LBJ Will be the GOAT

[BOTSLAYER]

Article from ESPNsider with a bunch of stats proving what some of us already think.

 

[BOTSLAYER]

LBJ is a closer:

Proof: While nothing has dogged LeBron James quite like his supposed choker gene, a select few voices have actually extolled his virtues in pressure situations. Back-to-back titles have earned the faithful more credibility, but when you look at the numbers, you see that they've been right all along.

Generally, clutchness speaks to a player's performance in the playoffs and the waning stages of close games. LeBron excels in both situations. And while it's true that his ORtg dips in the playoffs to 105.5 -- his career regular-season average is 107.6 -- so too does that of the NBA as a whole, from 103.5 to 103.

Oh, but LeBron's true fatal flaw is that he collapses late in games, right? Nope, not true either. Over James' career, his ORtg balloons to an absurd 115.7 in the last five minutes of regulation or overtime with a margin of five points or fewer, while his DRtg (career average of 100.7) improves to 99.6, both far better than the league average of 107.2. In the playoffs, he rises up as well, posting a 109.7 ORtg in late-game spots and a 95.9 DRtg -- again crushing the NBA mean of 104.4.

So unless your definition of choking includes being a significantly better player with the game on the line, it's time to admit that if such a thing as "clutch" exists, it definitely applies to LeBron James.

 

[BOTSLAYER]

LBJ WILL BE THE GOAT:

This even gives MJ credit for his "retirement" years which imo is bullshit but what ever.

Proof: Ultimately, this will be the true test of LeBron James' greatness: By the time he's done playing, will he be regarded as being as good as Michael Jordan? Not as good? Or even better? They're different players, sure, which MJ's longtime teammate Scottie Pippen acknowledges in discussing both.

Still, thanks to Bradford Doolittle's ATH evaluation and projection system, we're able to estimate James' stats for a 19-year run, the length of Jordan's actual career, including plugs for the gaps MJ missed due to injury and retirements. That creates an apples-to-apples comparison with no room for wondering what Jordan's stats would look like if he hadn't spent a season whiffing at curveballs. The result? James checks in with 367 WARP. Jordan? 356. James also posts a superior ORtg, 115.8 to 114.2, but falls to Jordan in DRtg, 106.5 to 106.3. And he does that all despite scoring more than 10,000 fewer points. Given the massive difference in scoring output, the only way James could end up with more WARP is to be the superior all-around player.

Granted, there will always be pundits who count rings to measure value, an argument that disregards the quality of both a player's teammates and his competition. But we have more sophisticated tools to measure a player's value now, and those indicators all point to one conclusion: LeBron James is well on his way to becoming the best all-around player who has ever lived.

 

[BOTSLAYER]

LBJ is the best PG in the league:

Also you will note that he is in the 71st percentile in Defending PGs but what isn't taken into consideration is he is usually guarding their best player when guarding PGs.

Rank PG Offensive Rating
Lebron James 117
1 Chris Paul 116.6
2 Russell Westbrook 116.5
3 Tony Parker 112.8
4 Derrick Rose 112.1
5 Deron Williams 111.1
6 Stephen Curry 110.7
7 Kyrie Irving 106.9
8 John Wall 106.4
9 Jrue Holiday 103.6
10 Rajon Rondo 103.3

Proof: From the day he entered the league, LeBron James has been his team's primary facilitator. But does that mean he could have excelled as the titular point guard? In a word, yes. In fact, he already has.

Last season the Heat posted a 117 ORtg when LeBron played the point, the best mark for any point guard on any team. Deeper metrics further show that LeBron can handle all the tasks associated with the position. For instance, he runs the pick-and-roll to perfection. According to Synergy Sports, the Heat scored .963 points per play when James was the pick-and-roll ballhandler last season. Only James Harden (.988) was better among those with at least 200 plays as the ballhandler on PnRs, with LeBron outscoring such maestros as Chris Paul (.949), Tony Parker (.943) and Stephen Curry (.867).

