As I read this interview with Rodman I couldn't have agreed more! Amen Rodman well put!


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http://espn.go.com/...-james-average-played-90s

Dennis Rodman says LeBron James would be "average" if he played in the 1990s, and insists James' Miami Heat would be no match for his old Chicago Bulls team.

"It's really not a comparison. If LeBron was playing in the late '80s and early '90s, he would be just an average player," Rodman said Friday on "The Dan Patrick Show." "To do what Michael has done ... what he did was more charisma, there was more articulating and stuff like that. LeBron is more like ... there's no flash to his game. He's a great player, don't get me wrong, he's a hell of player, I'll give him that. But to me Scottie (Pippen) and Michael are probably the two best one-two punches I've ever seen."

Rodman, who won three NBA titles with Jordan's Bulls from 1996-98, said a 28-year-old Jordan would average at least 40 points a game in today's NBA.

"I'm just sick and tired of people comparing (James) to Michael Jordan," Rodman said. "It's a whole different era, man."

Rodman said Jordan thrived despite playing in a more physical era in the NBA.

"LeBron came into the age of the game at a perfect time. Michael came into the game when back then you could hit people, knock him down, shoot a free throw and get back up," Rodman said. "And LeBron can't do that. All they do today is (complain) about a foul. All they do is (complain)."

James, who has been to the NBA Finals in each of his three seasons in Miami, won his first title last season. The Heat lost Game 1 of the Finals to the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday.

Rodman believes his best Bulls team would easily defeat James' Heat.

"It would be no contest. The Heat has better talent than we had, but we had smarter players," Rodman said. "That's the only thing we had, smarter players. ... I would take Bosh out of his damn game easy. That's not even a problem. And how would Dwyane Wade match up with Scottie Pippen? Really? And Scottie Pippen would guard LeBron easy. And how are you going to cover those two guys (Jordan and Pippen)?"

Growing up, I remember staying up late to watch the Bulls games.

The house was filled with tons of yelling at the television.

I grew bored of the NBA, because they've turned into a bunch of sissies.

Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman used to be a powerhouse.

The likes of Dikembe Mutombo, Patrick Ewing, etc barely kept up.

if he had to play against dikembe, oh brother, he'd wish it was college.

medic hates the post game, it would appear ;)

LeBron could take a schooling from Shaq, Jordan, Dikembe, Patrick, etc on how the game is supposed to be played.

Amen brothers! I love you guys! There were so many good players/teams back then. The NBA pales in comparison today.

Rodman thinks that the Kim Jong-un is your average dude as well.

says the socialist about a communist?

i went there

Mr. Diamond has never claimed to be smart!

just ask anybody who vouched for him!

too soon? ;)

I know shooters were better in the day . . . though most 80-90s post players would foul out in the second Q today, of course most of todays players would get called for traveling 8 times per game in 1989.





Jim Brown would still be the best running back in the NFL though. Just saying.

nevermind

awesome post. couldn't agree anymore with rodman

"To do what Michael has done ... what he did was more charisma, there was more articulating and stuff like that. "



lolololol.

"what he did was more charisma"
"there was more articulating and stuff like that"


fluffing love it

I dont know. Why wouldnt lebron be good? He's got the athleticism and size. He could be a deadly mid range player, with his ability to beat you off the dribble or pull up and shoot he is a tough matchup no matter the era. And I dont like Lebron :P

I hear a lot of people talking about how the 80-90's era players were way better, and I can agree to a point, but I think its close-minded to believe that today's basketball players couldn't compete with those from past eras.

While I agree that the NBA can be hard to watch at times with all the whining and complaining and thinskinned refs, that still doesnt get past the fact that in general the league is a more athletic league, while it might be a less physical league.

yo did lebron ever score 43 in PENNY LOAFERS bro????

any of you remember this??
http://www.sportable.com/...n-air-jordan-commercials/

dude it's like this. i grew up watching jordan and his dunks his shots his everything, were truly artistic expression in motion. finesse gangster. so smooth yet with so much conviction and his celebrations were epic.

lebron is a robot dweeb who never ever could star in Space Jams.

lebron would probably play point guard in the 80s-90s and become the best at his position, he cant't handle the physicality inside

point guard??? in the 80s and 90s?? with all those finesse players out there you got to be kidding me. no way may lebron couldn't hang in those days.


just like some of these new mlb punks couldn't dream of hitting a pitch from smoltz or glavine in their primes

things were just better in the 90s man
duh




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http://www.sportable.com/...n-air-jordan-commercials/

^^
i ask you all to watch those top ten air jordan commercials of all time.
Michael Jordan makes my hair stand up and my eyes well up with tears.
Lebron will never ever do that for me.

