Greather Athlete: Lebron or Bolt

[Goon]

Lebron and it's not even close. Lebron is a mix of speed, quickness, lateral quickness, hand eye coordination, jumping and a lot more. Bolt runs in a straight line very fast, that's about it. Bolt is like Phelps, extremely dominant in their sport. But their sport doesn't require as much overall athleticism. Heck I think swimming takes more athleticism than sprinting

Well... Bolt trains for running fast in a straight line and Phelps trains swimming, how the hell can you make such an argument? They all play different sports, who knows how Bolt would do if he played basketball all his life, same can be said for LeBron if he trained sprint.

But without a doubt Phelps and Bolt are GOATs in their sports, they are what Jordan is to basketball.

LeBron is a beast and an amazing athlete, but Bolt is much more superior compared to his peers than LeBron. Bolt is a freak of nature, I pick Bolt.

You're arguing who is more dominant in their sport not who's the better athlete. My post was am about athleticism not dominance of their sport.

Well in that case I pick the fastest man that has ever lived.

[Bruh Man]

You're arguing who is more dominant in their sport not who's the better athlete. My post was am about athleticism not dominance of their sport.

Well in that case I pick the fastest man that has ever lived.

I wonder how this thread would turn out if we were comparing Lebron to NFL athletes, I think people are picking Lebron because he's a lot more athletic than his peers but the thing is basketball is more about skill than athleticism. he's not competing against the most athletic people on the planet, had he chose to play football he'd just be another athletic freak amongst the many and we wouldn't be having this discussion.

[joeyAdaMan]

^ anybody in football that's faster than Lebron is likely 3-5 inches shorter(or more) and anybody in football that is stronger than Lebron is likely 20-50 lbs heavier...people are REALLY underselling just how much of a freak Lebron is for his size...there is nobody on the planet in his height/weight range that can move like him AND possess the same skills....you would think Lebron is just Corey Maggette the way people are talking about him in this thread....i'm not going to start talking smack on the fastest man EVER...but it appears to me that the only physical attribute Bolt has over Lebron is pure straight line speed....which is awesome...but only ONE aspect of athleticism

[Chicago76]

I'll go with Bolt. You can make an argument that jordan or even shaq were more dominant athletes than James.

you can also make the argument that Carl Lewis was more dominant than Bolt. He wasn't just the best at 100 meters and 200 meters, he was also the best in the world at the long jump, and the first guy to jump further than Bob Beamon He won the long jump gold medal in 4 consecutive olympics. His olympic long jump results were

1984: 8.54 meters
1988: 8.72 meters
1992: 8.67 meters
1996: 8.50 meters

The long jump winners since carl lewis

2000: 8.32 meters
2004: 8.31 meters
2008: 8.27 meters
2012: 8.11 meters
2016: 8.38 meters

He won the long jump 4 consecutive olympics with jumps that would have won every olympics since then. Is best olympic jump would have won this olympics by 13.4 inches.

And Carl Lewis at the time was "the fastest man to ever live", is still the world record holder meters at low altitude, and also still has the 2nd fast 200 meters ever run at low altitude.

Lewis was incredible, but there were holes that Bolt simply doesn't have.

Bolts competition is stronger. Stipends/professionalism in track were permitted only in 81, so Lewis' fields weren't as deep early in his career. The 80 boycott contributed to that as well. 1 in 8 84 100m finalists was over 25. Today the average age is 26. Guys have resources to continue to get better/stick around more than a year or two past college. The fields are more global too. In the 80s, the U.S. had 5-8 guys on world top 10 lists. You could be the 2nd best collegiate American sprinter and be a top 10 guy. Today only 2-3 Americans make the top 10 lists. The gap between 3-10 is smaller today as well.

If you summarize Lewis, he was clearly dominant in the 100 from 82 to about 89 (ignoring doping Ben). He part timed it in the 200 (not doing the event in the worlds). He was also clearly dominant in the LJ from 82 to about 89. 91-95 Powell was a better jumper. 92 Lewis managed to get gold in the Olympics sandwiched between two Powell worlds. 96 he got Gold because the top 2 jumpers were hurt in competition.

Bolt will win the 200 this year. No one can touch him. He's had the advantage of having biennial worlds, but look at his 100/200 record at the Olympics+worlds from 2008-16. He'll have 14 finals. 13 gold. The only one he will have missed on was a 100 at worlds where he false started, which btw wouldn't have been a DQ when Lewis was running. Nobody has been this unbeatable in a race at two different events ever.

