Transcription
I'm in peace. So inside the MBA, they had a great roundtable discussion amongst hall-of-fame all-time greats like George Gervin, Dr. J, Oscar Robertson, Bernard King, Kevin Garnett, and Lisa Leslie in regards to where LeBron James his place is in the history of the league amongst all-time great players.
I'm already on record as stating that LeBron James is definitely in my top 10, probably about to break into the top five. I think if he would have won another championship, I would put him over Larry Bird right now. I personally have Larry Bird at five, and LeBron is basically five, a, you know, probably six, just because of the impact that LeBron has had on the basketball court, the things that he's been able to do statistically, in addition to how he's been able to affect his team wherever he's gone. But do I believe that he's definitely better than Larry Bird? No, I do not. I believe that Larry Bird did a lot, a lot of things on the court that is very hard to quantify. And even if you would have played the numbers game, Larry Bird's numbers are definitely comparable to LeBron James, but we're going to get deeper into that in another video.
But I just wanted to start the video at this point here because prior to the roundtable discussion that those all-time great NBA players are going to have, of course, here they're posting LeBron James's triple-double numbers, which is what has led to the discussion between LeBron and Larry Bird. A discussion that I've touched on numerous times on this channel already because I believe that that is a more fair comparison than the LeBron James-Michael Jordan comparison. To me, that ship sailed when LeBron choked against the Dallas Mavericks. Sorry.
But I do believe that the LeBron James-Larry Bird discussion is a great one. Larry Bird kind of gets pushed to the side in regards to all-time great players. At one time, people were saying that Larry Bird was the greatest NBA player ever, circa 1986. That's what they were saying. Is the man, Larry, who won three straight NBA MVP awards? Okay. LeBron James has never done that. As we could see on the list, LeBron James has just now tied Larry in triple-doubles, just now, at this point in his career, in his 15th season. Larry did not play 15 years. He played from the '79-'80 season to the '91-'92 season. Okay, so I believe that's 13 years. Um, and that's, and that's counting the fact that Larry missed most of the '88-'89 season. I believe he broke his foot that year, hurt his ankle, he had a lower leg injury that year.
I also want to touch on the fact that Max Kellerman and Stephen A. Smith had a discussion on First Take a while ago, in which they totally poo-pooed the sentiment that Magic Johnson was in LeBron James's class. Like it wasn't even, like they were trying to, not only were they, were they dismissing Magic possibly being better than LeBron James, they did not even want to discuss Magic being in his class. Like they were only willing to discuss who was a better point guard. Like that was crazy to me. Now look at this triple-double list. Magic Johnson more than doubles LeBron James's triple-double output over a career. Please keep in mind, Magic played from '79 to '91. He also had a serious injury. I'm trying to remember what season it was. It was in the early '80s, probably '80-'81 season or '81-'82, one of those seasons, the way he missed most of the season. As we all know, he came back for a very short stint in the '95-'96 season, but he's played far fewer games than LeBron James, and he's has over, he has over double the triple-doubles. So, is a Magic Johnson-LeBron James conversation pertinent? Absolutely. The modern-day liberal sports media just wants to vaunt LeBron James up into Michael Jordan's class. And I mean, I could see the conversation had he not totally flopped against the Mavericks, you know, had he had four championships and, you know, the other ones you kind of look at and say, well, he was kind of outgunned and in some way, shape, or form. But I mean, even then, he wouldn't have been able to compare to Jordan. But at least I could see the conversation. Right now, in the last, I would say, two to three years, LeBron James has finally mentally got to the level of a Larry Bird because he was nowhere close before that.
