Steve Kerr: Lebron Is No Jordan, More Like Pippen

[cesare borgia]

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/nb...ory?id=6656859

"The irony to me is that LeBron is not Michael. LeBron is actually Scottie," former Bull and current television analyst Steve Kerr said Monday on "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN 1000. "He's so similar to Scottie in that defensively he was just a monster, could guard anybody, really more of a point forward than scoring guard. Scottie always loved to distribute the ball. That's really where LeBron's preference is.

"Phil Jackson used to call Scottie a 'sometimes shooter.' Sometimes they would go in, sometimes they wouldn't. That's how it is with LeBron. He's a great talent and a great player but you can see his flaws as a basketball player. He doesn't have an offensive game that he can rely on: no low-post game, no mid-range jump shot so when the game really gets tough he has a hard time finding easy baskets and getting himself going. That's what Michael did in his sleep so that's why the comparison is wrong."

[lefty]

lol not even

[GoodOdor]

lol everyone shitting on lebron

[Isitjustme?]

Scottie takes a lot of hits. He was a beast. tbh theres a lot worse things than to be compared to Pippen. People forget/young kids don't know how he could completely take games over.

But yeah, if you have the talent level of Lebron you should be a step above.

[Pistons < Spurs]

http://desmond.yfrog.com/Himg736/scaled.php?tn=0&server=736&filename=bsmh.jpg&xsize=640&ysize=640

[baseline bum]

LeBron is nowhere near the defender Pippen was, but is easily 3x the player on offense.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

At least when Pippen got overshadowed it was by the actual Michael Jordan.

[Killakobe81]

LeBron is nowhere near the defender Pippen was, but is easily 3x the player on offense.

Bum is right, despite his finals showings ...Lebron is a better offensive player than Pippen. But i agree Pippen is the better defender Lebron is excellent on defense but people overrate him on it ...

[21_Blessings]

LeBron is nowhere near the defender Pippen was, but is easily 3x the player on offense.

Pippen's post game was easily 3x better than LePippen's. He also had a much more consistent mid-range jumper.

Athletically and physically Lebron has no equals. Basketball skill-wise, Lebron is trumped in most aspects by other legends.

[Ghazi]

:lol Gasol > Dirk
:lol Bynum > Dirk
:lol 21_Blessings

[Amaso]

Lebron isn't that much of a better offensive player than Pippen. People seem to underrate how good Pippen was offensively. He could play in transition, hit 3s, finish around the basket, and had a decent jumpshot. The main thing that makes Lebron better offensively is his passing ability is better, his speed is better, and Lebron can make difficult shots more frequently than Pippen.

[John Basedow]

Lebron isn't that much of a better offensive player than Pippen. People seem to underrate how good Pippen was offensively. He could play in transition, hit 3s, finish around the basket, and had a decent jumpshot. The main thing that makes Lebron better offensively is his passing ability is better, his speed is better, and Lebron can make difficult shots more frequently than Pippen.

LeBron can do all those things just fine...his postgame is his undoing. He's more than capable of developing one, and when he does he'll be unstoppable.

[TDMVPDPOY]

if lebrons defense was that damn good, how come marion outplayed him...lmao fail

[dbreiden83080]

Pippen had maybe 25% of Lebrons talent at his best.. What a dumb shit comparison. And this here.


"He doesn't have an offensive game that he can rely on: no low-post game, no mid-range jump shot"


He is talking like Lebron has a mediocre offensive game.. He has a career scoring AVG of almost 28 a game. 3 seasons of 30 a game and had 27 a game this year on a team with Wade and Bosh on it, shooting 51% from the field.. :lol

Someone take the pipe away from Kerr..

[dbreiden83080]

Lebron isn't that much of a better offensive player than Pippen. People seem to underrate how good Pippen was offensively. He could play in transition, hit 3s, finish around the basket, and had a decent jumpshot. The main thing that makes Lebron better offensively is his passing ability is better, his speed is better, and Lebron can make difficult shots more frequently than Pippen.

