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The NBA's GOAT -- MJ? Lebron? The Field?


Patrick Bateman

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12 hours ago, Goo Punch said:

LeBron can't walk back years of publicly deferring to D Wade, repeatedly stating that he (LBJ) was Robin to Wade's Batman, that he (LBJ) was jelly to D Wade's peanut butter.

You can use all kinds of jelly on a PBJ.   Strawberry, blackberry, grape, etc.   But there's one peanut butter.  And don't give me that crunchy vs. smooth argument.   It's still just peanut butter.  

MJ is peanut butter.

 

 

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5 minutes ago, Goo Punch said:

It's pretty clear form my post that I'm not saying that LBJ was the sidekick, I'm pointing out how often he insisted that he was in fact no.2. His words.

Who cares..... KD regularly calls Steph the leader of the Warriors and it Steph's team.  Magic used to do the same with Kareem, even post 85' when it was clear Magic was their best player.  Great players being deferential in the press to teammates is good optics and frankly, smart, nothing to be criticized.  It's not really about what they say, but more about what they do..... 

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4 hours ago, Thatguy said:

   He routinely passed the ball when he was the only player worth a damn with the Cavs.........right........that's how you score 25 straight points to close out the Pistons en route to a finals trip.

You realize we are talking about his time with the Heat and not his original stint with the Cavs right?

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15 hours ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Who cares..... KD regularly calls Steph the leader of the Warriors and it Steph's team.  Magic used to do the same with Kareem, even post 85' when it was clear Magic was their best player.  Great players being deferential in the press to teammates is good optics and frankly, smart, nothing to be criticized.  It's not really about what they say, but more about what they do..... 

  This guy gets it.

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10 hours ago, HookEm said:

You realize we are talking about his time with the Heat and not his original stint with the Cavs right?

 

On 6/13/2018 at 2:18 PM, HookEm said:

For me, it means that LeBron was involved in fewer plays that year because he was deferring to Wade when it really mattered in the playoffs.  In fact, that was the main narrative in the first half of LeBron's career - he would routinely pass the ball on the most important plays of the game.  Sometimes it worked out and sometimes it didn't.  

Outside of his first year in the NBA, Michael Jordan never had a usage lower than 32.9% in the playoffs and never had a usage even close to approaching LeBron's 26.9% in 2012.  It shows that Jordan carried more of a load in his titles than LeBron did. 

   The first half on Lebron's career was his first stint with the Cavs. 7 years worth. This idea that he routinely passed the ball on the most important plays is fantasy land material as well. For instance, everyone remembers the shot Ray Allen hit to bring them back from the dead in game 6 vs the Spurs. However, people are quick to forget Lebron banged a 3 with 20 seconds left to go to make it even possible for Ray's shot to matter. Most people forget about that. People also forget that he murdered Boston dropping 45 on 73% shooting when they had their backs against the wall on the road. Literally unstoppable. Spurs also had a game 7 after the Ray Allen game 6. People forget about that. Bron dropped 37 with Kawhi guarding him on 52% shooting and 8 for 8 from the stripe.

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   The first half on Lebron's career was his first stint with the Cavs. 7 years worth. This idea that he routinely passed the ball on the most important plays is fantasy land material as well. For instance, everyone remembers the shot Ray Allen hit to bring them back from the dead in game 6 vs the Spurs. However, people are quick to forget Lebron banged a 3 with 20 seconds left to go to make it even possible for Ray's shot to matter. Most people forget about that. People also forget that he murdered Boston dropping 45 on 73% shooting when they had their backs against the wall on the road. Literally unstoppable. Spurs also had a game 7 after the Ray Allen game 6. People forget about that. Bron dropped 37 with Kawhi guarding him on 52% shooting and 8 for 8 from the stripe.
Exactly. People say Allen and Irving bailed out LeBron. The dumbest fucking narrative there is. Do they not realize without Lebron, their moments are not even possible. Lebron also had a damn good Game 7 against the Spurs. No one even remembers that shot if the Heat don't go on to win it all.