Great Oscar Robertson. So what do you reckon LeBron James wouldn't reveal it after the game when he talked to Kristen? Let alone, what do you think his message was to Lonzo Ball? He pulled the jersey up and was speaking to just a few words. It's the first time they met. His message was to ignore you [ __ ] idiots. That's what his message was. All you jealous idiots in the, in the mainstream media, in the liberal sports media, who are trying to attack him because you're upset. What is that? My new LeBron really never had anything negative to say about LaVar Ball. LaVar Ball mentioned his children. So LeBron James, to me, of anyone, is the only person who legitimately had a reason to be upset with LaVar Ball. The rest of these guys are just projecting their insecurities. Initially saying, probably the only one who understands what he's going through. He's the only one who had this kind of anticipation they're coming to the NBA in the last 10, 15 years. So he's probably telling him how to handle that and what you should do to handle it. And I like what I saw from Lonzo in that conversation. He looked LeBron dead in his face, then his eye. And I hope that everything turns out well for Lonzo. I believe that it will. I mean, barring any form of catastrophic injury, which hopefully he does not have to to endure or go through. I believe that the sky is the limit for Lonzo Ball. He just has to tinker his game in the offseason. To me, the Lakers are gonna have to get rid of a couple of players. We don't want to get down with the Lonzo Ball program because Lonzo Ball is a stock that they have more, that they have more invested in than a Julius Randle or a Jordan Clarkson, who from what I have perceived, seems to kind of be against Lonzo Ball for whatever reason. We pretty much already know what those guys can do and what they're capable of. And if they're not gonna get involved with trying to help him succeed, which is gonna help the team succeed, then they have to go. But I like what I saw from Lonzo Ball in regards to what LeBron was telling him. And LeBron James is a, is someone who was very comfortable at this point in his career with what he's accomplished. And for all intents and purposes, LeBron has always shown, even though I get on LeBron for his social media antics, he's always shown a great amount of security and working with other players. Other players, he worked with Kevin Durant in the offseason many years ago. Well, he didn't have to. Most players of his caliber would not have done that. Many players that LeBron has worked with, so he deserves a lot of credit for that. Agreed. Father's putting a lot of pressure on them. LeBron, probably just let your game keep working hard, everything will be alright. Because again, I never know what'll work. So finally, not keeping the ball, ball this, ball that. So when I Google aggressive, five foot behind line, shoot threes, great passer. So I thought college, in college, right hand, in high school. So, you know, I know he's playing safe, he's playing tuna. But she's okay. Quick, but he's a great teammate, he's a great kid. But, you know, all that stuff about pressure, it's not him. There's other people. Well, I don't believe that is his dad as much as Shaq is trying to imply. But I get where he's coming from. The best statement that Shaq made was that he's not under any real pressure. And I've touched on this already. Pressure that Shaq said is, well, you don't know what your next meal is coming from. Well, you don't know how you're gonna pay your rent or your mortgage next month. That's pressure. Pressure is not what, what Lonzo Ball is going through right now. Right now, he's pretty much just going through a, he's just pretty much being forced to run the gauntlet because many people don't like the fact that of what his father represents, how his father's trying to throw off the NBA corporate [ __ ] paradigm. It was Dr. J, Moses, more importantly, Andrew Toney, Maurice Cheeks, Clement Johnson, Clint Richardson, Bobby Jones. Were amazing men and they taught me a lot about life and more than anything. So listen, just kids on TV, every promo we showed him, Kenneth just said it. We first highlight, we went to help and he's LeBron's plan. Well, that shows you, that shows you how great a job his dad has done in selling the brand. That's really what that shows you is that his father's done a tremendous job selling the brand. But that's nothing new. I remember when LeBron first came in the league. The first time that LeBron went against Paul Pierce or Tracy McGrady or Kobe Bryant, they let with LeBron. So that's