Who is the best basketball player today, and in the past?

rickmathew wrote in post #9200526
Today: Kevin Garnett Honarable Mentions to Steve Nash and Tim Duncan

Current: You obviously don't get the oppty to watch LeBron James play on a regular basis. He could play a team 1-on-5 and still score 50 points if he had to. And probably play all 48 minutes too!

Best Overall: Michael Jordan

Total old-school: Oscar Robertson - highest career average in ppg, rebounds, assists. He was as close to an automatic triple-double as the NBA has ever seen.

Your pics: Garnett is the biggest whiner the NBA has ever seen. Steve Nash is a tremendous point guard. Tim Duncan can be stopped fairly easily. Dirk Nowiczki (sp?) is a better big guy than Duncan is today.

dave

It's gotta be LB and Kobe, 1 and 2.....
with Dwayne Wade and KG slipping in behind them at 3 and 4

Nash and Duncan are past their prime....but still solid players.

Well where's the photos - geez, thought I'd come in and see some old pics of Jordan someone discovered on their old film cameras they forgot they took in the 80's and new of Kobe.

Old school: Pickum Michael,Magic or Bird. Best defensive player all time: Dennis Rodman

hiker 419 wrote in post #9204050
Old school: Pickum Michael,Magic or Bird. Best defensive player all time: Dennis Rodman

You obviously don't watch a lot of basketball. Rodman was a punk. He was fortunate to play for the bulls when he did, or no one would know his name.
Current: Lebron James; He is better than Kobe Bryant. Yea, I said it. He can single handedly take over any game and make an immediate impact on the outcome. On a side note, he can also smash like not many can.

Past: Michael Jordan; Do I really need to defend this point. I think he is accepted by most everyone as the best player of the past.

Woah, woah, woah - as a basketball coach and Rodman fan you have to remember he was defensive player of the year before going coo coo for cocoa puffs. You obviously don't watch much either because he was well known when he was with the Pistons and Spurs, his name was household already by the time he went to the Bulls. He was on the all defensive team 7 times, won the rebounding title 7 straight times, helped his teams win 5 NBA titles with fierce defensive skills and rebounding, and far from a punk, come on now I used to work with a punk label....wait, alright, he woulda fit in pretty good - you got me there. His name comes up EASY in best defensive players to ever play the game no matter what you didn't like about how he acted, dressed, etc...and that stamp was put in place before he was with the Bulls.

Kobe vs. Lebron is tough - but giving it to Kobe, how many rings does Lebron have? Lebron is taking the title of NBA's best away slowly, but as of this second in time it still belongs to Kobe. League MVP in '08 followed by a title and finals MVP in '09 take the cake. Titles matter - ask Alex Rodriguez monkey who is now out of a job.

Rodman was a stud, and a lunatic. He had some amazing basketball IQ, he out positioned and out smarted his opponents. Wasn't the an athletic wonder like Kobe and Lebron, he was average and dominated his position.

Duncan was/is the man as well. One word comes to mind SOLID

MJPhotos24 wrote in post #9220345
Woah, woah, woah - as a basketball coach and Rodman fan you have to remember he was defensive player of the year before going coo coo for cocoa puffs. You obviously don't watch much either because he was well known when he was with the Pistons and Spurs, his name was household already by the time he went to the Bulls. He was on the all defensive team 7 times, won the rebounding title 7 straight times, helped his teams win 5 NBA titles with fierce defensive skills and rebounding, and far from a punk, come on now I used to work with a punk label....wait, alright, he woulda fit in pretty good - you got me there. His name comes up EASY in best defensive players to ever play the game no matter what you didn't like about how he acted, dressed, etc...and that stamp was put in place before he was with the Bulls.

Kobe vs. Lebron is tough - but giving it to Kobe, how many rings does Lebron have? Lebron is taking the title of NBA's best away slowly, but as of this second in time it still belongs to Kobe. League MVP in '08 followed by a title and finals MVP in '09 take the cake. Titles matter - ask Alex Rodriguez monkey who is now out of a job.

LBJ is the Cavs. Give him the supporting cast comparable in today's terms that Jordan had and LeBron might go down as the Great of All-Time.

nphsbuckeye wrote in post #9220515
LBJ is the Cavs. Give him the supporting cast comparable in today's terms that Jordan had and LeBron might go down as the Great of All-Time.

