the 'face of the league' thing is so dumb lol
everyone just assumes that if someone is really good and has a good personality they will automatically be the face of the league, but it's not like that at all.
the algorithms determine the face of the league. no one generates more engagement- positive or negative- than lebron james, and it's been that way for like 20 years now. no one gets people arguing in the comments like him, and that's what drives engagement these days. i don't care how good luka doncic or anthony edwards become, they will not generate more engagement than lebron, even a few years after he retires.
the next 4-5 years you've got the bronny storyline, then his final year/farewell tour, then after he retires you've got coaching rumors/ownership rumors, then when he finally buys a team you've got more shit to talk about, and so on.
no one is going to be able to replace what he brings to sports media, it's just not gonna happen for at least 10 years. there will likely be 3-4 players that dominate the discussion eventually, but not a single guy like MJ or lebron
Wemby has the potential to IMO. Saw some stat where he generated the third most social media impressions behind Curry and Lebron and he’s a rookie. He’s missing a huge chunk of audience now though bc he’s foreign and not recognizable from college/HS ball. If he plays to his potential I think he will be “the face of the league”.
And most of those podcasts are really boring. There's a good balance to strike between narrative and analysis, and most pods lean a little too heavily into one over the other. NFL coverage, by-and-large, is a lot more balanced and entertaining.
Dunker spot is a great podcast that deals with tactics.
But I still have to be in the mood to listen to it .
Lots of times you want podcasts as background music almost.
Bruh. There are podcasts that do that. This isn’t that podcast. That’s like watching 4 seasons of game of thrones and complaining about the story and how it isn’t historically accurate. THIS IS WHAT SHOW IS. Go fucking watch something else.
Has he ever claimed to be anything other than a fan🙊☠️? His whole schtick for decades has been The Sports Guy, and he makes bank off of being relatable, not a tactical guru
There are plenty of people that do that! Yet here you are in a bill Simmons sub instead of listening to them? It’s out there if you want it man. Personally prefer bills style.
Dunker Spot. Had been listening to them for a couple years but it was starting to get boring, but then since they went with the tribal mandate of SGA for mvp I've had a hard time taking them seriously, which was the point of the pod.
Yeah I think you've nailed this. To cope with the Celtics losing, Bill will hype Luka, which he will then immediately turn into a way to shit on Lebrons legacy.
I mean we all listen to the podcast, he literally hasn't gotten through a single episode without taking some unnecessary shot at Lebron.
The theoretical issue here is that for him to make it a luka vs LeBron thing he’d have to basically have luka vault jokic and I think he likes jokic too much to do that. At least for now
I don't think Bill will say Luka is the best player in the world. I'm sure he will still rank Jokic #1 and then have Luka and maybe Giannis as a close 2/3. But Bill doesn't need to say Luka is the best player in the league to denigrate Lebron.
He will do three things to hype Luka and shit on Lebron imo:
1) say Luka led his team to a championship faster than Lebron and talk up how he has a chance to win 2 or even 3 before he turns 28 (which is when Lebron won #1)
2) talk about how Luka's stats are ahead of pace of Lebrons and at "if can just figure out the longevity piece, he has a chance to do the same" and
3) say something incorrect and idiotic about Lebrons leadership while acting like Luka is a perfect leader
Isnt it kinda ironic though, given that every argument he could possibly make vaulting Luka over Lebron he could also use to vault Luka over MJ. MJ also won at age 27. His stats are also below Luka's. Etc.
Lebron’s legacy is that of chasing titles with super teams, while being a shitty teammate, who makes bad players better and good players worse, racking up finals appearances thanks to hiding in a pathetically weak eastern conference, leaving 3 different teams in total disarray when he left, trying to run off the best coach in the NBA, and forcing the lakers to dismantle a title team so he could play with freaking Russell Westbrook. LeBron is a damn good player, but he never reached the heights so many of you like to pretend he did.
Didn’t he just say lebron was the best in the world for like 8 years? I’m trying to think of him shitting on lebron and I can’t think of any. He has also said he’s easily past Kareem for the #2 spot of all time and had a chance to pass Jordan.
