden and others are given open lanes more than ever, thanks to rule changes and the floor being spread more than ever....
And look how easily Harden gets to the free-throw line, despite not even being athletic by Jordan standards....
Heck, even 35-year-old Jordan was more athletic and more crafty than Harden, so imagine how many free-throws 25-year-old Jordan would average!
And of course Harden is a loser in the playoffs, a choke-artist of the grandest kind (the opposite of "unstoppable"), whereas Jordan is by far the greatest scorer ever.
Jordan may even be a better 3-point-shooter than Harden, because even if we disregard 1995-96 and 1996-97 (when Jordan shot .427 and .374 on the shortened 3-point-line) we can look at 1989-90.....because that year is the only year Jordan averaged 3.0 3-point-attempts per game, and guess what he shot? .376 downtown.
So if Jordan prioritized the 3-pointer, he'd be that 37-38% 3-point-shooter throughout his career.
But again, The Greek Freak proves you don't even need a 3-point-shot in this era, and he hasn't even got the moves and creativity that Jordan has.....nobody has what Jordan has.
The NBA changed the rules so people far weaker than Jordan could get to the paint easily, so we could see higher scoring games.....and even still they fail to break Jordan's 63 point playoff record.
Curry is a good rebounding guard. He'll mix it up with bigger players, he has quick hands, and he has a nose for the ball. He boxed out Dwight Howard in a Rockets playoff series to secure a big rebound.
Assuming Jordan would average 35 or 40 today is silly. Defenses are much better now than they were then. MJ was a solid shooter, but not a great one. MJ was an unguardable player in the 80s & 90s. Harden is an unguardable player in the 2010s. Harden is an atrocious defender; MJ was an excellent defender.
I agree that Kyrie can't win as a #1. From the beginning of the season:
Boston's log jam at the wing is a problem, and they haven't even tried to solve it.
Three of the last 4 have been won by a team with a PG as its best player. He is a special kind of point guard.
Kyrie is not a point guard. He is an undersized 2 guard.
Thank you for reminding me that the Warriors won in 2015 with a special player as the #1, I truly forgot...
I'm the biggest LeBron fan, and I firmly believe once he's gone for good, we will appreciate his excellence more than we have during his playing years...
That said, I've felt it from the start, but this is my first time publicizing this. He made a mistake going to the Lakers. I don't think he made a mistake necessarily leaving Cleveland, but going to LA was a mistake...
I'm growing more and more concerned he won't win a chip in LA. Of course there's no telling what happens the next few years, but it's not looking good. Every elite free agent who went to LA in their prime got a ring. He can't be the only guy who doesn't...
The smart move for his basketball legacy was to stay in The East. Even as it improved, it was his conference until someone else took it from him, and by default he gave it to them. The legacy play was to force someone else to snatch the conference throne...
Philly would have been the right move for the legacy and virtually assured at least one ring in four years. Instead, he brought that Cleveland **** to LA and it isn't working. To boot, he's finally showed some wear and tear, and this is the first year you can unquestionably say he isn't The League's best player. I don't know who it is, bit it isn't LeBron right now, and at his age it's likely he won't reclaim that status...
Now compared to his peers, others had success but his legacy is clearly stronger than everyone else. His prime was longer than everybody else, and LeBron at his best was clearly a notch above everybody else. As a longtime supporter, this is sad for me, bit I love the sport and ge was never my only rooting interest, just my favorite. And still is...
I also think he is gonna be humbled by this Lakers experience. When he looks back on how he chose to react and respond to situations, I think he'll have some humility...
This will be the first Finals in almost a frigging decade that doesn't feature LeBron James. The "ushering of a new era" has been threatening for awhile, but you could never undisputedly prove it still wasn't LeBron's league. Even as the Warriors thrived, he still won a championship and was their most legitimate rival. Even as other players seemingly "caught up" to LeBron, he showed his superiority year over year with a combination of thunderous regular season runs, and iconic, legendary postseason play. The closest competitors did not have the combination of those two to anywhere near that level--not Harden, Durant, Curry, Westbrook, George, Kawhi--, even as they all were younger and took turns sharing media narratives as the "new best player". To start, they were all starting from behind anyway. And to be fair, each one of those guys are outstanding and are legends in their own right, but every time we prematurely crowned one of these guys, there was a LeBron moment in the same season, whether regular or postseason or both, that proved LeBron was still the standard and the man playing with the boys. Every single time...
For the last 5 years; ever since KD's 2014 MVP, to LeBron's first shaky regular season in '15 that looked like he was on the decline, that simultaneously occurred with Curry and the Dubs' rise, to the narratives in '16 that he was down defensively and still taking advantage of a weak conference, to the '17 and '18 shellacking he took in The Finals at the hands of an unparalleled Super Team. Throughout all of that, it was still LeBron's league and he still showed the gap between him and the pack...
So 2019 is his eulogy as the NBA's best player, which you can make the case he was for a straight decade, from 2007-08 to 2017-18. You can debate some years if you choose, but LeBron spent a decade with nobody else on that level. At the margins, sure, you can argue Kobe in the late '00s, and you can argue KD or Steph in the late '10s, but that's all they are: arguments. By too many measurables, LeBron was the greatest player in the sport for a decade, and for many years it wasn't close. You can count on one hand the guys who have sustained that high an excellence for that long in this league...
