Right now, where do you rank Lebron all time?

[rhigh2390]

Originally Posted by GeechQuest

I understand that notion as well. I think Russell 100% could play in today's game, but he wouldn't be regarded as a top-5 player of all time if he had to have his career from 2010-2025. What makes him special in my book is the era he played in.

You threw out the following:

2 NCAA titles
12 trips to the nba finals (11-1)
5 MVP’s
10-0 in game 7s
30pts 40rebs in a game 7
Player/coached for nba title

The bolded above is only impressive without knowing context. Is 5 MVPs really that impressive when the league had 8 teams? Same thing with 12 trips to the finals. Russell had to go through 3 other teams in the East for the majority of his career. The last season of his career he had to best 6 other teams in the East.

It's amazing for the generation, but in context it seems rather pedestrian.

The players you listed above (Russ or Harden or Simmons) are so much more efficient at basketball than most anything from Russell's era it's not even funny. It's not even a statistical thing, but 6'1'' Bob Cousy is not doing anything to stop those players above. You think their stats are inflated now, can you even imagine what they'd be if we took them and threw them in the 60's?

Players like Cousy would obviously adapt if you brought them forward, but he's not going to be any taller. Cousy, an all time great, wouldn't even be drafted in today's NBA.

It's so apples-planets trying to compare eras that we really should just argue players from the same era in my opinion.

I couldn't disagree more. He won 11 titles in the NBA. It's impressive no matter how you look at it and whatever context you want to add to it. I know the league wasn't the same, but it was a completely different era. There is really no reason to compare the players from then to now because there is no way of knowing anything. The only logical thought is that the star players back then dominated their era. Like 6celtics33 said, you can't just place a player from that era into today's game, and not assume that they have the same luxuries as players today. Look at the traveling conditions, the segregation, the medical staff(or lack there of), and the workouts/fitness stuff that has come about since then. If you want to say that lebron would be great in that era, what would he have access to? He probably wouldn't be as big, he wouldn't be as healthy, he wouldn't have the same skills that he does. There are endless unknowns about players playing in different eras, so I think anyone still needs to give all the credit where it is due to the old guys.

I know players are more athletic now due to technology and what we know about health and fitness now, but I could still say the league is watered down more now than it was then because there are so many bad teams. Imagine if we still had 8 teams now. Every team would have at least 3 all-stars. Some may even have 5 or 6. I'd find that very entertaining lol. Look at how many horrible teams there are now that play horrible basketball.