lakerevolution wrote:I think it's safe to say we'll be lucky to get a 6th seed . . and if we can be near-100% healthy at the end of the season, LeBron will give it his best try one more time. His time, his era has passed. The NBA belongs to Curry, Booker, Morant, Embiid and other younger stars. Hopefully LeBron can be surrounded by some younger talent that allows him to have another shot at a title, but I don't see it. All we can do is just enjoy the highs and dismiss the lows. Malik Monk, Stanley Johnson and Austin Reaves are (or should be) keepers. Gonna be interesting to see what happens with Melo and Russ this off-season.
I think without a doubt, LeBron is still a top 5 player in today's league, forget all-time. All-time I have him at 4th only behind Jordan, Magic, and Kareem. Of course
Kobe, Wilt, Bird, B. Russell, and Shaq are in that discussion as well. Problem is, we don't have the team around LeBron to get it done anymore. He is getting older too and sits out games like the last 2 games. AD is so fragile that it is comical, he didn't play either last night. In a way I almost feel sorry for Russ because he an easy scapegoat because of his past not being able to win but putting up video game numbers. To me a GOAT is someone like Jordan or even Magic who had a winning record in the Finals but just not that they were clutch against great opponents. If the 1987 Lakers went up against the 2017 Warriors, I would have no doubt the Lakers would win because they had Magic - it would probably go 7 but Lakers would win. If the 1996 Bulls played against the 2017 Warriors, Bulls would win 7 as well because they had Jordan. LeBron never beat the Warriors when they had Durant and I knew they wouldn't. Magic beat a loaded Sixers team with Doc, Cheeks, Toney, and Dawkins as a rookie. He then beat a Celtics team that 5 Hall of Famers on it = Bird, McHale, Parish, DJ, and Walton in 1987 with an aging Kareem. LeBron loses to that Celtics team but people don't want to admit it because it was the pukes
.
To me Peyton Manning is more of a GOAT than LeBron is, because he stayed in one city and didn't quit on my city = Indy and he won a SB and
went through Brady and Belichick to do it despite never getting the proper help on defense. Peyton also won 5 MVP's which no other football player has done and even LeBron only has won 4 and it's harder to win MVP in football than it is in basketball. Peyton won 2 SB's overall and went to 4 which is respectable because he didn't have the coaching or defenses like Brady or Montana had.
Rev, Regarding the Lakers, we are a .500 team and will probably be like an 8 seed
The future is:
Giannis - proven last year, stayed with the Bucks and won it all, he has an easy 7 great years left.
Durant - still has 5 great years left.
Curry - still has 5 great years left.
Booker and the Suns are lights out, they may get CP3 that elusive ring afterall.