Replace Jordan 91-93 and 96-98 with Lebron 10-12 and 15-17

[migya]

Replace Jordan in the Bulls championship years, 91-93 and 96-98 with Lebron at same years experience in the nba, 10-12 and 15-17, do the Bulls win those six years? Pippen plays SG and Lebron SF.

[coastalmarker99]

LeBron would destroy those Jazz teams in the finals lol.

As LeBron would have been even more unstoppable in that era where you couldn't overload the strong side lol.

Plus imagine him going from facing Iggy and Draymond plus Durant to Bryon Russell.

As if he averaged 34/12/10 on 63% TS against those guys what do you think he would do to that Jazz team.

[DonaldSanders]

Considering we're talking 10-12 LeBron at the start, then definitely at least one less championship.

[Heej]

Considering we're talking 10-12 LeBron at the start, then definitely at least one less championship.

Negative. Teams couldn't play zone back then like the Mavericks did. LeBron washes all those scrubs easily. Man's had 1 great coach in Spoelstra and posted his most efficient season ever with great off-ball play. Imagine giving him Phil Jackson his entire career and Scottie as another playmaker who can set him up for easy buckets vs low IQ 90s defenses and undersized 90s defenders.

[migya]

LeBron would destroy those Jazz teams in the finals lol.

As LeBron would have been even more unstoppable in that era where you couldn't overload the strong side lol.

Plus imagine him going from facing Iggy and Draymond plus Durant to Bryon Russell.

As if he averaged 34/12/10 on 63% TS against those guys what do you think he would do to that Jazz team.

You think Lebron would be better against bigger and better shotblocking bigs and a much more physical era, where he gets bumped near the basket? Jordan had better touch and jump shot than Lebron, making it easier to score. He struggled somewhat against the Jazz's good defense.

[coastalmarker99]

LeBron would destroy those Jazz teams in the finals lol.

As LeBron would have been even more unstoppable in that era where you couldn't overload the strong side lol.

Plus imagine him going from facing Iggy and Draymond plus Durant to Bryon Russell.

As if he averaged 34/12/10 on 63% TS against those guys what do you think he would do to that Jazz team.

You think Lebron would be better against bigger and better shotblocking bigs and a much more physical era, where he gets bumped near the basket? Jordan had better touch and jump shot than Lebron, making it easier to score. He struggled somewhat against the Jazz's good defense.

The more physical an era is.

the more it favours the superior athletes.

Russell wouldn’t have been able to guard Wilt effectively if they played under 2001 rules.

As Wilt would just play bully ball every possession against the smaller Russell.

who would now have to endure being elbowed and being ran over in the post.



Now Imagine prime LeBron who could keep up with Rose now being allowed to hand check on defence.

LeBron”s defence as a result would get even better.

And it’s likely that most of the 1990”s guards wouldn’t be able to get past him on switches.


Plus on offence LeBron would now get the freedom to go full bully ball against undersized wings 1 on one.

[70sFan]

James fits worse with these Bulls teams, so I expect them to do worse but still be very successful because they were very talented.

[HeartBreakKid]

More LBJ/Jordan threads? There's even more of these than usual this year.

[The High Cyde]

Championship every year, and even the years in between because he wouldn’t retire smack dab in the middle of his prime. But maybe Hakeem takes one during that time, who knows.

[TheGOATRises007]

Does this still assume Lebron's 2011 finals performance is poor in this hypothetical? If not, then 6 titles.

[Dutchball97]

More LBJ/Jordan threads? There's even more of these than usual this year.

Really wouldn't mind no LeBron vs MJ talk untill the top 100 but what else are people going to talk about I guess.

[No-more-rings]

They might lose 92, weak prime year by Lebron standards and the Blazers were no joke. Definitely win the other 5 years, results may be better or worse overall though.

[Statlanta]

More LBJ/Jordan threads? There's even more of these than usual this year.

Really wouldn't mind no LeBron vs MJ talk untill the top 100 but what else are people going to talk about I guess.

We could talk about where Michael Ray Richardson ranks. I mean for a board that prides itself on critical analysis and conversations it really repeats the main threads many times

[No-more-rings]

LeBron would destroy those Jazz teams in the finals lol.

As LeBron would have been even more unstoppable in that era where you couldn't overload the strong side lol.

Plus imagine him going from facing Iggy and Draymond plus Durant to Bryon Russell.

As if he averaged 34/12/10 on 63% TS against those guys what do you think he would do to that Jazz team.