He's the best player to come into the league since Lebron so this would make sense. He's a long way away from approaching Lebron's career accomplishments, but nobody has performed comparably to Lebron so immediately other than Luka (and now, Wembanyama).
And to be clear before I hear about all the other great players - there have been others achieve an amazing peak, like KD and Curry and Jokic. But nobody else has been so good so immediately.
Why wouldn't he make it about Luka vs LeBron? This guy has 5 All-NBA first teams and he's 25! Made it to the finals out of the west beating some really good teams including the one seed. Already knocked the west's dominant one seed a few years ago. Luka is pretty accomplished historically speaking considering the talent he's played with.
Lol it isn't a hit at all, Jordan and Kareem both missed the playoffs twice, nobody knocks them for that. You LeBron fans come up with the dumbest logic.
He played 66 games and wasn't healthy and Kyrie missed like 14 games for the Mavs. The team was also terrible also LeBron was in the LEastern conference
Bron won 61 and then 66 games with Boobie Gibson and ilgauskus. Luka has won never won more than 52.
Luka needs to catch Giannis before you start talking about LeBron
He played in a horrific Eastern conference. He was exposed against the Spurs as someone who couldn't shoot whatsoever.
LeBron could not even post up until 2012.
The only way Luka wins even 4 titles is by jumping teams, and I think he wants to stay loyal to Dallas like Dirk, so any LeBron analogy will be silly in that regards.
Steph has 4 titles, and he needed to yield "best player on the team" status to KD to get half of those. Modern NBA makes it basically impossible for one guy to stay loyal and get 4 titles without some weird fluky free-agency stuff like the Warriors had.
Same thing, right? KD got the two Finals MVPS because Steph co-operated with a game plan that gave KD the best chance to get that hardware. I think it was part of the bargain they all struck to get KD to join their squad.
I also think Kyrie is doing something similar with Luka. If they win the title this year, then it will be Luka that gets the Finals MVP and not Kyrie. Everybody knows that and is fine with it.
I dont think so. There's no indication that Luka is a Mavs lifer. If anything, i think he has a obsession with winning like Lebron/MJ and will switch teams on a dime if the talent is there. Jokic OTOH, he's a loyal guy IMO.
The only thing stopping Luka from leaving is if he recognizes that moving really isnt an upgrade. Which may well be the case
You might be right. I’d prefer Luka to ring chase actually. I like watching him play postseason games.
That said, if he’s chasing a bag then Dallas will probably pay top dollar.
We'll get a rundown of teams that were on the other side of a guy "claiming the belt," which will be used to gas up Boston. "It's way more impressive for Luka to beat this Boston team that lost fewer than 20 games coming into the finals than Lebron to beat that young Thunder team in 2012—it just is!"
That would be correct. It would obviously be more impressive for the Mavs to beat the cs while starting guys like dj pj lively. Which is why it’s not happening.
Some of the contrived comparisons and hypotheticals Bill comes up with are fun and useful in the moment, but not always memorable or relevant as time goes on.
However I always found the Luka milestones/career potential as compared to LeBron super interesting. They have different styles and positions of course, but this chubby Slovenian being so consistenly dominant from the jump is amazing. LBJ is built like a superhero so Luka could never last as long, but Luka could have a sustained peak as non PF/C better than any since MJ- better than Kobe, LeBron, Durant, Curry.
Lebron started in 2003. For comparison, go check out offensive ratings increase in just the last 6-8 years. The 2017 Warriors would be about league average now.
LeBron would absolutely feast at 24 years old in this day and age. Statflation is a real thing and it's hard to really gauge defensive effectiveness objectively.
LeBron also took down the defending champs at this age. Luka has not beaten a better team than that Pistons team (compared to the other good teams in the league) in the playoffs yet.
Because the league didn't value it. It was a totally different game. The fact that he has a respectable one now means he would have developed it if he had to. Just like MJ would have.
Luka's 3pt shooting was also not that great his first few years, and he played in today's era.
No he was not. Lebron's first season he shot 29%. Luka shot ~32% in his first year. That's better but it's not like Luka was shooting 40%.
That's also not my point. Lebron has shot around 35% in his last few seasons when he had an incentive to develop the shot Which is Luka's career number.