That's like giving credit to Vinateri for those Super Bowl wins.
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1 hour ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

Nobody is saying LeBron isn’t great. What we’re saying is that he isn’t the greatest ever.

   Jordan is pretty much Paul Bunyan at this point. Every year the legend continues to grow into WAY more than what it was. It is beyond ridiculous. For example, everyone remember the iconic switch hand shot Jordan did vs Lakers. We remember it like it crushed the Lakers souls. The reality is, if you go back and watch the game, that shot made the score 97-71 Bulls. They were up 24 when that shot happened. It wasn't significant at all, or even necessary to do. Also, the Bulls went on a huge run, scoring 38 in the 3rd, when Jordan went to the bench in foul trouble. That was also the game where Phil put Scottie on Magic. People forget that Jordan struggled guarding Magic, the Scottie switch was a huge factor in them winning the series. Lastly, Pippen and Grant Both scored 20 on 18 for 29 shooting. John Paxson and Cartwright scored 16 and 12 on 14 for 17 shooting.

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   Jordan is pretty much Paul Bunyan at this point. Every year the legend continues to grow into WAY more than what it was. It is beyond ridiculous. For example, everyone remember the iconic switch hand shot Jordan did vs Lakers. We remember it like it crushed the Lakers souls. The reality is, if you go back and watch the game, that shot made the score 97-71 Bulls. They were up 24 when that shot happened. It wasn't significant at all, or even necessary to do. Also, the Bulls went on a huge run, scoring 38 in the 3rd, when Jordan went to the bench in foul trouble. That was also the game where Phil put Scottie on Magic. People forget that Jordan struggled guarding Magic, the Scottie switch was a huge factor in them winning the series. Lastly, Pippen and Grant Both scored 20 on 18 for 29 shooting. John Paxson and Cartwright scored 16 and 12 on 14 for 17 shooting.


The conclusion I got from your post is that Magic is better than James
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40 minutes ago, Thatguy said:

   Jordan is pretty much Paul Bunyan at this point. Every year the legend continues to grow into WAY more than what it was. It is beyond ridiculous. For example, everyone remember the iconic switch hand shot Jordan did vs Lakers. We remember it like it crushed the Lakers souls. The reality is, if you go back and watch the game, that shot made the score 97-71 Bulls. They were up 24 when that shot happened. It wasn't significant at all, or even necessary to do. Also, the Bulls went on a huge run, scoring 38 in the 3rd, when Jordan went to the bench in foul trouble. That was also the game where Phil put Scottie on Magic. People forget that Jordan struggled guarding Magic, the Scottie switch was a huge factor in them winning the series. Lastly, Pippen and Grant Both scored 20 on 18 for 29 shooting. John Paxson and Cartwright scored 16 and 12 on 14 for 17 shooting.

My personal opinion is that Magic is #1 and Jordan is #1a, but I get what you are saying, and it's irrelevant to the point. 

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This guys is a self proclaimed Lebron convert.... except he converted the other way, from defending Lebron and deciding he wasn't the best of all time.  He's probably unhinged but it's funny and there is an undercurrent of truth behind some of what he's saying.  There have been a couple of other articles which noticed the statistical anomaly of Lebron's changed game the last couple of years.  

https://twitter.com/i/moments/1004678191703842817

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19 hours ago, Patrick Bateman said:

This guys is a self proclaimed Lebron convert.... except he converted the other way, from defending Lebron and deciding he wasn't the best of all time.  He's probably unhinged but it's funny and there is an undercurrent of truth behind some of what he's saying.  There have been a couple of other articles which noticed the statistical anomaly of Lebron's changed game the last couple of years.  

https://twitter.com/i/moments/1004678191703842817

   Some notes-

First- Immortal positively repped you so you know whatever you put up has to be wrong.

