2015-16 NBA Thread (feat. the Wives)

And that shows what? James played more minutes in 12 years than others played in a shorter period of time?
LeBron has never played 82 games in season, 81 once and 80 once
Jordan did it 9 times plus a season of 81 games and 80.

Of those players who wouldn't you take over LeBron?

BTW I agree with Stoney, Irving has been beyond disappointing. Another overrated Dookie

 

It does show that. It shows he's played more NBA minutes and games than lots of players by the same age. Which would point to him having more wear on the tires. Outside Jordan and Olajuwon, all those guys were almost at or already in the twilights of their careers by the time they hit those minutes numbers. (It took a second to realize it's adjusted to age 31, which of course does tweak the number since all those guys played a few years of college)

The 82 games thing is nice, but it's just searching for a number to make a point. I could say despite those numbers, LeBron averaged more games per season than MJ by about four a year, not to mention not taking years off.

Going back to the age 31 thing, I could sneak one or two of them ahead of Bron accounting for whole careers, but at age 31, it gets kinda interesting. At 31 Olajuwon had just won his first ring and was not far removed from six years with one playoff series win. Kareem was in his days with mostly listless Lakers teams, his early-career success far in the rearview mirror. Wilt had one one finals and played in two finals. Basically if you looked at a lot of those guys with the same critical eye you look at James with, you'd be able to poke some holes.

 

Only Jordan

 

Age adjusted minutes penalizes all the other players who went to college. They didn't have the choice James made and I think to a man they all would say, in hindsight, going to college was more beneficial to them. James also had the double misfortune of playing for a bad organization and weak coaches. From day 1 James was in charge of every organization to an extent no other player ever did.

Compare them by 13 years of NBA play and see how it works out.

In his 13th year Olajuwon played 78 games 2852 minutes in the regular season. James played 76 and 2709. So an older man played more games and more minutes at the same point in their careers.

MJ essentially played 11 real seasons. His 2nd year he was injured for 90% of the season. He was out 93-94 and played the last 20% of 94-95. Don't count the Washington years. And f you want wear and tear LeBron played in an age where a hand check is a foul. Jordan played against the Pistons.

James is a great great talent who played to his personal potential. But his ego and immaturity detracted from his teams' accomplishments

 

It's like Devil never left.

Are you also a big Percy Harvin fan?

 

When discussing LeBron's minutes played, don't forget to add all of the international games to the total. He's one of the few , if not the only one, in the Dream Team era to have played in three Olympics. He played 199 minutes in the last one, which seems to be the first for which they kept the stat, so figure that's somewhere between 600 and 800 minutes when you factor in the other preliminary games as well. It means he has also had several years where he's gone almost year-round without a long recovery period.
In terms of wear and tear, Kobe Bryant is probably the best gauge for where LeBron is at. Kobe was also a high school star who started young, and played a lot of NBA and international minutes. He hit the wall around 34 years old, once he got his first serious injury. LeBron's prime might be ending sooner than we think.

 

How about that year and a half he played baseball, if it factors in?

 

Gotta do a lot of running in the outfield, being he didn't do much baserunning.

 

What about practice?