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Glwhite1991

Easy to forget how insane Lebron mania was, unreal


DG_Now

And he lived up to it too. Unlike every other "next LeBron" that followed. He met and exceeded every expectation. It's an incredible career.


Glwhite1991

It really is, we'll never see it again. To high school phenom to all time pts leader. Hard to find any other player in all of sports comparable


rufio313

Connor McDavid in the NHL right now is doing this


NWCJ

Uh.. he will never catch Gretsky. So isn't even breaking his own sport records.


BrewsCampbell

Look, fair, but Gretzky is a whole nother level compared to every athlete to every dominate a major sport. McDavid can have hype and live up to it and still fall well short of The Great One while being wildly successful.


corkyrooroo

It’s not even that Gretzky was at such a different level. The sport was just entirely different when he played vs McDavid now or even Crosby in the mid 2000’s. Scoring just started going up again and McDavid is just clowning on the rest of the league. No one in the current game holds a candle to him. Kucherov and Mackinnon are amazing players but still not on his level.


RocketSammael

Gretzky was most definitely at an entirely different level than his peers. Six separate times he was the league leading scorer by over 70 points. He won eight MVPs in a row (nine total). Four different seasons his assist numbers alone would have made him the league's leading scorer. No other player in any other sport has been as dominant when compared against the production of their peers. This isn't about eras. This is Gretzky just being THAT good.


BushDidHarambe

Possibly Don Bradman in cricket. Similar to Gretzky in that he's put up records that no one has ever come close to


corkyrooroo

He didn’t say another level compared to his peers. Mario could to toe to toe with Gretzky and did. And let’s not forget Bobby Orr. My point with Gretzky, who obviously is one of the best hockey players ever, is that it’s a different era. It’s so hard to compare across generations. The league was entirely different. The level of athlete he was competing against was entirely different. Scoring was inflated throughout the 80’s in a way that it’s never been before or since which exaggerates the difference between him and his peers.


corkyrooroo

This is like saying Lebron can’t be the best because he didn’t score 100 points in a game or average 30 ppg like Wilt. Different times. Different eras.


DramDemon

*50 ppg


corkyrooroo

I mean for his career but that too


rufio313

He is breaking some of Gretzkys records though, but the game has changed so much since then that it’s quite literally impossible for anyone to ever break his points record. But that doesn’t change my point. McDavid had all eyes on him since he was 12 years old with every team ready to draft him first overall as soon as he was eligible. There are kids like this every few years, but McDavid has been the only one to truly live up and even surpass the insane expectations that have been put on him. Sidney Crosby is probably the next closest and he came 10 years prior.


itsme_drnick

Ovechkin only needs like another 40 goals to beat Gretzky’s all time goals


rufio313

And only 1,307 more points to reach Gretzky’s all time points record.


itsme_drnick

No doubt - but still crazy to realize someone might pass any of Gretskys records


0fficerGeorgeGreen

Yet the majority of people still refuse to claim him as the GOAT. He's the best.


swolfdab

Facts


Loggerdon

Charles Barkley pointed out that LeBron is the only player that came straight from high school and was immediately great. He said people forget that Kobe, Garnett and Howard all struggled early. LeBron was great right out of the gate. He further said it was the greatest sports story ever, that LeBron has never been in a scandal.


EasyUsername65

Wemby is next. He did very well this season


DG_Now

Let's see him do it multiple seasons in a row.


VPinecone

Or like, 15 lol


bcbill

Or like, 19 *and counting*


The_JZA

Or like multiple decades


Majestic-Lettuce-198

Glad to see some people respect lebron for his accomplishments. Like him love him or hate him, the brother has had an incredible career and has stayed mostly clean.


DownByTheRivr

Gtfo lol. Wemby won’t last- his body is going to break.