Second- There is no player Lebron played with that wasn't a playoff shrinker with him that didn't show that gene prior to coming to Cleveland. Lot's of guys play well in the regular season. George Hill has been that guy. Rodney Hill was that guy as well. There is a reason their former teams gave them up for little to nothing. People act as though the JR Smith's of the world were doing anything but chucking up wild shots prior to coming to Cleveland.

Third- The Westbrook argument was a bit of a reach. Westbrook's stats are truly empty as in they don't equate to wins. Lebron's stats do. The eye test bears that out because Lebron's passes get guys wide open shots or layups. Westbrook's passes do not. Is there anyone who doesn't think if you switch Lebron and Westbrook the Thunder make a deep run and the Cavs miss the playoffs?

Fourth- In his defense wins championships he put a picture of a serious faced Jordan waiting for Magic on the defensive end. Ironic that he would post a pic of a series where Jordan was getting eaten for lunch and Phil had to make a defensive switch.

 

 In closing- Lebron is held to a standard I have never seen in all my years of watching sports. People literally expect this guy to score 45 every game and beat the most elite teams with squads that have no business being there. Example. The Warriors won 73 games WITHOUT Kevin Durant. The Warriors were breezing through the playoffs WITHOUT Steph Curry. There is no single Warrior player you can take off their roster and them not still be elite. However, you take Lebron off the Cavs and they instantly become a lottery squad. This has been proven in the past, and will be proven again this next season after Lebron leaves. Sure, the Hood's of the world will score more points simply because SOMEONE has to shoot it, but they will be empty points that do not translate to wins.

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You have to add Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain into this discussion.  

KAJ - Career 25 ppg  11 rpg, 20 year career, all time scoring champ, 6 times mvp 

Wilt - Career 30 ppg 22 rpg, all time career rebounding leader, 14 yr career, 4 MVPs 

On the PER rating Wilt has the best two seasons ever recorded by a player.

 

I give MJ the slight nod over LBJ for the reason as stated above, MJ's floor was much higher - the ceilings are comparable 

 

 

 

 

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6 hours ago, immortal13 said:

So now you're concerned who I've repped? Nice to see I'm residing in your head......except for all your daydreaming about sucking Lebron's dick

Who's Rodney Hill, by the way?

   You are the board troll. Nothing more. Everyone gets it. Troll on.

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6 hours ago, immortal13 said:

Ok P,  just keep on obsessing about who I rep and trying to convince everyone that Lebron is the GOAT. We'll all keep laughing at you.

Hate to tell you this but the young generation is laughing at you, just like we were laughing at dudes who were telling us the Big O was the best basketball player they ever saw back in the Jordan era. Then they would show us some dude dribbling like a middle schooler and throwing up hook shots like that was supposed to be impressive to us. The game has evolved. The 80's and 90's game looks like a flip phone to this generation.

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2 hours ago, Thatguy said:

Hate to tell you this but the young generation is laughing at you, just like we were laughing at dudes who were telling us the Big O was the best basketball player they ever saw back in the Jordan era. Then they would show us some dude dribbling like a middle schooler and throwing up hook shots like that was supposed to be impressive to us. The game has evolved. The 80's and 90's game looks like a flip phone to this generation.

So now you are trying to strengthen your argument based on what millenials think? Go home, your drunk. 

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On 6/15/2018 at 7:34 AM, Thatguy said:

   Jordan is pretty much Paul Bunyan at this point. Every year the legend continues to grow into WAY more than what it was. It is beyond ridiculous. For example, everyone remember the iconic switch hand shot Jordan did vs Lakers. We remember it like it crushed the Lakers souls. The reality is, if you go back and watch the game, that shot made the score 97-71 Bulls. They were up 24 when that shot happened. It wasn't significant at all, or even necessary to do. Also, the Bulls went on a huge run, scoring 38 in the 3rd, when Jordan went to the bench in foul trouble. That was also the game where Phil put Scottie on Magic. People forget that Jordan struggled guarding Magic, the Scottie switch was a huge factor in them winning the series. Lastly, Pippen and Grant Both scored 20 on 18 for 29 shooting. John Paxson and Cartwright scored 16 and 12 on 14 for 17 shooting.

