I prefer assessing a players talent/impact by avoiding ESPN narratives and platitudes.
Alright, then why is your entire take a platitude we could expect from ESPN then?
Magic may have been a better teammate than LBJ. He might not have. It's a vague statement that you failed to support.
I didn’t fail to support that lmao, it’s evidenced by the fact Magic Johnson has won more times than LeBron James in the NBA Finals. I’m pretty sure that makes him the better teammate in the way of winning. Do you want to go home a loser? No, you want to win it all. How can you do that? By being a good teammate i.e.
winning games
We do know LBJ single handedly got NBA journeyman Mo Williams an All Star nomination though, which suggests he's a pretty good teammate.
This is ridiculous. LeBron James, got Mo Williams into an all-star game? I’m pretty sure Mo Williams got Mo Williams into the All-Star game, by playing like an All-Star...That’s earned. Credit to LeBron sure, but you’re undermining Mo Williams for zero reason at all. Give credit where credit is due and come up with a better argument as to why LeBron James is a great teammate
I can't take your main point seriously though. Counting rings in a game that requires major contributions from 6-7 other teammates makes no rational sense to my mind.
Captain sets the tone. The idea is to follow his example of excellence to ensure victory. You’re only as good as your best player, if you fall short, it’s because your leader(s) failed to equip you with what you needed to do to accomplish success in the first place. Championships are everything. They show exactly what you’re made of and what you’re willing to do to win. If you don’t win championships you aren’t the best because obviously you are deficient in leading your team all the way. You have to look after your teammates as your own every step of the way and overcome. That’s truly what it takes. Yes you need contributions from several players, your teammates, but it’s the job of the best players on the team to make sure everything and everyone is on point, and to figure out a way to win. Do you want to argue in favor of stats? What do stats mean in a loss? Tell me what they mean to you in an outcome that you weren’t shooting for? Do you think LeBron was a good teammate in Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals when he refused to even speak, even look at his teammates during a crucial timeout preceding overtime? Was he a good teammate who communicated and offered something, anything before stepping on the floor? No. He offered nothing and pouted by himself like the emotional crybaby he’s shown to be throughout his career. Great teammate! Those 50 pts meant so much in that loss! Great game by LeBron! Nah dude, it was a terrible game by LeBron. He lost. Nothing more to it. Good teammates don’t give up like that. That’s why LeBron is ring deficient in the GOAT talks we have. They mean something. They show how far one will go to reach a destination and conquer. And a true leader knows that he must fortify those on his side...
This isn't golf or tennis. There isn't a scout from the high school ranks, up through the pro ranks that would go to a front office meeting and say "We should get PLAYER X because he win Y number of titles". If professional talent evaluators don't say that, I'm not sure why fans do.
Another ridiculous claim. How many times have we seen champions, proven champions sign to another team looking to win what? A
championship. If you have won at the highest stage, then you have seen and participated in a collective effort that proves you know what you’re doing and you know how to win. That is exactly what talent scouts are looking for in their players. Why did teams want Shaq? Chauncey Billups? Dennis Rodman? Why did the Lakers sign Rajon Rondo, Danny Green? Why is Andre Iguodala on the Heat right now? Do you mind going into a little detail as to why Iguodala was signed by the Heat? It’s their tenure, their experience, their ability to see the game through at the highest level and win games that equate to rings. They’re champions. Tried and true, battle tested. You’re kidding yourself if you think starters who participated in the NBA Finals, and won, are for some reason not pursued or in anything but high demand
LBJ figured one thing out rather late in his career. Inferior teammates will drag you down.
There’s no such thing as an inferior teammate. That’s your teammate. You work with them, you build with them, and you fight for them. His teammates in Cleveland got him as far as the NBA Finals in 2007...I’d say they were fairly capable if they got that far, don’t you think? Why couldn’t they win? What are your thoughts on the 2007 NBA Finals?
He's gone to the NBA Finals 10 times in his career and he's been the best player on the court in 9/10 of those Finals appearances. No other player can say that.
And? He got there by running through the Washington Wizards in the first round like four or five times. That’s essentially a bye week for any decent team...I WiSH TO GOD Kobe Bryant and the Lakers were fortunate enough to play a team as dysmal as the Gilber Arenas lead WAS Wizards. If only there were such pathetic teams in the Western Conference to play. What a nice warm up scrimmage that would be. Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant? Their path to the NBA Finals means a hell of a lot more! Wizards, Hawks, Pistons in their twilight and rebuilding years? What a joke. The only good teams he ran into were Boston Celtics, Magic for a few years, and the Pacers. Try reaching the NBA Finals while facing off in the Western Conference where the 8th seed is as good as your 3rd or 4th seed. Try that for three round every single year LeBron. You were never built like Magic or Kobe. Magic 9 trips and Kobe’s 7 trips to the NBA Finals >>>>>>>>>>>> LeBron’s 10 trips. Try going through the San Antonio Spurs, PHX Suns, Dallas Mavs, Utah Jazz, Denver Nuggets, the Sacramento Kings, those JailBlazers, I’d like to see LeBron scratch and claw through that level of hell before I go raising my pom poms for 10 NBA Finals appearances, 9/10 coming from the East with little to no parity. Don’t downplay Magic or Kobe or any other players because they didn’t have a cakewalk to the NBA Finals like LeBron 90% of his entire career. A player like Kobe went to war in those Western Conference playoff games in his era. What do you know about it??? What does LeBron know about it really?