[Bruh Man]

^ anybody in football that's faster than Lebron is likely 3-5 inches shorter(or more) and anybody in football that is stronger than Lebron is likely 20-50 lbs heavier...people are REALLY underselling just how much of a freak Lebron is for his size...there is nobody on the planet in his height/weight range that can move like him AND possess the same skills....you would think Lebron is just Corey Maggette the way people are talking about him in this thread....i'm not going to start talking smack on the fastest man EVER...but it appears to me that the only physical attribute Bolt has over Lebron is pure straight line speed....which is awesome...but only ONE aspect of athleticism

Doesn't matter, Bolt is a lot taller than most of his competition and he's still the fastest man to ever live, the one thing we know for sure is that Bolt is a lot faster than Lebron or any other human that has lived. What does Lebron do better than any athelete ever? nothing. Lebron is taller and stronger/heavier as well as a better basketball player than Bolt but that's probably about it.

[LivingLegend]

IDK, if Bolt was also dominant in multiple track events like Hurdles and Broad Jump I would see it being easier to measure. LeBron is considered a freak athlete because he can run a 4.3, get down the whole court in 9 steps, has a 44 inch vertical and is as agile as they come. He can show off his wide range of athletic ability playing basketball from endurance, sprinting, jumping, cutting, acceleration, change of direction, ect. All we have seen from Bolt is running straight really really really fast. If he was also a undefeated in the hurdles and other events that require you to use more than 1 skillset it would be easier to judge.

Bolt is faster than LeBron and thats about all we know. This sportscience on him paints a clearer picture, which is insane.

Watch on YouTube

[Jedi32]

^ anybody in football that's faster than Lebron is likely 3-5 inches shorter(or more) and anybody in football that is stronger than Lebron is likely 20-50 lbs heavier...people are REALLY underselling just how much of a freak Lebron is for his size...there is nobody on the planet in his height/weight range that can move like him AND possess the same skills....you would think Lebron is just Corey Maggette the way people are talking about him in this thread....i'm not going to start talking smack on the fastest man EVER...but it appears to me that the only physical attribute Bolt has over Lebron is pure straight line speed....which is awesome...but only ONE aspect of athleticism

Saying there's no one on the planet his height/weight range that can move like him sounds like hyperbole.

[Bruh Man]

IDK, if Bolt was also dominant in multiple track events like Hurdles and Broad Jump I would see it being easier to measure. LeBron is considered a freak athlete because he can run a 4.3, get down the whole court in 4 steps, has a 44 inch vertical and is as agile as they come. He can show off his wide range of athletic ability playing basketball from endurance, sprinting, jumping, cutting, acceleration, change of direction, ect. All we have seen from Bolt is running straight really really really fast. If he was also a undefeated in the hurdles and other events that require you to use more than 1 skillset it would be easier to judge.

Bolt is faster than LeBron and thats about all we know.

This makes no sense, if bolt was also great at other track events like high jump as well then this would be an even dumber discussion. Bolt is competing against the best ATHLETES in the world, Lebron is competing against the best BASKETBALL players in the world.

[Chicago76]

IDK, if Bolt was also dominant in multiple track events like Hurdles and Broad Jump I would see it being easier to measure. LeBron is considered a freak athlete because he can run a 4.3, get down the whole court in 9 steps, has a 44 inch vertical and is as agile as they come. He can show off his wide range of athletic ability playing basketball from endurance, sprinting, jumping, cutting, acceleration, change of direction, ect. All we have seen from Bolt is running straight really really really fast. If he was also a undefeated in the hurdles and other events that require you to use more than 1 skillset it would be easier to judge.

Bolt is faster than LeBron and thats about all we know. This sportscience on him paints a clearer picture, which is insane.

Watch on YouTube

James is impressive enough as he is. You don't need to embellish for him. The guy can't run a 4.3. I'm sorry. He claimed he ran a 4.6...just messing around, mind you, to omy he could cut down to 4.3-4.4. Not in a million years. I don't doubt that James could have run what he says he already did (4.6) with a lot of training to prep, but 99% of all people lie about their 40...usually because their coach has a slow trigger finger. That 4.6 with training would put him in line with above average NFL TEs who aren't blocking specialists. Seems pretty reasonable.

FWIW, Bolt correcting for the hand time start and correcting for starting the clock when he left rather than at the gun, would have a 3.96 40 in his best 100. And starts aren't his strong suit. That would be his ability to sustain how fast he is going.