LeBron has spent his fair share of time chasing waterbug guards on defense, and he shines in that role too. When he guarded the ballhandler in pick-and-roll situations last season, opposing offenses scored just .716 ppp, placing him in the NBA's 71st percentile (resulting in a "very good" rating on Synergy). Not only was that better than his D on isolations (.811 ppp, 51st percentile) and spot-ups (1.004 ppg, 44th percentile), typical tasks for a wing, it beat out the work of several elite point guards. CP3 allowed .717 ppp guarding the pick-and-roll ballhandler, Deron Williams gave up .721 and Russell Westbrook checked in at .761.

In other words, there's only one thing keeping LeBron from being the league's best point guard right now: He's the league's best small forward.

 

[BOTSLAYER]

LBJ Can Play and DEFEND the 5:

Proof: That's Bill Walton's way of saying -- as only Walton can -- that LeBron James could star at center. And while Walton can be prone to hyperbole, in this case he's dead on.

LeBron's size, obviously, would be the biggest issue for him in the middle. He's not a 7-footer, but he is listed at 6'8", 250, and might be even larger than that. As Walton points out, Dave Cowens was effective at 6'9", 230, and even this past season, J.J. Hickson, at 6'9" and 242 pounds, managed to grab 10.4 rpg as Portland's center.

James, of course, isn't Hickson. He's much better. Offensively, there is no arguing with the fact that LeBron would be unstoppable at the 5 -- opposing bigs couldn't contain him on the perimeter, and according to Hoopdata, LeBron shot 78.3 percent at the rim last season -- better than any center in basketball.

The real question is whether he could hold up defensively. It's illustrative, then, to look at what happens when James slides from small forward to power forward. As the accompanying chart shows, according to 82games.com, James' rebounding jumped from 8.1 per 48 minutes to 11.6 when he moved up a position, and his blocks rose from 0.8 to 1.4. James held opposing power forwards to a 50.2 percent eFG%, and his opponents didn't seem to recognize a mismatch: They attempted 35 percent of their shots inside against LeBron, almost identical to what small forwards did (33 percent). And when players chose to attack LeBron inside, they rarely succeeded. Last season he graded out in the 99th percentile in defending post-ups, according to Synergy Sports, allowing just 16 points on 36 plays. He was almost as good guarding the roll man in the pick-and-roll too, ranking in the 91st percentile (.562 points per play).

James has played center in spurts for the Heat and even more for Team USA, and he has proven to be an effective weapon. Playing the 5 isn't worth the pounding he'd take, but there's little doubt that any mismatches LeBron would cause at center would tilt in his team's favor.

 

[BOTSLAYER]

the 2007 Cavs were not only that bad but they were historically terrible.

Laker Fans please notice Shaq making this list carrying Kobe. Kobe was 22 and being carried, LBJ was 22 and carrying. Kobe vs LBJ is a joke.

Team/Star Warp/Rest of team WARP
2007 Cavaliers 6.2 0.2
2001 76ers 4.3 0.9
1988 Pistons 5.2 2.1
1981 Rockets 5.6 2.3
2003 Spurs 8.0 2.3
2003 Nets 4.7 2.5
2000 Lakers 7.8 2.5
2006 Mavericks 6.2 2.5
1979 Wizards 3.9 2.9
1984 Celtics 7.0 3.0

For years, LeBron James' detractors (read: haters) pointed to a four-game sweep in the 2007 Finals as evidence that he simply wasn't a winner. The counterargument, even now, typically takes on two forms. First, LeBron was only 22. Second, he was battling the Spurs with a historically brutal supporting cast. Just reaching the Finals, his supporters argue, was a massive achievement.

They were right. In those playoffs, those Cavs trotted out a nightly starting lineup of LeBron, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Drew Gooden, Larry Hughes and Sasha Pavlovic. By using playoff WARP, we can see just how poorly that uninspiring quartet stacks up. Answer: historically bad. Those players produced a combined WARP of 0.2 in the playoffs, easily the worst of any finalist since the NBA/ABA merger in 1976. Only Daniel Gibson's hot shooting off the bench in the playoffs kept the Cavs from having the worst overall roster after LeBron too.

LeBron might not have won a title until he, well, took his talents elsewhere, but there's no question that he dragged a group of also-rans to the cusp of a championship five years earlier.