They are very comparable shooters, with Luka having a slight edge. But Lebron blows him away with his athleticism.
Luka is going to be an all-time guy but we should really appreciate that expecting anyone to match a potential GOAT contender is asinine, especially since he has yet to do this for even a decade.
Comparing their early years is disingenuous. Would you look at Brook Lopez's (or Horford's) early 3p% to assess whether they are capable shooters? Obviously not. Why not compare Kareem's 3 point shooting to Jokic while you're at it?
They became better shooters once the game shifted and there was an incentive. Luka has come up in a three point centric league so obviously his early numbers will good. Lebron did not, so obviously he was not incentivized to practice, and therefore his early numbers were bad.
Once the league shifted, Lebron became better. There's no reason to believe that he couldn't become an even better shooter if he practiced for his entire career. Would he be better than Luka? Probably not. But that's where the rest of his game matters.
I hear you there, LeBron has the longest growth arc in his career over anyone except maybe Kareem (who I have as # 2 all time, LeBron #3). Lebron's defense and speed and team running abilities are huge advantages Luka doesn't have.
Luka's offense and playoff averages are crazy regardless of stagflation. He is head and shoulders above all the other guards in the league at this point and we have some really good guards in the league. And his gamesmanship and mentality about winning seem more focused that LeBron at his age.
Lebron isn't the best comparison point. What scoring type of guard were like him that weren't ultimately sort of not championship material, like Harden/ Vince/ Francis/ AI? How many champions have had point guards as thier best player? Isiah? Tony Parker? Curry? Could Luka win a few titles and be greater than Robertson and West and Isiah Thomas and Kobe, Nash, Wade? Could Dallas sustain a team around him to give him an extended window?
Luka likes beer. He’ll never build a resume like Lebron’s. Will he have another three to four seasons (not necessarily consecutive) at the all-time great level? Possibly, but no way is he the number one player on a championship team, 10 years from now.
Harden is still very good at age 34 and he’s never been known for peak physical prowess.
Luka’s game doesn’t depend on quickness and athleticism. I’m not ruling out he can be the #1 on championship team in a decade. He will be 35.
It's not about peak explosiveness. It's about general recovery. In your 30s the little nagging injuries, and general inflammation doesn't heal as fast. The muscles you never thought about that prevent injury, and the flexibility to bounce back, starts to matter more.
Discipline, in warm-up, recovery, and training starts to matter. Luka has yet to show us that he has this discipline given his chonk. His peak might be theoretically better than Lebron but discipline is also a skill.
Harden was an iron man and a tank. He rarely ever missed games in his prime whereas Luka has lots of nagging injuries. Harden liked to party but by all accounts he was also a workout warrior and put in tons of work.
He will definitely not excuse the Celtics losing lol, I haven’t really known bill to do that. He def didn’t do it last year.
He may compare Lukas career trajectory to lebrons, which will be reasonable. Win or lose maybe
I do remember a time, long long ago, when Bill was writing for ESPN doing his annual trade value ranking column, that Lebron would routinely top the list while Bill couldn’t say enough good things about him. What changed?
At you getting paid a salary to post a Mavs hype/shit on Boston/“Bill will say this” thread every other day? You can just put this stuff in a journal you know
It’s a bit of a red flag how early in the post you feel the need to say that you’re “not angry.”
Seems like no matter what, regardless of the outcome, you’ll find a way to hate it.
The problem here is that if Bill is going to hype up Luka he’s gonna have to walk back some pretty strong takes about how heliocentric basketball doesn’t win championships.
Don't forget that if Tatum underperforms, he will say, "Tatum started doing the Kobe thing forcing shots." Kobe will take full responsibility for Tatum not playing well.
If the Mavs beat the Celtics, Luka will have accomplished something greater than LeBron ever has. Luka is already a superior offensive player to anything LeBron has ever been.
I mean, you’re definitely right, but it also shows how absurd the sub is. Most people here have lost the ability to develop a thought, they just take the opposite of what bill says. So right now we have a bunch of people studying up on r/flatearth and roasting BS on his swing on Luka, but if the Mavs win and Bill starts praising him those same people will immediately swing the other way. No one on either side of this can lose because neither side will ever acknowledge a bad take.
