1218 replies to this topic

[chgocubs99]

Factoring in his age, abilities, and everything else...1) Will he break every record in the books before his career is over?2) Will he average a triple double for an entire season?I say yes to both...

[Buckeye Hughes]

The overwhelming factors in him doing this are two things:1. His health...obv he has to stay healthy2. His determination. Much like Tiger, he will play as long as he has the drive to do so. I can see him doing both the things you mentioned, although the triple double feat would be more difficult.

[Jadaki]

chgocubs99, on Saturday, November 24th, 2007, 5:08 PM, said:

Factoring in his age, abilities, and everything else...1) Will he break every record in the books before his career is over?2) Will he average a triple double for an entire season?I say yes to both...

1 - no2 - unlikelyEven if he remains healthy he will never have a 100 point game like Wilt, he passes enough that he isn't breaking any all time scoring records so I'm not sure what records you would expect him to break. He isn't a particularly great outside shooter yet either and when he starts to lose his athletic advantage he has now he is going to have to really develop other parts of his game.He is a better passing/rebounding version of Dominique Wilkens.

[El Guapo]

Jadaki, on Saturday, November 24th, 2007, 6:34 PM, said:

1 - no2 - unlikelyEven if he remains healthy he will never have a 100 point game like Wilt, he passes enough that he isn't breaking any all time scoring records so I'm not sure what records you would expect him to break. He isn't a particularly great outside shooter yet either and when he starts to lose his athletic advantage he has now he is going to have to really develop other parts of his game.He is a better passing/rebounding version of Dominique Wilkens.

I agree w/ all but the bolded part. He is much better than nique, w/o ahtleticism nique really did not have anything.Lebron is an all around player, unfortunately he has noooooo supporting cast and is playing in an era inthe NBA where the game itself is declining.

[Jadaki]

El Guapo, on Saturday, November 24th, 2007, 8:48 PM, said:

I agree w/ all but the bolded part. He is much better than nique, w/o ahtleticism nique really did not have anything.

Lebron would be a taller version of Jason Kidd without his athleticism. At the time Wilkens may have been the best finisher around the rim in the league.

[El Guapo]

Jadaki, on Saturday, November 24th, 2007, 6:53 PM, said:

Lebron would be a taller version of Jason Kidd without his athleticism. At the time Wilkens may have been the best finisher around the rim in the league.

True on both accounts, to this day I do not think anyone has attacked the rim like the human highlight reel, sans shaq.

[chgocubs99]

Lebron is the most ferocious finisher that I personally have ever seen, this side of Shaq. The guy is like a freight train that cannot be stopped. He can also shoot better, pass better, and handle the ball better than Nique.As far as the records go, I meant all time records, not single game records. Part of the reason I say this is because of the incredible, unprecidented numbers that he has put up at only the age of 22. In my eyes, the only real question is his killer instinct. Does he have it?

[keith crime]