Lebrick would fail

Exactly. I'll put it like this: I'm a fan of entertainment. I don't care if it is lebron or anyone else. But when I compare my entertainment value between Lebron and Jordan... Jordan kicks his ass. Almost everything Jordan did was entertaining. Lebron on the other hand is more meh. I mean when he banks a shot in im like *Yawn* Jordan would have done a fade away 3 pointer swish instead. Jordan wold have jumped from the free throw line dunk. Jordan would have stuffed Mutombo. Jordan was and still is the best basketball player ever. I so wish I had a player today that was as entertaining as him, maybe I'd like the NBA again!

Lebron is a good athlete but nothing compared to Jordan. Just look at Jordans highlight reel and tell me he isn't better/more entertaining! Rodman has it spot on.

Also Jordan has one of the best quotes ever! Its the Finals. Utah Jazz vs Bulls. Final game and its on a Sunday. Carl Malone (The Mail Man) vs Jordan.

Jordan: "The Mail Man doesn't deliver on Sundays"

Yes, Jordan was entertaining.
But to say Lebron is just average means Dennis shouldn't have had anything of a pro career

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAr6oAKieHk

I'm going to watch that video every morning so I can dominate everyone in my office...

LeBron James would be a great player in any era. He's got the size, talent, and ability to make adjustments to be great whether he was playing now or in the midst of the Detroit bad boy era.

Having said that, would he be AS great? Probably not. And would Jordan be even greater in today's NBA where hand-checks have been so cracked down on that defenders virtually can't put their hands on another player on the perimeter without getting a foul called on them.

So I agree that Jordan was greater and that Jordan was more entertaining. The very idea that LeBron would be average in another era is laughable though.

Pippen is correct

Yeah I can agree that Jordan was better than Lebron, but that doesnt mean that Lebron still couldnt have been a all star in the 80-90's. the dude is 6' 8" and 250lbs... I think he could have handled the physicality. If he played in that era he would have adjusted his game to fit the style... just like how Jordan would have had to adjust his defense to not get fouled out.

And also I think there are lots of current nba players who could have played in the 80-90's and been as good as they are now.

I agree with Rodman but today's Heat would get sliced the fluff up vs the 80s Celtics, Sixers, Lakers and Pistons. After the first time Lebron tried to bulldoze his way to the basket Bill Lambeer would be trying to take his head off. Bird and his crew of HoFers and Magic and his crew of HoFers would surgically pick apart the Heat. No matter how fast you are you'll never be able to outrun the speed of a pass, with intelligent floor spacing and awareness like those teams had it'd be a slaughter.

LeBron would destroy Jordan. period.

waaaaaaay too many reasons to list why. And this is coming from someone who grew up in the Jordan era.


the game has changed so much since the 90s and u get called for fouls on so much crap that wouldnt get a whistle back then, so if u factor that in, unleashing the beast in LeBron and making him a much more aggressive player will completely change perspective. The same applies to the heat as a team.
Wade/Bosh/Chalmers/Miller/Birdman/Allen/Battier/Haslem/Cole/Joel. the heat is an amazing team.

Free the beast? Lebron is the one that cries to officials and flops like crazy. He's not a physical player because he doesn't like/is afraid of contact.

not to derail anything, but lebron is known for his defense, amongst other attributes? bird would make him look foolish, just silly, given the chance.

(orkin mentioned eighties celtics)
(lebron will be the head of slash next to durant for the current "hof crew")

afraid of contact that he isn;t sent to the free throw line, over, at least

but, he is an insane, insane athlete.

"The same applies to the heat as a team.
Wade/Bosh/Chalmers/Miller/Birdman/Allen/Battier/Haslem/Cole/Joel. the heat is an amazing team."

how many of those guys were actually on the Heat before bosh/lebron joined? dynastys are built from the ground up, not made cause others dont like losing.. only big name free agent to join that bulls that im aware of is rodman and even was only part of the final 3 titles

Dewane was on the Heat. The Heat is his team. LeBron came to his team not the other way around! He actually won a ring without LeBron.