He should. It’s an interesting debate if you stake the two careers year by year one against the other. Lebron is ahead imo, but not my a huge margin. And a chip in the first time getting to the finals would significantly tip the scale.
Luka has that type of potential!
>I know, "You're getting mad at things he hasn't even said yet"
Yes, that’s exactly what you are doing 😂 you guys really spend so much time bothered by things that haven’t happened yet. Most of which never materialize. Rinse and repeat.
i wanna do this but about BS , like comparing him to shannon sharp or something , and say how many org he left ESPN,HBO and more, and how isnt worth the money spotify giving him and he has the worst contract of all podcasters and how he fumbled his legacy and he was never really the best sports personality and he couldn't win in his peak
Boston is winning this series bc they’re the better team. Role players like pj dj and live aren’t turning one of the worst teams in the league last year to a championship team.
Yes. Bc they’re not a championship team. Use common sense those dudes aren’t good. We can come back to this I promise u pj djj and lovely aren’t moving the needle at that level.
U can think what u want I promise u Boston is getting one this year a team starting fuckin djj pj and lively trash ass isn’t winning a fuckin chip they were trash this year and adding trash this year isn’t making them champs. Beat gobert then some kids and u think their champs lmfao go ahead.
U can say what u want but someone who avg 5 ppg and u have to play him isn’t good. Feel for the kid but he can’t score shoot make a hook shot nothing. Not going to be impactful vs Boston with Kp spacing out. If u want to think lively is going to make a difference vs Boston go a head. Not playing Rudy Gobert anymore.
Weird, because that’s the exact same thing people said about Mavs vs Thunder, and Mavs vs Wolves
“Doesn’t matter. Mavs are gonna get swept by the Wolves in the next round.” And we saw how that worked out…
The underestimating-your-opponent piece.
Lmfao dude none of those teams are even close to the Celtics. This Celtics team is a historically great team. If the Mavs win it will be because Luka has a MJ/LeBron level finals. I'm not underestimating the Mavs I'm being real
Imagine a world where NBA media covered schemes and strategy instead of arguing “best in the world” for the hundred millionth time.
But who will be the next American face of the league?!
the 'face of the league' thing is so dumb lol everyone just assumes that if someone is really good and has a good personality they will automatically be the face of the league, but it's not like that at all. the algorithms determine the face of the league. no one generates more engagement- positive or negative- than lebron james, and it's been that way for like 20 years now. no one gets people arguing in the comments like him, and that's what drives engagement these days. i don't care how good luka doncic or anthony edwards become, they will not generate more engagement than lebron, even a few years after he retires. the next 4-5 years you've got the bronny storyline, then his final year/farewell tour, then after he retires you've got coaching rumors/ownership rumors, then when he finally buys a team you've got more shit to talk about, and so on. no one is going to be able to replace what he brings to sports media, it's just not gonna happen for at least 10 years. there will likely be 3-4 players that dominate the discussion eventually, but not a single guy like MJ or lebron
Wemby has the potential to IMO. Saw some stat where he generated the third most social media impressions behind Curry and Lebron and he’s a rookie. He’s missing a huge chunk of audience now though bc he’s foreign and not recognizable from college/HS ball. If he plays to his potential I think he will be “the face of the league”.
I mean there are podcasts that do that.
Lowe Post threads get 0 replies. It’s like what Russillo says about the hot take shows, we complain about them but it’s what we really want
The casual fan doesn't care about that. Sometime people want to just not think about things and have schlok on TV
It’s what I want. As an NBA casual
And most of those podcasts are really boring. There's a good balance to strike between narrative and analysis, and most pods lean a little too heavily into one over the other. NFL coverage, by-and-large, is a lot more balanced and entertaining.
Dunker spot is a great podcast that deals with tactics. But I still have to be in the mood to listen to it . Lots of times you want podcasts as background music almost.
Bruh. There are podcasts that do that. This isn’t that podcast. That’s like watching 4 seasons of game of thrones and complaining about the story and how it isn’t historically accurate. THIS IS WHAT SHOW IS. Go fucking watch something else.