Funnily enough, game 6 of the ‘98 finals was on ESPN2 a few days ago and I got sucked into watching the 2nd half. I was surprised at how human Jordan looked. He was not, in fact, 8 feet tall and shooting lightning bolts out his arse.  Fatigue was a topic of discussion with the commentators.  The color guy even noted at one point that Jordan was resting on defense to conserve energy.  I thought Jordan NURVER took plays off??? He was also 2-8 shooting in the 4th quarter, but did get to the free throw line a bunch. And in the end, he made fantastic clutch plays on both sides of the court. 

I was also surprised to learn that two blown shot clock calls caused a 5 point swing in favor of the Bulls.  The refs took a 3 pointer away from the Jazz that was CLEARLY taken with 1 second left. If those are called correctly, that series probably goes 7.

 

Edited by CurlyDumps
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4 hours ago, CurlyDumps said:

Funnily enough, game 6 of the ‘98 finals was on ESPN2 a few days ago and I got sucked into watching the 2nd half. I was surprised at how human Jordan looked. He was not, in fact, 8 feet tall and shooting lightning bolts out his arse.  Fatigue was a topic of discussion with the commentators.  The color guy even noted at one point that Jordan was resting on defense to conserve energy.  I thought Jordan NURVER took plays off??? He was also 2-8 shooting in the 4th quarter, but did get to the free throw line a bunch. And in the end, he made fantastic clutch plays on both sides of the court. 

I was also surprised to learn that two blown shot clock calls caused a 5 point swing in favor of the Bulls.  The refs took a 3 pointer away from the Jazz that was CLEARLY taken with 1 second left. If those are called correctly, that series probably goes 7.

 

That cannot be correct.   MJ swam to school 18 miles uphill in frigid glacier filled water.

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MJ's legacy gets bigger over time because nobody has matched what he did. kobe was the closest thing we got to mj, and bron is the best player in the world, but neither of them can match what mj did. the real paul bunyan story is how much better all of mj's supporting casts are today than they were 20 years ago. today's warriors inarguably have WAY more talent than jordan's bulls, yet they can't replicate his success. the warriors have an mvp winner in his prime as their second best player yet y'all act like jordan's bulls were just too unbelievably loaded to ever be beat. okay. as if he ever played with a trio of teammates like Steph, Klay, and Draymond.

Edited by Goo Punch
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Hate to tell you this but the young generation is laughing at you, just like we were laughing at dudes who were telling us the Big O was the best basketball player they ever saw back in the Jordan era. Then they would show us some dude dribbling like a middle schooler and throwing up hook shots like that was supposed to be impressive to us. The game has evolved. The 80's and 90's game looks like a flip phone to this generation.


Lol.

Dude.
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10 hours ago, CurlyDumps said:

Funnily enough, game 6 of the ‘98 finals was on ESPN2 a few days ago and I got sucked into watching the 2nd half. I was surprised at how human Jordan looked. He was not, in fact, 8 feet tall and shooting lightning bolts out his arse.  Fatigue was a topic of discussion with the commentators.  The color guy even noted at one point that Jordan was resting on defense to conserve energy.  I thought Jordan NURVER took plays off??? He was also 2-8 shooting in the 4th quarter, but did get to the free throw line a bunch. And in the end, he made fantastic clutch plays on both sides of the court. 

I was also surprised to learn that two blown shot clock calls caused a 5 point swing in favor of the Bulls.  The refs took a 3 pointer away from the Jazz that was CLEARLY taken with 1 second left. If those are called correctly, that series probably goes 7.

 

    The crazy part about that game is that Jordan didn't particularly shoot well. He shot 15 free throws, which had a lot to do with his point total. He also took 35 shots. He was a cool 42% from the field while no one else on the Bulls shot below 50%. Oh....and he also pushed off.

6 hours ago, d2o said:

That cannot be correct.   MJ swam to school 18 miles uphill in frigid glacier filled water.

