Where Does Lebron Rank All Time

[kozlodoev]

It's also important to note that by the time Jordan was 31, he had played in 3 Finals, while Lebron has played in 7. That's pretty insane.

Is it really "insane"? By the time Bill Russell was 31, how many championships had he won?

At the time when Bill Russel was 31, there were 9 (nine) teams in the NBA. I'm just going to leave this out here.

[Moranis]

I think he's not top 5 yet but I value longevity a lot.

Though barring something awful happening he'll be top 5 if his career follows a relatively normal aging curve. If you value peak more than longevity he's definitely top 5.

Weird thing to knock James for as he has played 13 seasons and 987 career regular season games plus another 199 playoff games.

Wilt - 14 seasons, 1045 regular season games, 160 playoff games
Bill - 13, 963, 165
Michael - 15, 1072, 179
Larry - 13, 897, 164
Magic - 13, 906, 190

So, why is James' getting knocked for longevity again?

[meangreenmachine]

It's also important to note that by the time Jordan was 31, he had played in 3 Finals, while Lebron has played in 7. That's pretty insane.

Is it really "insane"? By the time Bill Russell was 31, how many championships had he won?

At the time when Bill Russel was 31, there were 9 (nine) teams in the NBA. I'm just going to leave this out here.

And if we shrunk the current NBA to 9 teams, do you think LBJ would be winning 6 straight championships?

I would suspect the concentration of talent would make it TOUGHER to repeat year-after-year...

[Celtics18]

I went with 4.

I've still got Jordan, as well as Bird and Magic ahead.

I'm not counting guys who played prior to the 80s.  I don't feel qualified to have a legitimate opinion on those older guys.  Kareem is borderline.  Although he was a great player for the Lakers in the 80s, he was already past his prime.

Duncan rounds out my top five. 

After that, I think I've got; Dr. J, Hakeem, Shaq.

Nowitzki and Garnett round out the top ten.

Kobe misses the top ten cut, along with Wade.

I suspect that Durant and Curry will be in the conversation before it's all said and done.

And a special shout out to T-Mac, who didn't win enough and whose career was cut too short by injury to be considered among the top of the all time greats, but in his prime; "wow, just wow!!!"

Tough to leave the Mailman off this list, but he suffers from never getting that ring.  Plus, he was just never that fun to watch.

Isiah was pretty special too.  I know Celtics fans love to hate him, but I was a big fan in the late eighties, early nineties.

Nice analysis, but it makes no sense to simply ignore pre-80's.  Do your homework, watch videos, read expert opinions!  Even with minimal research you would see that you have to include Russell, Wilt, and the all-time leading scorer Kareem.

I'm not discounting those guys.  I just don't feel personally qualified to rate them.

I realize my list is in no way a complete list of "the greatest ever."  It is purely a list of "the greatest since 1980."

Sure, I can do my homework; read more about them, analyze their stats, watch videos, and so on, but without actually having seen them play, I just can't really place those guys in context. 

I'm sticking with my "best since the eighties" list.  I'll leave it for the older guys to rank those who came before.

And, for the record, I'll never doubt anyone who tells me that Russell was the Greatest Ever.

[Celtics18]

I went with 4.

I've still got Jordan, as well as Bird and Magic ahead.

I'm not counting guys who played prior to the 80s.  I don't feel qualified to have a legitimate opinion on those older guys.  Kareem is borderline.  Although he was a great player for the Lakers in the 80s, he was already past his prime.

Duncan rounds out my top five. 

After that, I think I've got; Dr. J, Hakeem, Shaq.

Nowitzki and Garnett round out the top ten.

Kobe misses the top ten cut, along with Wade.

I suspect that Durant and Curry will be in the conversation before it's all said and done.

And a special shout out to T-Mac, who didn't win enough and whose career was cut too short by injury to be considered among the top of the all time greats, but in his prime; "wow, just wow!!!"

Tough to leave the Mailman off this list, but he suffers from never getting that ring.  Plus, he was just never that fun to watch.

Isiah was pretty special too.  I know Celtics fans love to hate him, but I was a big fan in the late eighties, early nineties.

Nice analysis, but it makes no sense to simply ignore pre-80's.  Do your homework, watch videos, read expert opinions!  Even with minimal research you would see that you have to include Russell, Wilt, and the all-time leading scorer Kareem.

No Big O, the Logo?!!!

[kozlodoev]

It's also important to note that by the time Jordan was 31, he had played in 3 Finals, while Lebron has played in 7. That's pretty insane.

Is it really "insane"? By the time Bill Russell was 31, how many championships had he won?

At the time when Bill Russel was 31, there were 9 (nine) teams in the NBA. I'm just going to leave this out here.

And if we shrunk the current NBA to 9 teams, do you think LBJ would be winning 6 straight championships?

I would suspect the concentration of talent would make it TOUGHER to repeat year-after-year...

That's only if you assume the amount of talent is comparable.

[Moranis]

It's also important to note that by the time Jordan was 31, he had played in 3 Finals, while Lebron has played in 7. That's pretty insane.

Is it really "insane"? By the time Bill Russell was 31, how many championships had he won?

At the time when Bill Russel was 31, there were 9 (nine) teams in the NBA. I'm just going to leave this out here.

And if we shrunk the current NBA to 9 teams, do you think LBJ would be winning 6 straight championships?

I would suspect the concentration of talent would make it TOUGHER to repeat year-after-year...

That's only if you assume the amount of talent is comparable.

Or assume the crunching doesn't make one team significantly deeper than the other teams (which is what the Celtics were).

[Phil125]

1. Jordan
2-4.   Magic, Bird, and Kobe in any order.
5. Lebron

Two reasons he's not a solid number 1 and both were plainly on display last night in game 7. 

