re: Scottie Pippen says LeBron, statistically speaking, is 'probably ahead of Jordan'

quote:

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Kareem was carrying the team for sure. A legend and solidified...Robin came in and helped shoulder the burden.

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I think when taking that into consideration, that's the dispositive factor for me ranking Kareem as the 2nd best player of that decade over Magic: Magic started out as the distributor, Kareem was the scorer and player that saved the team whether performing in the clutch or playing great interior defense and by 1987 that dynamic shifted to where Magic assumed that burden and became Batman in that sense. Kareem doing what he did at such an advanced age during that era of NBA basketball where almost no players were playing beyond age 35 and the rules were slanted to favor the defense was truly legendary and cannot be diminished, unprecedented. I mean the dude won an NBA Finals MVP at age 38 and was first-team all-NBA at age 39. Insane, players just don't do that except possibly LeGOAT if he reaches that point.