LeBron's 5 consecutive finals apperences - unprecedented in the modern era

[Blue&Orange]

we hear about the east being weak (it is..don't get me wrong), but its LITERALLY no weaker than the eastern conference of the early 2000s or the watered down 90s.

no really

[sekachu]

we hear about the east being weak (it is..don't get me wrong), but its LITERALLY no weaker than the eastern conference of the early 2000s or the watered down 90s.

yes, i originally said it wasn't that impressive - but i've come to the conclusion that even i am spoiled by lebron's greatness. the best player in the game is doing something historical - winning a 60+ win atlanta hawks team without his best players who are allstar caliber, but WITH new york knicks' rejects - unreal..

now unlike most casual fans, i hate ring counting. its counter productive & generally void of any perspective. now that being said, IF lebron were to lead his team to a ring, and he were to play at a similar and/or even higher level, there will be goat talks - as there should be. you just don't beat one of the greatest teams (warriors are statistically one of the best teams of all-time relative to competition) with a cast equivalent to the bad news bears.

so yes, if lebron were to do that, he would be a consensus top 3 player. as he were to do 2 of the following things:

-win the city of cleveland a championship
-lead his team to victory against one of the greatest units ever

until the finals

The 90s have knick, pacer, heat, magic as a long term stable competitive teams against the bulls. There are no such teams in the last 10 years in the east that lebron has to play against.

[Mr Feeny]

The 90s have knick, pacer, heat, magic as a long term stable competitive teams against the bulls. There are no such teams in the last 10 years in the east that lebron has to play against.

I'm starting to think he's 11 years old. Don't talk about the 90's Pacers. This kid wasn't even around to watch the mid 2000's Pistons, never mind anything a decade earlier.

[Ne 1]

LeBron James' NBA Finals runs come with an asterisk

As much as LeBron James has accomplished in his career, he's had one important handicap: The Eastern Conference.



http://www.sbnation.com/2015/4/22/84...nference-chart



What's the worst thing about the East?

http://espn.go.com/blog/marc-stein/p...ern-conference

Marc Stein: For me it's the fact we've been calling it the Leastern Conference since Michael Jordan won his last title with the Bulls. It's not a good enough line to use for 15 years straight, but the East has continued to be considerably thinner/weaker/pick-your-adjective than the West in virtually every season since MJ left the Bulls in the summer of 1998. Simply astounding.

[Mr Feeny]

As much as LeBron James has accomplished in his career, he's had one important handicap: The Eastern Conference.



What's the worst thing about the East?

http://espn.go.com/blog/marc-stein/p...ern-conference

.

In other words Lebron lead his team to 5 straight finals as the man (6 total) and Kobe could only do it a measly twice

[Ne 1]

In other words Lebron lead his team to 5 straight finals as the man (6 total) and Kobe could only do it a measly twice

3 straight Finals in the Finals in the West twice (2000-2002) (2008-2010) >>>> 5 straight Finals in the JV league

[ImKobe]

In other words Lebron lead his team to 5 straight finals as the man (6 total) and Kobe could only do it a measly twice

2001 - Kobe easily best player, 32/7/6 on 51% first 3 rounds, 11-0 record with 4 straight road games vs Kings & Spurs

2004 - Shaq was clearly the 2nd option, more efficient than Kobe but nevertheless a 2nd option

2008-10, I don't think I need to say anything here...30/6/6 for 3 straight Finals runs, very dominant in all 3 Conference Finals appearances, his best Playoff series.

Kobe led 5 teams to the Finals as the man, plus in 2000 he led the team in 4 categories with a 25/12/7/4 blocks game in Game 7, 2002 he averaged 31/11/6 on 44/68/91 shooting in Games 6 & 7 vs Sacramento in the WCF

Kobe's entire body of work shits on Lebron's, sorry.

