Quote:
Originally Posted by Coach Pants
I will say that LeBron will be considered one of the greats if he can win 2 championships. That's a big if though. He's got as much time on the court as Magic and Bird did when they were completing their championship runs. Wade is getting old too.
They have a 4 year window tops to hit at 50%. I don't see it happening.
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Comparing LeBron's situation coming into the league with Bird/Magic is crazy.
LeBron was drafted by a team coming off of a 17-65 season with Ricky Davis being the best player. They improved 18 wins with no other additions (though you could argue the subtraction of Davis helped). The other 4 starters for his 2nd year when they improved to 42 wins:
C- Ilgauskas
F-Drew Gooden
F-Ira Newbie
G- Jeff McInnis
2 years later they lost in the Finals with Larry Hughes, Eric Snow, Sasha Pavlovic, Ilgauskas and Gooden. Not a single player other than James ever played a signifigant role on an NBA team before or after.
Magic's 1st year he was drafted by LA to play with Jabbar, Jamaal Wilkes, Norm Nixon and Jom Chones on a team that went 47-35 the previous year. The next year Magic was injured but in his 3rd year they added Micheal Cooper, Rambis, Mitch Kupchak and Bob McAdoo. The next year they added James Worthy. Every player Magic played with was better than any player LeBron played with. Perhaps Kupchak, Chones and Rambis were similar to Ilgaukas and Gooden but those were secondary players not starters.
Bird's 1st year was a huge improvement from the previous year when there was almost a mutiny by the players. The team he played with had Tiny Archibald, Dave Cowens (both on the downside but 31 years old), Gerald Henderson, Cornbread Maxwell, Robey, ML Carr, Chris Ford and Pistol Pete. The next 2 years they added McHale, Parish and Danny Ainge.
LeBron has failed at winning the championship with 1 legit team, last year. They dont have any excuses this year barring an unforseen injury. But the if Magic and Bird's teams are the measure of success then no one will ever match them because the salary cap will never allow that many good players to play together.
And Kobe is not only a selfish player and always has been but is the most selfish great player ever. It actually says something about his stature that he refused to share the ball pretty much his whole career yet was still able to win championships and be thought of as highly as he is.