The difference between Bolt's 40 and James honest 40 is twice as big as the difference between James 40 and a very quick lineman. If they started at the same time, Bolt would be 9 yards past the finish line by the time James completed his 40.

[LivingLegend]

IDK, if Bolt was also dominant in multiple track events like Hurdles and Broad Jump I would see it being easier to measure. LeBron is considered a freak athlete because he can run a 4.3, get down the whole court in 9 steps, has a 44 inch vertical and is as agile as they come. He can show off his wide range of athletic ability playing basketball from endurance, sprinting, jumping, cutting, acceleration, change of direction, ect. All we have seen from Bolt is running straight really really really fast. If he was also a undefeated in the hurdles and other events that require you to use more than 1 skillset it would be easier to judge.

Bolt is faster than LeBron and thats about all we know. This sportscience on him paints a clearer picture, which is insane.

Watch on YouTube

James is impressive enough as he is. You don't need to embellish for him. The guy can't run a 4.3. I'm sorry. He claimed he ran a 4.6...just messing around, mind you, to omy he could cut down to 4.3-4.4. Not in a million years. I don't doubt that James could have run what he says he already did (4.6) with a lot of training to prep, but 99% of all people lie about their 40...usually because their coach has a slow trigger finger. That 4.6 with training would put him in line with above average NFL TEs who aren't blocking specialists. Seems pretty reasonable.

FWIW, Bolt correcting for the hand time start and correcting for starting the clock when he left rather than at the gun, would have a 3.96 40 in his best 100. And starts aren't his strong suit. That would be his ability to sustain how fast he is going.

The difference between Bolt's 40 and James honest 40 is twice as big as the difference between James 40 and a very quick lineman. If they started at the same time, Bolt would be 9 yards past the finish line by the time James completed his 40.

Woah relax Bulls fan. I would be willing to be he could have gotten it down to a 4.4 or better during his first stint with the Cavs. During his Heat days he was as heavy as he has ever been probebly close to 265-270 when he packed on muscle to become a human tank for 4 years. He shed a lot of that weight when he came back to Cleveland. Just saying. 27 year old LeBron on the Cavs without all the muscle mass I bet would have posted quicker numbers.

[LivingLegend]

IDK, if Bolt was also dominant in multiple track events like Hurdles and Broad Jump I would see it being easier to measure. LeBron is considered a freak athlete because he can run a 4.3, get down the whole court in 4 steps, has a 44 inch vertical and is as agile as they come. He can show off his wide range of athletic ability playing basketball from endurance, sprinting, jumping, cutting, acceleration, change of direction, ect. All we have seen from Bolt is running straight really really really fast. If he was also a undefeated in the hurdles and other events that require you to use more than 1 skillset it would be easier to judge.

Bolt is faster than LeBron and thats about all we know.

This makes no sense, if bolt was also great at other track events like high jump as well then this would be an even dumber discussion. Bolt is competing against the best ATHLETES in the world, Lebron is competing against the best BASKETBALL players in the world.

Not really. LeBrons athletisism comes from the fact he can do multiple things very well. We only know that Bolt is straight line fast. We dont know anything else about his athleticism. We know many factors of LeBrons because of the sport he plays. In order for me to say Bolt is the better overall athlete, I need to see him do something that involves athleticism besides run straight line fast. Thats like saying Dri Archer is a better athlete than Adrian Peterson.

[SkyHookFTW]

Everyone can and has run/ran in their lives. Not everyone can dunk, throw a bullet pass in traffic, alley oops, block a basketball etc.

/thread

Sent from my SGH-I747M using RealGM mobile app

Lots of people can dunk, throw passes, block shots, but only one is the fastest man who ever lived. /thread.

[SkyHookFTW]

^ anybody in football that's faster than Lebron is likely 3-5 inches shorter(or more) and anybody in football that is stronger than Lebron is likely 20-50 lbs heavier...people are REALLY underselling just how much of a freak Lebron is for his size...there is nobody on the planet in his height/weight range that can move like him AND possess the same skills....you would think Lebron is just Corey Maggette the way people are talking about him in this thread....i'm not going to start talking smack on the fastest man EVER...but it appears to me that the only physical attribute Bolt has over Lebron is pure straight line speed....which is awesome...but only ONE aspect of athleticism

LeBron, in football terms, is probably JJ Watt's workout buddy, Connor Barwin. 6'4", 260-265, 4.5 40.