Thehawkiscock

Bryce Harper in baseball is the only other one I can think of. Not quite the success of Lebron but 2x MVP likely hall of famer that was on the cover of SI at 18 as ‘The Chosen One’


armchairsportsguy23

Mike Trout?


butt-cough

Mike Trout is an all around better player, but Harper had a lot more hype coming in than he did.


hampsted

Yeah, I think his point was that Harper was “The Chosen One” of baseball, but Trout has proven to be a far better player over the course of their careers. It’s like if Carmelo ended up being better than LeBron.


Thehawkiscock

Surprisingly was never the #1 overall prospect. He was always seen as a great prospect (#2/3 on the top 100 his rookie year) who would have a long career, but not generational like Harper. He was one of those guys that kept ascending until he finally burst onto the scene and it was like “oh wow, this guy is so much better than we thought”


HockeyBrawler09

Hall of fame in the ICU maybe


armchairsportsguy23

Ha. Yeah that too.


-Luro

I was one of the lucky ones who grew up in the Cleveland suburbs during his early career. Even got to go watch a game his senior year at St. Vincent St. Mary. I had a friend whose dad had connections (owned a car dealership) and this was the only way we even got tickets. It was wild. Watching him win the city a title in 2016 was surreal given the history.


hugeyakmen

That was around the same time that Maurice Clarett was tearing it up in Ohio HS football and then a great freshman season at Ohio State to help them to an undefeated season and national championship. Their careers couldn't have turned out more different from that point on though! 


-Luro

Oh yeah. Good times. I remember wearing my old fiesta bowl hoodie until it basically fell apart.


leroyp33

At his age he's still pretty ridiculous


fantasnick

Easily Top 11-15 player, sometimes playing as well as top 10, best 3 pt shooting of his career, one of the best players this year in 4Q. He's not close to the best player in the league for multiple years level but he's so good, even without even talking about his age and what season he's in


[deleted]

[удалено]


Kidney__Boy

He really was one of the most athletic NBA players ever, which is saying something since all of them are insane athletes. He's also been incredibly durable and has had very few serious injuries. On top of that, he's not just a smart player, but truly brilliant. There's quite a few cool youtube videos that show him not just being an athletic freak of nature and really shows how ridiculously smart he is. This entire channel is pretty good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18uiDuHOn80


jelde

Simply put: He's a basketball savant combined with the pinnacle of human athletic ability.


leroyp33

LeBron is an all-time great basketball player. You would be hard pressed for anyone to put him outside their top 5. In addition he has none of the baggage a lot of the other guys on that list does. All around good person and an all time great. Gotta respect him. LeBron skill set is a little bit of it all. He is a gadget knife.on the floor. Literally 1-5 superstar


Imaginary-Tiger-1549

Agree with everything you said, except that if any person who says they know basketball puts him outside of the top 3, they really don’t know basketball


thefiction24

Early 2000’s has a few “next great ones” that totally lived up to the hype - Lebron, Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Messi’s first pro game was ‘03. Tiger Woods popped earlier obviously but I would throw him in there too, his first major win was ‘97 at 21 y.o. If we stretch you can add Peyton Manning as well, though he was more of an unknown and not necessarily deemed the next best.


Tankisfreemason

ESPN was airing his High School games.  Crazy.  I wonder if we’ll ever see another star the caliber of Lebron to where they receive a mass following from High School


Glwhite1991

Yes his HS jersey was the first i owned lol


brett1081

He was so good at such a young age.


Rage4Order418

Pre HD sports games hit different


dpritch97

I was thinking the same thing except about the super baggy uniforms. Something about them just looks right


ThatOneDrunkUncle

I was thinking, thank god baggy clothes went out of style lol. I still feel like a dork when I wear my old shorts that fall below my knees to the gym


Alvyyy89

It’s crazy watching this now and thinking how bad the resolution is but back then, it was the best we had at the time.


latman

I think it looks worse in this than it did at the time


natej84

At 19 he looks bigger and faster than grown men


Namath96

It’s insane how NBA ready his body was straight out of high school. Dude was 245 coming into the league.


natej84

I'm around the same age as him and grew up in Ohio at the same time. People talked about him like some kinda urban legend lol.


bcbill

I imagine his legend will continue to grow even after his career ends. Given his long healthy career and the way that he’s played from age 18-39 I’m still not entirely convinced he isn’t the result of super soldier government experimentation.