 

[BOTSLAYER]

LBJ could Avg 37 a game

Proof: The last time a player averaged 37 ppg? MJ in 1986-87. Given James' facilitating role in Miami, Coach Spoelstra's comment is tantalizing: Could James actually equal Jordan if he focused on scoring?

In James' highest-scoring season, 2005-06, he averaged 31.4 ppg. Since then, his field goal percentage has risen from 48 percent to last season's absurd 56.5 percent, and his 3PT% has climbed to 40.6 percent. So if the new, überaccurate LeBron started firing as often as he did in Cleveland, he'd already be posting 35.6 ppg. And of course, Jordan shot more. MJ took 27.8 shots per game (only 0.8 of which were threes) in 1986-87 and 11.9 free throws per contest. By contrast, James shot only 17.8 field goals (3.3 threes) and 7.0 from the stripe per game last season. Give him Jordan's shot selection (with a proportional increase in threes) and last season's accuracy and LeBron would average 42.5 ppg, trailing only Wilt Chamberlain's 50.4- and 44.8-ppg seasons.

Crazy, huh? Yes, but there's one mitigating factor: Increased usage leads to decreased efficiency. Kevin Pelton's SCHOENE projection system estimates that for every 1 percent of added usage, True Shooting declines by 0.5 percent. LeBron is older now and has more help, but were he to log the time he got in Cleveland, he'd need to up his usage to 38.1 percent to tally more than 37 ppg. That's doable too. Jordan's usage rate was 38.3 percent in 1986-87.

And the Heat wouldn't suffer from a shot-hunting LeBron. They went 5-1 against the Pacers and Spurs in the playoffs last season when he took more than 21 shots in a game. So let it fly, LeBron. Let it fly.

 

[LALakersboy24.7]

You must be having fun speaking to yourself

 

[BOTSLAYER]

just sharing the article the easiest way I know how.

 

[LALakersboy24.7]

 

[Sman2011]

LBJ is a closer:

Proof: While nothing has dogged LeBron James quite like his supposed choker gene, a select few voices have actually extolled his virtues in pressure situations. Back-to-back titles have earned the faithful more credibility, but when you look at the numbers, you see that they've been right all along.

Generally, clutchness speaks to a player's performance in the playoffs and the waning stages of close games. LeBron excels in both situations. And while it's true that his ORtg dips in the playoffs to 105.5 -- his career regular-season average is 107.6 -- so too does that of the NBA as a whole, from 103.5 to 103.

Oh, but LeBron's true fatal flaw is that he collapses late in games, right? Nope, not true either. Over James' career, his ORtg balloons to an absurd 115.7 in the last five minutes of regulation or overtime with a margin of five points or fewer, while his DRtg (career average of 100.7) improves to 99.6, both far better than the league average of 107.2. In the playoffs, he rises up as well, posting a 109.7 ORtg in late-game spots and a 95.9 DRtg -- again crushing the NBA mean of 104.4.

So unless your definition of choking includes being a significantly better player with the game on the line, it's time to admit that if such a thing as "clutch" exists, it definitely applies to LeBron James.

LOL..Another Propaganda/spin job by ESPN....You can always find some obscure stat out there to spin the impossible...How about the eyeball test? Has anyone ever seen Kobe or MJ do the following:

Win 2 bronze medals
Get Swept in the finals (shooting 33 pct)
Fail to make the finals on great Cavs teams that had home court record
Completely humiliate himself in the finals against Dallas, especially in the 4th qtr
Choke away the finals by shooting airballs and turnovers in game 6 only to be bailed out by Ray Allen?

I believe in Lebron career he has 3 game winning buzzer beaters. Kobe had 6 in one season....LOL

Lebron is a closer...LOL...

Nice spin job...LMAO

 

[Sman2011]

LBJ Can Play and DEFEND the 5:

Proof: That's Bill Walton's way of saying -- as only Walton can -- that LeBron James could star at center. And while Walton can be prone to hyperbole, in this case he's dead on.

