If realgm forums were around in the 80s/90s, who woud be the LBJ of it?

[The Penguin]

I can't even imagine the nuclear meltdown Realgm would have seen had it been around during Jordan's first retirement along with all the gambling rumors circulating at the time.

[The Penguin]

How much of that " whining" is a result of the modern media, it would probably be the same for any player back in that era. Everyone wants to create team drama and conjure up headlines, not to say that this didn't happen 20-30 years ago, but certainly not at the level it is today. And to be far hes never had a good coach, MJ and Kobe both benifited from the GOAT coach so its a fair to say Lebron's coaching hasn't been at the level it was for at least the two former NBA headline stars. This is probably the first time in a long time that the best player in the league doesn't have an elite coach. You probably have to go back to the 70s for this to be the case.

He's still pretty new on the job, but Kerr might be trending towards elite.

[SmoothCriminal]

Patrick Ewing and Karl Malone would have been roasted on forever

[RCM88x]

How much of that " whining" is a result of the modern media, it would probably be the same for any player back in that era. Everyone wants to create team drama and conjure up headlines, not to say that this didn't happen 20-30 years ago, but certainly not at the level it is today. And to be far hes never had a good coach, MJ and Kobe both benifited from the GOAT coach so its a fair to say Lebron's coaching hasn't been at the level it was for at least the two former NBA headline stars. This is probably the first time in a long time that the best player in the league doesn't have an elite coach. You probably have to go back to the 70s for this to be the case.

He's still pretty new on the job, but Kerr might be trending towards elite.

To be an elite coach I'd say Kerr would have be be very good without Curry, or vice versa.

[The Penguin]

I think Barkley would likely be the most polarizing. The only people that liked Isaiah were Pistons fans, everyone else would have been a mark for Bird/Magic/MJ. Barkley was the most outspoken (and would have been incredibly so on social media when he was younger), forced his way out of Philly, didn't win a title and would have had people on opposite ends of the spectrum on him.

[The Penguin]

How much of that " whining" is a result of the modern media, it would probably be the same for any player back in that era. Everyone wants to create team drama and conjure up headlines, not to say that this didn't happen 20-30 years ago, but certainly not at the level it is today. And to be far hes never had a good coach, MJ and Kobe both benifited from the GOAT coach so its a fair to say Lebron's coaching hasn't been at the level it was for at least the two former NBA headline stars. This is probably the first time in a long time that the best player in the league doesn't have an elite coach. You probably have to go back to the 70s for this to be the case.

He's still pretty new on the job, but Kerr might be trending towards elite.

To be an elite coach I'd say Kerr would have be be very good without Curry, or vice versa.

Under those criteria no coach is "elite". No one is winning championships without very good players.

[Warspite]

Larry bird. Non whites hated him and he broke every teams fans dreams/heart. Oh and talked trash not after he beat you but before and then beat you.

[RCM88x]

He's still pretty new on the job, but Kerr might be trending towards elite.

To be an elite coach I'd say Kerr would have be be very good without Curry, or vice versa.

Under those criteria no coach is "elite". No one is winning championships without very good players.

I was saying this would be the situation if you wanted to consider Kerr an elite coach today. This is only his 2nd year, its a little soon to jump on that wagon just yet.

[TKainZero]

You realize what Rodman would be like in the social media era?

Insanity...
4am youtube videos with hookers...
TMZ would have an entire web page for him
HE probably would have been suspended 2 years for 'drugs'
His social issues (dressing up as a women)
This is a guy that Literally went to North Korea and chilled with the most notorious dictator on the planet (RECENTLY, like, WHEN EVERYONES PHONE HAS INTERNET)

He would have donation events for charity to auction off his hairstyle for the night.
Literally, the options for what rodman would have done are limitless


Rodman in the Social media age would be 100x worse than what Johnny Manziel gets...

[PDX MM]

I don't think Rick Barry was all that liked which only would have been worse with social media. Karl Malone's elbows were hated outside of SLC and yeah I agree Jordan would most likely be just like James. One person I can think of that would have been helped a lot by todays media would have been a young Sabonis. There just isn't a lot of footage of him before all the foot and knee injuries but then again with that cold war thing who knows how it would have played out.