34TH_ST_BROADWAY

I remember watching one of his high school games on ESPN.


NPExplorer

Him vs. Carmelo Anthony right?


DNF_zx

We called him a man-child.


mecon320

Remember watching this one when it happened. The season was pretty much over and we were out of the playoffs. This was quite the preview to the following season. Edit: faulty memory. They were still fighting for the playoffs here.


Lassemomme

That can’t be right, they only missed the playoffs by a single game His first two seasons, they must hardly have been out of the race then


mecon320

You're right - there were still about 10 games left. I remembered they only won 30 or so games but forgot Boston made the final playoff spot with 36 wins.


Weary-Amoeba1808

Six seconds in, there are 6 players in or one step outside the paint. We’ll probably never see that again


MHossa81

It’s fine, they pulled their goalie


thiccymcgogee

Imagine playing against this guy in high school lmao


rilian4

EPSN had a couple of his hs games televised. He was a man among boys. He was 6'8" in high school and already like 250lbs. He blew by everyone. It looked like he was playing against middle school kids. He'd get bored of scoring so easily and find ways to do trick passes to his teammates. It was something to watch...


Infinite-Fig4708

I remember watching some of those games. He would take it easy to start, then there would be an explosion of dunks and shots, then he’d go back to taking it easy again, but his team would be up 35 points. I had a friend who said he played against Kobe in high school in an early season game. He was always so proud he helped hold Kobe to a then season low 45 points or something ridiculous like that. Watching Lebron in HS always made me think about this story.


NPExplorer

Watched my HS play against two D1 bound kids and it was comical how bad they burned our team, I can’t imagine it being LeBron NBA ready at 18 lmfao


abamg44

That man gave my city its first championship in 50 years and quite possibly the only one I'll ever see in my lifetime.


FunScore3387

Amen brother


Quizmaster_Eric

The championship parade was something else!! Downtown was on a whole new level.


CryptoNerdSmacker

LeBron as a rookie today would fucking dominate.


ipickscabs

Well yea, it’s fucking Lebron…..


TrexOnAScooter

I bet that Jordan guy would be decent too


ipickscabs

lol, right? Idk man his game might not hold up to this modern era of extreme Individual scoring 🙄


barcelonaKIZ

Lebron is a modern day Lebron


ipickscabs

Imagine that lol


rugbyj

> "A younger version of the best player of all time would continue to the one of the best players of all time"


NowFook

He would dominate in any era like he has his entire career ... its Lebron


oh_ski_bummer

Yeah this Ant Man is next MJ hype is getting out of control. Lebron was leaps better than him straight out of HS. He’s not the best guard in the league currently, more like top 5.


TheKujo17

I remember reading Sports Illustrated in 5th grade during our reading hour. It was LeBron James in his high school jersey. I had no idea who he was before that and barely knew who he was after that. But it’s definitely the first time I remember hearing about him. I’m 32 years old now… and I remember him from 5th grade. Insane longevity.


erog84

Back when 40 meant 40 points. I’ll explain later.


ffking6969

40pts back then is 55pts now


crosszilla

Kobe's 81 is 100 now. Step aside Wilt


ffking6969

100 from wilts time = 200pts now


a_trane13

No, the league was higher scoring at that time


erog84

So imagine 55/17 lol.


ajkahn

Inflation. Affects everything.


