3Peatkb24 wrote:3Peatkb24 wrote:If LeBron James wins this championship in 2021, I will probably move him to 2nd all-time on my greatest players ever list. Ahead of Magic and Kareem and I love both those guys. The Lakers are going to have to beat teams like the Jazz and Nets to get it done is why, another reason why is his longevity - he still plays like he is 30 lol. The Nets are just loaded and the Jazz are loaded too! The only reason why I have LeBron ahead of Kobe is he could just do more as an all-around player and he has won 4 League MVP's, Kobe only won 1. Kobe did get cheated out of a League MVP in 2006 though. The championships are about even, Kobe has 5/LeBron 4 but if LeBron wins this season that gives him 5. I have Kareem at #3 still out of respect because IMO he is greatest Center ever and has won 6 Championships and 6 League MVP's. He is also the NBA's all-time leading scorer. Centers can't do the things that floor players can do though, as in creating their own shot and the passing like a Point Guard.
What Magic did by winning Finals MVP as a rookie scoring 42 points, getting 15 Rebounds, and dishing out 7 Assists still may be the greatest thing I have ever witnessed. Magic did that without Kareem who was injured. The Lakers put the Sixers away at Philly, (otherwise we would've been facing a Game 7) who had DR J, Mo Cheeks, Andrew Toney, and Darryl Dawkins. 4 great Vets, it didn't matter. My eye test seen something that night that blew me away. I was almost 9 then and remember telling my mom that is the greatest basketball player I have ever seen and it's not even close. At the time I loved Kareem too. Michael Jordan came along and by the end of the 90's, I had to say he was the best ever. He just accomplished so much and never lost in the Finals going 6-0 with 6 Finals MVP's. It took that much for someone to out due Magic to change my thinking.
I am sticking with this and no flip flopping. LeBron gets this Championship, I will move him into #2 as he then would have 5 and the stats, MVP's, and longevity to back that up. A lot of people have already done this but as of now he doesn't have the Championship pedigree to be ahead of Magic or Kareem. He and Kobe are pretty even IMO, Kobe had Shaq for 3 of those championships but he still has that magical 5 like Magic has.
-I hope LeBron and the Lakers get it done in 2021, if LeBron gets this done it would be his best championship out of all of them IMO with the exception of maybe the 1 he won in Cleveland over the Warriors in 2016.
There are several players from this era that have been great with great resume's other than LeBron. I want to give credit to players like Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, Kawhi Leonard, Giannis, Jokic, CP3, Anthony Davis, and James Harden. I wanted to mentioned them because I talk about the old school players a lot but I respect these era's players big time. Having said that, lets say for shits and giggles my all-time top 10 players list since the 1977 season consisted of this:
1. Michael Jordan
2. Magic Johnson
3. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
4. LeBron James5. Kobe Bryant
6. Larry Bird
7. Shaq O'Neal
8. Tim Duncan
9. Hakeem Olajuwon
10. Moses Malone
-Who can you realistically kick off that top 10 list to put any of the guys I mentioned above in the top 10? You really can't, that is why these lists are so hard. I try to factor in everything like stats, overall games won, championships won, League MVP's won, Finals MVP's won, longevity, clutchness = the 'IT' factor, and my eye test as I have watched and studied this game for over 4 decades. Had a player like
Karl Malone won just 1 championship he would be in my top 10, have to win at least 1 like Moses did to make that list. Karl is 2nd on the all-time NBA scoring list with 2 League MVP's.