"Lebron has to be the best basketball player to ever play" - Alex Caruso

[LAmbruh]

"When I was young growing up I was a fan of the Michael highlights and never seen him in person, that was the mythical game winners and highlights. Then Lebron comes in 2003 and I get older learning about basketball and my mind for the game understands how hard stuff is. Somewhere around year 6-7 for Lebron I thought yeah this is the best dude ever in basketball to play. And then he did it for another 10 years."

Pretty much sums up childhood nostalgia perfectly.

Sure everything seems so large and mythical when your a kid getting showered in Jordan clothing and marketing.

Then you learn the game as you get old and say well...... yeah not exactly as it seemed when I was young.

[light]

Pretty much sums up childhood nostalgia perfectly.

Sure everything seems so large and mythical when your a kid getting showered in Jordan clothing and marketing.

Then you learn the game as you get old and say well...... yeah not exactly as it seemed when I was young.

Wow. Caruso and I must be the same person because I had a very similar experience (aside from me being older and having had watched most of MJ's career).

I grew up a hardcore MJ fan. Before LeBron I was on the internet fighting the good fight protecting MJ's legacy from Kobe's hordes. But something started to change from 2007 to 2009. LeBron made me reconsider the idea that was floating around that we would never see a player as good as Michael Jordan ever again. All of a sudden I was looking at someone who was not only as good as Michael Jordan, but damn, HE MIGHT BE EVEN BETTER! I remember thinking that in 2008.

By the time of The Decision two years later I was already convinced that LeBron was The Greatest of All Time and everything that has happened since then has only reinforced that idea.

Caruso brings up a great point though about the difficulty of understanding the game from an IQ perspective and then also the ability and instinct to take that knowledge and apply it at precisely the right moments and in the right ways. LeBron is unparalleled at that and Caruso acknowledges it.

Caruso is also acknowledging something that is rarely said about Michael Jordan - that unlike with LeBron, when you watched Michael Jordan you did not get the sense that MJ was processing the game intellectually and making data driven decisions. When you watched Michael Jordan you felt that he was doing things mostly on instinct.

[Axe]

Wow. Caruso and I must be the same person because I had a very similar experience (aside from me being older and having had watched most of MJ's career).

I grew up a hardcore MJ fan. Before LeBron I was on the internet fighting the good fight protecting MJ's legacy from Kobe's hordes. But something started to change from 2007 to 2009. LeBron made me reconsider the idea that was floating around that we would never see a player as good as Michael Jordan ever again. All of a sudden I was looking at someone who was not only as good as Michael Jordan, but damn, HE MIGHT BE EVEN BETTER! I remember thinking that in 2008.

By the time of The Decision two years later I was already convinced that LeBron was The Greatest of All Time and everything that has happened since then has only reinforced that idea.

Caruso brings up a great point though about the difficulty of understanding the game from an IQ perspective and then also the ability and instinct to take that knowledge and apply it at precisely the right moments and in the right ways. LeBron is unparalleled at that and Caruso acknowledges it.

Caruso is also acknowledging something that is rarely said about Michael Jordan - that unlike with LeBron, when you watched Michael Jordan you did not get the sense that MJ was processing the game intellectually and making data driven decisions. When you watched Michael Jordan you felt that he was doing things mostly on instinct.

Interesting. Where did you copypasta'd this from?

[Stanley Kobrick]

caruso is the definition of knowing exactly what your role is on a team and seizing the moment to perfection. unfortunetaly i expect him to get the dellavedova contract and be forgotten in a couple years. rotting somewhere in orlando or sacramento. what was the topic again?

[LAmbruh]

Wow. Caruso and I must be the same person because I had a very similar experience (aside from me being older and having had watched most of MJ's career).

I grew up a hardcore MJ fan. Before LeBron I was on the internet fighting the good fight protecting MJ's legacy from Kobe's hordes. But something started to change from 2007 to 2009. LeBron made me reconsider the idea that was floating around that we would never see a player as good as Michael Jordan ever again. All of a sudden I was looking at someone who was not only as good as Michael Jordan, but damn, HE MIGHT BE EVEN BETTER! I remember thinking that in 2008.

By the time of The Decision two years later I was already convinced that LeBron was The Greatest of All Time and everything that has happened since then has only reinforced that idea.

Caruso brings up a great point though about the difficulty of understanding the game from an IQ perspective and then also the ability and instinct to take that knowledge and apply it at precisely the right moments and in the right ways. LeBron is unparalleled at that and Caruso acknowledges it.

