1984 Larry Bird vs 2020 Lebron James

[No-more-rings]

Well I think it's fairly obvious he's a better player than Bird was in 1984;

I don't see how it's so obvious when their numbers are comparable in the regular season and playoffs, plus Lebron benefited from all the extra rest during the covid shutdown. Maybe he still performs at that level even without the rest, but there's good reason to think not given his age and mileage.

if you swap the two I really doubt the 2020 Lakers would win the championship.

Who would've beaten them? Bird's cast his own year wasn't really any better than this Lakers team, and they took out Magic and Kareem's Lakers.

Like what could you say Bird was better at other than shooting, and even then he was attempting threes at such a low volume

I'd say Bird was an equal or better rebounder, comparable passer and better shooter.

You can just as easily flip that and say what does Lebron do better outside of driving and finishing?

[Arrow]

I’d say Bird for the fact he won league and finals mvp and didn’t get opportunity to have a 5 month break during same season. Also Bird was clearly best in the season and playoffs while it could be argued AD was as good or better than Lebron at least statistically for the most part.

But, but, LeBron has the higher PER and WS/48, your two favorite stats.

LeBron also had a higher PER than AD after the Finals, btw. One of the stats you cited often as being the gold standard for judging who had the better season.

[The Master]

Maybe he still performs at that level even without the rest, but there's good reason to think not given his age and mileage.

People are clearly overthinking this. LeBron had 10-game span around all-star game break, when Lakers had difficult schedule, media ran narrative about Lakers slumping against top opposition despite being 1st in the West - and LA responded in beating Boston, Nuggets, Sixers, Clippers and Bucks, with LeBron averaging 30-9-10 on 63 TS%. Back then I was pretty convinced, despite a fact earlier I had doubts myself, that we will see playoff LeBron in postseason again.

We saw LeBron in playoff mode earlier than usual, because he got tired of Skips all over the media outlets suggesting he chokes against elite defenses or he's worse than Kawhi (MVP race with Giannis was helpful as well), and an effect was as great as usually is when we see LeBron with full motor on. Furthermore, considering how sloppy LeBron was at the beginning of bubble and in first two games against Blazers physically, I'd rather say it was probably even more demanding for him with his old routine to peak in a proper moment with this weird schedule we had. And while we can theoretically discuss about potential implications of season's interruption on LeBron's physical condition, I don't think there is GOOD reason to think this additional break substantialy helped LeBron in peaking in postseason, because, well, he's been contradicting his age and mileage for a while now, and he's been doing the same thing (peaking in postseason) since 2016 in pretty similar way.

[BostonCouchGM]

most of the people answering this poll didn't watch Larry Bird in 1984. And they're pointing to numbers as if Lebron's aren't inflated due to high usage and the era he's playing in and competition he's facing. Larry Bird was the best player in the NBA's toughest decade (80s) and would be the best player in today's NBA as well. He'd probably average 35 pt triple doubles w/40% from three and 90% FT in today's game. MJ would put up 40 point triple doubles but also with elite defense. Kobe wouldn't be far behind those MJ numbers. I mean, can you imagine prime Kobe, with no centers in the lane, no hand checking and he's allowed to carry, travel and push off like players are these days?

[fanofthegreats]

Always gotta laugh at calling out today’s defenses as if people really think 1980s defense was something spectacular.

[ThreeMileAllan]

No, the point is more that players still hand-check today (if you're saying that every single time a defender makes contact with an offensive player, it's a foul, you're simply not even trying to make a serious argument) and waiting until a player gets 18 feet from the hoop and then hand-checking them when the other 8 players are bunched around the basket is a totally different proposition from having to get out on someone who can pull up from 28 feet out and has a clear running start to the basket with shooters spacing the floor around them if they get past the original hand-checking attempt.

There is no hand-checking out on the perimeter. I never said whenever there is contact it is a foul. I am not going to have an argument on whether or not the league is extremely soft today. It clearly is.

Your idea of 'softness' is completely divorced from the idea of actually playing good defense. Today's players have to cover like 50% more ground each possession than before, and the vast majority of the 'hard' defensive plays from the '80s that people cite are from playoff games/marquee regular-season matchups and mostly constitute players taking cheap shots after getting beaten on defense - still fouls (aka bad defense) but just didn't warrant flagrant fouls or suspensions.

I mean, who have longer careers? Non contact sports or heavy contact sports? Tennis players or football players? Physical contact matters. Runners can run forever.

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