how the NBA sells its product. They want to market what's new. And that's how most businesses market their product. They market their product off of the newest addition of what they're, of what they plan to sell to the people. We still put. So that's a tremendous amount of pressure on this guy. And simply because of his dad, his dad put a bull's-eye on his back. LeBron was just telling man, you're gonna be fine. Everybody's got an opinion about this kid. Out to ten, fifteen games, just play basketball, man. It'll come out. Into watch. But it's interesting. We just these people so harshly right off the bat to microwave it. Yeah, especially people like you, Chuck. You judge his father very harshly. LaVar Ball is is the dude in the barbershop who has had a microphone put his face. Everybody has seen this dude before. They trying to make him out to be this terrible person. No, anytime you've been in the barbershop, you've been on a basketball court, you know, you've been standing on the corner, you [ __ ] and they cited for talking [ __ ]. There's always a guy there who thinks he could knock out Mike Tyson, he could outplay Michael Jordan, he could hit a baseball better than Barry Bonds. It's okay. The [ __ ] is harmless. Everything he says, he ends with it with us, you know, with a smile. It's not a big deal. They trying to make LaVar Ball out to be this terrible guy because he said his son can outplay Steph Curry. Well, big deal. Jared Goff is having a great year for the Rams. Here in the last year, everybody was calling a bust because he was a number one pick, a number two pick, a draft. And Jared Goff just shows you how important it is to have a great coach. Coaches are so important. Game plans are so important. It's all about knowing and being able to see what that asset can bring to the table and how you can drink it out. A coach is just an educator, right? The term educating will come from a Latin word, 'educare', it just means to bring out, to lead out, right? 'Duce', it means to lead. When you add the 'e' as the prefix, that means outward, to lead out. A coach is an educator. You have to bring the best out of your, of your ward, of your student. This kid wakes up, the number one to pick on him, blah, blah. Guys, I don't judge guys. I don't think any of us judges guys too quickly. How, what, what do you mean? I don't think we are. We so we don't. But I'm saying, what I'm saying, however, we're not judging Donovan Mitchell too quickly. We're not judging Ben Simmons too quickly. But when the statements do come out that he's better than Steph Curry, we're going, well, you're better than Steph? Go, let me pull my seat up because I have to now pay attention because when I see Steph Curry, that's 29 points a game, that's close to 10 assists every night. So if you're better than him, we need to see this day one. And you, so that's the, that was the pressure that was bestowed upon him. Yes. And I'm sure Tiger Woods' father told Tiger, you're gonna be better than Jack Nicklaus. Serena Williams' dad told her him, her, whatever the hell that is, you're gonna be better than Martina Navratilova, you're gonna be better than Steffi Graf. You can be better than all of them. So that is the nature of an educator, particularly one who was a tutor. When you only, you know, instructing one student, you want to pump them up, you want to hype them up, you want to make them see things. You have to see it before you can be it. You have to conceive it before you achieve it. And it would be a positive instead of only.
How is triple-doubles? One, twenty-one, one, twelve. I agree. Everything in life is about perception, and your perception is often based on your motivation. If your motivation is to be negative, then you're going to nitpick. If your motivation is to be positive, then you're going to seek out the positive and try to build people up. Look, brothers, in life, you either are a destroyer or you're a constructor. When you're a destroyer, you can hold on, you're going to destroy everything around you, and you're gonna end up destroying yourself. Most people who are negative, you'll find that they normally have some type of a substance abuse issue. Why? Because they hate themselves. They tear down everybody around them, and eventually, they get to tear down themselves. People who are constructive, they like to build people who are around them up, and they build themselves up. They tend to do what? Is in the workout, go to the gym, eat healthy. They have fruitful relationships. Everything in life is about the energy that you put out. You get back what you put out.