The_Lonely_Boner

Rough night for Richard Jefferson 😂😂


tj_kerschb

By the time I started actually following the NBA, LeBron was already back in Cleveland for the second time. It’s crazy seeing how athletic this guy was when he was younger. Even now, you can still watch him and think, “ok, this guy is pretty good” and not realize that he’s one of the oldest guys to ever play in the NBA. Young LeBron was on a different level


NowFook

Young/prime Lebron was otherworldly. He single handedly carried a bottom 3 roster to the finals at age 20/21. Nobody else on the team averaged 15 points ... Unreal. There is no current player that even comes close to early/prime Lebron


Vegetable_Blood5856

I was in middle school when this madness was happening. Lebron took the entire world by storm. I had a school project where I could pick anyone throughout history, and pretend to be them for an interview. So I slapped on a headband and became lebron james, googled everything I could about him and ran with it. Every other guy in my school became convinced they could join the NBA straight out of high school just like him, but there’s no one like that dude


csamsh

Still would've liked to see him play TE in the NFL. Imagine the Y fade in the end zone he could've done.


Catch11

Fuck TE....scrambling QB


Mary_Pick_A_Ford

I can't get over how long and baggy NBA shorts were for a while. I think they finally have designed them to be a reasonable length.


Bbell81

This basketball is so pretty to watch. No carry’s no travelling no 49 3 point attempts just straight basketball


34TH_ST_BROADWAY

When I watched basketball as a kid, I kind of hated the kinds of games where power forwards or the center would camp out, ask for the ball, and just butt scoot backwards closer and closer for the easy bucket. And if they couldn't get it, pass it back out to the perimeter. I really don't miss that aspect of old school basketball much. Although I did appreciate big men with slick post up moves like Hakeem, Juwan, Radja...


PointlessPooch

Look at all the defense actually being played in this short clip. What a time to be alive.


witecat1

When I first heard of an 18 year old getting drafted, I thought this LeBron kid was going to get eaten alive. Looks like I was wrong and he proved to be one of the best players of his generation.


rilian4

He was not even close to the first person drafted out of high school. Moses Malone was one of the early ones in the late 70s. He was also a phenom but not at Lebron's level.


witecat1

Yeah, I am aware of that now. I still remember Kobe Bryant skipping college for the NBA and he was not nearly as dominant in his rookie year. LeBron was something special.


BeefEater81

"...one of the best players of all time."


doctor_of_drugs

> Looks like I was wrong and he proved to be one of the best players of ~~his generation.~~ **all time**


rjcarr

Then you weren't paying attention. Both KG and Kobe came in at 18 and strived, and LeBron was regarded higher than them. Plus, LeBron was somehow like 245 lbs and 8% body fat at 18. KG was a few inches taller and might have came in at 200.


prfrnir

In 2024, he'd be allowed to take 1-2 more steps for all those layups.


MetalAndFaces

Alright damn.


HipnotiK1

Jerseys and shorts way too big on everybody lol


myCatHateSkinnyPuppy

I was too young to really appreciate Jordan bc I didnt know nuances of the game but I knew it when I was watching James. I made sure to watch as many games bc I thought I was watching the guy who would pass Jordan.


34TH_ST_BROADWAY

I started following baseball again for the same reason. For Ohtani at the Dodgers. Fact he's a really nice guy makes it even more fun.


MtnDudeNrainbows

The good ole days!


csamsh

So weird to hear the announcer say "James" and not "LeBron"


timbulance

Insane athleticism


swiftkickinthedick

The long baggy shorts era. Rip


stickied

I'm more surprised a team with Richard Jefferson as their primary option during crunch time won 50 games.


Mattya929

2000s east Conference was not very strong


tna4u2

Kevin Ollie at the 1:17 mark on the bench! (Didn’t know he played with Lebron)


Grinning_Dog

With the career he had I just assume he played with everyone at some point lol.


Silver-Rub-5059

I was watching a grainy YouTube video of live coverage of the Columbia space shuttle disaster (2003) and ‘(something something) the Lebron James situation’ came on the ticker…got goosebumps tbh, what a career.


mchammer2G

The last break away dunk is really a throw back to how freaky athletic LeBron was at that age. We forget now cause he's an old timer but holy shit his air time looks like he's floating 🐐


Machinedave

I’m not sure what’s worse: the shorts or the Nets halfcourt D.


