SI: Bird better than Lebron

[TxHeat]

With the game on the line I would take Bird everyday. To me, that's the difference.

 

[Sportsguy9695]

Really, because I see him settle for 18' jumpshots all the time. One things for sure, he wouldn't be roaming the lane against James Edwards, Rick Mahorn and Bill Laimbeer.

i hate when people compare LeBron against players that played before him. your right he would never be roaming the lane against them cause there all retired now

 

[Keeping it Ghetto]

Even though i think Bird is a slightly better player i was just looking at his stats and was kind if surprised that none of his numbers went up in the playoffs..They are the exact same as his regular season numbers.....

 

[Keeping it Ghetto]

The crazy thing is they are comparing Lebron to ONE of the GREATEST players ever.....Not the 10th or 30th best player to ever play but by many accounts Top 3........And then they pretend like Lebron is a bum.....smh

 

[Keeping it Ghetto]

i hate when people compare LeBron against players that played before him. your right he would never be roaming the lane against them cause there all retired now

The crazy thing is they are comparing Lebron to ONE of the GREATEST players ever.....Not the 10th or 30th best player to ever play but by many accounts Top 3........And then they pretend like Lebron is a bum.....smh

 

[Shaqdaddy11]

Yeah.

You're getting older and nostalgia is getting stronger.

The game is totally different now, though. Can't compare the two.

So would you pick Durant and Lebron over Jordan and Magic?

CP3 and Griffin over Kareem and Isiah Thomas?

You may not be able to compare two eras of the NBA but it's damn easy to see which one had the better players in it.

 

[Shaqdaddy11]

The crazy thing is they are comparing Lebron to ONE of the GREATEST players ever.....Not the 10th or 30th best player to ever play but by many accounts Top 3........And then they pretend like Lebron is a bum.....smh

As good as Bird is, he isn't top 3! He's top 5

Kids are saying that lebron is the GOAT.

 

[HuskerCradle2Grave]

As good as Bird is, he isn't top 3! He's top 5

Kids are saying that lebron is the GOAT.

 

[TxHeat]

Kids are saying that lebron is the GOAT.

Because the kids get that shit spoon fed for them on ESPN every morning.

 

[Fencer]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that Robert Parish, Kevin McHale, Dennis Johnson, & Bill Walton do all right for themselves... even without Bird being their teammate.

Walton was a HOFer before he graduated college. McHale is around 40th on my greatest players list, even though I stress longevity very highly and he didn't have it.

As for the thread topic, I think Lebron will wind up in my top 6 greatest players, along with Russell, Jordan, Kareem, Magic and Bird. Indeed, if he shows the longevity of fellow high school entrants Kobe and KG, I predict he'll wind up 2nd on my list, behind Russell.

 

[Fencer]

Bill Walton wasn't healthy enough to even be on an NBA roster by the time he made it to Boston. If anything, he was a liability at that point, other than obsessively ridiculing Kareem and possibly getting in his head every now and then.

Walton had one excellent year in Boston -- 6th Man of the Year, and sometimes played ahead of Parish in crunch time.

 

[Clayton]

So would you pick Durant and Lebron over Jordan and Magic?

CP3 and Griffin over Kareem and Isiah Thomas?

You may not be able to compare two eras of the NBA but it's damn easy to see which one had the better players in it.

Teams are more important than stars now. Consider how many more people are in the world now, too. What are the odds that a smaller world population is consistently bringing out better players?

Id take Tim Duncan, Lebron, Dirk, Durant and others over a lot of older players.

 

[Fencer]

Wilt?

I mark him down heavily for intangibles, but he still has to be somewhere in the top 10.

 

[Fencer]

Lebron, but just the fact that it's close is a testament of Bird's greatness.

One thing people somehow forget when waxing nostalgic of the 80's: no one played defense until Detroit.

Now they fouled hard when they wanted to and occasionally had a good scrap, but you were a fool if you thought it was anything resembling 90's-current defense going on back when Nique and Bird were dueling...and TLF's reasoning/ranking is just too ridiculous to acknowledge.

You're overstating the lack of defense greatly.

Defense was SIMPLER then. But they played a lot of it.

 

[Fencer]

bird didn't have to team up with all stars of other teams 2 different time in his career to win rings.

True, but I'll take McHale/Parish over Wade/Bosh, and adding DJ et al. just makes it ridiculous.

 

[Shaqdaddy11]

Because the kids get that shit spoon fed for them on ESPN every morning.

Still doesn't make my statement untrue.

 

[Shaqdaddy11]

Teams are more important than stars now. Consider how many more people are in the world now, too. What are the odds that a smaller world population is consistently bringing out better players?

Id take Tim Duncan, Lebron, Dirk, Durant and others over a lot of older players.

 

[Clayton]

You mentioned CP3 and Griffin and I dont think they are the best examples of today's best players. Both have quite a few flaws although CP3 would certainly still be a good player in the old days.

 

[HubertJubberman]

Walton was a HOFer before he graduated college. McHale is around 40th on my greatest players list, even though I stress longevity very highly and he didn't have it.

As for the thread topic, I think Lebron will wind up in my top 6 greatest players, along with Russell, Jordan, Kareem, Magic and Bird. Indeed, if he shows the longevity of fellow high school entrants Kobe and KG, I predict he'll wind up 2nd on my list, behind Russell.

Russell is your number 1?

 

[Shaqdaddy11]

You mentioned CP3 and Griffin and I dont think they are the best examples of today's best players. Both have quite a few flaws although CP3 would certainly still be a good player in the old days.

ESPN has both of them ranked in the top 5 this year.

Compare that to the top 5 of 1988