RealGM

LeBron James on your team for only 4 seasons.

--or--

The #1 pick to the next two NBA Drafts.

It depends on who the #1 picks are gonna be

LeBron.
Let's face it: the average #1 pick is not some superstar player... (Bargnani and Oden were back-to-back #1 picks ok, that's one end of the spectrum obviously, but still... does a Griffin/Wall duo give you 4 great chances to win it all? I don't know...)

I usually like going for the surefire things and getting LBJ for four years (assuming around his peak).

The variability of the draft strength is too much for me to consider otherwise.

You could have back-to-back years like the 96 and 97 draft, and then others like 00 and 01....Unpredictable.

I'd settle for the years like 03 and 04 though....

I pick Lebron for the next four seasons, the #1 pick seem very high risk to me. You have to sort through the media hype of the top picks and really delve in to the psyche of the top prospects to determine which player is not going to quit when times get hard and who is going to be willing to lead in the future.

Honestly I'd take the two firsts just for the chance of landing a top prospect and the trade value that comes with them.

I'd hate to end up like the Heat and overpay players out of desperation when Lebron leaves.

ThunderDan9 wrote:LeBron.
Let's face it: the average #1 pick is not some superstar player... (Bargnani and Oden were back-to-back #1 picks ok, that's one end of the spectrum obviously, but still... does a Griffin/Wall duo give you 4 great chances to win it all? I don't know...)

That's because of terrible drafting by Colangelo and terrible luck for Oden/Portland.

Those picks could have easily been LaMarcus Aldridge and Kevin Durant, in which case, I go with those 2 >>> LeBron any day. Maybe that's just because I think Durant is as close to LeBron as we can get (even though they're nothing alike) at this point. His impact in all facets of the game (other than defensively) is close enough to LeBron that a combination of him and Aldridge is a lot better than LeBron overall.

Also, 2004-2005 could have netted you Dwight and CP3.... which I take over LeBron every time as well.

Still, if you switch to pretty much any other drafts from 2003 till now, and I would rather have LeBron.

I_Socrates wrote:

ThunderDan9 wrote:LeBron.
Let's face it: the average #1 pick is not some superstar player... (Bargnani and Oden were back-to-back #1 picks ok, that's one end of the spectrum obviously, but still... does a Griffin/Wall duo give you 4 great chances to win it all? I don't know...)

That's because of terrible drafting by Colangelo and terrible luck for Oden/Portland.

Those picks could have easily been LaMarcus Aldridge and Kevin Durant, in which case, I go with those 2 >>> LeBron any day. Maybe that's just because I think Durant is as close to LeBron as we can get (even though they're nothing alike) at this point. His impact in all facets of the game (other than defensively) is close enough to LeBron that a combination of him and Aldridge is a lot better than LeBron overall.

Also, 2004-2005 could have netted you Dwight and CP3.... which I take over LeBron every time as well.

Still, if you switch to pretty much any other drafts from 2003 till now, and I would rather have LeBron.

I think the point of the thread is not to nit-pick years where there were 2 players with a combined higher impact than LBJ in the draft.

Rather, it's to ask, would you rather have LeBron James, or the #1 pick in the next TWO drafts?

I would say LeBron 11 times out of 10. Give me the best player in the game over a small chance to maybe get two guys who maybe down the line will maybe be just as good as LeBron, maybe.

Assuming you mean for an expansion team I would take the #1 picks over Lebron 2015-2018

RightToCensor wrote:Honestly I'd take the two firsts just for the chance of landing a top prospect and the trade value that comes with them.

I'd hate to end up like the Heat and overpay players out of desperation when Lebron leaves.

Because 4 Finals appearances and 2 Finals Victories are worth "a chance at landing a top prospect" and "trade value"...

I'd likely go for LeBron. Probably make 4 Finals and win 2 of them.

I'd only side with the 2 firsts if I knew one of them would net a generational talent. Otherwise, LeBron + salary dump for FAs is the way to go.

Stringcheese wrote:

I_Socrates wrote:

ThunderDan9 wrote:LeBron.
Let's face it: the average #1 pick is not some superstar player... (Bargnani and Oden were back-to-back #1 picks ok, that's one end of the spectrum obviously, but still... does a Griffin/Wall duo give you 4 great chances to win it all? I don't know...)

That's because of terrible drafting by Colangelo and terrible luck for Oden/Portland.

Those picks could have easily been LaMarcus Aldridge and Kevin Durant, in which case, I go with those 2 >>> LeBron any day. Maybe that's just because I think Durant is as close to LeBron as we can get (even though they're nothing alike) at this point. His impact in all facets of the game (other than defensively) is close enough to LeBron that a combination of him and Aldridge is a lot better than LeBron overall.

Also, 2004-2005 could have netted you Dwight and CP3.... which I take over LeBron every time as well.

Still, if you switch to pretty much any other drafts from 2003 till now, and I would rather have LeBron.

I think the point of the thread is not to nit-pick years where there were 2 players with a combined higher impact than LBJ in the draft.

Rather, it's to ask, would you rather have LeBron James, or the #1 pick in the next TWO drafts?

I would say LeBron 11 times out of 10. Give me the best player in the game over a small chance to maybe get two guys who maybe down the line will maybe be just as good as LeBron, maybe.

Right, which is why I said I would go with LeBron pretty much any other year, including the next few.
After that, he's too old and I'd go with the 2 young guys with potential to be great for 10+ years rather than 2-3 years.

Still, my point was, considering there was major talent available in the few drafts after LeBron's, it's far from unanimous that you take LeBron over the 2 picks going back.

Even then LeBron was heralded as the best prospect since Jordan, and still combinations like Dwight+Paul or KD+Aldridge would be better choices.

RightToCensor wrote:Honestly I'd take the two firsts just for the chance of landing a top prospect and the trade value that comes with them.

I'd hate to end up like the Heat and overpay players out of desperation when Lebron leaves.

Yeah you guys are lucky you didn't sign Bosh