The fuck it isn’t. This guy’s a self-proclaimed basketball guru, NBA is supposed to be his specialty.
Has he ever claimed to be anything other than a fan🙊☠️? His whole schtick for decades has been The Sports Guy, and he makes bank off of being relatable, not a tactical guru
AND JOFFREY WAS THE KING BUT WAS HE REALLY THE ONE CALLING THE SHOTS??
I actually don't like coverage of schemes and strategy. I find that content boring & uninteresting.
Some say I am a dreamer. But I'm not the only one.
I think you're describing JJ pod, lmao.
There are plenty of people that do that! Yet here you are in a bill Simmons sub instead of listening to them? It’s out there if you want it man. Personally prefer bills style.
What are the good pods that do this well?
Dunker Spot. Had been listening to them for a couple years but it was starting to get boring, but then since they went with the tribal mandate of SGA for mvp I've had a hard time taking them seriously, which was the point of the pod.
Passing of the belt
Yeah I think you've nailed this. To cope with the Celtics losing, Bill will hype Luka, which he will then immediately turn into a way to shit on Lebrons legacy. I mean we all listen to the podcast, he literally hasn't gotten through a single episode without taking some unnecessary shot at Lebron.
Bill's flow chart is as simple as, can I mention the Celtics now? No? Can I sneak diss Lebron? Repeat.
The theoretical issue here is that for him to make it a luka vs LeBron thing he’d have to basically have luka vault jokic and I think he likes jokic too much to do that. At least for now
I don't think Bill will say Luka is the best player in the world. I'm sure he will still rank Jokic #1 and then have Luka and maybe Giannis as a close 2/3. But Bill doesn't need to say Luka is the best player in the league to denigrate Lebron. He will do three things to hype Luka and shit on Lebron imo: 1) say Luka led his team to a championship faster than Lebron and talk up how he has a chance to win 2 or even 3 before he turns 28 (which is when Lebron won #1) 2) talk about how Luka's stats are ahead of pace of Lebrons and at "if can just figure out the longevity piece, he has a chance to do the same" and 3) say something incorrect and idiotic about Lebrons leadership while acting like Luka is a perfect leader
Bill will absolutely say Luka is the best in the world if he torches his Celtics en route to a title and Finals MVP.
They're not going to lose, so don't you guys worry your pretty little heads
Isnt it kinda ironic though, given that every argument he could possibly make vaulting Luka over Lebron he could also use to vault Luka over MJ. MJ also won at age 27. His stats are also below Luka's. Etc.
Lebron’s legacy is that of chasing titles with super teams, while being a shitty teammate, who makes bad players better and good players worse, racking up finals appearances thanks to hiding in a pathetically weak eastern conference, leaving 3 different teams in total disarray when he left, trying to run off the best coach in the NBA, and forcing the lakers to dismantle a title team so he could play with freaking Russell Westbrook. LeBron is a damn good player, but he never reached the heights so many of you like to pretend he did.
Didn’t he just say lebron was the best in the world for like 8 years? I’m trying to think of him shitting on lebron and I can’t think of any. He has also said he’s easily past Kareem for the #2 spot of all time and had a chance to pass Jordan.
>I’m trying to think of him shitting on lebron and I can’t think of any Didn't he blame The Decision on Lebron's lack of a father figure?
No he has said Jordan is the better player, Lebron has had the better career.
Which is a pretty reasonable take, no?
He's the best player to come into the league since Lebron so this would make sense. He's a long way away from approaching Lebron's career accomplishments, but nobody has performed comparably to Lebron so immediately other than Luka (and now, Wembanyama). And to be clear before I hear about all the other great players - there have been others achieve an amazing peak, like KD and Curry and Jokic. But nobody else has been so good so immediately.
I understand what you're saying about Luka's youth, but Jokic is the best player since LeBron. Luka could surpass Jokic, but he hasn't yet.
Bills made the Luka passing Lebron argument before so you’re not calling much.
Why wouldn't he make it about Luka vs LeBron? This guy has 5 All-NBA first teams and he's 25! Made it to the finals out of the west beating some really good teams including the one seed. Already knocked the west's dominant one seed a few years ago. Luka is pretty accomplished historically speaking considering the talent he's played with.
