One_and_Done wrote:Jta444 wrote:Jordan would feast on today’s finesse no interior defense with defensive 3 seconds league.
Lebron only started dominating when Garnett and Duncan and the last of the great big men retired. Heck he even struggled against an old Garnett and lost to a 38 year old Tim Duncan. Imaginee if he faced them in their prime. At one point he even struggled against Hibbert. And this is prime Lebron struggling against old dudes.
Lebron’s specialty is attacking the rim which opens up his passing and shooting game thats why he only dominated and had high stats when there werent great defensive big men anymore and it was the smallball era from 2015-2020z Of course he would have the best stats he faced Draymond at center who he is taller and more athletic than lol. When great big men started to appear again like Giannis and Embiid he jumped out of the East and RECRUITED the best interior defender in the NBA Anthony Davis so he wouldnt face him. So imagine if he was in the late 80s 90s facing Hakeem, Mutombo, Oakley, Smits, Eaton, Malone, Shaq, Ewing etc. He wouldnt be bigger and stronger than everybody, which is his main physical attribute. It’s not the perimeter defenders that trouble him, it’s the interior defenders and the 90s was the golden age of shot blocking big men
PS People complain oh the 90s had Mugsy and Shawn bradley, well this era had 5”7 isaiah thomas almost having the MVP. We also had brian scalabrine and jared dudley lol. It’s easy to nitpick players
Possibly the most ridiculous narrative I've ever heard.
It’s ridiculous because it’s true and an underrated often overlooked fact of Lebron’s career. He struggled against rim protectors. That’s why he had high stats vs the Warriors because Bogut was injured in 2016 and their tallest player was Draymond. 2011 he couldnt drive vs Tyson Chandler and had an 8 point game. 2013 took him game 7 to beat an old Tim Duncan who Kobe dominated at Duncan’s prime( and that was with David Robinson too imagine if Lebron faced The Twin Towers). He got spanked in 2014 by a 38 year old Tim Duncan.
He got lucky because the next wave of big men came years later with Giannis and Embiid. To counter that, he jumped out of the east and recruited Anthony Davis the league’s best rim protector so he wouldnt face him in the West. He won 2020 because of AD before AD got to the Lakers he MISSED the playoffs in the West lol.
Meanwhile Jordan out there dominating much better rim protectors like Mutombo, Shaq, Mourning, Eaton, Robinson - he ate them alive and that was WITHOUT defensive 3 seconds where rim protectors can stay in the paint. Imagine if all rin protectors can camp in paint with Lebron, he would never be able to drive and his weak footwork and lack of offensive arsenal would be exposed as defenders would just play close to him knowing they have an elite rim protector at the back and oh soft fouls werent called back then too. Lebron feasts today because while there are great perimeter defenders there is almost no more rim protection in the league. Plus fouls are called easily.