[Latrell]

I think Barkley would likely be the most polarizing. The only people that liked Isaiah were Pistons fans, everyone else would have been a mark for Bird/Magic/MJ. Barkley was the most outspoken (and would have been incredibly so on social media when he was younger), forced his way out of Philly, didn't win a title and would have had people on opposite ends of the spectrum on him.

I think MJ would be the LeBron, but Barkley would be Boogie Cousins.

[skones]

I was a Bulls fan as a small kid, and loved Jordan, but then again I wasn't necessarily exposed to the media at that age.

With that being said:
I HATED Reggie Miller
Karl Malone
Chuck Barkley was a pretty brash guy
Larry Bird seemed like kind of a dick
Rodman was always a clown
The entire Pistons squad

There was just a lot of bad blood between teams in the 80s and 90s. Way more than now where everyone is super buddy buddy. The feuds would have been very public. Really interesting to think about with social media.

[TdotRap4Lyfe]

It is my understanding that LBJ is a modern Magic Johnson, in terms of skillset.

[jumpstart]

Jordan and Kobe are both lucky they missed the social media era in their primes.

This isn't true. Lebron is just dumb enough to have a twitter account. Or perhaps, he's not dumb and actually use it as a market tool. Ok, that's another debate.

Athletes today don't have to choose to participate in social media. I just think there is a lot of pressure to do so and most of these dip sh*ts don't have the discipline to stay off it or not write something stupid.

[ropjhk]

This thread assumes that there is someone from that era who elicits the dislike from fans the way LBJ does. MJ obviously would be the most talked about NBA player, but I would imagine that he would be more universally beloved if today's Internet technology existed then compared to how LBJ is viewed now. MJ won more that LBJ and he never switched teams in his prime. MJ wouldn't suffer from the 2 factors that do the most damage to Lebron's image.

[Jakay]

MJ was definitely disliked. The first three-peat sort of quelled the haters, the second three-peat elevated him to GOAT status, and the swan song sort of tarnished him a bit.

I think if anything though, social media would helped more people realize it was more than a one man show.

It's really hard to envision these players using twitter though. Players these days are more like grown kids than they were before. And I say that as essentially part of the same generation who acknowledges this in myself as well.

Oh, and I can only imagine what the Kemps and Spreewells of the league would have said left unchecked.

[Devilzsidewalk]

reading the Bulls' game thread after Pippen refused to check-in on Kukoc' game-winner would be pretty juicy

[Edrees]

Everyone is saying MJ, but keep in mind in the 80s and 90s the norms were different than they are now. There was more respect for that type of "winning swagger" whereas now it's looked down on. I've even heard people hate on Curry (who seems like the nicest guy in the world) for "pretending like he's too good" after hitting shots.

I'll go with Isiah Lord Thomas III; he was involved with a lot of backroom player gossip and propaganda that wouldn't fly if exposed on social media.

The only reason it was respected because the internet wasn't around to scrutinize every word and misconstrue things. Why else do you think this type of attitude isn't as "respected' now but it was back then? The only difference is that the internet exists now.

[Vibranium]

As the thread title reads. I honestly think LBJ is one of the most hated players of all time, while also one of the most popular. Kind of a strange dichotomy, but that's what makes him so polarizing as a player.

My pick would be Isiah Thomas. Perhaps Christian Laettner(but he was more college).

MJ he even punched his own teammate. The media would've bodied him like a singing n­­­­i­­­­g­­­­g­­­­a

[ItsThatEasy]

Jordan and Kobe are both lucky they missed the social media era in their primes.

This isn't true. Lebron is just dumb enough to have a twitter account. Or perhaps, he's not dumb and actually use it as a market tool. Ok, that's another debate.

Athletes today don't have to choose to participate in social media. I just think there is a lot of pressure to do so and most of these dip sh*ts don't have the discipline to stay off it or not write something stupid.

What the heck are you talking about?

My post has nothing to do with LeBron's use of social media and everything to do with how WE use social media to invade these guys private lives and trash them on the daily.

There's things Mike and Kobe have said and done in practice and in real life that are just considered "urban legends". If they had happened now they would be TMZ headlines and we'd have 20 page threads about them.