Steve Kerr: Lebron Is No Jordan, More Like Pippen

[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 Pippen is by far the best perimeter defender to ever play in the NBA.

[dbreiden83080]

you dumb 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 le? I take Pippen

[hitmanyr2k]

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

http://spurstalk.com/forums/showpost...6&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 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 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 in slapped.

[mariners]

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

[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.

[dbreiden83080]

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

How many rings does Scottie have without 23?

[NewJerSpur]

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

http://spurstalk.com/forums/showpost...6&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 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 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 in 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.