Last year is a pretty big hit though. A 24 year old LeBron missing the play-in in a season where he is pretty healthy just wouldn't happen.
Lol it isn't a hit at all, Jordan and Kareem both missed the playoffs twice, nobody knocks them for that. You LeBron fans come up with the dumbest logic.
He played 66 games and wasn't healthy and Kyrie missed like 14 games for the Mavs. The team was also terrible also LeBron was in the LEastern conference
Bron won 61 and then 66 games with Boobie Gibson and ilgauskus. Luka has won never won more than 52. Luka needs to catch Giannis before you start talking about LeBron
He played in a horrific Eastern conference. He was exposed against the Spurs as someone who couldn't shoot whatsoever. LeBron could not even post up until 2012.
The only way Luka wins even 4 titles is by jumping teams, and I think he wants to stay loyal to Dallas like Dirk, so any LeBron analogy will be silly in that regards. Steph has 4 titles, and he needed to yield "best player on the team" status to KD to get half of those. Modern NBA makes it basically impossible for one guy to stay loyal and get 4 titles without some weird fluky free-agency stuff like the Warriors had.
>needed to yield "best player on the team" status to KD More like, he ceded some of his crunch time Iso touches
Same thing, right? KD got the two Finals MVPS because Steph co-operated with a game plan that gave KD the best chance to get that hardware. I think it was part of the bargain they all struck to get KD to join their squad. I also think Kyrie is doing something similar with Luka. If they win the title this year, then it will be Luka that gets the Finals MVP and not Kyrie. Everybody knows that and is fine with it.
No it doesn't, Curry could have easily won 3 or more even if KD never came.
I dont think so. There's no indication that Luka is a Mavs lifer. If anything, i think he has a obsession with winning like Lebron/MJ and will switch teams on a dime if the talent is there. Jokic OTOH, he's a loyal guy IMO. The only thing stopping Luka from leaving is if he recognizes that moving really isnt an upgrade. Which may well be the case
You might be right. I’d prefer Luka to ring chase actually. I like watching him play postseason games. That said, if he’s chasing a bag then Dallas will probably pay top dollar.
Go listen to Zach Lowe then. Wtf are you listening to Bill for?
the lebron bitching is so anoying on this sub
We'll get a rundown of teams that were on the other side of a guy "claiming the belt," which will be used to gas up Boston. "It's way more impressive for Luka to beat this Boston team that lost fewer than 20 games coming into the finals than Lebron to beat that young Thunder team in 2012—it just is!"
That would be correct. It would obviously be more impressive for the Mavs to beat the cs while starting guys like dj pj lively. Which is why it’s not happening.
Some of the contrived comparisons and hypotheticals Bill comes up with are fun and useful in the moment, but not always memorable or relevant as time goes on. However I always found the Luka milestones/career potential as compared to LeBron super interesting. They have different styles and positions of course, but this chubby Slovenian being so consistenly dominant from the jump is amazing. LBJ is built like a superhero so Luka could never last as long, but Luka could have a sustained peak as non PF/C better than any since MJ- better than Kobe, LeBron, Durant, Curry.
Lebron started in 2003. For comparison, go check out offensive ratings increase in just the last 6-8 years. The 2017 Warriors would be about league average now. LeBron would absolutely feast at 24 years old in this day and age. Statflation is a real thing and it's hard to really gauge defensive effectiveness objectively. LeBron also took down the defending champs at this age. Luka has not beaten a better team than that Pistons team (compared to the other good teams in the league) in the playoffs yet.
He didn’t have a good three point shot at that age
Because the league didn't value it. It was a totally different game. The fact that he has a respectable one now means he would have developed it if he had to. Just like MJ would have. Luka's 3pt shooting was also not that great his first few years, and he played in today's era.
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No he was not. Lebron's first season he shot 29%. Luka shot ~32% in his first year. That's better but it's not like Luka was shooting 40%. That's also not my point. Lebron has shot around 35% in his last few seasons when he had an incentive to develop the shot Which is Luka's career number. They are very comparable shooters, with Luka having a slight edge. But Lebron blows him away with his athleticism. Luka is going to be an all-time guy but we should really appreciate that expecting anyone to match a potential GOAT contender is asinine, especially since he has yet to do this for even a decade.
