re: Where would you rank LBJ on the all time List Right Now??

quote:

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somehow the logic has become that leading a team to the finals at 21 and getting swept is not as good as not leading a team to a finals.

Not sure how we arrived at that one.

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god damn it shel, respond to my previous post. Secondly, Logical people aren't taking that away LeBron that he led his team to a Finals.

On a related topic, I'm not sure whether leading a team to the Finals is underrated or overrated. Hakeem got no love for his 85 Finals run, Houston was "Choke City". Ewing doesn't either(never played with another HOFer). Iverson gets a shite ton of love for his finals run, LeBron gets shite on (here) for being swept.

However, as most of you know, the real NBA championship for most of the 2000s took place in the WCF. There were some teams like 06 Heat and 04 Pistons that were champs, but cicumstances around those teams were special. The Eastern Conference really started to catch up around 2008 when the KG Celtics came together.

If you want to look at teams in general .500 lower teams in the playoffs since 2000-01 EC:
00-01
Pacers (8th seed .500)
03-04
Bucks (6th seed .500)
Knicks (7th seed .476)
Celtics (8th seed .439)
05-06
Bulls ( 7th seed.500)
Bucks (8th seed.488 )
06-07
Wizards (#7.500)
Magic (#8 .488)
07-08
Raptors (#6 .500)
Sixers (#7 .488)
Hawks (#8.451)
08-09
Sixers(#6.500)
Bulls (#7 .500)
Pistons (#8.476)
09-10
Bulls (.500)
10-11
Sixers (.500)
Pacers (.451)
12-13
Bucks (.463)

As you can see, first round matchups are a lot easier in the East.

This obviously is the simplest form to show this argument, but if we start getting in to WARP across rosters in that time, strength of schedule, etc. I'll be here all day to prove a point that is pretty accepted and really just secondary to the thread.

Summary, how do we determine the value of leading a team to the Finals? Does it vary to year to year? Does it matter if your up against a battle tested juggernaut who faced tougher competition getting there?

I believe playing championship basketball matters in the equation of all time lists in the NBA(and it's alone in that matter), I don't know how much but it matters. That brings me back to the moment here, LeBron shouldn't take any Heat (no pun) for losing in the finals with the Cavs, however it has to be a part of his narrative along with the disappearing act of 2011. Even with that, he's a top 10 player.