Just How Good is LeBron James?

How good, really, is this guy?

He may not only be the best all around player in the game today, but he may be the best all time player as well.
He would be the same (or maybe better) star in any other era that he is today.

I watch the playoffs between Boston and Cleveland because I have been a loyal Celtics fan since about 1960, but
watching this guy play in three straight games has be super even if he plays for the other team.

Nothing he cannot do on a basketball court.  He shoots, he rebounds, he passes, he is unselfish, he is physical, he competes every play, he drives,
he defends, he leads his teammates (even called a time out to stop the Cs momentum last night early in the game), he is super strong
and in great condition (could play all 48 minutes) drives his teammates, etc, etc.  His court vision and awareness are uncanny.

If the Cavaliers beat the Celtics, I may have to schedule myself around the rest of his games this year, and I rarely
watch games that the Celtics do not play.

James might be the one and only max level player in the entire league who really earns his max level money.

wide clyde

You could very well be right.

swish

At this point in his career I don't think that Lebron cares a wit about personal stats. He looks to see what his team needs and then selects which aspect of his phenomenally complete game to emphasize.

If I were starting a team he's the player I would first pick.

Sloop,

ABSOLUTELY

I'll offer an alternative point of view.

I like LeBron less as a player than I used to. His strength -- the ability to individually dominate a game in so many ways -- is also his weakness. As the Spurs showed last year, 5 > 1. Five guys who constantly cut, pass, screen, and move made LeBron's individual excellence irrelevant. Once the Spurs effectiveness became apparent, LeBron responded by doubling down on his individual excellence, trying to individually will the Heat to victory, but it was like building a wall in front of one beachfront house to stop the tide -- it was a really strong wall, but the Spurs tide just moved around it. There was nothing he could do to stop it. Over the course of the series, his stats went up, his teammates' stats went down, and the Spurs won the last three games in blowouts.

LeBron believes he has to exert his dominance to lead his team to victory, and I don't think he would let his individual brilliance take a back seat in the service of a truly team system. Trusting his individual ability is what he has been conditioned to believe in. But a good team that truly plays team ball will turn his reliance on his individual ability into fool's gold.

There's another thing I don't like about him. All great players have a large ego, and I'd say it's even a requirement for greatness, but in the past couple of years, I've seen a much larger arrogance quotient on LeBron's part. I find him much less likeable on the court than I used to.

You may be right. Many times when (and it was not alot) the Cavs took LeBron off the court, the Celtics made a run. Without him they are closer to the Celtics or any other team, He works his butt off, he would never give up. He had his hands on the ball for almost every possession. So, he truly is a great player (even though I am choking as I type this)! How long does his body hold up? They are working him constantly. It will be interesting to see how long he holds up,

Without LeBron, we may have been seeing a totally different series.
But, that is not the case, he is there and he is determined to win this whole thing in 4. Here''s hoping we can spoil his party.

Rosalie

Outside, I am not from the LeBron fan club. I could just about choke him the way he struts around the floor and glares after he scores. Those long staredowns are taunting as far as I am concerned.

Also, I have never in all the years I have followed basketball, seen a guy of his size, weight, and power, get so few fouls called on him.

His attitude has carried over to every member of the Cavs. No matter when they committed a foul, they we crying, complaining, trying to get the ear of the ref. Watch JR Smith, every time he committed a foul he had that innocent look on his face. Irving the same, and then Love started it. It just grated on my nerves to the point where I detest this team almost as much as Miami!!!!!

They may think they have the basketball title in their grasp, I am not even remotely ready to crown them. The West is too strong.

Rosalie

He really is the real deal, still hate that Ray Allen hit that big 3 2 years ago vs Spurs as I would prefer him to be 1-4 in the Finals as opposed to 2-3, if Rondo wasn't such a hot headed control freak, maybe Ray would have never left, no Ray, no title in 13.

He is the only player playing right now who is so good at so many phases that his impact is worthy of a comparison to Larry Bird IMHO.

The real question is, is he on Danny's radar after the playoffs? Right now, he's a Wilt Chamberlain. Wilt was dominant on his team and had 2 Championships under his belt. Barring all his exploits, Wilt died an unhappy man because team ball will always beat individual ball. Always.

db

One of the meanings of the French "Bron" is, ironically, derived from a Celtic term (with a hard "c") for "nipple."

I believe Le Bron should take stock of his arrogant past, make a clean breast of things, and retire.

Sam

Now, I will join that fan club

sam wrote:One of the meanings of the French "Bron" is, ironically, derived from a Celtic term (with a hard "c") for "nipple."

I believe Le Bron should take stock of his arrogant past, make a clean breast of things, and retire.

Sam

One of your good ones Sam!

Talking about nipples, there was a player from what was then the Soviet Union named Tit Sok.

The Wide World of Sports broadcast the international game featuring Comrade Sok and the play-by-play guys had a real hard time with that name.

I was a sniggering 12 years old at the time and not surprisngly that was what I took away from the game.

It was like finding out that the Brits had a desert called Spotted Dick.

Here's the big Titt. It wasn't just a false memory:

Tiit Sokk (Tout Giannopoulos) (born 15 November 1964 in Tartu) is a retired Estonian professional basketball player who played mostly at the point guard position.

His most notable achievements include winning the Olympic gold medal as a member of the Soviet Union team in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea and the silver medal with the same team twice in the 1986 and 1990 World Championships. He won the Soviet Union League championship in 1991 as a member of the Tallinn Kalev basketball team and ended his professional career as a player in 1997, after playing a season with the Aris BC in Greece.

During his playing time in Greece, mostly with Panathinaikos, he acquired Greek citizenship and his Greek name is Tout Giannopoulos.

Sokk was awarded the Estonian best male athlete award in 1988. Since then he has founded a basketball school in Estonia, coached in Estonian Basketball League and has been the coach of the Estonian National Basketball team since 2004.

Tiit Sokk has two sons, Tanel and Sten, who also play basketball at international level for Estonian teams Tartu Ülikool/Rock and Rakvere Tarvas respectively. In August 2011, Tiit Sokk was inducted to Estonian Basketball Hall Of Fame.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiit_Sokk

Sloop,

Just be glad if you didn't grow up with the nickname "Dick."  Witticisms such as "Got any gum on ya Dick? " or "Got a pencil Dick?" were plentiful.  However, as I matured (a description that sends my wife into spasms of laughter), I realized that the nickname was a sort of social barometer.  If people liked something I did or said, they'd say, "Nice going Dick."  If the disliked something I did or said, they'd say, "Nice going.........DICK!"

No such problems with "Sam."

Sam

"Spotted dick" is also not a product of false memory.  According to Wikipedia:

Spotted dick is a cylindrical pudding popular in Britain, containing dried fruit (usually currants or raisins) and commonly served with custard. It is made from a flat sheet of suet pastry sprinkled with currants and raisins, which is then rolled up into a circular pudding.[1]

The dish is first attested in Alexis Soyer's The modern Housewife or ménagère, published in 1849, in which he described a recipe for "Plum Bolster, or Spotted Dick—Roll out two pounds of paste ... have some Smyrna raisins well washed...". The Pall Mall Gazette reported in 1892 that "the Kilburn Sisters ... daily satisfied hundreds of dockers with soup and Spotted Dick".[2]

The name has long been a source of amusement and double entendres, to the point that the catering staff of Flintshire County Council decided in 2009 to rename it to "Spotted Richard" because of all the jokes they were receiving.[

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_dick

Spotted Richard, huh?

Maybe we should ask the Kilbrun Sisters (were they nuns?) whether a spotted dick by any other name tastes as sweet.