The Lebron '20 Thread (Pt. 7)

[TheGOATRises007]

AD questionable for game 5.

[GSP]

AD questionable for game 5.

Theres 0 chance Ad is missing the game. Hes big on his legacy. Seems Lakers just always put stuff in their injury reports (back spasms for Rondo, groin for Bron, ankle for Javale) but its never that serious

[xb3at band1tx]

Theis sonning Bam.

[kayess]

If Lebron wins this title, does he enter a stage of his career where basically everything is gravy? Because it’s sort of unprecedented the standard he is held to in his 17th year. We know he’s going to get crushed if they won’t win it all this year. We didn’t hold Kobe to this standard in 2013, we celebrated him leading the Lakers to an 8 seed before getting hurt on a team that was the betting favorite to win a title. We didn’t hold KG to this standard in 2013. We didn’t hold Duncan to this standard in 2015 (or ever). If Lebrons teammate wins finals MVP in his 17th year there’s gonna be a lot of talk. Imagine doing that to Duncan in the 2014 finals. We didn’t hold Shaq to this standard in 2010 when he teamed with Lebron. His amazing ability to continue to play at such a high level at this advanced stage works against him in a lot of ways. I’m looking forward to the day when he enters the stage where this immense microscope is he is constantly under relents, and any accomplishments are just celebrated as total house money. I’m not holding my breath

Of course we didn't hold Kobe to that standard. He's not a GOAT tier basketball player.

Arguably, we're already in the stage where everything is gravy - consider that the other ATGs you mentioned (who are themselves GOAT-tier, or just a shade below) were just shadows of their former selves at similar points in their careers. I guess it's not gravy to the casual fan because he's still "short", and for this reason I don't think the microscope will ever truly relax unless he plays his final season AND announces it beforehand. That's when the the works will be laid out, along with the overarching theme of appreciation of what he's done that'll spur this recalibration of the light we see him in. Before that, his role in the basketball discourse is always going to be as some sort of challenger to the GOAT throne - and every little slip up is going to be brutally magnified.

Perhaps I'm just being pessimistic - he did start getting some slack after G1 in 2018, and people started realizing the ridiculous odds he was up against, and that the only reason people even thought to hold rings against him is his ability to utterly dominate the floor regardless of the personnel (on either side). But really, I doubt it happens until his farewell tour.

[kayess]

No one is being given credit because of all the ref talk but how big was Dwight yesterday? No coincidence he starts and Jokic's impact is limited in the first half. Last night would have been a crapshow for the Lakers if Jokic was allowed to give Murray any more help than he got. He should have been moved to the starting lineup ages ago with Mcgee being his backup in foul trouble

Dwight was just MASSIVE. He stopped trying to punk them with nonsense and instead punked them with his energetic play. Not just in the 1st too - he had a couple of huge offensive rebounds to stem Denver runs

[kayess]

I know Smart isn't really a LeBron stopper but... Jesus imagine having to deal with a red-hot Tatum and Brown if they do make this comeback

[dcstanley]

I know Smart isn't really a LeBron stopper but... Jesus imagine having to deal with a red-hot Tatum and Brown if they do make this comeback

I'm still not sure which team would be the better matchup. The Heat have the lower ceiling but they might better equipped to defend Bron and AD.

[Jboogz23]

Watch on YouTube

Who would’ve thought 14 years later Lebron would be a laker and 1 win away from reaching his 10th nba finals...

[Ursusamericanus]

Watch on YouTube

Who would’ve thought 14 years later Lebron would be a laker and 1 win away from reaching his 10th nba finals...

Surreal. What an absolute privilege it has been to follow this dude's career. I grew up watching him - now at age 30 I'm really appreciating every moment we have from him. And he's got a lot left to achieve, I think.

[Homer38]

Watch on YouTube

Who would’ve thought 14 years later Lebron would be a laker and 1 win away from reaching his 10th nba finals...

I remember in 2006, his first playoffs run, the cavs almost had a shocking upset against the 64 Pistons team wins .... Still painful that they lost game 6!

[kayess]

Watch on YouTube

Who would’ve thought 14 years later Lebron would be a laker and 1 win away from reaching his 10th nba finals...

I only watched till 4 minutes in, but it's hilarious: they even show him taking a free throw as the commentator goes "he's missed 4/5 straight at the line" and he bricks another lmaooo

[JulesWinnfield]

Lebron has been at this so long that he was literally introduced to us by a magazine lol. Think about how archaic that is in the current media landscape. That Sports Illustrated cover is when he first creeped into our collective consciousness. I still recall it vividly, some of the gushing quotes from league execs and players that made him sound like a fairytale 15 year old. I think Danny Ainge said something like he would trade all but about 5 players in the whole league to have Lebron and his future, and he was 15. You couldn’t wait to see what this was all about. But you couldn’t just run to YouTube and see tons of Lebron clips like you would with Emoni Bates. You’d see a clip here or there from a random site, usually from a news story about him.

