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Harris Poll results: Greatest Sports Stars of All-Time 2015 edition - Jordan still #1

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Typical list featuring typical Americans who see their sports as the center of the universe. Predictable.

Of course it's predictable, you can't expect them to list off great players from sports they don't watch. This would be like me getting upset because a poll of Europeans didn't list Tom Brady as one of the greatest ever.
 
I think the 2-4 in the Finals understates how good he is/was. Just look at what he did last year with barely any help. He pretty much single-handedly beat one of the greatest teams of all time twice in the Finals.

I mispoke, he's 2-5 in the finals. He's an all-time great, but he's not without his faults to say the least. He almost pulled off some crazy shit in the finals last year, but he also shot really, really poorly for him.
 
He's one of the best perimeter defenders ever, and an adequate enough big-man defender that his teams can switch more off big-man pick and rolls and not get screwed down low. Basically, his ability to competently defend any position is what contributes to him being one of the best defenders ever, not that he's one of the best defenders ever at every position, if that makes sense.

Duncan is the man. I am a huge Tim Duncan fan. But he's not the shooter LeBron is. There's a reason the 90/50/40 club is so scarce.

LeBron is one of the 10 worst shooters in the league from midrange this year, FYI. And he's never made made the 50/40/90 club, he's only shot above 40% from 3 once, and he's never shot even 80% from FT.

Edit: LeBron has won 2/5 finals. His record is therefore 2-3.
 
I mispoke, he's 2-5 in the finals. He's an all-time great, but he's not without his faults to say the least. He almost pulled off some crazy shit in the finals last year, but he also shot really, really poorly for him.

He may have shot poorly but he still led both teams in points, assists and rebounds. Beyond that I think discrediting him based on a 2-5 finals record gives other players too much credit for not even making it to the finals. I understand why people will think less of him for being less than perfect in the finals let alone under .500 I just think it's stupid.
 

Ralemont

not me
LeBron is one of the 10 worst shooters in the league from midrange this year, FYI.

Yes, it's not been pretty. But I don't think there's any real argument that LeBron over his career is a better shooter than Timmy, considering Timmy doesn't even shoot 3s.

I mispoke, he's 2-5 in the finals. He's an all-time great, but he's not without his faults to say the least. He almost pulled off some crazy shit in the finals last year, but he also shot really, really poorly for him.

It's proven in the NBA that when someone's usage rate goes up, their efficiency goes down. And LeBron's usage rate was insane in the finals last year.
 
He may have shot poorly but he still led both teams in points, assists and rebounds. Beyond that I think discrediting him based on a 2-5 finals record gives other players too much credit for not even making it to the finals. I understand why people will think less of him for being less than perfect in the finals let alone under .500 I just think it's stupid.

I dunno, he's laid an egg in 2 of those finals, and last year while managed to keep it close, he was still missing way too many shots. It's like, people wanna compare him to Jordan, but I will continue to think that's a huge fucking stretch. I've watched every Jordan playoff run, and most of Lebron's, and I see a gap. (and of course the 6 finals appearances, 6 rings, and 6 MVP's should automatically put an end to any, and all comparisons) 'Bron and Duncan is a bit different, but 'Bron is better, but I would worry less about Duncan. The guy is amazingly consistent.

You're also talking to a 'bron fan here, followed the dude forever, but I just absolutely see faults in the dudes game, and when we're dealing with all-time type of list, they tend to stick out a bit more.
 

Kill3r7

Member
Why is anyone taking this poll seriously? In what planet is David Beckham one of the top10 soccer players of all time?

Gretzky is way too low on the list and Tiger arguably should be higher up.
 

Ovid

Member
Why is Serena Williams on top? Because she's female? Then why not Steffi Graf? Is Serena Williams some kind of meme? All those lists seem weird to me, every single one.
What? Are you serious?

She's the most dominate female tennis player of all time.

Because she's a women...GTFO with that crap.
 

Ralemont

not me
LeBron is one of the 10 worst shooters in the league from midrange this year, FYI. And he's never made made the 50/40/90 club, he's only shot above 40% from 3 once, and he's never shot even 80% from FT.

thanks for the correction; i was thinking of durant.
 

spyder_ur

Member
He's got vision, but he's a ball dominant small forward that plays PG half the time. Sometimes it looks good, sometimes it doesn't. If he's such a great passer then he'd be a true PG like Magic was, instead of only when it suits him to coast during the regular season and in key moments of playoff games.

