Is Lebron James the greatest pure athlete the world has ever known?

jarheadstowe33 said:
One point I feel like most people are missing here is the longevity piece especially in comparing Lebron and someone like Bo Jackson. Lebron won his first MVP in 09 and has been one of the top three if not the absolute best player on the planet since then. Bo played three years of pro football and baseball at the same time and his body had basically broken down by 1990/91. To me Bo Jackson is one of the great "What if" scenarios where if he stayed healthy how far could he have pushed his success but at the end of the day his career accomplishments of 1 pro bowl and 1 MLB all star team don't account to much when compared to Lebron's accolades. (enter Lebron haters with a new extremely clever nickname created by inserting a different word into Lebron):eek::eek:
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Yeah, imagine if Bo had access to modern PED's bet his longevity would be up there......<45>
 
jarheadstowe33 said:
One point I feel like most people are missing here is the longevity piece especially in comparing Lebron and someone like Bo Jackson. Lebron won his first MVP in 09 and has been one of the top three if not the absolute best player on the planet since then. Bo played three years of pro football and baseball at the same time and his body had basically broken down by 1990/91. To me Bo Jackson is one of the great "What if" scenarios where if he stayed healthy how far could he have pushed his success but at the end of the day his career accomplishments of 1 pro bowl and 1 MLB all star team don't account to much when compared to Lebron's accolades. (enter Lebron haters with a new extremely clever nickname created by inserting a different word into Lebron):eek::eek:
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I don't use longevity as a metric because so many factors play into beyond actual athleticism (luck, era/workout knowledge, etc.). Most consider Barry Sanders one of if not the best running back of all time, but he played less than a decade. In my eyes, peak is what I use.

If some guy got drafted to the NBA next year, and was jumping out of the gym, out pacing everyone, and was a pure beast of a player, then had a career ending injury, I couldn't ignore all that just because he didn't last long.
 
There are a lot of sports where being big and athletic helps. Stuff like basketball, American Football, Bobsleigh, Swimming, Rugby, etc.

And stuff where its at a disadvantage like gymnastics and horse jockey

And some sports where size doesn't matter as much like soccer, tennis, badminton, skiing sports, boxing and mma (both because of weight classes).

Like a lot of people mentioned, "Best Athlete" is hard to determine. Do you go by his current skill sets and see how he would do in other sports? Or do you play hypothetical and see how he would of done if he spend his life training in that particular sport?
 
Athletic.......please. Dude can't even do a back flip. Just because he is tall and has long arms does not mean he is the greatest athlete ever. Can he pole vault, run a marathon? Can he even swim?
Just because he plays a sport that people will pay money to watch does not mean he is a better athlete than others.
 
William Huggins said:
Yeah, imagine if Bo had access to modern PED's bet his longevity would be up there......<45>
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Yeah just imagine... he could have made three pro bowls or maybe won a single rushing title or better yet could have batted over .300 a single time. Remind me when has Lebron ever tested positive for PEDs? Or even be accused of it(unlike Bo Jackson)?
 
jarheadstowe33 said:
Yeah just imagine... he could have made three pro bowls or maybe won a single rushing title or better yet could have batted over .300 a single time. Remind me when has Lebron ever tested positive for PEDs? Or even be accused of it(unlike Bo Jackson)?
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I'm guessing English is your second language and or you had a sexual relationship with Lebron?
 
Danny Ainge like a mofo
 
WandySaku2 said:
I don't use longevity as a metric because so many factors play into beyond actual athleticism (luck, era/workout knowledge, etc.). Most consider Barry Sanders one of if not the best running back of all time, but he played less than a decade. In my eyes, peak is what I use.

If some guy got drafted to the NBA next year, and was jumping out of the gym, out pacing everyone, and was a pure beast of a player, then had a career ending injury, I couldn't ignore all that just because he didn't last long.
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I think that's fair. For me the length dominance has to come into play when it's two vastly different careers like this comparison but I definitely agree that I would take Barry Sanders peak over even someone like Emmitt Smith who had a more favorable situation and played for longer.
 
He could have been UFC champ with 6 months of training.
 
tenor.gif
 
Spounman said:
No, lebron acts like he gets shot every time he's fouled, he's a bitch. He's just big and fast, which he uses to drive to the basket to either score or be fouled.
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Yeah he complains a shitload to the refs, that annoys me. That said OP is probably not that far off.

I wonder who the best white athlete of all time is, and where he'd be on the all time list? Into the 100s I'm guessing.
 
n...not crazy said:
He would never have survived the 80s/90s and Rick Mahorn, etc. He cries already, they would have killed him.
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To be fair, whining and complaining about being fouled is all part of the game in order to get calls to go your way now. I don't think most of the fouls actually physically hurt him. Though I don't think he'd have the mentality to be an MMA fighter as he's been coddled his entire life.

I agree with many other posters here in the Bo Jackson has to be on the short list of best athletes ever.
 
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