(05-25-2015 08:42 AM)oasispirate Wrote: JR Smith is a very good player, but look what Melo did with him on the Knicks?
They won 54 games one year and went to the 2nd round of the playoffs with Tyson Chandler, Melo and JR Smith, and with Chandler and Melo missing 20 games each. That's not to bad at all.
If you just looked at some JR Smith highlights he actually looks like he has Kobe like talent. He makes some incredible dunks and off balance shots and is probably an underachiever for his actual talent level and physical gifts.
Quote:Lebron James is probably the greatest player of alltime and imo
I agree with you there. I'm no Lebron stanboy but I think Lebron is just simply bigger, stronger, more versatile, and better than anyone that has ever played.
I'm sure people will take issue with that and bring up rings, but basketball is a team game and Jordan had loaded teams and played in a watered down NBA. Hell take a player like Ron Harper, he was a 20ppg 6rpg 5apg the year before he went to the bulls and averaged 6.9ppg on the bulls the next year as a role player.
The NBA has 6 expansion teams from 1988-1995, not to mention this was prior to it being a world wide game that didn't have 17% more international players on their rosters and a much larger talent pool to draw on it has today.
BTW you take out the 2 years the 3 pt line was moved up and Jordan shot 28.8% form three. I think it would be a lot harder for him to dominate in todays NBA personally. People bring up the handcheck rule but that was in 1994 and he cameback and didn't even score as much after they changed it and even with the 3 point line moved up for him.
Quote:outside of maybe a year and a half when Wade was healthy has never really had a good supporting cast.
I agree. He took Daniel Gibson and scrubs to the finals one year when he was like 23. Jordan didn't even win more than 40 games or have a winning record until his 5th year and older than that.
Quote:Lebron is about to make his 5th finals in a row, pretty insane. It took a shooting clinic by the Spurs to beat him last year. Michael Jordan never faced a team as good as San Antonio imo, plus as you've said before the game is just so much different now.
Majorly different. I was having this conversation on another board about Barkley saying the teams of the 80's like the Celtic and Lakers would destroy the Warriors.
One of those Celtics championship teams made 55 THREE's all year. The entire team. Curry has 64 in 13 games this playoff's alone. 2 is worth more than 3 and how you keep up with that firepower with the evolved offense of today where everyone can shoot 3's with a dinosaur 1985 offense I don't see.