He could! He isn't there yet though. But either was Jordan, he didn't win his first title until his 6th or 7th season. And he had Pippen.. who was in the all time top 50 players.

i still dont see how lebron is being compared to jordan these days. the difference in tremendous, michael was/is possibly the greatest basketball player of all time and one of the best athletes of all time in any sport world wide. he shaped the game of basketball like few have ever/will done. its not all numbers, and numbers is all that lebron comes relatively close to michael in. i for one, still get chills seeing replays from jordan games, i dont get any sort of sensation watching lebron yet. that extra special feeling about the player is just not there.

kobe has that feeling more than lebron does but i cant say whos the better player, although id say right now the best three are kobe, lebron, and wade. kobe and wade are just amazing amazing clutch players and lebron is a full on powerhouse. my 2 cents

Individually, LeBron's got everything that Jordan had and sometimes more. But if your gonna to define legacy by his team's accomplishments, then LeBron will never match up.

Consider this... Jordan had Pippen and Phil Jackson, LeBron has 50 yr old shaq and Mike Brown.

As a 30 something ex basketball player.. i grew up watching Jordan. ..Heck, I wore 23 in H.S. and College. (with the same tight a** shorts as Jordan) But.. LeBron is on a "Jordan" like pace.. even at 3 years younger, and without the benefit of growing under Dean Smith. The next couple years will set LeBron's legacy.. If he rips off a couple Championships.. then he can be mentioned with (or ahead of) Jordan

I should have worded that differently about rodman...yes he was a good defensive player and very strong at his position. However, I dont think that his career previous to being with the bulls would even be relevant had the bulls not done what they did with Jordan and Pippen. I think he would have dissappeared similar to how Kevin Mchale has kinda fallen through the cracks even though he was a very solid player and a key part of Bird's Celtic's success.

zelseman wrote in post #9220741
I should have worded that differently about rodman...yes he was a good defensive player and very strong at his position. However, I dont think that his career previous to being with the bulls would even be relevant had the bulls not done what they did with Jordan and Pippen. I think he would have dissappeared similar to how Kevin Mchale has kinda fallen through the cracks even though he was a very solid player and a key part of Bird's Celtic's success.

Dennis could have retired after the Pistons, in fact didn't he say he was going to unless he went to the Bulls (or was that the Lakers)? The guy was smart, he knew exactly what he was doing on the court and probably off. He got a little attention as defensive player of the year but when he went "crazy" his shoes started selling like candy (loved my pair playing!) which could have been a strategic move to get noticed. He knew he had to draw attention to himself and did it, sure he was a shy awkward kid who went overboard when finally busting out of his shell but what he did on the court was great defensive play. Maybe he saw how McHale just kind of went into the night and didn't want that to happen - makes sense, he started going nuts not long after Kevin retired.

kauffman v36 wrote in post #9220590
i still dont see how lebron is being compared to jordan these days. the difference in tremendous, michael was/is possibly the greatest basketball player of all time and one of the best athletes of all time in any sport world wide. he shaped the game of basketball like few have ever/will done. its not all numbers, and numbers is all that lebron comes relatively close to michael in. i for one, still get chills seeing replays from jordan games, i dont get any sort of sensation watching lebron yet. that extra special feeling about the player is just not there.

kobe has that feeling more than lebron does but i cant say whos the better player, although id say right now the best three are kobe, lebron, and wade. kobe and wade are just amazing amazing clutch players and lebron is a full on powerhouse. my 2 cents

No doubt Jordan is on a very short list. However, basketball is a team sports, which means you have to look at the whole team. The Cavs have some average young talent and good old talent - but definitely not the talent MJ had.

LeBron is an absolute freak athlete: if he concentrated on football in HS, he could have played a multitude of positions. As it were, he was an All-Ohio WR, at 6'8". Now how many CBs, ever, at any level, could cover him (assuming he still played football and is an NFL WR)? That's not basketball related, per se, but LeBron is at least as good of an athlete as MJ, even if MJ will go down as a better basketball player. Plus, LeBron's basketball IQ is off the charts for a player his age and will likely become a great coach after he retires.