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Pippen was great and was a great complement to Jordan but he wasn't the second best player in the league in either the early to mid 90s or the late 90s. In the early to mid 90s it would have to have been Barkley, Malone, or Olajuwon and in the late 90s it would have been Shaq.

With regard to who's better now, that's not even a debate. Lebron is by far the best player in the league and has been for a few seasons. Durant and Anthony are great scorers and players but Lebron is much better than either of them. At this point there are a few guys I'd take over Kobe just for this season though you can make a case that from 2001-2010 he was the best overall player in the league even if guys like Duncan, Garnett, and Lebron were more complete players.

It's tough to do a comparison with Jordan because the league was very different in both the early and late 90s compared to today. The early 90s still featured a lot of deep teams that had not yet been adversely affected by expansion, though there were some truly awful expansion teams (anyone remember the Magic before Shaq or the Timberwolves before Garnett?) By the late 90s the overall talent was spread out so there were really only a few deep teams left, one of which was the Bulls. Even they, however, didn't have a lot of talent in their front court compared to the elite teams of the 1980s (Celtics, Sixers, Rockets, Lakers, even the Pistons). As Bill Simmons has right pointed out Jordan also benefitted from not having to play against Bias (who died before entering the league) or Reggie Lewis or Drazen Petrovic, both of whom died in the early 90s and were very good guards who were improving.

Also, I totally agree with the writer who said that Lebron can't play all 5 positions. He can distribute the ball and can guard true point guards in stretches but he's a 3/4. That's not a shot against him, I'm a Celtics fan and I have no problem admitting he's the best overall player I've ever watched (that's different than saying he's "better" than Jordan or Kobe). By the way I would add one last comment that is up for dispute. While Lebron is the best overall player I've ever watched and Jordan was the greatest winner I've watched, in his prime Shaq was by far the most dominant player I've ever seen, he just didn't always play with intensity. I'm not broken up about it as I'm glad the Lakers don't have 2-3 more championships.

Last edited by Lloyd Braun at 4/5/2013 6:33:00 PM

I laugh at your paycheck.

Oh, by the way, basketball and football, yeah two completely different things.

Football you actually get hit. Basketball you don't Lebron weights 280 some pounds. You think his knees really are going to last? Your argument is invalid.

I think you mean he weighs 280 pounds.But do you know that he weighs 250.30 lbs can make a big difference

Last edited by Knowledge at 4/5/2013 11:24:29 PM

I think SOMEBODY missed the joke...

I'll still go with Kobe, the league is about winning championships, and Kobe has 5 (2 without Shaq). Shaq and Kobe was the 2 best players in that 2000 team playing with declining veteran players exception Robert Horry and a still young Derek Fisher. Then he went on to win 2 more with Gasol, not all there Artest, and a very aging Fisher while Bynum was basically a phantom during those runs with injuries. Lebron finally won one with the Heat with Wade still in his prime with good role players finally when he's peaking at the top of his prime?

If it's all about winning championships,Russel is the best and Scalabrine is better than Barkley,Malone and as of right now Melo,Durant and as good as Nowitzki.
Great logic

Yea, but we are talking about Kobe and Lebron now. Lebron has played enough years to be in Kobe's generation now.

If it's all about winning championships,Russell is the best and Darko Milicic is better than Barkley,Malone and as of right now Melo,Durant and as good as Nowitzki.
Great logic

I fixed your example (and fixed the spelling of Russell, I mean, come on man!). If you're going to do it, use someone who earned a title as a rookie, after all. Besides, he's on equal footing with LeBron, which vindicates the people who said he could be considered with the #1 pick.

+1

Right now one would have 2 say lebron. but i'll say kobe isn't far behind him. both players are top 15 in history n my opionion. But i will say 2 things.....1. kobe was better in his prime than lebron. i need not say why, i think it's pretty obvious why. 2. when it's all said and done, kobe will be better than lebron by the time thier careers' are over. Simply because kobe has 5 rings and lebron has one...and counting but doubt he'll pass kobe. some say kobe's 3 with shaq dosen't count as part of his legacy and i disagree. kobe was the 2nd best player on that team and played a HUGE role towards those rings. the other 2 rings kobe won virtually alone. Yes the had gasol, fisher, ariza, and other role players but the key is kobe lead that team to the title( witout other superstar players). Lebron could've won in clevland and has the best team for 2 years straight but fluked in the playoffs. Even in his first year with miami he failed to win. That's at least 4 failed attempts after finally winning last year against a young and inexperienced okc team. I will admit that more than 1 good player is needed in order to win a championship, but lebron had 2 superstarts(including himself) and another allstar in the mix. That team is bound to win!! The same credit given to jordan, magic, bird, and kobe for winning a ring can't be given 2 lebron due to these players teams. The heat will likely continue to win maybe for another 2 years, then i c them falling off. But bak 2 what i was saying i believe when thier carrers are over kobe will have a better legacy( not simply because of titles but his ability 2 play through injuries others cannot his work ethic, his clutch, and just his overall greatnees) but both players will be great.

p.s. if lebron did what he's doing now except in cleveland and won titles than maybe that'll be different.

noooo!!! drexler, barkley, olajuwon, thomas, magic, malone....man nooooooo