Reminder that Tim Duncan won a ring at age 37

[90sgoat]

Should have won the FMVP too, but the league couldn't give it to him and expose Lebron.

15/10 on 57%.

Next season he was back in the playoffs again at 38 and dropping 17/10.

In his last season at 39 years old, he was in talks for DPOY before he was injured and that was that unfortunately, but he did play in the playoffs.

The casuals who consume ESPN obviously think Lebron is the GOAT, but for the rest of us who rank him against his contemporaries Kobe and Duncan, Lebron still has a chance to do something that Duncan didn't do, which is have a productive playoffs at age 39.

Not to mention that Kareem won 2 (!) rings at age 39 and 40 and being an important player too. Even Karl Malone had a productive playoffs at age 39.

Actually Lebron could have a lot to prove in terms of his "goat longevity" if he was serious about it.

[ImKobe]

Kareem won a FMVP at 38 in a series that had prime/peak Magic & Bird too.

[Lebron23]

But not a finals MVP

[Phoenix]

BUT!

How many rings if you put Tim Duncan on the 90s Jazz?

[90sgoat]

But not a finals MVP

Only Kareem has done that.

[90sgoat]

Kareem won a FMVP at 38 in a series that had prime/peak Magic & Bird too.

Yes, that is something that gets overlooked when they try to make Lebron be 2nd goat.

[Bacchus]

Greenberg, Wilbon, Rose & Steven A all have Jordan ranked as the G.O.A.T

[SouBeachTalents]

Reminder that OP thought Harden was still on the Nets this season.

[90sgoat]

Reminder that OP thought Harden was still on the Nets this season.

What's the name of the other guy on Celtics?

[bdonovan]

Should have won the FMVP too, but the league couldn't give it to him and expose Lebron.

15/10 on 57%.

Next season he was back in the playoffs again at 38 and dropping 17/10.

In his last season at 39 years old, he was in talks for DPOY before he was injured and that was that unfortunately, but he did play in the playoffs.

The casuals who consume ESPN obviously think Lebron is the GOAT, but for the rest of us who rank him against his contemporaries Kobe and Duncan, Lebron still has a chance to do something that Duncan didn't do, which is have a productive playoffs at age 39.

Not to mention that Kareem won 2 (!) rings at age 39 and 40 and being an important player too. Even Karl Malone had a productive playoffs at age 39.

Actually Lebron could have a lot to prove in terms of his "goat longevity" if he was serious about it.

This may be a case study on how illogical most sports arguments are.

For one thing, you are comparing the accomplishments of the Teams Duncan and Malone were on, versus the Teams LeBron was on. Not a useful comparison when looking at individual accomplishments.

Let's look at Duncan's production at 38 (https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/d/duncati01.html). He scored just 13.9 points/game - hardly that of a top contributor. He scored well below 25.5 at his peak and below his 19/game for a career average (but that's only because of his poor production in his 30s, which argues against his longetivity).

Let's look at LeBron. At 38, LeBron averaged 28.9 points/game ABOVE his average of 27.2. And close to his ATH per year of 31.4.

Pretty important context I would say. Now you start to see why people give James credit for his conditioning, being that he can maintain his output at this age. Duncan could not.

Kareem is a better case; unlike LeBron he did NOT score above his career average at 38 - only 23.4 pt/game compared to 24.6 for a career average. Not only did he start with a lower base, he underperformed it.

Interestingly, he dropped of completely at 39, scoring only 17.5 pts/game. Will be interesting to see how that compares to LeBron last year.

When making assessments of players, it's important to compare Apples to Apples. Anyone can pick an isolated stat here or there or try to gauge player based on his team (which is illogical). When you cut to the core of the stats that matter, what LeBron is doing at his age is pretty special.

[90sgoat]

The point is more, that for actual fans of the sport, Lebron does have the opportunity to add to his legacy.

In the lamestream media, Lebron is claimed to be the 2nd goat, which is obviously very wrong, and that shuts down the meaningful discussions about what feats he can accomplish to improve his legacy (around Top 7-9 imo).

If he could win a ring, Kareem style, at age 39 or 40, that would push him up.You would get him near Duncan, Bird, Russell, Kareem etc.