Did Lebron have one of the greatest debuts in NBA history?

[Odinn]

It's truly interesting that Lamar Odom had a greater debut in NBA.
30 points 12 rebounds 3 assists 2 steals 2 blocks .556 fg .533 ft
And he was only 1 year older than LeBron in his rookie season.

[BoutPractice]

If LeBron had Boozer instead of Varejao, he might have had less success. Varejao is an incredibly underrated player.

Both aren't main sidekick material though.

[madmax]

I was looking at this T-Mac vs rookie Lebron game the other day and was thinking about the forms he used to use on his shot. he used to shoot some high arching jumpers besides that though, his game is totally different now.

Christmas Day - McGrady vs LeBron shootout PART1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PsSV...eature=related



Christmas Day - McGrady vs LeBron shootout PART2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhiV-kJwFm8

yup, during his first years in the league he was in love with those high arcing dumb corner fade-aways...that also explains his subpar FG % during those years, taking so many unnecessary three pointers and ill-advised shots. He really cut those out completely in the last few years, hence improved shooting and results followed too

[SyRyanYang]

It's truly interesting that Lamar Odom had a greater debut in NBA.
30 points 12 rebounds 3 assists 2 steals 2 blocks .556 fg .533 ft
And he was only 1 year older than LeBron in his rookie season.

Can't find that video.

[Odinn]

Can't find that video.

http://bkref.com/tiny/UmdfC
I found from here. Not from YouTube. I can't find, too.

[RoseCity07]

Watching that video got me browsing more youtube clips. Lebron had some awesome games as a rookie. I ended up on a Jordan clip, game 3 vs Miami in 1992 playoffs. My god, when I look back at how good he was. Lebron doesn't really compare.

[jlauber]

I don't get how much praise Wilt gets, the dude played in a joke of an era were most of the players were white scrubs who couldn't fill the 12th slot on an '11 Bobcats roster.

Interesting...

In this "joke of an era"...why ONLY Chamberlain? Take a look at the following:

Career 60 point games: Everyone else whoever played in the NBA...combined: 30 (MJ and Kobe with five each)

Wilt? 32


Career 70 point games: The rest of the entire NBA in it's history: 4 (one each by Kobe, Baylor, Thompson, and Robinson)

Wilt... SIX


Career 30-30 games:

Aside from Chamberlain, there have been 36 30-30 games in NBA history, and Russell is the leader of that group, with 7 (Bellamy and Thurmond are next with 3 each.)

How about Wilt? 132.


40-30 (or 30-40) games: Other than Wilt, the NBA has had 9 40-30 games, with Baylor being the only player to have 2.

Chamberlain? 73


50-30 games: Pettit and Baylor each with 1

Wilt? 32


60-20 games: Aside from Wilt, there have been four (Baylor with 3 and Shaq with 1)

Chamberlain? 28


60-30 games: Baylor with 1

Wilt? 8


40-40 games: There have been 8 in the history of the NBA, and Chamberlain had all of them.


50-40 games: Obviously, Wilt would be the only player to have ever have accomplsihed that feat, which he did 5 times.


70-30 games: Chamberlain has the only 2, 78-43 and 73-36 (against Bellamy.)

Keep in mind that Kareem played FOUR seasons IN the Wilt era...and yet, do you see his name in any of the above? In fact, Kareem faced MANY of the SAME centers that a PRIME Wilt just destroyed by staggering margins, and never approached the overall domination that Wilt leveled against those same centers.

You want some examples? Wilt had an entire season, covering NINE H2H games, in which he AVERAGED 40 ppg against HOFer Willis Reed. Included in that season were games in which Wilt murdered Reed by margins of 41-9, 52-23, and 58-28. Find me a game in which Kareem scored 50 points against Reed.

How about 6-11 HOFer Nate Thurmond? Kareem faced Thurmond in 43 H2H starts...and his high game was 34 points against him. In fact, he had a TOTAL of SEVEN games against Nate in which he scored 30+ points against him. And, in three straight playoff series against Thurmond, he shot .486, .428, and, get this... .405 against Nate.