21 kg, a star-studded evening in Area 20 Mall. Let's check in with KG. Thanks, EJ. Next time, ask KG Smart's about Mitchell's pieces. The question tonight is, where does LeBron James rank among the greatest? You know, and I know it's hard for KG to ask that question because when he played, he hated LeBron with a passion. Them [ __ ] in Boston, they hated LeBron. That's another thing. You know, I get a lot, he's Kobe fanboys, they come on my videos and they say these type of things. Go, well, you know, Kobe, he didn't make the playoffs. He, uh, because he played in the West. If he played in the East, he would've made it. Black man, shut the [ __ ] up. The East in the mid-2000s had good teams. The trend was good. Cleveland was good. Boston was good. Miami was good. All right. Those teams, those teams all won championships other than Cleveland. They all won championships in the 2000s. Okay. Yes, the West was a tad bit stronger, but the reason why Kobe didn't make the playoffs in all five is because he was not ready to lead. He had to be taught how to lead. That's why they had to bring back Phil Jackson. But when you're a great player, you make the playoffs, okay? That's what you do. Period. And the reason why he didn't make the playoffs is because, until I said, he didn't have any power on his team. He ran everybody off his [ __ ] team. He had to trade Shaq. Rick Fox is on record is saying that he retired early because he couldn't play with Kobe. And Phil Jackson is on the record is saying he loved because he didn't want to coach him. These are just facts. So, point being is this, to get, no, to get back around to the original sentiment of the video, in the 2000s, LeBron James did play in a, in a much tougher Eastern Conference. You can't get around that. Period. And when I say a tough Eastern Conference, I'm talking about tougher than it is right now. I'm not saying that the Eastern Conference was tougher than the Western Conference. The Eastern Conference in the mid-2000s was tougher than it is right now. And who knows that in regards to this year? It may be tougher than we expect. It's Boston, there's the Wizards are going to have, we know they know they're gonna have their say. I don't think that they're gonna be able to beat Boston or Cleveland, but they're gonna have their say in the division. Toronto is competitive. We know that they won't beat Cleveland and most likely won't beat Boston, but they're gonna be competitive. So there are some competitive teams out there in the East. Milwaukee. I have not seen too many teams in the East that don't fight. Most of these teams are fighting right now. You know, they show some competitive fervor. Even bad teams like Phoenix, they come on, they compete. Yeah. Oscar Robertson, he's a master, he's a master hater. Oscar Robertson. Yoda. Then I go ask him, what do you think about Michael Jordan? When he could scar a little bit? No, it's okay. Also for Cleveland. And even though he's a power player, he's not finesse like a lot of players who have great, like carrying some other players. Hmm. You know, it just says hard and for me to say that he's anything but, but at the top. We put a monster. Greatest. You know, I think he's gonna, I agree. Top five. Oscar, you know, Oscar probably gotten around top two. Oscar probably has Kareem one, and then LeBron somewhere in that top five, maybe as high as two. But I'm sure that Oscar has Kareem number one. I've never seen so many fifteens. You play like this, but okay. Huh? Hey, well, you know, when he hit that drugstore count on me [ __ ] it helps. Allegedly. I think that he's pushing a little. I look at a 10-year minute before guys should even be in that conversation, right? Because I think it's unfair to the retired players. Dr. J is one of the most underrated players to ever play. Once again, when I say things like Kobe Bryant is in the top 15 all-time, I don't have my list from 11 to 20 plotted out like I do my top 10. But can you really say that Kobe is a better player than Dr. J? Can you really say certifiably that Kobe Bryant is better than Oscar Robertson or more impactful than Moses Malone or more impactful than even an Isiah Thomas? Once again, it is not an insult to say that Kobe's one of the top 15 players of all time. I brought this up in a previous video. You look at a guy like John Havlicek. John Havlicek scored over 25,000 points with no three-point line, won a championship, slayed his team, two championships. Like a lot of these guys don't know the history of the league. They just want to throw Kobe Bryant number two after Jordan. This is it's laughable to me. I mean, you know, the history of the league, you know, the, the depth of the, of the great players that came through the NBA. So, so when he hit a 10, I think he had pretty much accomplished as well as any other player except. I agree. And yes, he is before Kobe. And most intelligent players know that LeBron is above Kobe. There's really only the people who are Laker fans who put Kobe above LeBron or Kobe in the top 10 and things of that nature.