I don't understand exactly what you're trying to get at here. He doesn't play PG because that's not his position and it's not how he is best used. And I said he was one of the best passers in NBA history and you responded with Magic, who might be THE best passer in history. The comparison alone says a lot since Magic is considered one of the best 10 players of all time and passing is probably the single area that LeBron might not be as good as him at.

I don't get the coasting thing either - LeBron has probably taken on more wear and tear over the first 12 years of his career than any player in league history, in terms of minutes and responsibility.

To say he can defend every position is an exaggeration. He might guard a big man for a few plays, but he couldn't do it for most of a game. Quality bigs he can't guard period. He also needs help with athletic PGs. The zone defenses of today allow it, otherwise they blow right by him. Most defenders of this era are overrated since now more than ever, it's more about team defense than one person shutting someone down.

I think LeBron would be a league average or better defender on every single player in the NBA. There are like two dominant real bigs in the NBA today, and they aren't exactly Shaq and Hakeem.

You know who else needs help with athletic PGs like Westbrook? Every player in the NBA.
 

blitzkrieg184

Neo Member
Gretzky should be number 1. His numbers are likely the only numbers in all of sports history that will always be impossible to reach. Jordan has championships and such but his numbers have been past or in reach. There should be no question who should be #1. Too bad Americans don't understand hockey. Like that one guy who said Gretzky was just average. Lol educate yourself.
 

Misha

Banned
Gretzky should be number 1. His numbers are likely the only numbers in all of sports history that will always be impossible to reach. Jordan has championships and such but his numbers have been past or in reach. There should be no question who should be #1. Too bad Americans don't understand hockey. Like that one guy who said Gretzky was just average. Lol educate yourself.
That guy was right about one thing though, part of the reason gretzkys numbers won't ever be beat is cause of how poor the overall talent (especially goalie) was at the time. Still though, no ones going to come within 500 points any time soon, it's just the difference between impossible and highly unlikely
 

spyder_ur

Member
LeBron is one of the 10 worst shooters in the league from midrange this year, FYI. And he's never made made the 50/40/90 club, he's only shot above 40% from 3 once, and he's never shot even 80% from FT.

Edit: LeBron has won 2/5 finals. His record is therefore 2-3.

He's definitely not an elite shooter, but he's a good shooter, which is pretty remarkable given his other skills and where he was when he came into the league. He's a better outside shooter than Jordan ever was, for example.

The 50/40/90 club is really really exclusive and only achievable by incredible shooters - it's not really a knock against LeBron that he hasn't done it. Curry didn't even do it last year and is hanging on by a thread this year.
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
I don't understand exactly what you're trying to get at here. He doesn't play PG because that's not his position and it's not how he is best used. And I said he was one of the best passers in NBA history and you responded with Magic, who might be THE best passer in history. The comparison alone says a lot since Magic is considered one of the best 10 players of all time and passing is probably the single area that LeBron might not be as good as him at.

You said Lebron was one of the greatest passers of all time, which in my mind means at least top 10, but off the top of my head I don't think he was a better passer than Magic, Stockton, Bird, Nash, Kidd, Isiah, Jordan, Pippen, KJ, Oscar, West, or Paul.
 

DopeyFish

Not bitter, just unsweetened
No player in the NHL has had over 200 points in a season except Gretzky... And he did it multiple times
 

AColdDay

Member
MJ should be at the top. Barry Sanders should be in the Top Ten. We should talk about Barry the way people venerate Walter Payton or Gale Sayers.
 
I mean yeah, you could say Gretzky had a stacked team, and hockey in the '80s was different, but he still holds a bunch of records that will probably never be broken. If Lemieux had stayed healthy, he might have had a shot, but his teams sucked.

Sidney Crosby has 884 points in 666 career games so far, and he's 28. If he plays 10 more seasons of 80 games each, that's 1466 total games.

Gretzky scored 2857 points in 1487 games.

For Crosby to get close to Gretzky's career totals, he'd need about 2000 points in his remaining 800 career games, or 2.5 points per game. Even if the NHL doubled the scoring rate and Crosby stopped aging, he'd still have a very very hard time getting close to Gretzky.
 

spyder_ur

Member
You said Lebron was one of the greatest passers of all time, which in my mind means at least top 10, but off the top of my head I don't think he was a better passer than Magic, Stockton, Bird, Nash, Kidd, Isiah, Jordan, Pippen, KJ, Oscar, West, or Paul.

