- Thread starter
- #1
OregonDucks
Oregon Is Faster
- 53,912
- 12,670
- 1,033
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2010
- Location
- Eugene, OR
- Hoopla Cash
- $ 200.00
- Fav. Team #1
- Fav. Team #2
- Fav. Team #3
This is it! Hot Take. LeBron is a great basketball player when he wants to be. When he realizes his size and athletic ability and when he wants to be dominant, he can. When LeBron James drives to the hoop and has the F it mentality he is unstoppable. (This isn't an argument about the GOAT, that is Jordan and I was never a fan of Jordan). But in todays NBA, LeBron CAN be the best player, when he wants to be.
Those dominant spurts come in little waves from time to time. It's a stretch of 6-8 points here and there game to game. Last years fast break block moment was one of LeBron's greatest moments in his NBA career. If not the GREATEST moment.
But you will hear people spew LeBron is the greatest because of.......they give out a stat of his points, rebounds, assists. It usually in the playoffs looks something like 41/16/12..Yeah those are monster numbers, those are fantastic numbers. But Kyrie's 34/8/12 is better.
Why? LeBron's 41 points, in the scenario described above, is padded numbers, they are cupcake soft numbers. I would compare those #'s to that of when Missouri, Mike Leach's Texas Tech, Kansas State football starts the season 7-0 and they haven't played anyone yet. LeBron's stats are similar to that. He gets a good chunk of 18-28 points of just fluff.
Give me LeBron 8 points in the rare final 3 minutes of a game when he decides to take over. LeBron people will say is great, and point to his numbers, but he could be so much more. He rarely shows that killer instinct, he more often decides to shy away from the big moments and for whatever reason doesn't decide to take over games like he is capable of.
The flaw that forever scarred his legacy was "The Decision" the flaws continued that he only strung up 2 titles while in Miami after having a parade to celebrate the eventual 8 titles the Heat were going to win. But maybe LeBrons biggest mistake of his career.....Was not embracing the villain role. He could have been the leagues biggest and best villain, had he accepted the role the NBA fans wanted to give him after "The Decision". And one would have to think that if one as dominant capable as LeBron decided to BE the bad guy, he would have had those dominant take over moments more in his career, leading to more wins, and ultimately more titles.
LeBron however just wanted to be liked. He wanted everyone to love him and credit his skills. He should have taken a piece out of Kobe's career. Kobe accepted the bad guy role, played it well, but in the end the fans even respected Kobe and in his final year many arenas around the league gave him standing ovations in his good bye.
Now, as his Super team gets crushed by the Ultimate Super Team Warriors, we look for LeBron to come out and dominate the second half and keep the Cavaliers season alive. Be the saving grace to the Cleveland fans, but in the end we all know if this game even gets close, it will be Kyrie who wears the team and the future of Cleveland on his shoulders in the final moments. But win or lose, people will point to LeBrons amazing 46 points, 16 rebounds, 12 assist game.
Those dominant spurts come in little waves from time to time. It's a stretch of 6-8 points here and there game to game. Last years fast break block moment was one of LeBron's greatest moments in his NBA career. If not the GREATEST moment.
But you will hear people spew LeBron is the greatest because of.......they give out a stat of his points, rebounds, assists. It usually in the playoffs looks something like 41/16/12..Yeah those are monster numbers, those are fantastic numbers. But Kyrie's 34/8/12 is better.
Why? LeBron's 41 points, in the scenario described above, is padded numbers, they are cupcake soft numbers. I would compare those #'s to that of when Missouri, Mike Leach's Texas Tech, Kansas State football starts the season 7-0 and they haven't played anyone yet. LeBron's stats are similar to that. He gets a good chunk of 18-28 points of just fluff.
Give me LeBron 8 points in the rare final 3 minutes of a game when he decides to take over. LeBron people will say is great, and point to his numbers, but he could be so much more. He rarely shows that killer instinct, he more often decides to shy away from the big moments and for whatever reason doesn't decide to take over games like he is capable of.
The flaw that forever scarred his legacy was "The Decision" the flaws continued that he only strung up 2 titles while in Miami after having a parade to celebrate the eventual 8 titles the Heat were going to win. But maybe LeBrons biggest mistake of his career.....Was not embracing the villain role. He could have been the leagues biggest and best villain, had he accepted the role the NBA fans wanted to give him after "The Decision". And one would have to think that if one as dominant capable as LeBron decided to BE the bad guy, he would have had those dominant take over moments more in his career, leading to more wins, and ultimately more titles.
LeBron however just wanted to be liked. He wanted everyone to love him and credit his skills. He should have taken a piece out of Kobe's career. Kobe accepted the bad guy role, played it well, but in the end the fans even respected Kobe and in his final year many arenas around the league gave him standing ovations in his good bye.
Now, as his Super team gets crushed by the Ultimate Super Team Warriors, we look for LeBron to come out and dominate the second half and keep the Cavaliers season alive. Be the saving grace to the Cleveland fans, but in the end we all know if this game even gets close, it will be Kyrie who wears the team and the future of Cleveland on his shoulders in the final moments. But win or lose, people will point to LeBrons amazing 46 points, 16 rebounds, 12 assist game.