1.  Lebron wanted it and it has only happened twice in his career that he appeared to be 100% committed to winning the current game/series.  If he played with the commitment he showed the last few games and against the Celtics a few years ago in game 6 he would be the greatest player ever period.  Fortunately for us he does not.

2.  They won that game in spite of Lebron not because of him.  That 20 seconds pounding the ball at the 3 point line until he was ready to head to basket offense reared its ugly head in incredible fashion last night.  What the last 4-5 minutes of the game?  I'm actually shocked they won that game.  They were very lucky GS was playing like crap.

[fairweatherfan]

1. Jordan
2-4.   Magic, Bird, and Kobe in any order.
5. Lebron

Two reasons he's not a solid number 1 and both were plainly on display last night in game 7. 

1.  Lebron wanted it and it has only happened twice in his career that he appeared to be 100% committed to winning the current game/series.  If he played with the commitment he showed the last few games and against the Celtics a few years ago in game 6 he would be the greatest player ever period.  Fortunately for us he does not.

2.  They won that game in spite of Lebron not because of him.  That 20 seconds pounding the ball at the 3 point line until he was ready to head to basket offense reared its ugly head in incredible fashion last night.  What the last 4-5 minutes of the game?  I'm actually shocked they won that game.  They were very lucky GS was playing like crap.

I can't decide which is crazier - Kobe as top 4 all-time ahead of Russell, Wilt, Kareem, Oscar, etc, or the Cavs winning "in spite of" a Game 7 triple-double with 11 4th quarter points and the biggest crunch time block the Finals have seen in a long time, maybe ever.

[celticsclay]

Is it really going to be a whole summer of this 

[Surferdad]

I went with 4.

I've still got Jordan, as well as Bird and Magic ahead.

I'm not counting guys who played prior to the 80s.  I don't feel qualified to have a legitimate opinion on those older guys.  Kareem is borderline.  Although he was a great player for the Lakers in the 80s, he was already past his prime.

Duncan rounds out my top five. 

After that, I think I've got; Dr. J, Hakeem, Shaq.

Nowitzki and Garnett round out the top ten.

Kobe misses the top ten cut, along with Wade.

I suspect that Durant and Curry will be in the conversation before it's all said and done.

And a special shout out to T-Mac, who didn't win enough and whose career was cut too short by injury to be considered among the top of the all time greats, but in his prime; "wow, just wow!!!"

Tough to leave the Mailman off this list, but he suffers from never getting that ring.  Plus, he was just never that fun to watch.

Isiah was pretty special too.  I know Celtics fans love to hate him, but I was a big fan in the late eighties, early nineties.

Nice analysis, but it makes no sense to simply ignore pre-80's.  Do your homework, watch videos, read expert opinions!  Even with minimal research you would see that you have to include Russell, Wilt, and the all-time leading scorer Kareem.

I'm not discounting those guys.  I just don't feel personally qualified to rate them.

I realize my list is in no way a complete list of "the greatest ever."  It is purely a list of "the greatest since 1980."

Sure, I can do my homework; read more about them, analyze their stats, watch videos, and so on, but without actually having seen them play, I just can't really place those guys in context. 

I'm sticking with my "best since the eighties" list.  I'll leave it for the older guys to rank those who came before.

And, for the record, I'll never doubt anyone who tells me that Russell was the Greatest Ever.

Oh good, that's reassuring.  Thanks for the clarification.

[Phil125]

I can't decide which is crazier - Kobe as top 4 all-time ahead of Russell, Wilt, Kareem, Oscar, etc, or the Cavs winning "in spite of" a Game 7 triple-double with 11 4th quarter points and the biggest crunch time block the Finals have seen in a long time, maybe ever.

The modern Era of basketball started with Bird and Magic.  Everything before that is like trying to compare Ty Cobb's numbers to Mike Trout.  It just doesn't work.  Russell, Wilt, Kareem, and Oscar were great, but they were basically playing a different game.

And if you honestly watched that 4th quarter and did not go "your gonna blow this Lebron setup an offense".  It disqualifies you from any knowledge of basketball.

[Donoghus]

I can't decide which is crazier - Kobe as top 4 all-time ahead of Russell, Wilt, Kareem, Oscar, etc, or the Cavs winning "in spite of" a Game 7 triple-double with 11 4th quarter points and the biggest crunch time block the Finals have seen in a long time, maybe ever.

The modern Era of basketball started with Bird and Magic.  Everything before that is like trying to compare Ty Cobb's numbers to Mike Trout.  It just doesn't work.  Russell, Wilt, Kareem, and Oscar were great, but they were basically playing a different game.

And if you honestly watched that 4th quarter and did not go "your gonna blow this Lebron setup an offense".  It disqualifies you from any knowledge of basketball.

Kareem played half his career (10 seasons) in the same NBA as Bird & Magic.

[kraidstar]

It's also important to note that by the time Jordan was 31, he had played in 3 Finals, while Lebron has played in 7. That's pretty insane.

Is it really "insane"? By the time Bill Russell was 31, how many championships in a row had he won?

TP

11 titles in 13 years... hard to do much better than that. and he was hurt in one of the 2 years they lost. just amazingly clutch, too. but maybe russell needs 13/13 to get his due?

[celticsclay]

It's also important to note that by the time Jordan was 31, he had played in 3 Finals, while Lebron has played in 7. That's pretty insane.

Is it really "insane"? By the time Bill Russell was 31, how many championships in a row had he won?

TP

11 titles in 13 years... hard to do much better than that. and he was hurt in one of the 2 years they lost. just amazingly clutch, too. but maybe russell needs 13/13 to get his due?

but it happened more than 24 hours ago so it doesn't count!