LeBron F'ing James

AustinBadger

AustinBadger

250+ Posts
I really don't think there is a player in the HISTORY of US Sports that compares to this kid.

He was on the cover of SI with the title 'Chosen One' as a JUNIOR in High School.

He came into the League with enormous expectations.

And........

He has lived up and exceeded the hype in every way imaginable. It's unreal. Tonight's "Jordoan over Ehlo" shot will propel him even farther into the stratosphere of hype.....and he will continue to rise up to it.

It's really amazing to watch.

bow.gif
 
Agreed. Amazing amount of hype, but he has lived up to it. And he appears mature on and off the court. I would hate to see him in a Knicks uniform, or anything else.

Van Gundy messed up...he should have left the inbounder (Williams) alone and double-teamed James. You cannot let him get the ball if you are Orlando. If someone else scores so be it.

The 4 games in the semis have been quite entertaining.
 
Lebron did have 2 charging fouls and a very awkward traveling call (good call), a blocked shot against by that Peitreas (sp) guy... and other errors. Although he did have 35, not really a super performance, but THE SHOT forgave it all.

Best in US sports history? Let's hold our horses on that. MJ, TigerWoods, Magic, Bird all had incredible careers.

Lebron is doing it all with brute power and explosiveness right now.. but can he do this at age 31 or 32? He really needs to develop some smooth fakes, have a little more patience while standing still in the half court offense with the ball and shoot without having to jump 3 feet in the air each time. Create space by body positioning and fakes to conserve energy, this skill will be very useful at age 33.
 
He is amazing. However he is only 24 and has not won a championship yet. There have been other highly rated kids coming out of HS sports that did very well right away. Kobe Bryant had a different path than James but everyone knew him coming out. It took him 5 seasons to start dominating and then he helped his team win 3 in a row. Let' see James do that.

Tiger Woods was a phenom when he turned pro...look at what he has accomplished.

Those are just a couple of recent examples to illustrate that the opening statement of this thread is overexagerated.
 
^ have any free agents to be expressed interest in joining the Cavs?

Jordan & Kobe had much much more talent surrounding them than LbJ does.

Without him, how many games do the Cavs win, 30-40?
 
I have no idea, but I know that's why the "Lebron to the Knicks" rumor persists for 2010. Not only is it a bigger market, but the Knicks are clearing cap space to sign both Lebron and Chris Bosh.

Bosh certainly isn't the dominating presence inside like Shaq, but he's a HUGE upgrade over both Ilgauskas and Varejao.

Mo Williams was supposed to be their big upgrade for 2009, but he has been completely absent in the playoffs. He has shot horrendously since mid-April.
 
You give me LeBron James, and I'll always, ALWAYS raise you Michael Jordan.
 
I've thought about this some more and the only person I think arguably compares to the King is Tiger Woods - he had insane expecations and hype from an early age and lived up to them.

However, he did so in Golf, which (a) isn't a team sport and (b) is played by an exponentially fewer number of people and (c) is boring as hell (sorry, just not a fan).

I can't think of one NBA player that compares - Kobe wasn't the No. 1 pick and took a number of years to get going (and had Shaq), Kevin Garnett really had only one good season in Minnesota and needed 2 other HOFers to make a run deep into playoffs, Jordan didn't make The Leap until Pippen showed up, Bird had tons of talent around him, etc.

The other interesting thing about LeBron is his main advisors are his friends from his childhood, which essentially means he is actively involved in promoting and managing himself. There was a real interesting piece on CNBC about this last week. It's clear he is a very, very smart kid.
 
who are the other 2 HOFers that KG needed to go deep into the playoffs? Are you talking about Ray Allen (not a HOF) and Paul Pierce (boderline HOF). Or maybe Latrell Sprewell / Sam Cassell in Minny?

Kobe was drafted in 1996 when HS players were not as well appreciated as they would be in Lebron's time. Maybe in 2003 Kobe would be a top 3-5 pick. Besides NBA picks are not always accurate --- look at MJ, Darko/Melo, Karl Malone, Stockton, Steve Nash, Larry Bird was picked #6, Drexler # 14.
 
James didn't have such a great game last night. He took way too many shots for the points he scored last night. It seemed that he would get around the first guy and drive all the way to the hole where a big man was waiting. He could really improve his game by stopping earlier and hitting a mid range shot. He has improved his long range shooting (aside from last night), but now he needs to wok on his mid-range game.
 
I agree wholeheartedly with Horn89. The fact that Bird was so successful wasn't just because he was surrounded by very good players. In addition to his incredible feel for the game and clutch performances time after time, he made the players around him much better.
 
Someday we shall see if LeBron belongs in the top 10 players of all time. Right now - in my opinion - he does not and Larry Bird does. James has a long way to go and if he remains healthy, could very well get there by the end of his career.
 
Bird would not have lead either of these deep-run Cavs teams as far as LeBron has. Part of that is due to changes in the way the game is played (athleticism is valued more).

BIrd out of IndySt or LeBron out of HS? I take Lebron. His upside was much greater and, in retrospect, he has delivered on much of his promise.

Bron Bron and Tiger are the gold standard of high expectations met and exceeded. Bron Bron has been phenomenal given the sketchy world of HS and AAU BB. He is a born mogul and a once in a life-time athlete all in the same package. He has kept his head and improved at a steady, impressive rate.

Bird was an all-time great. LeBron may never have his career. As noted above, Bird played with an all-time great team that got to test themselves against two formidable nemeses, one, the 80s Lakes, an even better team than the Bird Celts. It will be hard for anyone to outshine that.

Bron Bron is so young. So young. He is scarcely older than Bird was when the latter entered the league.

He is Lebron F'ing James and rising.
 
It's so hard to compare because before things like the luxury tax, all the great talent was stock piled on a few teams. So your trip to the conference finals or even the finals was much easier. Once the Celts or Lakers got there, they knew they had to beat one of the greatest teams of all time to win the thing.

Both of those teams were so deep and so talented. The Lakers had 3 #1 picks on their team at the same time. Then throw in a Byron Scott, or Bob McAdoo for a shooter, or Coop for a defender. It's crazy how good that team was. And the Celtics were just as deep. So I just can't get my arms around comparing the talent difference both who you have and who you have to beat.
 
I keep hearing that Mike Brown got outcoached, but I'm not so sure. Cleveland doesn't have much of a post presence and all year long the teams that have been able to beat them have been the teams with the top frontcourts. They went 3-7 against the Lakers, Rockets, Magic, and non-Garnettless Celtics in the regular season.
 
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