Oh bullshit.. Pippen's best year on offense was 94 without Jordan and he put up 22 a game on 49%. Lebron is giving you 27 a game on a team with Wade and Bosh on it. Pippen could never score like Lebron can.. Not close..

[lefty]

if lebrons defense was that damn good, how come marion outplayed him...lmao fail
I agree

Whenever the medias say that Lebron is a top notch defensive player, I feel like throwing up

Pippen shits on Lebron defensively

[Amaso]

Oh bullshit.. Pippen's best year on offense was 94 without Jordan and he put up 22 a game on 49%. Lebron is giving you 27 a game on a team with Wade and Bosh on it. Pippen could never score like Lebron can.. Not close..

You're an idiot (srs). You pretty much proved my point. Scottie could score big points at an efficient clip when he's the go-to player. If you reread my post I said Lebron is better but not much better of an offensive player than Pippen. Lebron has no real go to move to score. If he's not getting to the line his scoring arsenal is severely limited. No one is denying the fact that Lebron can put up big #'s, the guy has so much natural talent he will get the ball in the hoop... unless it's the finals.

[21_Blessings]

The defensive gap between Pip/LePip is much larger than the offensive gap between them. That's for sure.

[Proxy]

lol everyone shitting on lebron

Seems like a shit on Lebron and Pippen

[ohmwrecker]

Jordan and Pippen would have beat the Mavs.

[Amaso]

LeBron can do all those things just fine...his postgame is his undoing. He's more than capable of developing one, and when he does he'll be unstoppable.

I think it's too late to develop a legit post game at this point in Lebron's career, giving the facts we know about him as an individual right now. For one, Lebron has bad footwork, and travels all the time but gets away with it because it's mainly on the perimeter and refs usually have a hard time calling travels back there. Secondly, he doesn't have the natural work-ethic and he doesn't love the game as much as some other superstars so I don't know if he'd even truly be willing to develop his game. It's not the physical aspect of basketball that is keeping Lebron away from a championship, it's the mental aspect. And finally, Lebron is 27 with tons of mileage he only has a couple of more years of his prime left. His game up until this point in his career has been the result of unheard of athletic ability. If he isn't blowing by defenders and getting easy points or getting transition buckets, he usually doesn't have as much of an impact on the offensive end as he should.

[ChuckD]

Actually, I was thinking more of LeBron as a modern day Dominique, a physical wonder of infinite athleticism who wows in highlight reels and wins nothing.

[mariners]

Pippen wouldn't have let Jet punk him

[dbreiden83080]

You're an idiot (srs). You pretty much proved my point. Scottie could score big points at an efficient clip when he's the go-to player

How does that prove your point? 22 a game on 49% is good but Bron can do what Pippen did only much better and while playing with another great player that dominates the ball.. Bron is unselfish he could average 35 a game if he wanted too.. Pippen was a great player but lets not act like Lebron is somehow way down the list here. He is 26 and a 2 time league MVP for god's sake..

[dbreiden83080]

Pippen wouldn't have let Jet punk him

Lots of players punked Pippen.. He just always won thanks to 23..

[dbreiden83080]

Jordan and Pippen would have beat the Mavs.

Depends what Bulls team?

[mariners]

Lots of players punked Pippen.. He just always won thanks to 23..
you dumb :lol Pippen is by far the best perimeter defender to ever play in the NBA.

[dbreiden83080]

you dumb :lol Pippen is by far the best perimeter defender to ever play in the NBA.

Yes he was a great defender

yes he was a great player

Lebron is much better..

[mariners]

Yes he was a great defender

yes he was a great player

Lebron is much better..
Lebron is the better regular season player no doubt, but to win a title? I take Pippen

[hitmanyr2k]

I wrote this post last year about the Pippen/Lebron comparison....

http://spurstalk.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4579986&postcount=91


Pippen pretty much had the physical skillset to do anything on the basketball court and he did. There was nothing he couldn't do offensively or defensively. Play multiple positions, slashing/finishing, midrange game, post game, three point game, rebounding, playmaking, steals, blocks, take charges, defend multiple positions, etc. He took advantage of all of his physical gifts and developed a great basketball skill set to go along with it.