       What? He didn't?

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6 hours ago, Goo Punch said:

MJ's legacy gets bigger over time because nobody has matched what he did. kobe was the closest thing we got to mj, and bron is the best player in the world, but neither of them can match what mj did. the real paul bunyan story is how much better all of mj's supporting casts are today than they were 20 years ago. today's warriors inarguably have WAY more talent than jordan's bulls, yet they can't replicate his success. the warriors have an mvp winner in his prime as their second best player yet y'all act like jordan's bulls were just too unbelievably loaded to ever be beat. okay. as if he ever played with a trio of teammates like Steph, Klay, and Draymond.

      They were compared to their competition. Jordan never beat those "loaded" teams until they got old. He NEVER beat the Celtics, they all just retired. Then through the 90's it was mediocre team after mediocre team. Almost all of those teams had one really good player and a few solid compliments. Never did they beat a team that was better than them on paper. The closest one was Orlando. They lost to that Orlando squad in 95. That was a legit loss. That team was better than them on paper. However, the next year when they got to them they had added Rodman. Then game one Ho Grant hurts his elbow and is out for the series. Then Brian Shaw the next game. Then Nick Anderson the game after that.

Edited by Thatguy
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57 minutes ago, Thatguy said:

      They were compared to their competition. Jordan never beat those "loaded" teams until they got old. He NEVER beat the Celtics, they all just retired. Then through the 90's it was mediocre team after mediocre team. Almost all of those teams had one really good player and a few solid compliments. Never did they beat a team that was better than them on paper. The closest one was Orlando. They lost to that Orlando squad in 95. That was a legit loss. That team was better than them on paper. However, the next year when they got to them they had added Rodman. Then game one Ho Grant hurts his elbow and is out for the series. Then Brian Shaw the next game. Then Nick Anderson the game after that.

Context is an amazing thing.

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12 hours ago, CurlyDumps said:

Funnily enough, game 6 of the ‘98 finals was on ESPN2 a few days ago and I got sucked into watching the 2nd half. I was surprised at how human Jordan looked. He was not, in fact, 8 feet tall and shooting lightning bolts out his arse.  Fatigue was a topic of discussion with the commentators.  The color guy even noted at one point that Jordan was resting on defense to conserve energy.  I thought Jordan NURVER took plays off??? He was also 2-8 shooting in the 4th quarter, but did get to the free throw line a bunch. And in the end, he made fantastic clutch plays on both sides of the court. 

I was also surprised to learn that two blown shot clock calls caused a 5 point swing in favor of the Bulls.  The refs took a 3 pointer away from the Jazz that was CLEARLY taken with 1 second left. If those are called correctly, that series probably goes 7.

 

That was an interesting game..... Nobody on the Bulls really showed up and it's also during the escalation of ugly ball for the NBA.  Jordan's global popularity simply drove the ratings as such.  Nobody on the Bulls scored more than 8 points besides Kukoc (15).  Scottie?  8 points in 26 listless minutes.  Kevin Love laughs at Scottie that game.  Rodman?  7 points, 8 rebounds.  Not terrible but not exactly making a huge difference.  The game was so fucking ugly back then.  Bulls won with 87 points.  Jordan accounted almost 54% of his team's points and only had 1 turnover.  1 turnover on 55% USG?  

Really the game sort of sucked in the 90's.  A lot of guys (including myself) grew up in the 90's so there's a lot of rosy retrospection but for about 15 years, NBA basketball was a beating.  The pace in that game was a disgusting 76.3.  Compare that with the 90.7 of the last Finals.  Jordan had a whopping 55.1 USG%.  What?  The two teams together put up 131 FGA.  Last game of this season?  173.  Both teams combined to be 6-20 from 3 in 98'.  Last game of this season, Steph Curry alone was 7-15 from 3.  The two teams this year shot 65 3's. 