When his high school games started being televised by ESPN they felt like events, NBA players in attendance.... The whole introduction was unlike anything we had ever seen and quite frankly can’t be replicated again in today’s world

[Cavsfansince84]

Lebron has been at this so long that he was literally introduced to us by a magazine lol. Think about how archaic that is in the current media landscape. That Sports Illustrated cover is when he first creeped into our collective consciousness. I still recall it vividly, some of the gushing quotes from league execs and players that made him sound like a fairytale 15 year old. I think Danny Ainge said something like he would trade all but about 5 players in the whole league to have Lebron and his future, and he was 15. You couldn’t wait to see what this was all about. But you couldn’t just run to YouTube and see tons of Lebron clips like you would with Emoni Bates. You’d see a clip here or there from a random site, usually from a news story about him.

When his high school games started being televised by ESPN they felt like events, NBA players in attendance.... The whole introduction was unlike anything we had ever seen and quite frankly can’t be replicated again in today’s world

I think he was 16 when he made the cover but people in ne Ohio have known about him even longer. As a freshman he led a team with 3 other freshman starting on it to a state title and then did it again the next year. Then he led the usa u-17 team in the Pan Am games and was easily the best player while winning gold. That's when the national media and nba scouts really got him on their radar.

[O_6]

More Playoff Assists: Magic Johnson, John Stockton
More Playoff Rebounds: Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Tim Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
More Playoff Points:

He's 29 assists from passing Stockton. So the only player ahead of him on the Assists list would be the GOAT PG, and the only players ahead of him on the Rebounds list are the consensus Top 5 Centers of all-time (or Top 4 + the GOAT PF).

There are just so many crazy LeBron stats at this point.

[ardee]

If Lebron wins this title, does he enter a stage of his career where basically everything is gravy? Because it’s sort of unprecedented the standard he is held to in his 17th year. We know he’s going to get crushed if they won’t win it all this year. We didn’t hold Kobe to this standard in 2013, we celebrated him leading the Lakers to an 8 seed before getting hurt on a team that was the betting favorite to win a title. We didn’t hold KG to this standard in 2013. We didn’t hold Duncan to this standard in 2015 (or ever). If Lebrons teammate wins finals MVP in his 17th year there’s gonna be a lot of talk. Imagine doing that to Duncan in the 2014 finals. We didn’t hold Shaq to this standard in 2010 when he teamed with Lebron. His amazing ability to continue to play at such a high level at this advanced stage works against him in a lot of ways. I’m looking forward to the day when he enters the stage where this immense microscope is he is constantly under relents, and any accomplishments are just celebrated as total house money. I’m not holding my breath

In my opinion everything has been gravy since 2017. He had arguably the GOAT peak that year and IMO his longevity added up by then to the point where had moved to no. 1 on my list.

[homecourtloss]

More Playoff Assists: Magic Johnson, John Stockton
More Playoff Rebounds: Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Tim Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
More Playoff Points:

He's 29 assists from passing Stockton. So the only player ahead of him on the Assists list would be the GOAT PG, and the only players ahead of him on the Rebounds list are the consensus Top 5 Centers of all-time (or Top 4 + the GOAT PF).

There are just so many crazy LeBron stats at this point.

1st in playoff wins
1st in playoff series wins amongst the greats (behind Horry and Fisher for all time)
1st in playoff win shares
1st in playoff VORP
1st in playoff points
3rd in playoff assists (almost certain to be 2nd in assists if they make the finals)
1st in playoff steals
6th in playoff rebounds

[toodles23]

Watch on YouTube

Who would’ve thought 14 years later Lebron would be a laker and 1 win away from reaching his 10th nba finals...

Lebron in his athletic prime with modern spacing would be completely ridiculous. Giannis kind of gives you an idea of what it would be like but Lebron is a more fluid athlete, a better shooter, and far superior as a passer and PnR player.

Also he would really benefit from modern coaching not letting him take so many long ass 2s. It was standard practice back then for all perimeter players of course but in today's league most of those 20+ foot 2s would just be threes. One of the criticisms he used to get back then is that he took too many 3s, which is hilarious in the context of todays league but back then the 4.7 attempts per game he was taking was considered a lot.

[MisterHibachi]

Read on Twitter

?s=19

[Dupp]

More Playoff Assists: Magic Johnson, John Stockton
More Playoff Rebounds: Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Tim Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
More Playoff Points:

He's 29 assists from passing Stockton. So the only player ahead of him on the Assists list would be the GOAT PG, and the only players ahead of him on the Rebounds list are the consensus Top 5 Centers of all-time (or Top 4 + the GOAT PF).

There are just so many crazy LeBron stats at this point.

Looking at the assist record. Magical record is probably like 4 deep playoff runs away. Probably gonna be tough to beat.

[Homer38]

Read on Twitter