Lebron has crazy, freak athleticism but it disappoints me that he's not as skilled as he should be at this stage....kind of like Dwight Howard but not nearly as severe. Lebron doesn't look like he's tried to really improve his footwork (on either side of the ball). He still barely has a post game or back-to-the-basket game to speak of and for someone his size that's a damn shame since he could probably abuse smaller defenders on the block or at least draw a lot of defensive attention and set up teammates. His midrange game is getting better but could still use work as well. It's rare that I see the guy drive, pull-up and just pop a jumper from 15-18 feet. I don't see why he can't have that in his arsenal. With Lebron it's usually a deep two/three or a drive to the rim.

With all that said I consider Lebron a more impacting offensive player than Pippen due to his insane athleticism and how much he has the ball in his hands. It wasn't in Pippen's DNA to be a volume shooter or to dominate the ball. However, Pippen was a far more skilled offensive player than Lebron.

I'm also hoping to see James take the next step defensively and become more of an impact player on that end of the floor. Everyone ooooohs and ahhhhhs at his chasedown blocks and all but I want to start seeing him more active and providing much better help defense. In Cleveland he really did a lot of floating around (probably resting) and didn't make much of an impact at all when it came to help defense unless it was the occasional weakside block. He really has no excuse not to start doing these things since he has a lot of help offensively in Miami now.

Even with all the stuff that has gone down I still consider Lebron to be the best player in the NBA but he could (and should) be much more than what he is by now considering the tools he has to work with. I hope all these comments from everyone is fueling his fire to get better rather than just come out with the same old game.


And the sad part is everything in bold I can say the exact same thing about Lebron THIS year after another failure. That dumbass still hasn't learned shit from the weaknesses in his game. The Mavs guarding Lebron with Kidd, Terry, and even that midget Barea should have been beyond insulting to him and he let it happen because his skill set is mediocre at this stage in his career. No way in hell is Scottie Pippen going to let those hobbits guard him without paying a price. He's taking them in the post and forcing the Mavs to adjust.

And this is my third year in a row saying this but if this latest failure doesn't fuel this guy to come back with more to his arsenal...a more skillful approach to his game instead of just driving to the rim or shooting the long ball he should be fuckin slapped.

[mariners]

Lebron shot 45 % between 16-23 feet, that is alot better than wade

[dbreiden83080]

Lebron is the better regular season player no doubt, but to win a title? I take Pippen

How many rings does Scottie have without 23?

[florige]

Actually, I was thinking more of LeBron as a modern day Dominique, a physical wonder of infinite athleticism who wows in highlight reels and wins nothing.




He is somewhere in between Wilkens and Pippen imo. He is a much better defender than Wilkens, but his basketball IQ is nowhere near the level of Pippen. Whatever is going on with him it looks to be mental. He looked extremely slow and out of rhythm this entire series.

[NewJerSpur]

I wrote this post last year about the Pippen/Lebron comparison....

http://spurstalk.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4579986&postcount=91




And the sad part is everything in bold I can say the exact same thing about Lebron THIS year after another failure. That dumbass still hasn't learned shit from the weaknesses in his game. The Mavs guarding Lebron with Kidd, Terry, and even that midget Barea should have been beyond insulting to him and he let it happen because his skill set is mediocre at this stage in his career. No way in hell is Scottie Pippen going to let those hobbits guard him without paying a price. He's taking them in the post and forcing the Mavs to adjust.

And this is my third year in a row saying this but if this latest failure doesn't fuel this guy to come back with more to his arsenal...a more skillful approach to his game instead of just driving to the rim or shooting the long ball he should be fuckin slapped.

Funny how when the opportunity to blindside guys from behind for the chasedown block disappears and JET/Marion start getting confidence how pedestrian dude's defense looks.

In the Chicago series, Rose was guarded early on by Wade straight up who chased him all over the court around screens and when such wasn't the case MIA threw hard double teams at him.....combine that with the poor management of Rose's minutes by Thibs despite the heavy responsibility he had on offense and he was ripe for the picking in the 4th when LeBron was fully engaged with him.