DatAsh wrote:dreamshake wrote:If magic shoes and doctors extend your career so much, where are all these modern players playing 20+ years?
"Magic shoes" seems like a hyperbolic exaggeration to try and ridicule the idea. Playing 20+ years isn't just about how little you decline during those years, it also requires you to be start at a high enough level so that the decline doesn't put you out of the league, and very few players start at a high enough level to make that a reality. An average player with GOAT longevity probably isn't good enough to make a team after 20+ years, even if his decline is GOAT level. Lebron is a rare breed.dreamshake wrote:Come on man, this is ridiculous. Only 8 guys have ever played 20 seasons. Only Vince has played 22, and he was hobbling around scoring 5 pts a game by the end. Kareem isn't playing 26 seasons. If magic shoes and doctors extend your career so much, where are all these modern players playing 20+ years?
Given that 1970 Kareem played 20 seasons, I have no problem seeing 2003 Kareem playing 23 seasons. It seems biased/dishonest(not saying your doing this intentionally) imo to pretend that modern medicine, nutrition, surgery, pt, etc. don't increase player longevity. IMO, 2 seasons(22 total) is the absolute minimum you should add if you're looking at things in an unbiased manner. I've been doing this for awhile when comparing longevity, and I think it's a much better way to compare. I add 4 years for Russell, 3 for Kareem, and 2 for Jordan when comparing longevity to modern players. I also add years for special longevity limiting circumstances that wouldn't play out the same today, like Magic's AIDS scandal. Just the way I look at things, but I realize it might be controversial.
And yes, I also realize this a Lebron thread, so I expect pushback when I praise other players in comparison to him. It seems like praise of other players in this thread (in comparison to Lebron) is always met with harsh criticism, which is a shame, imo. As Lebron fans, it's important for us to be honest and acknowledge other players advantages. I'm not trying to criticize Lebron's longevity. He's undoubtedly got near GOAT level longevity at this point, and that combined with his peak/prime is why I have him as the best player of all time(with a large gap between him and Jordan/Kareem/Russell). I'm praising Kareem's longevity, not dissing Lebron's. Lebron might end up with better longevity than Kareem(I kinda expect it), but he's not there yet.
Well now you've walked it back from 6 years to 2 or 3 years, which is at least more reasonable. But I still think that if your theory was correct we'd have seen more modern players going over 20 years. Duncan, Dirk, Kobe, KG, etc. had access to modern shoes, medicine, nutrition, surgery, PRP injections, etc. and couldn't make it 23 seasons. It's not just a comparison to LBJ that I'm looking at - I think its unfair to those guys I listed who had great longevity to just add on an arbitrary amount of years to Kareem.
