LeBron James vs Oscar Robertson All-Time

[Claude9]

match the feat of the Big O of averaging a triple double for the season and perhaps more on.

[Batz]

Win the damn championship as the man. Why do people ask these questions which have such an obvious answer?

[L.Kizzle]

Bron has o worry about passing Elgin Baylor first.

[Fatal9]

Lebron has put up better stats than Oscar and has already accomplished more as the leader of a team than Oscar ever did. Lebron > Oscar.

[jlauber]

Lebron MAY very well pass Oscar. Lebron came into the league at age 19, while Oscar had to wait until age 22. I am not sure how Robertson would have fared at age 19, in which Lebron averaged 20.9 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 5.9 apg, and shot .417 from the field. In Oscar's rookie year, he averaged 30.5 ppg, 10.1 rpg, 9.7 apg, and shot .473. Lebron, at the same age, averaged 27.3 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 6.0 apg, and shot .476.

So, we can make an assumption that Oscar probably could have put three more quality seasons had he entered the NBA at age 19. The Big-O played a total of 14 seasons, although in his last three seasons he had a big dip (although he did play on a title team in one of them.) In his 14 seasons, he led the NBA in assists per game, SEVEN times. He had SIX seasons of over 30 ppg. He had TEN seasons over 24 ppg. He had THREE seasons over 10+ rpg (and two others at 9 or more.) His CAREER FG% was .485 in an era of well below that (including THREE over 50%.) Obviously he averaged a triple-double one season, but he nearly had THREE more. He was a 12 time All-Star. He won a MVP (in the Russell-Wilt era), and was voted top-5 NINE times. He had THREE All-Star game MVPs. He was a NINE-time 1st team All-NBA (and second team two other times.) He had several outstanding post-seasons, but, in the same year in which he averaged a triple-double during the regular season, he averaged one in the post-season, as well (28.8 ppg, 11.0 rpg, 11.0 apg...and shot .519 from the field.) The list goes on and on. Oh, BTW, he DID play on one title team.

Lebron has played in seven seasons. True, most of them have been outstanding. But let's not get carried away just yet. If he puts up several more exceptional seasons, then we can start the comparisons. As of right now...no way.

[illLakerslli]

Oscar Robertson played in the weakest NBA league....... He would probably average half of what he did back in the day.

[ShaqAttack3234]

JLauber spams the board with his typical crap citing stats without putting them in perspective. at comparing Lebron and Oscar's rookie numbers, right, like Lebron playing on a team that averaged what? 91 possessions per game in his rookie season while Oscar's team averaged probably about 125 possessions didn't have a major impact on their numbers?

When Oscar's numbers are put in perspective they're not THAT amazing and honestly, I don't see what makes him clearly better than guys like Barkley, Malone and Garnett.

Lebron already has 2 MVPs, a scoring titles, some of the most ridiculous stats ever and he has probably 3 or so more prime years left at least barring injuries. If Lebron just keeps doing what he's doing for a few more years it'd be very tough to rank him below Oscar. For all of the crap Lebron takes and some of it he does deserve just like every player deserves criticism, he's already an all time great.

The biggest argument for players like Robertson and Baylor over Lebron is the impact they had on the development of the game.

[PowerGlove]

Keywords in this thread:Pace,overrated,rings,era.

[Lebron23]

I even ranked Allen Iverson over Oscar Robertson. AI led his team in the NBA Finals as the number 1 scoring option of his team.

[jlauber]

Oscar Robertson played in the weakest NBA league....... He would probably average half of what he did back in the day.

I know. There is no doubt that today's players are much better. In fact, put MJ, say in his 1991 season...some 20 years ago...into 2010, and I think he might be a 15-18 ppg player on about .430 shooting.

And I get a kick out anyone thinking that Shaq, of 2000, could outplay the players of today. Can you imagine Brook Lopez cleaning the floor with that fat a$$. And don't get me started on Olajuwon. There are high school kids today that would crush a '95 Hakeem.

Magic and Bird??? C'mon now! Those two clowns couldn't make their college team's of today.

Kareem? Does anyone honestly believe that Abdul-Jabbar, in his prime, could score at all against guys like Okur, Biedrins, and Kaman?

And surely, what would a prime Wilt, at over 7-1, and around 285 lbs, with around a 500 lb bench and a champion high-jumper leaping ability, combined with sprinter's speed be able to do against Jason Collins, Joaquim Noah?

[illLakerslli]

I know. There is no doubt that today's players are much better. In fact, put MJ, say in his 1991 season...some 20 years ago...into 2010, and I think he might be a 15-18 ppg player on about .430 shooting.

And I get a kick out anyone thinking that Shaq, of 2000, could outplay the players of today. Can you imagine Brook Lopez cleaning the floor with that fat a$$. And don't get me started on Olajuwon. There are high school kids today that would crush a '95 Hakeem.

Magic and Bird??? C'mon now! Those two clowns couldn't make their college team's of today.

Kareem? Does anyone honestly believe that Abdul-Jabbar, in his prime, could score at all against guys like Okur, Biedrins, and Kaman?

And surely, what would a prime Wilt, at over 7-1, and around 285 lbs, with around a 500 lb bench and a champion high-jumper leaping ability, combined with sprinter's speed be able to do against Jason Collins, Joaquim Noah?

I think the defence is better today but Shaq would literally shit on any of the players in this age. Robertson played in the 60's arguably the weakest age in the game.

[jlauber]

I think the defence is better today but Shaq would literally shit on any of the players in this age. Robertson played in the 60's arguably the weakest age in the game.

Who are you kidding? Shaq is the exact player today, that he was ten years ago. It is just that the rest of the NBA has gotten so much better in the last decade, just as the players of the 00's were better than those of the 90's; and the 90's better than the 80's, and so and so...

Can you imagine how comical it would be to watch Jordan helplessly watching Rondo and Mayo schooling him, one-on-one???

[jlauber]

I get a kick out of comparing players of different eras...

Does anyone think that Kareem would have stood a chance against Hakeem? And Hakeem against Shaq? And obviously, Shaq wouldn't stand a prayer against Howard.

[magnax1]

He has to become a top ten player

[Roundball_Rock]

I even ranked Allen Iverson over Oscar Robertson. AI led his team in the NBA Finals as the number 1 scoring option of his team.

Only in the basketball world, or at least ISH, is winning considered losing. Losing in the NBA finals as "the man">>>>>>winning the NBA finals as a necessary "sidekick" like Oscar did. Then people wonder why superstar pairings are so rare, other than in cases where one was drafted (Kareem-Magic, Jordan-Pippen, Shaq-Penny, Shaq-Kobe). Why should a Bosh or Wade team with Lebron when all the credit would go to Lebron?