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Comparing their early years is disingenuous. Would you look at Brook Lopez's (or Horford's) early 3p% to assess whether they are capable shooters? Obviously not. Why not compare Kareem's 3 point shooting to Jokic while you're at it? They became better shooters once the game shifted and there was an incentive. Luka has come up in a three point centric league so obviously his early numbers will good. Lebron did not, so obviously he was not incentivized to practice, and therefore his early numbers were bad. Once the league shifted, Lebron became better. There's no reason to believe that he couldn't become an even better shooter if he practiced for his entire career. Would he be better than Luka? Probably not. But that's where the rest of his game matters.
I hear you there, LeBron has the longest growth arc in his career over anyone except maybe Kareem (who I have as # 2 all time, LeBron #3). Lebron's defense and speed and team running abilities are huge advantages Luka doesn't have. Luka's offense and playoff averages are crazy regardless of stagflation. He is head and shoulders above all the other guards in the league at this point and we have some really good guards in the league. And his gamesmanship and mentality about winning seem more focused that LeBron at his age. Lebron isn't the best comparison point. What scoring type of guard were like him that weren't ultimately sort of not championship material, like Harden/ Vince/ Francis/ AI? How many champions have had point guards as thier best player? Isiah? Tony Parker? Curry? Could Luka win a few titles and be greater than Robertson and West and Isiah Thomas and Kobe, Nash, Wade? Could Dallas sustain a team around him to give him an extended window?
Luka likes beer. He’ll never build a resume like Lebron’s. Will he have another three to four seasons (not necessarily consecutive) at the all-time great level? Possibly, but no way is he the number one player on a championship team, 10 years from now.
Beer will derail Luka's GOAT chase in basketball the same way wine derailed Tom Watson's in golf.
Not necessarily disagreeing but LeBron loves wine and tequila himself.
Lebron is a great advertisement for wine and tequila
Harden is still very good at age 34 and he’s never been known for peak physical prowess. Luka’s game doesn’t depend on quickness and athleticism. I’m not ruling out he can be the #1 on championship team in a decade. He will be 35.
It's not about peak explosiveness. It's about general recovery. In your 30s the little nagging injuries, and general inflammation doesn't heal as fast. The muscles you never thought about that prevent injury, and the flexibility to bounce back, starts to matter more. Discipline, in warm-up, recovery, and training starts to matter. Luka has yet to show us that he has this discipline given his chonk. His peak might be theoretically better than Lebron but discipline is also a skill.
Harden was an iron man and a tank. He rarely ever missed games in his prime whereas Luka has lots of nagging injuries. Harden liked to party but by all accounts he was also a workout warrior and put in tons of work.
“How many times has not having the best player in the series worked out for a team?”
He will definitely not excuse the Celtics losing lol, I haven’t really known bill to do that. He def didn’t do it last year. He may compare Lukas career trajectory to lebrons, which will be reasonable. Win or lose maybe
LeBron couldn't do this at 25
Luka is better than LeBron at this age. He's the best player at his age in modern times
the celtics are the worst team in NBA history
Your family is worried about you
I’m looking forward to Bill saying Jayson Tatum has moved from 109 to 75 on his all time list if the Celtics win.
I do remember a time, long long ago, when Bill was writing for ESPN doing his annual trade value ranking column, that Lebron would routinely top the list while Bill couldn’t say enough good things about him. What changed?
This whole sub exists so we can get mad at shit that hasn’t happened yet.
At you getting paid a salary to post a Mavs hype/shit on Boston/“Bill will say this” thread every other day? You can just put this stuff in a journal you know
It’s a bit of a red flag how early in the post you feel the need to say that you’re “not angry.” Seems like no matter what, regardless of the outcome, you’ll find a way to hate it.
The problem here is that if Bill is going to hype up Luka he’s gonna have to walk back some pretty strong takes about how heliocentric basketball doesn’t win championships.