Cavaliers 109, Pistons 107Recap Box Score Play-By-Play Shot Chart Conversation 1 2 3 4 OT 2OT T CLE (12-8) 23 28 19 21 9 9 109 DET (10-6) 29 23 18 21 9 7 107 Final 2nd OT8:00 PM ET, May 31, 2007The Palace of Auburn HillsDetroit, MICLEVELAND CAVALIERS STARTERS MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS LeBron James, SF 50 18-33 2-3 10-14 3 6 9 7 2 0 2 3 48 Drew Gooden, PF 28 3-10 0-0 1-2 3 3 6 1 1 0 1 6 7 Zydrunas Ilgauskas, C 39 6-9 0-0 4-6 1 7 8 2 0 2 1 6 16 Sasha Pavlovic, GF 42 2-10 1-3 1-2 3 6 9 1 0 0 3 4 6 Larry Hughes, G 29 2-3 2-2 3-5 0 1 1 1 1 0 4 4 9 BENCH MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS Anderson Varejao, FC 34 3-6 0-0 3-4 2 1 3 0 2 2 1 4 9 Donyell Marshall, F 15 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 3 3 0 0 1 0 1 0 Daniel Gibson, G 30 2-7 1-3 6-6 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6 11 Damon Jones, PG 14 1-2 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 Eric Snow, PG 8 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 Scot Pollard, C 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Ira Newble, GF DNP COACH'S DECISION TOTALS FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS 37-82 7-15 28-39 12 27 39 13 8 5 12 36 109 45.1% 46.7% 71.8% Team TO (pts off): 14 (19) DETROIT PISTONS STARTERS MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS Tayshaun Prince, SF 50 4-13 1-2 1-2 4 5 9 3 1 0 4 4 10 Rasheed Wallace, FC 46 4-13 0-2 9-10 1 7 8 2 1 2 0 4 17 Chris Webber, FC 30 9-13 0-0 2-4 4 3 7 0 1 1 2 5 20 Richard Hamilton, SG 49 7-18 0-1 12-12 0 2 2 5 0 1 4 5 26 Chauncey Billups, PG 53 6-13 3-7 6-9 0 7 7 4 0 0 1 2 21 BENCH MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS Antonio McDyess, PF 4 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 Jason Maxiell, F 28 2-2 0-0 5-6 1 4 5 0 1 2 1 3 9 Lindsey Hunter, PG 14 1-5 0-1 0-0 1 3 4 2 1 1 0 1 2 Carlos Delfino, SG 8 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 Dale Davis, C 8 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0 1 0 0 2 0 Nazr Mohammed, C DNP COACH'S DECISION Ronald Murray, SG DNP COACH'S DECISION TOTALS FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS 34-80 4-14 35-43 12 33 45 18 7 7 13 27 107 42.5% 28.6% 81.4% Team TO (pts off): 14 (19) Flagrant Fouls: 1 DETROIT ( A McDyess 1 )Technical Fouls: 1 CLEVELAND ( L James 1 )Officials: Bennett Salvatore , Ron Garretson , Bob Delaney Attendance: 22,076Time of Game: 03:35NBA ScoresThursday, May 31stCleveland 109 Final Detroit 107 2nd OT ESPN.com: Help | PR Media Kit | Sales Media Kit | Report a Bug | Contact Us | News Archive | Site Map | ESPN Shop | Jobs at ESPN | Supplier InformationCopyright ©2007 ESPN Internet Ventures. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and Safety Information/Your California Privacy Rights are applicable to you. All rights reserved.

[Jadaki]

Thats the only game I've ever watched where I walked away impressed with LeBron. Most the time he is flashes of great plays, a few dumb plays and a lot of living off his athleticism.

[keith crime]

Jadaki, on Sunday, November 25th, 2007, 4:25 PM, said:

Thats the only game I've ever watched where I walked away impressed with LeBron. Most the time he is flashes of great plays, a few dumb plays and a lot of living off his athleticism.

he's 22 and he's gotten better every year

[Jadaki]

keith crime, on Sunday, November 25th, 2007, 8:17 PM, said:

he's 22 and he's gotten better every year

Most players to get better between 19-22, so thats not much of an argument in his favor. His benefit over some of the great players will be that he will end up in the league 3-4 years longer by coming straight out of high school.

[keith crime]

Jadaki, on Sunday, November 25th, 2007, 7:13 PM, said:

Most players to get better between 19-22, so thats not much of an argument in his favor. His benefit over some of the great players will be that he will end up in the league 3-4 years longer by coming straight out of high school.

that's not my point - look at michael jordan at 22 - they said the same thing he gets by on his athleticism - will never win a titlei was in chicago at the time - they all thought mj would be the ernie banks of the nba

[El Guapo]

You guys have skewed from the OP's original questions, will he break records? I say no, I think he is too rounded of a player, it is possible that he will never come close to breaking any records.

[SuitedAces21]

Barring injury, Lebron will break the all time scoring record.

[Jadaki]

SuitedAces21, on Monday, November 26th, 2007, 3:17 PM, said:

Barring injury, Lebron will break the all time scoring record.

He has never even been close to leading the league in scoring, he would have to play years longer than anyone at his current pace to do so.

[JoeyJoJo]

Jadaki, on Monday, November 26th, 2007, 2:02 PM, said:

He has never even been close to leading the league in scoring, he would have to play years longer than anyone at his current pace to do so.