These next few years will feature more and more narratives to deflate his legacy, so I'm ready for it. And look, I have never said nor thought LeBron was undeserving of criticism. But I am also ready to watch the new era officially come in, and I look forward to the day that we as fans and basketball media look back and appreciate him for everything he gave the sport. He is in his swan song years now, I'd really rather he force a trade out of LA and admit he made a mistake going, but these next couple years look like the swan song. I still want him to get #4...
It was an iconic, legendary run. Nobody like him, and never will be again!
Murksiderock mentioned Lebron should have gone to Philly. He is spot on. Would have won a championship there. I think Lebron's hubris got the best of him. He didn't fully think this LA through and now it's blowing up in his face. They have not been a well run franchise for a while now. Look at how many lottery picks they ran through or tried to move on. Randle, Russell are two examples and Ingram and Ball they desperately tried to trade. They brought in a bunch of has beens and problem children in Besley, Rondo, McGee, Lance and so on. I don't get what they are trying to do. Rebuild or reload or whatever. The blueprint is a mess. And an open secret - most stars do not want to play with Lebron, and I don't blame them with all the drama. He is a hard guy to coexist with. Passive aggressive and a control freak to boot.
He is not dealing with this very well to say the least. He messed up. He believe he would come in and preform his Lebron magic and it would all be good, like in Cleveland. Now he is too old to carry a team in the capacity needed to lift them to the highest level, he doesn't have it in him anymore. With this being said, he is still a supreme player and IMO one of the very best. Maybe still the best, but with the motley crew he has in LA it aint going to work.
The LBJ experiment this season has been an abysmal failure, even taking into effect all the injuries.
LBJ can't expect his teammates to give a darn when he threw them under the bus.
100%...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Allan Trafton
Murksiderock mentioned Lebron should have gone to Philly. He is spot on. Would have won a championship there. I think Lebron's hubris got the best of him. He didn't fully think this LA through and now it's blowing up in his face. They have not been a well run franchise for a while now. Look at how many lottery picks they ran through or tried to move on. Randle, Russell are two examples and Ingram and Ball they desperately tried to trade. They brought in a bunch of has beens and problem children in Besley, Rondo, McGee, Lance and so on. I don't get what they are trying to do. Rebuild or reload or whatever. The blueprint is a mess. And an open secret - most stars do not want to play with Lebron, and I don't blame them with all the drama. He is a hard guy to coexist with. Passive aggressive and a control freak to boot.
He is not dealing with this very well to say the least. He messed up. He believe he would come in and preform his Lebron magic and it would all be good, like in Cleveland. Now he is too old to carry a team in the capacity needed to lift them to the highest level, he doesn't have it in him anymore. With this being said, he is still a supreme player and IMO one of the very best. Maybe still the best, but with the motley crew he has in LA it aint going to work.
All of this and then some. This is his karma, his and that terrible franchise...
Granted, the Lakers were #4 pre-injury. So the capability is there. But LeBron and Magic and Pelinka need to do some serious soul searching this offseason...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Suburban_Guy
Rockets with a nice win over Boston.
Boston is in some trouble. This is gonna be a lost year for Kyrie, too. I'm not sure LA is high on his list of priorities, but he and LeBron may need each other again. Kyrie is still in his prime, and barring injury I still think LeBron is an elite player. It could work, they both screwed up the Cleveland run...
As it is, this thing in Boston has about ran its course. It doesn't work with Kyrie, unless they can land AD, the Celtics should be glad if he's gone...
As for Houston, I'm coming around on them. I'm not a fan, but they've gotten better as the season has gone on, and are playing their best ball right now. They're only a game outta third right now and if I had to put my money on it, I think they are ready for the Warriors. I don't like either team but if it comes down to it, you know who I'm riding with!
Last edited by murksiderock; 03-03-2019 at 04:40 PM..
All of this and then some. This is his karma, his and that terrible franchise...
Granted, the Lakers were #4 pre-injury. So the capability is there. But LeBron and Magic and Pelinka need to do some serious soul searching this offseason...
Boston is in some trouble. This is gonna be a lost year for Kyrie, too. I'm not sure LA is high on his list of priorities, but he and LeBron may need each other again. Kyrie is still in his prime, and barring injury I still think LeBron is an elite player. It could work, they both screwed up the Cleveland run...
As it is, this thing in Boston has about ran its course. It doesn't work with Kyrie, unless they can land AD, the Celtics should be glad if he's gone...
As for Houston, I'm coming around on them. I'm not a fan, but they've gotten better as the season has gone on, and are playing their best ball right now. They're only a game outta third right now and if I had to put my money on it, I think they are ready for the Warriors. I don't like either team but if it comes down to it, you know who I'm riding with!
I'm praying CP3 can be healthy rest of season and into the playoffs. He'll be the key.
I haven't payed attention in a while but props to both Brooklyn and Orlando for holding down playoff spots thus far. The Kings, despite not being in a playoff spot right now (and probably won't make up enough ground) have also been a pleasant surprise and should be a playoff team soon with their young talent.
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