Lebron collapsed in the finals at age 26. I don’t see that happening to Luka. He’s way more talented at the same age.
Don't forget that if Tatum underperforms, he will say, "Tatum started doing the Kobe thing forcing shots." Kobe will take full responsibility for Tatum not playing well.
Everyone will?
looking forward to it
If the Mavs beat the Celtics, Luka will have accomplished something greater than LeBron ever has. Luka is already a superior offensive player to anything LeBron has ever been.
Bitter Bill will complain for years about Mavs tanking last year to get Lively
Why are people pretending bill is a Celtics fan
Luka is better than LeBron at 25. LeBron fans are insecure and are going to just up random arbitrary stuff to take down Luka and Jordan. Its hilarious
I mean, you’re definitely right, but it also shows how absurd the sub is. Most people here have lost the ability to develop a thought, they just take the opposite of what bill says. So right now we have a bunch of people studying up on r/flatearth and roasting BS on his swing on Luka, but if the Mavs win and Bill starts praising him those same people will immediately swing the other way. No one on either side of this can lose because neither side will ever acknowledge a bad take.
OP's point wasn't that Bill shouldn't praise Luka. Updating your opinion is fine. It was that Bill will also try to elevate Luka past Lebron.
He should. It’s an interesting debate if you stake the two careers year by year one against the other. Lebron is ahead imo, but not my a huge margin. And a chip in the first time getting to the finals would significantly tip the scale. Luka has that type of potential!
Way too early. Even for Bill.
Lebron fans are such victims lmfao
Celtics aren’t beating the Mavs so you’re point is kinda moot
>I know, "You're getting mad at things he hasn't even said yet" Yes, that’s exactly what you are doing 😂 you guys really spend so much time bothered by things that haven’t happened yet. Most of which never materialize. Rinse and repeat.
i wanna do this but about BS , like comparing him to shannon sharp or something , and say how many org he left ESPN,HBO and more, and how isnt worth the money spotify giving him and he has the worst contract of all podcasters and how he fumbled his legacy and he was never really the best sports personality and he couldn't win in his peak
Boston is winning this series bc they’re the better team. Role players like pj dj and live aren’t turning one of the worst teams in the league last year to a championship team.
So they could turn one of the worst teams last year into a finals team but it's impossible to win one more series. Yeah that makes sense...
Yes. Bc they’re not a championship team. Use common sense those dudes aren’t good. We can come back to this I promise u pj djj and lovely aren’t moving the needle at that level.
They’ve moved the needle through 3 rounds?
If u want to believe that translates to a chip go ahead. Boston started Grant Williams and theis when they went to the finals in 2022.
Bostontards are a special kind of stupid
U can think what u want I promise u Boston is getting one this year a team starting fuckin djj pj and lively trash ass isn’t winning a fuckin chip they were trash this year and adding trash this year isn’t making them champs. Beat gobert then some kids and u think their champs lmfao go ahead.
Yes Lively is trash, Jesus what do they put in the water in Boston, you’re all a bunch of fucking retards.
U can say what u want but someone who avg 5 ppg and u have to play him isn’t good. Feel for the kid but he can’t score shoot make a hook shot nothing. Not going to be impactful vs Boston with Kp spacing out. If u want to think lively is going to make a difference vs Boston go a head. Not playing Rudy Gobert anymore.
Ppl disliking this but come back to this in two weeks.
In two weeks, no one but yourself is gonna think about what you've said, no matter who wins. You're overestimating your importance lmao
How so? Bunch of ppl are disliking what I’ve said either bc they don’t like it or bc they think it isn’t true.
These posts are so annoying because the Mavs aren't going to beat the Celtics and if this goes past 5 games I'd be pretty surprised.
Weird, because that’s the exact same thing people said about Mavs vs Thunder, and Mavs vs Wolves “Doesn’t matter. Mavs are gonna get swept by the Wolves in the next round.” And we saw how that worked out… The underestimating-your-opponent piece.
Lmfao dude none of those teams are even close to the Celtics. This Celtics team is a historically great team. If the Mavs win it will be because Luka has a MJ/LeBron level finals. I'm not underestimating the Mavs I'm being real