It's kind of tough since he doesn't play traditional PG. I'll say this - he's the best frontcourt passer of all time. I'd probably take about half of your list above over him. West, Jordan, Pippen aren't really comparable, statistically or by the eye test.
 

bionic77

Member
I love Kobe Bean Bryant, but LeBron is a far better basketball player than he is. LeBron has 12 years in the league, 4 (or 5?) MVPs. 2 NBA titles. 5 straight NBA Finals appearances. He's carried teams of scrubs to 60 win seasons. His resume is pretty damn stacked. Granted sometimes he isn't the most likable guy in the world, but people's perceptions of his career are really fucking out of wack sometimes, like he still has shit to prove or something. I wonder how different his career would be perceived if he came up in the pre-"social media/24 hour sports news radio cycle" era like most athletes that are revered, and every single part of his personality and game weren't constantly picked apart. Some of the criticisms levied against him are the same stuff guys like Kareem, Magic and even Michael went through at certain points of their career, only much less magnified, and with the benefit of hindsight, people tend to forgive and forget those kinds of things and only focus on the greatness.
While it seems damning that a Lakers fan could put out such nonsense there are some key facts you need to know about Ninja to keep things in context.

Firstly, he is a big fan of Uggs, Floyd Mayweather, and Justin Bieber.
Second, after seeing a picture of my rug he told me he fantasized about having sex with Tom Brady on said rug. That was literally the first thing that came to him.
 

Dragon

Banned
I mean yeah, you could say Gretzky had a stacked team, and hockey in the '80s was different, but he still holds a bunch of records that will probably never be broken. If Lemieux had stayed healthy, he might have had a shot, but his teams sucked.

Sidney Crosby has 884 points in 666 career games so far, and he's 28. If he plays 10 more seasons of 80 games each, that's 1466 total games.

Gretzky scored 2857 points in 1487 games.

For Crosby to get close to Gretzky's career totals, he'd need about 2000 points in his remaining 800 career games, or 2.5 points per game. Even if the NHL doubled the scoring rate and Crosby stopped aging, he'd still have a very very hard time getting close to Gretzky.

Lemieux's teams won two Stanley Cups. They didn't suck that badly.

He had the following HOFers on his teams at some point:

Joe Mullen
Jaromir Jagr (will get in when he retires)
Ron Francis
Larry Murphy
Paul Coffey

Plus Mark Recchi should be in, not sure why he isn't.

Lemieux is also right behind Gretzky in points per game. His health was the main reason he didn't come close, not his team play. I know you mentioned it, just found your statement about his teams to be a bit misleading.

While it seems damning that a Lakers fan could put out such nonsense there are some key facts you need to know about Ninja to keep things in context.

Firstly, he is a big fan of Uggs, Floyd Mayweather, and Justin Bieber.
Second, after seeing a picture of my rug he told me he fantasized about having sex with Tom Brady on said rug. That was literally the first thing that came to him.

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FTF

Member
This is delusional.

Everyone outside of Boston hates Brady and the Patriots.

He is forever tainted as a cheater and a bitch.

No they don't...now make sure you guys take care of business this weekend, 3 more games till Pats vs Steelers!
 
Yeah, Kobe is better at....uh....um....free throw shooting?

That and not losing in the Finals. Even getting his teams to the Finals was a far greater accomplishment than LeBron getting to the Finals since Kobe had to get through the Western Conference gauntlet.

LeBron is an assist-hog who gets a lot of system rebounds and has played in an offense tailored to maximizing his stats for his entire career.
 

bionic77

Member
No they don't...now make sure you guys take care of business this weekend, 3 more games till Pats vs Steelers!
I am having flashbacks to David Gerrard limping his way to a huge run at the end of the game to put us away after Ben brought us back from like 20 down in the 4th.

I have a real bad feeling about this. :(
 

Ralemont

not me
That and not losing in the Finals. Even getting his teams to the Finals was a far greater accomplishment than LeBron getting to the Finals since Kobe had to get through the Western Conference gauntlet.

Kobe had Shaq in his prime, then almost choked away the championship in 2010 (like LeBron v Dallas), when Pau Gasol was the best player on the team. I'll give him 2009, though.

LeBron is an assist-hog who gets a lot of system rebounds and has played in an offense tailored to maximizing his stats for his entire career.

What exactly do you think the Triangle did for Kobe?
 
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