LeBron is a front runner. He will jump ship if he can't win more rings at the Heat.

i know wade was on the team before, and won a title with shaq

u can only do so much damage with a worthless team.

lebron stayed with the cavs for so so many years, do u know how much pressure he had from everyone?

to be a team leader, to score more points than anyone. to hit 3s every game, to be hyper aggressive in the paint offensive and defensive, to block more than anyone, to do more turn overs. they were expecting one single man to do what is required from A WHOLE TEAM. he joined the heat to be more on the supportive side, to let wayde be leading in pts. to let bosh be the strong center.

bosh/wayde arent the best players in the nba. if lebron was gonna join the best team at the time, he woulda joined either the lakers, the celtics of the spurs, he choose the heat.

07-08 the Heat had a 15-67 season
08-09 with spoelstra taking over as head coach, they improved to a 43-39, still nothing near a great team
09-10, a much better season with a 47-35 record.

what the heat and lebron had in common was they were both destroyed by the celtics. they had more than enough motivation to do what it takes to get their revenge.

I like the year you chose to start from there lol

Worthless team? The Cavs were the 1 seed twice. Lebron didn't and can't earn a regular season 1 seed with a worthless team. Lebron was just a choke artist for many years just like he was his first year with the Heat. I've never seen a major player choke and shrivel under pressure over the span of their careers. Last year was the only year he didn't do that.

either u mis-used the word choke, or ur confused.
too much was expected from one single man. there was no margin for error. when the team was down, 99.5% of the time, it was up2him to sink the final basket.
not jus 1 game, it was game after game after game after game. with any other champion team, u have more options on ur plays, with the cavs, it was simple. pass it to LeBron, even with lousy pick and rolls implemented by his teammates he shot winning baskets, unfortunately, his teammates couldnt step up and help him out.

more numbers :
2002-2003 cav record was a pathetic 17-65.

in Lebrons final season with the cavs, he turned a worthless team into a 1st place eastern conference record with a 61-21.

If the cavs was a strong team w/out lebron james, then they should have kept their stats up, which they didnt. surely after lebron was gone, the cavs went back to a worthless team with a 19-63 season.

this is sorta derailing from the original topic : can lebron/heat defeat the bulls. my ansnwer is and always will be "hell yes" anyone who thiks other is jus stubborn and u jus dont want to admit that the generation u watched basketball isnt the best!

u wanna take dennis rodman's opinions??? the last i heard, he was dressing like a prostitute and asking guys out on a date.

The thing about guys like Jordan/Bird/Magic is they LIKED the high pressure moments. They wanted the ball and to take the shot. They had the swagger of knowing even if a double or triple team came they couldn't be stopped. Lebron has proven he can't handle that kind of pressure.

by far the best thing i ever read coming from u

looks like he Lechoked once again in game 3

It in no way over yet but that was a critical win for the spurs.

If the heat lose the finals would you consider LeBrons time in miami successful?

I would consider it unlikely Lebron ever reaches Michael/Magic/Larry status if they lose this series. That would make it one title in 11 years when the others all had at least 3 and that was while having to play against better teams and each other.

It might even keep Lebron out of the top 5 all time. Is he better than Kareem, Kobe, Wilt, or Russell? Heck is he even better than Duncan who would have 5? Championships are not everything but ONE ain't gonna cut it.

Rodman just set the Piston's rebound record. LeBron only put up points in the first years to make him look good as the Cavs didn't have anything to support him. It was a one man show that he couldn't get him a ring even though they went to the finals. It is called a team sport and the Bulls in the 90's are only rivaled in chemistry to the 70's Celtics. The last part was a bit off topic, however, LeBron maybe bigger and stronger, but MJ would dominate that mind. All sports is just a mind game. LeBron doesn't have that.
*EDIT*
Wade won with Shaq because Coach Popovich didn't coach against him in the finals. If you do a "Hack A Shaq" you slow the game down and Shaq was in the final years of his career and just was a big body to fill the paint in. Wade really ran it all himself with roughly the same supporting cast as LeBron did wiht the Cavs. We could state that Wade is better as he won a ring with a big dumb ass as a center and minimal support staff.