The Best Football Player: Why Lebron Is The G.O.A.T.
The G. O. A. T (Greatest of All-Time) debate in basketball is a debate that will continue to go on forever. Many basketball fans from around the world will participate with their own thoughts and feelings on the matter. The reason this debate will never die is because there is so many different players that could be considered the GOAT, for example Kareem Abdul Jabbar the greatest scorer the game of basketball has ever known. The man who’s the NBA’s leading all-time scorer with 38,387 points over 20 seasons and arguably has the most unstoppable signature move ever: the skyhook. Or is it Bill Russell who has the most NBA titles ever at 11 Championships over 13 years, it could also be Wilt Chamberlain who is arguably the most dominant player to play the game of basketball, holds the record that no one will ever be able to break which is scoring 100 points in a single game and averaged 50. 4 PPG (points per game) over the course of the entire 61-62 season. These are all great players who have their own argument for being the GOAT, but true basketball fans know that the GOAT debate boils down to 2 people: LeBron James and Michael Jordan and I think LeBron James is better. We will discuss our arguments for this below in this "The Best Football Player According To Many: Why Lebron Is The G.O.A.T. Essay" paper.
LeBron James is a better all-round player, although LeBron has a higher 2pt percentage at 54. 3% to MJ’s 51% and 3pt percentage at 34. 2% on 4 attempts per game and MJ’s 32. 7% on 1. 7 attempts and can score in many different ways, MJ is without a doubt the better scorer and that is universally known but Lebron is the better in pretty much all other aspects of the game. He is the better passer, he has 8524 assists to MJ’s 5633 that’s a difference of 2891 assists that’s nearly 3000 more assists this clearly shows that LeBron is a great playmaker and is better at setting up his teammates and his assist total will continue to climb as he hasn’t finished playing yet. He also has 2099 more rebounds MJ at 8771 and MJ’s rebound total is 6672, per 100 possessions Lebron’s rebound average is 9. 8 and MJ’s is 8. 3. Defensively Lebron is better, for his position MJ was a tenacious defender but Lebron can guard all five positions, he’s quick enough to switch on smaller guards on screens and is physically able to deal with power forwards, centers and players at his own position down in the post. MJ was a better one-on-one defender but being able to guard all the position is more helpful to your team. To add to his impressive list of achievements he’s the only player in NBA history to be in top 10 in points and assists and recently passed MJ in All-Time leading regular season points for 4th place with 32,311 points.
In the playoffs Lebron is more successful. Now any basketball fan would strongly disagree with this statement and they have every right to, MJ has a 6-0 finals record, has never lost in the Finals and has never been to a game 7 in the finals, although LeBron's finals record is 3-6 and could never get close to MJ’s record, LeBron has played 60 more playoff games than MJ at 239 games and MJ’s 179 games has been to 9 finals in total and 8 straight finals since 2010, has been to the playoffs 13 times and hasn’t missed the playoffs since the 2005-06 season. Lebron is also the all-time leading scorer in the playoffs with 6911 points, is top 3 in assists with 1687 and is in the top 10 in 4 of the 5 major statistical categories (Points, Assists, Rebounds, Steals and Blocks).
Lebron has the biggest impact to his team. Teams led by Lebron James always make it to the playoffs or do well in the regular season no matter what players are around him. In his rookie season he joined a Cavaliers team that were joint-bottom of the league with a 17-65 record to being one game away from making the playoffs. When he left for Miami, the following year the Cavs went 19-63. When he came back to the Cavs after leaving for Miami, he led them to 59-29 record winning 20 more games than the previous season. When he left a second time for the Lakers this season, they are currently 14-47. When MJ left the first time, the Bulls won 55 games and made it to the Eastern Conference Finals, this proves that Lebron does so much more for his team than Jordan.
Lebron James has also had a greater impact to society than MJ. Being a black kid born in Akron, Ohio, and raised by a single parent, is a role model to young black kids who are in his position when he was a kid. Was raised by his mum Gloria Marie James, his Dad who had an extensive criminal record wasn’t part of his life. He had a lot of struggles growing up, his mum never had a stable job and they always moved from house to house. When Lebron became the huge star that he is, he's gave back to the city of Akron by opening a public school for kids and paying for their education. In 2021 his foundation will be providing 2,000 full scholarships to the university of Akron for the kids who take part in the I Promise program. He sent proceeds from “The Decision” TV special to the Boys & Girls Club of America.
To sum up my arguments, I think that Lebron James is the Greatest of All-Time because he is not just a very good scorer like MJ, but he is also a better passer, rebounder and defender which contributes more to a team’s success than scoring. He also has better playoff performance albeit that his finals record can never be what MJ’s record was and that he also had 3 other H. O. F on his team but Lebron has been in the playoffs 13 times, played 239 games and is in the top ten of four of the five major statistical categories. He is also the more valuable player to his team, has the biggest impact on his team and hoe he plays basically dictates whether his team makes the playoffs or not and has the greatest influence on the American media and the communities around him than any other American sport athlete ever.
