Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Top 100 NBA Players: #12


LeBron James

(Simmons: #20, BBR: #19)

LeBron James is the third-youngest player in this entire list, yet he has somehow risen to #12 already, and the sky is the limit for him, whether you are a fan of his or not. Many try to say that LeBron is not that great, that he'll never be as great as Michael Jordan, but there are problems with that reasoning.

People say that Jordan was greater because he won 6 titles, and LeBron has yet to win one. The problem is that we are comparing 1990's Jordan with 2000's LeBron, when we should be comparing current LeBron with 1980's Jordan. At the end of last season, when these rankings were created, LeBron James was 26 years old. Here is a comparison of the career accomplishments and statistics of Jordan and LeBron at age 26:

Jordan - 6 playoffs, 2 conference finals, 0 NBA Finals, 1 MVP, 3 years as best player in the league
James - 6 playoffs, 3 conference finals, 2 NBA Finals, 2 MVP, 6 years as best player in the league

Jordan - 32.8 pts, 6.3 reb, 6.0 ast, 2.8 stl, 1.1 blk, .516 FG%, .282 3P%, .848 FT%
James - 27.7 pts, 7.1 reb, 7.0 ast, 1.7 stl, 0.8 blk, .479 FG%, .329 3P%, .744 FT%

When looking at them statistically, LeBron has more triple-double potential, but Jordan was still a little better overall. When looking at their accomplishments at age 26, LeBron is the clear-cut winner, matching or beating Jordan in every category. The fact is that back in the 1980's, people were saying the same things about Jordan that they now say about LeBron, that he's great but he'll never lead his team to a title, that he doesn't know how to involve his teammates enough, etc. At age 27, Michael Jordan won his first of six NBA Championships. If LeBron wants to eventually be remembered as equal to or greater than Jordan, and potentially as the greatest player of all time, the titles have to start coming soon.

LeBron is the only player in history to own career averages of 25 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists per game, and is also the holder of many "youngest" records, including youngest #1 pick, youngest Rookie of the Year, youngest to record a triple-double, any many others. He is also one of 4 players in history to lead his team in all 5 of the major statistical categories for a full season, along with Dave Cowens, Scottie Pippen, and Kevin Garnett.

He has also been the best player in the entire league for 6 of the 8 seasons he has played so far, the only exceptions being his rookie year, when he was just All-Star material, and 2008, when Kobe finally decided he needed an MVP award. In 2005, at the age of 20, LeBron was already the best player in the NBA, becoming only the third player to be the best within his first two seasons, and the other two happen to be Kareem and Wilt.


Baylor was one of the greatest talents ever at the small forward position, and LeBron is following in his footsteps. Injuries slowed down Baylor's career trajectory prematurely, while James has been able to maintain his high level of play now for 7 full seasons. James has already been the best player on 2 Finals teams, while Baylor achieved the feat 4 times in a full career. The biggest thing that separates James from Baylor is that he has been the league's best player 6 times already, while Baylor was never the very best player at any point in his career.

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