It's almost not the same sport.  It was like watching smash mouth I formation Big Ten football vs the wide open spread offenses of today.  In a lot of ways, Jordan was the ultimate unicorn, but bad for the game because there were so many pale comparisons and ugly copycats.  The modern era of ISO basketball from wings (not Oscar Robertson) is ushered in on account of the stupidity of the rules in the 90's and Jordan's unique ISO greatness.  He was a miracle and in some ways folks don't want to face, a curse for the league.... Everyone wanted to be like Mike.  Nobody ever could....

Lebron's his own unicorn.  You can appreciate both of them..... their similarities and their differences....

 

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MJ's legacy gets bigger over time because nobody has matched what he did. kobe was the closest thing we got to mj, and bron is the best player in the world, but neither of them can match what mj did. the real paul bunyan story is how much better all of mj's supporting casts are today than they were 20 years ago. today's warriors inarguably have WAY more talent than jordan's bulls, yet they can't replicate his success. the warriors have an mvp winner in his prime as their second best player yet y'all act like jordan's bulls were just too unbelievably loaded to ever be beat. okay. as if he ever played with a trio of teammates like Steph, Klay, and Draymond.


I was about to pile on and talk about how great the Bulls 96-97 team was around Jordan, that went 69-13

I’d put Kukoc, Rodman, Pippen, Jordan and Harper on the floor with anyone. But then its gets rough - Kerr, Buechler and Longley could play (Kukoc was actually the 6th man with Longley as the obligatory stop gap against the battleship centers like Ewing, Shaq and Olajuwon). But then its scrubs, hasbeens and neverweres. Perhaps this was when the salary cap era was going. Honestly cant believe this team was so good.
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On 6/17/2018 at 10:13 PM, Eskimohorn said:

 


I was about to pile on and talk about how great the Bulls 96-97 team was around Jordan, that went 69-13

I’d put Kukoc, Rodman, Pippen, Jordan and Harper on the floor with anyone. But then its gets rough - Kerr, Buechler and Longley could play (Kukoc was actually the 6th man with Longley as the obligatory stop gap against the battleship centers like Ewing, Shaq and Olajuwon). But then its scrubs, hasbeens and neverweres. Perhaps this was when the salary cap era was going. Honestly cant believe this team was so good.

   Man, just go look at other team's rosters of that era. Miami had Hardaway and Zo. Mashburn was a good piece but there was not much else. The Hawks had Steve Smith, Mookie Blaylock, and Dikembe. The Bullets had Webber, Howard, and Rod Strickland. Rosters during the 90's weren't loaded up with superstars. The Bulls had a better roster than anyone else of that era.

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2 minutes ago, Thatguy said:

   Man, just go look at other team's rosters of that era. Miami had Hardaway and Zo. Mashburn was a good piece but there was not much else. The Hawks had Steve Smith, Mookie Blaylock, and Dikembe. The Bullets had Webber, Howard, and Rod Strickland. Rosters during the 90's weren't loaded up with superstars. The Bulls had a better roster than anyone else of that era.

and a better coach/system

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   Man, just go look at other team's rosters of that era. Miami had Hardaway and Zo. Mashburn was a good piece but there was not much else. The Hawks had Steve Smith, Mookie Blaylock, and Dikembe. The Bullets had Webber, Howard, and Rod Strickland. Rosters during the 90's weren't loaded up with superstars. The Bulls had a better roster than anyone else of that era.


Also had the Knicks with Starks off the bench. The Wizards were your 8 seed. You also had the Hornets and Pistons (Grant Hill, Dumars). The East was tough and had hand-checking and hard fouls.

In the West you had the Rockets, Jazz, Supersonics, Lakers. It had a lot of bad teams and a tanking Spurs squad.
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Steve Kerr:  Lebron is "“playing at a level I’m not sure anyone’s ever seen"

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2778955-steve-kerr-lebron-james-playing-at-a-level-im-not-sure-anyones-ever-seen?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=programming-national


Y'all realize that Steve Kerr a) played with Michael Jordan and b) is a pretty good basketball coach

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