Lebron great at being good?

I think the issue is no one on that team can create their own shot.  Yeah they can hit open jumpers, but its after Lebron has drawn a double team.  You saw it at the end of the half when Lebron sat with his 3rd foul.  They just passed the ball around the perimeter hoping someone would get lucky.

I agree with the other aspects of their game though.  They are very good defensively and at rebounding.   They do start two 7+ footers though.

Yesterday, in the fourth quarter was the first time I can recall Daniel Gibson creating his own shot.

Remember that Lebron is still only 23 and I think most people would say he is a top five player in the game. Can he improve? Yes, and he's young enough to be able to do it. I still think his game against Detroit last year where he scored almost every point at the end of the fourth quarter and into OT was one of the greatest efforts ever.

One thing that makes Lebron great is his ability to do so many things so well. He passes, rebounds, usually shoots well and his defense has greatly improved. So much so that he should be considered one of the top defenders in the game in the upcoming years.

Irish....

25 straight points.

That's beyond great.

The guy has season averages that Jordan only matched once. The only person to out do LBJ was Oscar Robertson...think about that....and then try to say he's just 'good'. He's better then Magic. If you ever watched Magic, you'd know he was not much of a scoring threat.

LeBron James

30.0 PPG (1st), 7.2 APG (10th), 7.9 RPG (27th), 48.4 FG% (41st)

Kobe Bryant

28.3 PPG, 5.4 APG, 6.3 RPG, 45.9 FG%

I think beating the league MVP in every major stat probably qualifies as great, and the fact that he has 7 fewer years of experience than said MVP means you're probably looking at one of the greatest ever.

Just out of curiosity, what would qualify as great for you? Does he need to have 40, 10, and 10 or what?

Yeah try to dig up a tape of last years game 5 versus the Pistons and you may change your mind as he had THE most prolific performance I have ever witnessed in my 27 year life.

I think where the thread creator is coming from however is more of a "consistency" standpoint.  No doubt Lebron is great but he has yet to provide "great consitency" and especially in the playoffs. 

I'm not sure where that was even implied... Besides, the year you're referring to Kobe also had near career lows in assists and rebounds. If Lebron was as selfish with the ball as Kobe was that year, he could easily throw down 35 or 40 a game as well.

My point is that Kobe is often thought of as the best player in the league, and Lebron leads him in every major statistical category, so to think of Lebron as anything but a great player is a little ridiculous. You can even look at career numbers for the two and Lebron leads Kobe in FG%, PPG, RPG, APG, StealsPG, and BlocksPG. The only things that Kobe really does better, and not much better at that, are shoot 3s, shoot FTs, and defend.

I'm not saying that Kobe isn't great as well, but to consider Lebron anything but great is grossly underrating what Lebron is accomplishing.

Irish...

You're kidding right?  I'm not trying start a fight, I'm truly wondering if you were being serious or not.  Cuz the LeBron I watch basically amazes me every time I watch him.  We're talking about a guy that just dominated game 4 against the Celtics and he shot 7-20 from the field.  I mean, doesn't that amaze you?  He shot that poorly but still dominated the game.  He hit timely shots, played lock down D on Pierce, blocked the mess out of Garnett in the 4th for 1 of his 2 blocks, stepped into passing lanes for 3 steals, dished out 13 assists, pulled down 6 boards, unprecedently draws so much attetention from their defense that they use 3 sometimes 4 guys to stop him, has to be tackled in order to stop him when he drives (no one gets fouled in the manner that LeBron James gets fouled on a consistent basis as he does), and leads his team AT 23 YEARS OLD.  Now, I believe he still has much improvement to make on his game, in particular his jump shot.  But that's just it, the guy is so good now and he can still get better.  His killer instinct (ie MJ and Bird) is still developing.  MJ didnt have it until he was 7 years into the league (the year of his 1st title; don't forget he had a few years to develop in college too).   

Wow, an actual post where I agree with rldolph79. Maybe he's starting to change his ways.

Your reasoning seems a bit off-kilter in my opinion.

LeBron isn't great because he hasn't won a title, but the Celtics have "three guys who are arguably some of the greatest in the game today" although not a single one of them (unless I'm mistaken) has a title. At what point does the number of years of experience outweigh the lack of NBA titles?

If LeBron went out for good right now he would be remembered in 10 years as one of the most amazing talents to ever play the game...his number have already earned him that right. Contrary to your opinion the numbers are everything in this league, and LeBron's numbers are ridiculous for any player but completely mind-boggling for someone so young. I'm not really sure how you can assert otherwise...

As you said, though, it's your opinion, and you're entitled to it. I guess the majority of us will just have to agree to disagree with you.