Knightfall wrote:Joker wrote:It’s just mind boggling longevity but the one thing dampening it a bit is that players of the earlier eras didn’t have the benefit of the 3 pt shot - either playing before it was introduced or playing while it was under-emphasized/rarely taken/rarely practiced.
Kareem was grinding it out with heavily contested 2’s.
Lebron is still a couple thousand FGM shy of Kareem.
Almost 1900.
That's a lot. I think there's always a bit of luck involved in greatness. This era is actually perfect for LBJ since there aren't any of those dominant PFs, like KG, Duncan, prime Amare etc. left. In addition, despite there a incredible amount of shooters in the league, very few players are running around stagger screens and in constant motion the way shooters used to be back when teams only had one shooter on the court.
That's means LBJ can basically always semi coast on defense by just picking one of the random wings or even bigs. This means he can conserve more energy and play more minutes. Doesn't take anything away from his greatness. Anyone that saw his game when he came into the league compared to him now knows that he put in the work. Obviously, similar things can be said about [insert star player here], like Steph was injured and that's why they didn't trade him and then the dubs put a great team around him blabla. There will always be SOME luck/coincidence involved.
So many people who attain the heights of power in this culture—celebrities, for instance—have to make a show of false humility and modesty, as if they got as far as they did by accident and not by ego or ambition.