[ArbitraryWater]

I remember ImKobe saying Kobe was a great sidekick in 2001.. then it was he carried an equal share in the first 3 rounds, then he was co-MVP, then he was the best player of the entire run, and now he is "easily the best player"...

the story changes decades after it happened

Avoiding Shaq being so damn superior to Kobe in 2004, he now says "Kobe was the first option".. tee-hee ImKobe, who cares, Shaq absolutely shitted on Kobe in 2004.

[Ne 1]

2001 - Kobe easily best player, 32/7/6 on 51% first 3 rounds, 11-0 record with 4 straight road games vs Kings & Spurs

Spurs Western Conference Finals:

[Ne 1]

I remember ImKobe saying Kobe was a great sidekick in 2001.. then it was he carried an equal share in the first 3 rounds, then he was co-MVP, then he was the best player of the entire run, and now he is "easily the best player"...

Either way, it was far more of a two headed monster L.A. in 2001/2002 and much closer to Co-MVPs than just Shaq and his little side-kick Robin aka Kobe Bryant as detractors of Kobe like to believe. The problem is some people with an agenda like to put a qualifier on Kobe's rings he won with Shaq and just write them off as "side-kick rings" and that's diminishing what he actually was.

[plowking]

Either way, it was far more of a two headed monster L.A. in 2001/2002 and much closer to Co-MVPs than just Shaq and his little side-kick Robin aka Kobe Bryant as detractors of Kobe like to believe. The problem is some people with an agenda like to put a qualifier on Kobe's rings he won with Shaq and just write them off as "side-kick rings" and that's diminishing what he actually was.

It wasn't though.

Shaq was clearly better. He was higher every year they won the title in the MVP race. He won FMVP in every year they won the title.

The only year that was close to true is 00-01.

[Mr Feeny]

It wasn't though.

Shaq was clearly better. He was higher every year they won the title in the MVP race. He won FMVP in every year they won the title.

The only year that was close to true is 00-01.

Shhh don't talk sense. Let him believe what he wants.

[Ne 1]

It wasn't though.

Shaq was clearly better. He was higher every year they won the title in the MVP race. He won FMVP in every year they won the title.

The only year that was close to true is 00-01.

Well the consensus was that Shaq was the best player in the league, but if you're going to try to use that to discredit Kobe, then you have to take into account the consensus was also that Kobe was a top 2-3 player in his own right starting around the '01 playoffs, so it shouldn't even matter that he was playing with someone who was slightly better at the time. Heck, nobody seems to care that Magic won with Kareem, Magic is considered to be a 5x champion and nobody puts a qualifier on any of his rings even though Magic only won 2 rings as the undisputed best player on the team. Kobe was actually much closer to Shaq in 2001 and 2002 than Magic was to Kareem in 1980, yet all 5 of his rings "count" but only 2 of Kobe's rings "count."

Also simply saying Shaq was the FMVP every year as some kind of indicator that Kobe doesn't deserve credit for those championships is disingenuous. During the 3-peat he put up 21/5/4, 29/7/6, 27/6/5. That's on par with or better than some "1 option" rings.

[HOoopCityJones]

Even Scottie Pippen could rack up Finals appearances if you drop him in the weak East of the last 15 years, in his prime.

[ArbitraryWater]

Kobe had it alot easier in the West from 2008-2010, not sure he can make it through consecutive series' of Celtics/Cavs/Magic.. obviously we know he wouldn't stod a chance with the teams Bron/Wade had.

But this I find more interesting.. put prime Kobe on those Heat teams, can he beat the Celtics/Bulls in 2011? Perhaps... not sure he can co-exist with Wade.
2012 well we know he isn't reaching that level Bron played at for 3 straight series' to barely scrap by and become the first team ever to win 3 series when down, 2013, he can't deliver that all-around game, shutting down West/PG, scoring, rebounding so pretty easy no, and 2014 he isn't gonna make the finals with a bunch of guys heading into retirement, dropping an efficient 49, etc. so another pretty easy no.