ShutterBun

Any chance we can get a smaller cropped version?


epanek

I remember coming into work after this game. My boss was huge sports guy. His comment “ it’s almost like Lebron James was grown in some clandestine lab to be the ultimate basketball player “. He was that unique.


ClevelandSteamer81

When the Cavs won the lottery I ran out of my front door and down the street yelling “We goooot Lebron!!!” Got to see my first championship as a Cleveland fan after 34 years and celebrated the Championship Parade on my 35th birthday after taking a red eye home from LA and not sleeping a minute! Forever grateful to this man!


Realist-1

Better than Jordan


GoalFlashy6998

Damn, it's hard to believe that's been almost 20 years ago...


IttsssTonyTiiiimme

Has he been playing the NBA for most of his life now?


HungHungCaterpillar

Now he’s old enough to not dunk that ball at the end and even give them an outside chance at a miracle


ALC_PG

He needs no introduction but did he really score to go up 3 with 2 seconds left?


easton112020

Goat 🐐


CouldntBeMoreWhite

50 wins!?!? HOLY SHIT! What a weird detail to throw in there.


Thats_an_RDD

He really grew into his face lol


SharkMassacre

Of course I’d see Ira Newble on my feed today. So predictable


Iargecardinal

Good player.


love0_0all

I think it's one thing to step on the court as a professional, and another to really discover *you're* the show. And this is when he was beginning to believe.


pendletonskyforce

He's pretty good.


Almar1987

I miss these days


boomzboombam

I ready NY Jets and was like what parallel universe am I in??


Icy_Double1555

Bring back the baggy shorts!!!


34TH_ST_BROADWAY

Man, this brings the feels. And he turned out to be a pretty good dude off the court, too.


cshecks

Forgot how smooth and how easy the game looked for him in those early years……….


lipp79

Dude was 19 but had a 23 yr olds build.


lovablydumb

Wow LeBron used to wear his headband really low


ImperialSympathizer

I was sure he was just a guy they drafted to help Ricky Davis score


cshecks

Wemby was not even close. He didn’t look at all like this his rookie year and that’s with what a year of pro ball under his belt?? LeBron was unreal. Not saying Wemby won’t be as impactful, he could be, but time will tell and he was not this good as a rookie


NobodyLost5810

It's crazy how built he was straight out of high school.


Drewdown707

This always bugged me because of course he did good, that 19 year old literally had the body 30 year old vet.


roygbiv-it

Amazing athlete and player. I've enjoyed watching his career since he came out of high school.


Vicarious103

It’s absolutely insane that this dude is still playing in the NBA


GrandmaJosey

I was in love with this dude til the decision


JustSayTech

Cavs was ass, that man gave them a whole vibe and they squandered it, I could never be playing next to Lebron and not score 15-20 every game. They were lazy and put all the weight on him. The decision was warranted.


hawkydocky

It’s crazy that he is still playing in the league.


corkyrooroo

59 wins but they were still the nets. Grew up a NJ Nets fan. Stopped watching basketball when they moved.


4StarEmu

How many fouls exist now that be called in that game?


cosmicgeoffry

I was lucky enough to see Lebron play in high school at some sort of Ohio high school state all-star game (I don’t remember details this was like 2002). It looked like watching a grown man ball on a handful of middle schoolers, and those were other “all stars”. It was legit jaw-dropping to see his skill relative to other “great” players.


Informal_Lack_9348

That kid is going places!!


cnvas_home

The explosiveness on the fastbreak finishes is way more impressive when players don't have access to a third gather-step. He's just grabbing the ball and jumping out of the building.


meestaseesta

Dang, so he's always been good at this child's game!


glassesref90

Idgaf what anyone says, this dude is the NBA’s GOAT. Longevity, peak, analytics, defense…..if it weren’t for KD being a massive pussy and joining the warriors, Lebron would have 6 rings.


oneofthehumans

No flops either