[LivingLegend]

^ anybody in football that's faster than Lebron is likely 3-5 inches shorter(or more) and anybody in football that is stronger than Lebron is likely 20-50 lbs heavier...people are REALLY underselling just how much of a freak Lebron is for his size...there is nobody on the planet in his height/weight range that can move like him AND possess the same skills....you would think Lebron is just Corey Maggette the way people are talking about him in this thread....i'm not going to start talking smack on the fastest man EVER...but it appears to me that the only physical attribute Bolt has over Lebron is pure straight line speed....which is awesome...but only ONE aspect of athleticism

LeBron, in football terms, is probably JJ Watt's workout buddy, Connor Barwin. 6'4", 260-265, 4.5 40.

Ehh by mesuranbles only not stature. He is like a Calvin Johnson but taller. He looks massive lol

Watch on YouTube

or

Watch on YouTube

[Bruh Man]

IDK, if Bolt was also dominant in multiple track events like Hurdles and Broad Jump I would see it being easier to measure. LeBron is considered a freak athlete because he can run a 4.3, get down the whole court in 4 steps, has a 44 inch vertical and is as agile as they come. He can show off his wide range of athletic ability playing basketball from endurance, sprinting, jumping, cutting, acceleration, change of direction, ect. All we have seen from Bolt is running straight really really really fast. If he was also a undefeated in the hurdles and other events that require you to use more than 1 skillset it would be easier to judge.

Bolt is faster than LeBron and thats about all we know.

This makes no sense, if bolt was also great at other track events like high jump as well then this would be an even dumber discussion. Bolt is competing against the best ATHLETES in the world, Lebron is competing against the best BASKETBALL players in the world.

Not really. LeBrons athletisism comes from the fact he can do multiple things very well. We only know that Bolt is straight line fast. We dont know anything else about his athleticism. We know many factors of LeBrons because of the sport he plays. In order for me to say Bolt is the better overall athlete, I need to see him do something that involves athleticism besides run straight line fast. Thats like saying Dri Archer is a better athlete than Adrian Peterson.

Doing many things well doesn't mean he's a better athlete, pretty sure Bolt can jump high move quickly laterally and so on. We don't even know what Lebron can do better except play basketball. Bolt trains to push his body to it's limits, he doesn't have to train skill sets like basketball players do and he competes in a sport that measures his athleticism.

[NO-KG-AI]

LeBron would definitely translate a lot better to a bunch of other sports and athletic endeavors, but if we are ranking them in their own sport, Bolt seems to be far and away the greatest runner to ever live, and LeBron isn't that in his sport. I think very few in sports would have the type of dominance and runaway GOAT status that Bolt has in his sport, right?

[joeyAdaMan]

This makes no sense, if bolt was also great at other track events like high jump as well then this would be an even dumber discussion. Bolt is competing against the best ATHLETES in the world, Lebron is competing against the best BASKETBALL players in the world.

Not really. LeBrons athletisism comes from the fact he can do multiple things very well. We only know that Bolt is straight line fast. We dont know anything else about his athleticism. We know many factors of LeBrons because of the sport he plays. In order for me to say Bolt is the better overall athlete, I need to see him do something that involves athleticism besides run straight line fast. Thats like saying Dri Archer is a better athlete than Adrian Peterson.

Doing many things well doesn't mean he's a better athlete, pretty sure Bolt can jump high move quickly laterally and so on. We don't even know what Lebron can do better except play basketball. Bolt trains to push his body to it's limits, he doesn't have to train skill sets like basketball players do and he competes in a sport that measures his athleticism.

do we have proof of this? honest question....again...from what i understand...the only thing we know for SURE that Bolt does at an elite(GOAT actually) level is running in a straight line....and also...if Lebron is better athletically at most things outside of straight line speed...how does that not in turn make him a better athlete than Bolt?.....Lebron is bigger,stronger, and in all likelihood can jump higher/farther....AND Lebron is fast as hell for a dude who's 3-4 inches bigger than bolt and likely 40-50 lbs heavier....so it's not like Lebron can't run.....what have we seen Bolt do ATHLETICALLY outside of running in a straight line?...because there are plenty of NFL receivers/backs that can run faster than guys like Barry Sanders or Lesean Mccoy....but very few(if any really) can move laterally like those two can/could....it's just not a safe assumption that Bolt can do other things athletically beyond running in a straight line.....