Regarding the first part: is that right? Didn't he average something like 31 ppg a couple years ago? That wasn't close?Regarding the second part: Kareem, the all-time leader, averaged about 25 ppg for his career. Lebron is averaging about 27 ppg. So obviously he would not have to play years longer than anyone at his current pace. However, I do not think he will keep up his current pace for 18 years and I would guess that he does not break the all-time scoring record.

[El Guapo]

Points1 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar* 38387 2 Karl Malone 36928 3 Michael Jordan 32292 4 Wilt Chamberlain* 31419 5 Julius Erving* 30026 6 Moses Malone* 29580 7 Dan Issel* 27482 8 Elvin Hayes* 27313 9 Hakeem Olajuwon 26946 10 Oscar Robertson* 26710 Rebounds1 Wilt Chamberlain* 23924 2 Bill Russell* 21620 3 Moses Malone* 17834 4 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar* 17440 5 Artis Gilmore 16330 6 Elvin Hayes* 16279 7 Karl Malone 14968 8 Robert Parish* 14715 9 Nate Thurmond* 14464 10 Walt Bellamy* 14241 Assists1 John Stockton 15806 2 Mark Jackson 10334 3 Magic Johnson* 10141 4 Oscar Robertson* 9887 5 Isiah Thomas* 9061 6 Gary Payton 8966 7 Jason Kidd 8691 8 Rod Strickland 7987 9 Maurice Cheeks 7392 10 Lenny Wilkens* 7211 Steals1 John Stockton 3265 2 Michael Jordan 2514 3 Gary Payton 2445 4 Maurice Cheeks 2310 5 Scottie Pippen 2307 6 Julius Erving* 2272 7 Clyde Drexler* 2207 8 Hakeem Olajuwon 2162 9 Alvin Robertson 2111 10 Karl Malone 2085 Season Ag Tm Lg G GS MP FG FGA 3P 3PA FT FTA ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS+------------------+----+----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+-----+-----+----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+----+-----+ 2003-04 19 CLE NBA 79 79 3122 622 1492 63 217 347 460 99 333 432 465 130 58 273 149 1654 2004-05 20 CLE NBA 80 80 3388 795 1684 108 308 477 636 111 477 588 577 177 52 262 146 2175 2005-06 21 CLE NBA 79 79 3361 875 1823 127 379 601 814 75 481 556 521 123 66 260 181 2478 2006-07 22 CLE NBA 78 78 3190 772 1621 99 310 489 701 83 443 526 470 125 55 250 171 2132+------------------+----+----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+-----+-----+----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+----+-----+ 4 Seasons 316 316 13061 3064 6620 397 1214 1914 2611 368 1734 2102 2033 555 231 1045 647 8439+------------------+----+----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+-----+-----+----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+----+-----+ 82-Game Avg 3389 795 1718 103 315 497 678 95 450 545 528 144 60 271 168 2190 Career High 80 80 3388 875 1823 127 379 601 814 111 481 588 577 177 66 273 181 2478So the only careers numbers that he has even a shot at are: (total league years at current average needed to break current record)Rebounds (44)Asssits (30)Steals (23)Points (18)So I guess points are feasible if he can keep up the current pace until he is 37 years old.

[Jadaki]

El Guapo, on Monday, November 26th, 2007, 4:23 PM, said:

So I guess points are feasible if he can keep up the current pace until he is 37 years old.

Considering his playstyle I find it highly unlikely that he plays that long, at that level without injury.

[Jadaki]

JoeyJoJo, on Monday, November 26th, 2007, 4:11 PM, said:

Regarding the first part: is that right? Didn't he average something like 31 ppg a couple years ago? That wasn't close?

He was 4 points behind the league leader, Kobe averaged a little over 35 that year.

[gilbertology]

chgocubs99, on Saturday, November 24th, 2007, 6:08 PM, said:

Factoring in his age, abilities, and everything else...1) Will he break every record in the books before his career is over?2) Will he average a triple double for an entire season?I say yes to both...

1) Absolutely not. The best chance he has is all time points, but as someone said, with his style of play he will most likely get injured during some point in his career. I also don't see him wanting to play for 20+ seasons.2) Lol, 0% chance. Jason Kidd has a better chance.He's started off this year with amazing stats, let's see if he continues this production uninhibited for the next ten years before we bring up questions of whether he has a chance of breaking any records.