LeBron's size, obviously, would be the biggest issue for him in the middle. He's not a 7-footer, but he is listed at 6'8", 250, and might be even larger than that. As Walton points out, Dave Cowens was effective at 6'9", 230, and even this past season, J.J. Hickson, at 6'9" and 242 pounds, managed to grab 10.4 rpg as Portland's center.

James, of course, isn't Hickson. He's much better. Offensively, there is no arguing with the fact that LeBron would be unstoppable at the 5 -- opposing bigs couldn't contain him on the perimeter, and according to Hoopdata, LeBron shot 78.3 percent at the rim last season -- better than any center in basketball.

The real question is whether he could hold up defensively. It's illustrative, then, to look at what happens when James slides from small forward to power forward. As the accompanying chart shows, according to 82games.com, James' rebounding jumped from 8.1 per 48 minutes to 11.6 when he moved up a position, and his blocks rose from 0.8 to 1.4. James held opposing power forwards to a 50.2 percent eFG%, and his opponents didn't seem to recognize a mismatch: They attempted 35 percent of their shots inside against LeBron, almost identical to what small forwards did (33 percent). And when players chose to attack LeBron inside, they rarely succeeded. Last season he graded out in the 99th percentile in defending post-ups, according to Synergy Sports, allowing just 16 points on 36 plays. He was almost as good guarding the roll man in the pick-and-roll too, ranking in the 91st percentile (.562 points per play).

James has played center in spurts for the Heat and even more for Team USA, and he has proven to be an effective weapon. Playing the 5 isn't worth the pounding he'd take, but there's little doubt that any mismatches LeBron would cause at center would tilt in his team's favor.

Yeah sure Lebron can. He can guard 1-5 equally poorly...Let's face it Lebron is a mediocre defender at best. He doesn't rebound well defensively. He doesn't make many steals or block many shots. And he's a poor man to man defender.

Lebron's man goes by him at will. If lebron is a good defender how come his man goes for 30 points against him every game I ever watch him (wade, Durant, Carmello, Kobe, Granger,)etc, etc..

Lebron looked really good in the finals guarding Nowitzki and Jason Terry didn't he? LOL...

Hey Bots...Quit sucking Lebron's cock...You look pathetic.

Peace!!

 

[Sman2011]

LBJ could Avg 37 a game

Proof: The last time a player averaged 37 ppg? MJ in 1986-87. Given James' facilitating role in Miami, Coach Spoelstra's comment is tantalizing: Could James actually equal Jordan if he focused on scoring?

In James' highest-scoring season, 2005-06, he averaged 31.4 ppg. Since then, his field goal percentage has risen from 48 percent to last season's absurd 56.5 percent, and his 3PT% has climbed to 40.6 percent. So if the new, überaccurate LeBron started firing as often as he did in Cleveland, he'd already be posting 35.6 ppg. And of course, Jordan shot more. MJ took 27.8 shots per game (only 0.8 of which were threes) in 1986-87 and 11.9 free throws per contest. By contrast, James shot only 17.8 field goals (3.3 threes) and 7.0 from the stripe per game last season. Give him Jordan's shot selection (with a proportional increase in threes) and last season's accuracy and LeBron would average 42.5 ppg, trailing only Wilt Chamberlain's 50.4- and 44.8-ppg seasons.

Crazy, huh? Yes, but there's one mitigating factor: Increased usage leads to decreased efficiency. Kevin Pelton's SCHOENE projection system estimates that for every 1 percent of added usage, True Shooting declines by 0.5 percent. LeBron is older now and has more help, but were he to log the time he got in Cleveland, he'd need to up his usage to 38.1 percent to tally more than 37 ppg. That's doable too. Jordan's usage rate was 38.3 percent in 1986-87.

And the Heat wouldn't suffer from a shot-hunting LeBron. They went 5-1 against the Pacers and Spurs in the playoffs last season when he took more than 21 shots in a game. So let it fly, LeBron. Let it fly.

If Lebron could average 37 pts he would average 37 pts, ASSWIPE...That's like saying centers like McGee and Jordan (clippers) could average 40 pts a night if they shot 25 times because they shot 60 pct from the field...L

Look you fucking retard, the reason they shoot high from the field is because they only shoot about 6 times a game when they're completely wide open under the hoop...