First up, Lisa Leslie. She talks out of place. Look, I understand you play basketball, but still, she really shouldn't be in the conversation. You're a female player. Let's talk about the best female players of all time, okay? Cheryl Miller, yourself, Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper. You know, you could talk about that list. Don't come in a panel of men and, as usual, throw off the energy by getting overly excitable, overly loud for no reason. The rewind it back, just check out her tone and see how different it is from the men when they're asked. The brown 15, Mike 20. But no, the conversation ain't gonna change. Can you know it? LeBron James are going to play at least 20. That man might play 25. I'm gonna go with Jordan first, and then Kareem. And I'm sure, you know, you guys played with Kareem and saw him. And I think he was creating his ability to score in the skyhook, all of that. But I think when it comes to impact in the game, influencing, and obviously it was a different time, but I just feel like Michael Jordan was just the epitome of everything that we've all wanted to achieve. In terms, yes. And you probably had a crush on him too. I've already stated my reasons for why Jordan's number one on my list. It's not even so much statistically. When you look at what he was able to do in the era that he did it, he's only shooting guard and then be a history to dominate with multiple championships. And in a big man era, without a dominant big man, only player in history to do that. Even the great Dr. J never won an NBA championship until he got Moses Malone. Now, let me say this about Dr. J. Dr. J dominated the Boston Celtics, Larry Bird's first four years in the league. Other than '81, when the Celtics decided to come back from down 3-1, did the Celtics were the soldiers able to break through in that early portion of Larry Bird's career? You know, the, the Sixers beat them in '80 and beat them in '82 without Moses. When they got Moses in '83, they had one of the great teams ever. But Dr. J didn't need to have that big man come along. Now, Jordan was able to win in an era where you had Shaq, you had Hakeem, you had Patrick Ewing, you had David Robinson, and you had a lot of other second-tier all-time greats. People like Brad Daugherty, who most people never heard of, who had to retire early due to injury, who was a phenomenal center, great, great player. Jordan was able to beat most of those guys in the finals or in the playoffs, other than Hakeem, who thankfully the Bulls never had to deal with because that man was a monster and he was one of the top 10 players to ever play. Kobe, bring him up there, man. With Kobe, right? Mike, you know, I mean, some of the things that he accomplished, and he's still playing, and he got time to do some more. George Gervin also one of those guys who, my, on that list for greatest player to to never win a championship. All right, he's definitely up there on that list. Enough credit. And those were for those who don't know, was involved in the, and the alleged Michael Jordan freeze-out in the '85 All-Star game. Not a funny thing is that George Gervin got traded to the Bulls the next season, and allegedly Jordan was against him coming to the Bulls. They had a very icy relationship while he was there, allegedly. That thought out a little bit. Interestingly enough, Michael Jordan and his early part of his career, in his early 20s, he was a guest host on a show called Greatest Sports Legends. He got to interview a lot of, you know, old-time great sports legends. He interviewed O.J. Simpson, and he also interviewed George Gervin. And in his interview with George Gervin, they started to play one-on-one, which is, which was very entertaining. For you brothers who never seen it, you could look it up. I believe it's on YouTube. George Gervin is one of those, another one of those guys who can go on a list of greatest players to never want to, not not only not win an NBA championship, but also not win an NBA MVP award. His San Antonio Spurs teams often times they had to face the Lakers in the Western Conference playoffs in the early '80s.
If you have to pick one thing that you love about LeBron, would you pick that stands out to you? Is that swell like, yes, you know, it's understanding of the game, of how to play the game. I remember when he was a rookie, you were there, Doc. The league floors, and for his Rookie of the Year ceremony celebration. Dude was a dominant score. Bernard King still used to dominate people. He used to go out with Larry Bird all the time. And before, before Bernard King got hurt, I remember used to go at it. Him and Dominique. This question when he was a rookie, I said, you played a game like you've been in the game for 10 years. You know why? Why is that? You said, well, what I did growing up is I studied all of the older great players that came before and that learned from watching those tapes. So he's a student of the game. And it's basketball IQ is what I love the most. Mmm. Chef, they'll be, man. I'll be, you're making it look easy. Bro, keep doing it. You love it. Back to you, EJ. All right, thank you, KG. About ever said, I mean, the guys, he's one of the ten greatest easily. Who's that? Did you ever have to go Burger King? I did. There was a night. Hey, boy, quickest release. Oh my god. You know, I have some reason why one number 30. Really? No, you warned him at 30 because you was the 30th guy on the bench anyway. Yeah. Charles couldn't guard Bernard King, but nobody else could either. But nobody could guard Charles either. So Charles was getting lit up, but he would, he would light people up. All so many ways. I thought that this was a very good segment. Charles Barkley also stated that he believes that LeBron James is top 10, just like I do. Most, most NBA players who have played who understand the game, they normally have LeBron anywhere from 3 to 10 in that range, same as me. I have LeBron just outside the top five. Once again, Larry Bird is five. I will probably have LeBron 5A, you know, or six, of course. But he's touching on if he gets one more championship, I'll put him above Bird. But right now, not quite yet. But anyway, peace.