Caruso is also acknowledging something that is rarely said about Michael Jordan - that unlike with LeBron, when you watched Michael Jordan you did not get the sense that MJ was processing the game intellectually and making data driven decisions. When you watched Michael Jordan you felt that he was doing things mostly on instinct.

1st reply slays are the best

[RoundMoundOfReb]

Wow. Caruso and I must be the same person because I had a very similar experience (aside from me being older and having had watched most of MJ's career).

I grew up a hardcore MJ fan. Before LeBron I was on the internet fighting the good fight protecting MJ's legacy from Kobe's hordes. But something started to change from 2007 to 2009. LeBron made me reconsider the idea that was floating around that we would never see a player as good as Michael Jordan ever again. All of a sudden I was looking at someone who was not only as good as Michael Jordan, but damn, HE MIGHT BE EVEN BETTER! I remember thinking that in 2008.

By the time of The Decision two years later I was already convinced that LeBron was The Greatest of All Time and everything that has happened since then has only reinforced that idea.

Caruso brings up a great point though about the difficulty of understanding the game from an IQ perspective and then also the ability and instinct to take that knowledge and apply it at precisely the right moments and in the right ways. LeBron is unparalleled at that and Caruso acknowledges it.

Caruso is also acknowledging something that is rarely said about Michael Jordan - that unlike with LeBron, when you watched Michael Jordan you did not get the sense that MJ was processing the game intellectually and making data driven decisions. When you watched Michael Jordan you felt that he was doing things mostly on instinct.

Great post. Jordan was simply a great weapon to be used along with Scottie by Phil and Tex. LeBron is something more; he is Skynet.

[FireDavidKahn]

This white boi knows what's up.

[HylianNightmare]

Thats someone's whose basketball ranking i care about for sure

[SATAN]

I believe him

[Kblaze8855]

Hes born in 1994. Lebron is his childhood nostalgia pick. You don’t have nostalgia about someone you heard about you have it about who you came up a fan of.

[StrongLurk]

Hes born in 1994. Lebron is his childhood nostalgia pick. You don’t have nostalgia about someone you heard about you have it about who you came up a fan of.

Great point, I was born in 1990 and I definitely have childhood nostalgia with MJ from Space Jam-1998 Finals. Sure I was young, but I remember being obsessed and in awe of MJ (as well as basketball in general). It felt like he could do no wrong and would never lose.

If I was born in 94...then I would have literally missed all of that.

Caruso's nostalgia would definitely be more around Kobe and very young Lebron.

[8Ball]

Caruso is also acknowledging something that is rarely said about Michael Jordan - that unlike with LeBron, when you watched Michael Jordan you did not get the sense that MJ was processing the game intellectually and making data driven decisions. When you watched Michael Jordan you felt that he was doing things mostly on instinct.

LeBron's basketball IQ is top 5 all time. LeBron has higher basketball IQ than Jordan.

[red1]

Hes born in 1994. Lebron is his childhood nostalgia pick. You don’t have nostalgia about someone you heard about you have it about who you came up a fan of.

yeah lebron is the only top-5 player caruso would have seen.


he'd have missed shaq mj kareem wilt pretty much everyone else.

[And1AllDay]

2ez

Another day

Another win

[HoopsNY]

Hes born in 1994. Lebron is his childhood nostalgia pick. You don’t have nostalgia about someone you heard about you have it about who you came up a fan of.

That's the funny thing about this all. He's a kid.

Caruso is also acknowledging something that is rarely said about Michael Jordan - that unlike with LeBron, when you watched Michael Jordan you did not get the sense that MJ was processing the game intellectually and making data driven decisions. When you watched Michael Jordan you felt that he was doing things mostly on instinct.

Someone made this point on RealGM, but in favor of MJ. But you seem to take the opposite perspective, which is fine. The thing is MJ didn't allow defenses to gather, particularly in late games on in bounds plays.

He literally would catch, react, and within 5-6 seconds the ball would be in the hoop. This threw defenses off and he was able to read defenses almost instantaneously.

To LeBron's credit, you are correct, he gathers what the defense gives him, analyzes, and executes. But I'm unsure as to why that is the preferred method of play.

The triangle offense and consistent ball movement coupled with MJs ability to execute quickly in late games is, in my opinion, a better flow of basketball that has proven results.

The only way LeBron's method works is if you equip enough guys around him (i.e, shooters and elite players/scorers) in order to make his style of play work for the team.

If you prefer the latter rather than the former, then I'm curious as to what makes it so great and in fact better than system ball?