Learn the game, Botslayer. You're looking like a school girl with a crush on Lebron...Firm up. This site is for men, not little faggots.

Peace!!

 

[RoboticDreams]

LBJ is a closer:

Proof: While nothing has dogged LeBron James quite like his supposed choker gene, a select few voices have actually extolled his virtues in pressure situations. Back-to-back titles have earned the faithful more credibility, but when you look at the numbers, you see that they've been right all along.

Generally, clutchness speaks to a player's performance in the playoffs and the waning stages of close games. LeBron excels in both situations. And while it's true that his ORtg dips in the playoffs to 105.5 -- his career regular-season average is 107.6 -- so too does that of the NBA as a whole, from 103.5 to 103.

Oh, but LeBron's true fatal flaw is that he collapses late in games, right? Nope, not true either. Over James' career, his ORtg balloons to an absurd 115.7 in the last five minutes of regulation or overtime with a margin of five points or fewer, while his DRtg (career average of 100.7) improves to 99.6, both far better than the league average of 107.2. In the playoffs, he rises up as well, posting a 109.7 ORtg in late-game spots and a 95.9 DRtg -- again crushing the NBA mean of 104.4.


So unless your definition of choking includes being a significantly better player with the game on the line, it's time to admit that if such a thing as "clutch" exists, it definitely applies to LeBron James.

 

[wlk3]

Thought you were tired of the Kobe LBJ threads...

 

[Black Adam]

Thought you were tired of the Kobe LBJ threads...

I DO see Sman's point, though. With BSPN you kinda have to take what they say with a grain of salt...

 

[LALakersboy24.7]

Top accomplishments Kobe and Jordan will never achieve*
*
1. Bronze 2006 *
2. Bronze 2004 *
3. NBA finals sweep *
4. Go entire Finals scoring 20 pts only one time *
5. Quit on his team the year after he promises a championship *
6. Dunked on by a highschool kid and then confiscate tape *
7. Bail on the dunk contest 9 times *
8. Only able to win a ring with 2 superstars *
9. 7th best player in NBA finals series. *
10. Average 1.8 pts in the 4th quarter of NBA finals. *
11. Win .667 rings in 3 tries *
12. Host a national televised TV show to leave his team

LeBrick 2011 NBA finals; biggest ppg drop in nba finals history *
17.8 PPG. FG= 47%. FT = 60% *
24 turnovers. *
FOURTH QUARTER: *
Game 1: FG: 2-4. 3PT: 0-1. 5 pts. *
Game 2: FG: 0-4. 3PT: 0-2. 2pts *
Game 3: FG: 1-3. 3PT: 0-2. 2pts *
Game 4: FG: 0-1. 3PT: 0-0. 0pts. *
Game 5: FG: 1-4. 3PT: 0-2. 2pts. *
Game 6: FG: 3-5. 3PT 1-2. 7pts.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3kKxtSQa-4]LeBron James = LeBrick House - 2011 NBA Finals Remix - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Steelboy84]

Didnt know ESPN made troll posts on Insider

 

[BOTSLAYER]

Didnt know ESPN made troll posts on Insider

ESPN is entertainment, not news.The biggest reason LBJ will be considered GOAT is due to marketing and money. Everyone wants to say they watched the GOAT.

They create controversy which sells ads. Now they are creating the image of LBJ the GOAT because that is going to sell more ads.

Story checks out.

All things equal LBJ is better than MJ and it is not close. MJ has scoring, LBJ has every thing else. Neither are better or greater than Kareem though.

 

[BOTSLAYER]

If Lebron could average 37 pts he would average 37 pts, ASSWIPE...That's like saying centers like McGee and Jordan (clippers) could average 40 pts a night if they shot 25 times because they shot 60 pct from the field...L

Look you fucking retard, the reason they shoot high from the field is because they only shoot about 6 times a game when they're completely wide open under the hoop...

Learn the game, Botslayer. You're looking like a school girl with a crush on Lebron...Firm up. This site is for men, not little faggots.

Peace!!

If you read what was posted increased usage is very clearly discussed.