How about Wilt against Nate? A PRIME "scoring" Chamberlain had a span of eleven straight games against Thurmond, in which he averaged 30 ppg. In those 11 games, he had SIX games of 30+, including games of 30, 33, 33, 34, 38, and 45 points. In those six games, he had margins of 33-17, 33-10, 38-15, and an unfathomable margin of 45-13. Oh, and he faced Thurmond in three playoff series, as well. In those three playoff series, he outshot Thurmond by margins of .500 to .392; .550 to .398; and ... .560 to .343 (and that came in Thurmond's greatest season BTW.)

Both Kareem and Wilt faced 6-11 HOFer Walt Bellamy many times. Kareem faced him in some 25 H2H encounters, and his three highest games against Bellamy were games of 40, 39, and 35 points.

Wilt vs. Bellamy? In their first H2H game, Chamberlain shelled Bellamy by a 52-14 margin. How about this? In their 62-63 season, covering 10 H2H games, Chamberlain AVERAGED 43.7 ppg against Bellamy, including a 61 point game. BUT, that's not all. In their 61-62 season (in a year in which Bellamy averaged 31.6 ppg), and again in 10 H2H games, Wilt AVERAGED 52.7 ppg against Bellamy, including THREE games of 60+, and with a high game of 73 points (to go along with 36 rebounds.) Chamberlain was even hanging 50 point games on Bellamy in the '66 season.

How about this? In Wilt's 68-69 season, which was just one year before Kareem's rookie season in 69-70, Chamberlain hung a 60 point game on Connie Dierking, and a 66 point game on Jim Fox (on 29-35 shooting BTW.) Not only that, but in the very next season, (and again, in Kareem's rookie season), Wilt torched Dierking with a 43 point game. Unfortunately, Wilt shredded his knee in the ninth game, and was never the same again.

Ok, Kareem faced Dierking in some nine H2H games, and his high game against him was 41 points. So, Wilt had a higher game against Dierking, IN the Kareem-era, than what Kareem had against him. And, of course, he had that 60 point game against him just the year before Kareem arrived. And, I won't bother looking up all of Wilt's H2H's with Dierking, but I am reasonably certain that he had multiple 50+ point games against him in his career (and I do KNOW that he plastered Dierking with a 41 point playoff game in '67.)

Kareem also faced Jim Fox in some 30+ H2H games...and his high game against him was 41 points. Where was Kareem's 66 point game against him?

Oh, and Kareem also battled Darrall Imhoff in several H2H games. For some reason I can't find HIS 100 point game against him (nor even a 56 point game, which is what Wilt carpet-bombed Imhoff with in his very next start after that 100 point game...and in a game in which Imhoff received a standing ovation for "holding" Wilt to "only" 56 points.)

Oh, and Kareem was voted the #2 greatest player here on this very forum.

[Psileas]

He can't help what era he found himself in and being ahead of his time.

How would he have to perform in said era to get your respect?

115 points, 60 rebounds, 20 blocks a game? At what point would you say, "Well damn, you know what... that dude was a beast"?

Well, here is the thing with anti-Wilt (or sometimes, anti-"player they didn't get to watch") guys. At no point would they get to say that. If his stats were not impressive enough, it would supposedly reflect that he wasn't very good. Make the stats very impressive and, *poof*, it suddenly reflects it was a "joke of an era". Thank God Wilt was a bad FT shooter. If he was better, that would make his scoring records even more uncatchable, meaning that his era would be even "weaker".

[riseagainst]

Kobe was on the bench at LeBron's age.







next.

and they peaked out about the same. Kobe the dedicated worker.

[Ikill]

His first season looks great 21/5/6, but he shot 42fg%

very overrated rookie year

[FreezingTsmoove]

It's truly an amazing debut, but it just goes to show you how hard working Lebron is. He used to be pretty small enough to play SG not even a forward sometimes and now he's bulked out of his mind and can play center sometimes if he wanted to. Just wow at that weight room dedication