[joeyAdaMan]

LeBron would definitely translate a lot better to a bunch of other sports and athletic endeavors, but if we are ranking them in their own sport, Bolt seems to be far and away the greatest runner to ever live, and LeBron isn't that in his sport. I think very few in sports would have the type of dominance and runaway GOAT status that Bolt has in his sport, right?

pretty much....he's the fastest human ever recorded and from what i understand it's not very close....same with Phelps in the pool...you aren't going to find an individual in the four major American Sports that has accomplished more than either of those two...then again....we are comparing team sports to individual sports...so it's almost impossible to really compare these guys from an accomplishment stand point anyways

[Chicago76]

IDK, if Bolt was also dominant in multiple track events like Hurdles and Broad Jump I would see it being easier to measure. LeBron is considered a freak athlete because he can run a 4.3, get down the whole court in 9 steps, has a 44 inch vertical and is as agile as they come. He can show off his wide range of athletic ability playing basketball from endurance, sprinting, jumping, cutting, acceleration, change of direction, ect. All we have seen from Bolt is running straight really really really fast. If he was also a undefeated in the hurdles and other events that require you to use more than 1 skillset it would be easier to judge.

Bolt is faster than LeBron and thats about all we know. This sportscience on him paints a clearer picture, which is insane.

Watch on YouTube

James is impressive enough as he is. You don't need to embellish for him. The guy can't run a 4.3. I'm sorry. He claimed he ran a 4.6...just messing around, mind you, to omy he could cut down to 4.3-4.4. Not in a million years. I don't doubt that James could have run what he says he already did (4.6) with a lot of training to prep, but 99% of all people lie about their 40...usually because their coach has a slow trigger finger. That 4.6 with training would put him in line with above average NFL TEs who aren't blocking specialists. Seems pretty reasonable.

FWIW, Bolt correcting for the hand time start and correcting for starting the clock when he left rather than at the gun, would have a 3.96 40 in his best 100. And starts aren't his strong suit. That would be his ability to sustain how fast he is going.

The difference between Bolt's 40 and James honest 40 is twice as big as the difference between James 40 and a very quick lineman. If they started at the same time, Bolt would be 9 yards past the finish line by the time James completed his 40.

Woah relax Bulls fan. I would be willing to be he could have gotten it down to a 4.4 or better during his first stint with the Cavs. During his Heat days he was as heavy as he has ever been probebly close to 265-270 when he packed on muscle to become a human tank for 4 years. He shed a lot of that weight when he came back to Cleveland. Just saying. 27 year old LeBron on the Cavs without all the muscle mass I bet would have posted quicker numbers.

First, I'm not a Bulls fan. Not that it matters. More importantly, you can guess all you want about what an imaginary 40 time would look like if Lebron dropped muscle mass, but then Lebron ceases to be what makes him great. It would be like me saying if Bolt put on 30 pounds of muscle he'd be X. And if my aunt had balls she'd be my uncle. Lebron came out and said he got a 4.6 without even trying. To translate: I was running my ass off and got a fully hand timed 40 from my buddy. He was about 0.2 slower than normal and a normal start/stop hand timed 40 is about 0.24 slower than a fully electronic 40 (which the combine doesn't even do). Which means his real time was about 5 flat. Could he have run a legit 40 in his younger days, with preparation, without all of the extra weight he put on in his mid 20s in 4.6? Maybe. For someone as big as he is, that's amazing.

It's not fast in the scheme of things. People really underrate track guys. Go back and take a look at the celeb dunk contests Foot Locker put together in the early 90s with guys like Mole Conley Sr. He was a triple jumper. About 5-11. And this was almost 25 years ago.

[Bruh Man]

do we have proof of this? honest question....again...from what i understand...the only thing we know for SURE that Bolt does at an elite(GOAT actually) level is running in a straight line....and also...if Lebron is better athletically at most things outside of straight line speed...how does that not in turn make him a better athlete than Bolt?.....Lebron is bigger,stronger, and in all likelihood can jump higher/farther....AND Lebron is fast as hell for a dude who's 3-4 inches bigger than bolt and likely 40-50 lbs heavier....so it's not like Lebron can't run.....what have we seen Bolt do ATHLETICALLY outside of running in a straight line?...because there are plenty of NFL receivers/backs that can run faster than guys like Barry Sanders or Lesean Mccoy....but very few(if any really) can move laterally like those two can/could....it's just not a safe assumption that Bolt can do other things athletically beyond running in a straight line.....

We don't know non of this except for he's taller/heavier and most likely stronger because of that fact. So again all your doing is speculating, what we do know for a fact is that Bolt has 3 world records and will probably end his career with 9 gold medals and the greatest Track and Field athlete of all time. I think the fair thing to do is compare them to their competition and when you do that the answer is clear.