The 2017 series with GSW was played at a 100.2 pace, and 2018, 90.7, the 1997 and 1998 finals was 82, and 85.7 respectively. Also just considering other era differences, and how different Lebron’s role would be on a team like the Bulls you can’t just recklessly try to extrapolate his numbers backwards 20 years.

Yeah those peak-offense level Lebron years shouldn’t have an issue getting his against the Jazz, but we have no way of guessing what his numbers would look like.

This post comes off as the typical “teams and defenses sucked back then so player x would average like 40/15/15”, the opposite of how people say “player x would average 50/10/10 in today’s soft defense league”. And let’s be serious, the Cavs gave up a 123 ortg over those two series i’m not surprised Lebron put up insane numbers his team wasn’t playing any defense, and the Warriors didn’t really perceive them as a threat anyway.

[Dutchball97]

More LBJ/Jordan threads? There's even more of these than usual this year.

Really wouldn't mind no LeBron vs MJ talk untill the top 100 but what else are people going to talk about I guess.

We could talk about where Michael Ray Richardson ranks. I mean for a board that prides itself on critical analysis and conversations it really repeats the main threads many times

He's an intersting player for sure. Seemingly a very good defensive guard that wasn't all that efficient at scoring and was a bit turnover prone, which reduces the value of his playmaking as well. He also had a relatively short career with lots of missed games in the already few seasons he played. It does have to be said that everytime he played a full or nearly full regular season he'd be selected to the All-Star game. Not a bad idea to shine some more light on these fringe guys that were really good but not among the all-time greats. That's why trying to rank someone like him isn't that viable imo. He's not a top 100 player or close to it, nor is he top 20 at his position. Both of those things are already more than what most people keep a list of or even think about.

[Heej]

Does this still assume Lebron's 2011 finals performance is poor in this hypothetical? If not, then 6 titles.

Teams couldn't play zone then so no. He was great in every other series where teams weren't zoning. He's even more built to dominate in the 90s tbh

[magicman1978]

I don't think the Blazers would give him issues, but the 92 Knicks were well equipped to defend 2011 version of Bron. The Knicks were essentially playing a version of zone.againat MJ.

[McBubbles]

More LBJ/Jordan threads? There's even more of these than usual this year.

Maybe it's because it's Michael Jordan Day soon. I didn't even know that was a thing until yesterday, and I still can't tell if it's an actual thing or a joke, but still that might be why the comparison is ramping up again lol.

[DonaldSanders]

Considering we're talking 10-12 LeBron at the start, then definitely at least one less championship.

Negative. Teams couldn't play zone back then like the Mavericks did. LeBron washes all those scrubs easily. Man's had 1 great coach in Spoelstra and posted his most efficient season ever with great off-ball play. Imagine giving him Phil Jackson his entire career and Scottie as another playmaker who can set him up for easy buckets vs low IQ 90s defenses and undersized 90s defenders.

The issue in 11 was not that the Mavericks could play zone, LeBron choked. LeBron should have dominated in '11 like he did in '12, he didn't magically learn how to defeat a zone during a season where Wade fell off. Wade was fantastic in '11, LeBron just blew it man. It's part of history at this point.

LeBron had Bosh and Wade, let's not make excuses for what happened. LeBron could have kept Spoelstra, but LeBron left to go chase assets, LeBron didn't care about the coach/org enough. He had his stable situation and chose to leave.

[Heej]

Considering we're talking 10-12 LeBron at the start, then definitely at least one less championship.

Negative. Teams couldn't play zone back then like the Mavericks did. LeBron washes all those scrubs easily. Man's had 1 great coach in Spoelstra and posted his most efficient season ever with great off-ball play. Imagine giving him Phil Jackson his entire career and Scottie as another playmaker who can set him up for easy buckets vs low IQ 90s defenses and undersized 90s defenders.

The issue in 11 was not that the Mavericks could play zone, LeBron choked. LeBron should have dominated in '11 like he did in '12, he didn't magically learn how to defeat a zone during a season where Wade fell off. Wade was fantastic in '11, LeBron just blew it man. It's part of history at this point.

LeBron had Bosh and Wade, let's not make excuses for what happened. LeBron could have kept Spoelstra, but LeBron left to go chase assets, LeBron didn't care about the coach/org enough. He had his stable situation and chose to leave.

As in all things in life it's a combination of both. But it's clear looking at the film now the zone flummoxed him and was designed to allow his teammates to go off while they flooded him, and it played into his tendencies to find the most efficient shot possible. Mark Cuban alluded to this in interviews as well and said he played a Magic Johnson-esque Finals in his eyes.

If you're giving LeBron parking lot postups vs 90s wings with no zone to help, he's packing them MFs up