Kyrie Irving

Offensively, there are players greater than LeBron but as a complete package and all-round player? No. Only time will tell if he goes down as the greatest of all time but I have no doubts that he is the most all-round player of all time.

Jon said:

And looking at it that way, it's really not even close, Curry is far and away the best player in the league, right now.

Click to expand...

If "right now" is in the context of regular season games, and regular season defense, sure. Curry is the type of player who murders you if you have anything less than high defensive intensity.

But playoff basketball is different because defenses tighten up. That's particularly true with ball-denial, and that's how you slow down Curry. Get physical and annoy the shit out of him because his lack of physicality is his only weakness offensively.

Still much rather have LBJ come playoffs because he thrives in a more physical game, and is still far better than Curry defensively.

That hasn't changed.

The Red Viper said:

Offensively, there are players greater than LeBron but as a complete package and all-round player? No. Only time will tell if he goes down as the greatest of all time but I have no doubts that he is the most all-round player of all time.

Click to expand...

Jordan was better on both ends. Hakeem too.

Damien O'Connel said:

What argument...where? You can't even name the 10 players you think are better.

Gotta step it up if you're going to be contributing to this board, or you'll have a bad time.

Click to expand...

jordan
Kareem
Wilt
Russell
Bird
Magic
Duncan
Hakeem
Shaq
Kobe

Ten guys better and a bunch more borderline. You happy?

Mr. Blonde said:

jordan
Kareem
Wilt
Russell
Bird
Magic
Duncan
Hakeem
Shaq
Kobe

Ten guys better and a bunch more borderline. You happy?

Click to expand...

If I was to start a team, I wouldn't take those two over LeBron.

Jscc said:

If I was to start a team, I wouldn't take those two over LeBron.

Click to expand...

Shaq because he'd leave, and bird for his back?

Mr. Blonde said:

Shaq because he'd leave, and bird for his back?

Click to expand...

Bird: no. I think LeBron is a more complete player than Bird. Both got around the same rings, skill-set, numbers, and basketball IQ but LeBron is the superior defender.

Shaq: I also think LeBron is a more complete player than Shaq. LeBron has the better work ethic, basketball IQ, a more diverse skill-set, leadership qualities, and is the better winner. I just don't see Shaq dragging a team like last year [while essentially running on fumes] and 2006-2007's Cleveland into the NBA finals like LeBron did.

Shaq is one of the most incomplete superstars of all time. His special move on offense was back his ass into the defender and crush it on him. The rest of his offense was limited to weak ass hooks.

Defensively, he was pretty damn good one on one and at protecting the rim, but completely useless pick and roll.

Thing is, he was so effective at his offensive move that he was absolutely unstoppable.

back to kyrie.. miss this guy..

LeBron was having a great jumpshot/3 pt away from being the best all time IMO.

This would make him much clutchier, would avoid his mental flaws through the first part of his career, would allow him to score with more ease and save energy for the final moments of games/defensive side.

But with this flaw and his mental instability during many years, he's definitely not the greatest all times. The top3 Jordan - Kareem - Wilt is hard to touch. Unless LeBron manages to win 3 more titles as a protagonist.

PedroFlu said:

LeBron was having a great jumpshot/3 pt away from being the best all time IMO.

This would make him much clutchier, would avoid his mental flaws through the first part of his career, would allow him to score with more ease and save energy for the final moments of games/defensive side.

But with this flaw and his mental instability during many years, he's definitely not the greatest all times. The top3 Jordan - Kareem - Wilt is hard to touch. Unless LeBron manages to win 3 more titles as a protagonist.

Click to expand...

Wilt? He has 2 titles and 4 MVP's like Lebron and less complete than Lebron. Wilt cant even make a free throw much less a jump shot of any kind, I take Hakeem over Wilt any day of the week.

Further he has the 2 titles back when there were litteraly only 12 teams.

This whole argument is ridiculous. Lebron has a shot at being the GOAT and if he retired now, he is top 5.

Why is this country so obsessed with rankings?

#21 said:

Why is this country so obsessed with rankings?

Click to expand...

Country?

Fairly certain Brits throw Molotov cocktails at each other while cheering their teams toward higher rankings and Germans were so infatuated with rankings that they agreed to murder several million people to climb up a few rungs.

You are right that soccer focused countries don't care about whether they win the World Cup or keep track of their highest paid players and national league standings and top scorers.

Anybody who thinks Wilt is in the running for greatest player of all time is looking mostly at his numbers and forgetting some of the context. He played in a time that the pace of play was so fast that his numbers are ridiculously inflated due to the extra possessions. Many of those points came from things like offensove goaltending (tho to be fair they were made illegal because of Wilt's dominance). But more importantly we are talking about a guy that only cared about the stats. For instance Wilt had an obsession with never fouling out of a game. So whenever he would pick up his fourth foul he would literally stop playing defense even in playoff games. Incredibly I believe he ended his career without fouling out of a game. One season Wilt was determined to lead the league in assists and he did, yet that whole season he passed up easy layups to try to pad his stats. True he won two championships but one of them was at the tail end of his career when he was no longer the best player on the team. For a man who could score 100 points in a game, that is pretty underwhelming. It's telling that at the time he played, Bill Russell was considered the better player by both peers and by the league itself (who officially gave Russell that honor). Wilt is an icon and perhaps the most dominant player of any era, but not the greatest unless stats are the only consideration.

I thought this thread was about Kyrie?