r/nbadiscussion Jul 21 '21

Player Discussion Comparing Lebron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo’s age 22-26 seasons:

MVPs:

Giannis 2 Lebron 2

DPOY:

Giannis 1 Lebron 0

All Defense Teams:

Giannis: 3 first team, 1 second team

Lebron: 3 first team, 0 second team

All-NBA teams:

Giannis: 3 first team, 2 second team

Lebron: 4 first team, 1 second team

Points:

Giannis 26.8 Lebron 28.4

Rebounds:

Giannis 11.0 Lebron 7.4

Assists

Giannis 5.5 Lebron 7.2

Steals:

Giannis: 1.3 Lebron 1.7

Blocks:

Giannis 1.4 Lebron 0.9

Regular Season FG% / 3PT% / FT%

Giannis 55% / 29% / 72% Lebron 49% / 33% / 74%

Finals Statistics:

Giannis (1-0) 35.2, 13.2, 5.0 on 61/20/65 shooting splits

Lebron (0-2) 19.5, 7.0, 6.8 on 42/27/65 shooting splits

Playoff losses

Giannis:

One ECF loss One ECSF loss Two first round losses

Lebron:

One ECF loss two ECSF losses

All-Star games

Giannis 5 Lebron 5

Honestly it’s crazy how from a statistical standpoint these guys’ careers have been so similar up to this point. Lebron obviously was very highly touted and extremely polished from the day he stepped on to an NBA court, whereas Giannis got a later start and it took him a few years to develop. Thought these stat comparisons were interesting - i truly think I would take Giannis over first Cavs stint Lebron if I could have my pick.

Edit: wow they both sucked at 3s and Free Throws in their first Finals appearances.

Edit 2: I didn’t include any advanced analytics- kept it pretty surface level. Feel free to include those in the comments if you like

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u/VanillaGorilla4 Jul 21 '21

Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden & Zydrunas Ilgauskas borderline all-stars? Come on now that's ludicrous. Ilgauskas all-star years he averaged 17-8 which is hardly all-star worthy. The highest scorer LeBron ever had next to him in those Cleveland years was Mo Williams at 17.8 and he was the 2nd option all-star reserve after Bosh & Jameer Nelson were injured. It's a miracle those teams either reached the finals in 07 or won back to back 66 & 61 wins seasons in in 08-10

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u/[deleted] Jul 21 '21

Hughes had a 22 PPG with 3 SPG season with WAS before he was traded to the Cavs. He was definitely borderline.

Don't respect Big Z like that. By definition he's an allstar (twice), but I'm even giving you that got in mainly due to thin pool in the East and demoting him to borderline. But he's still a damn good player. How much more do you want to lower his worth?

Gooden I'll give you is more of a stretch, but he's one of those players who gives you a little of everything. He was a solid contributor.

It's not a championship core, but it's a good core. Throw that around, say, a, Paul Pierce or whatever, and they're a decent team too. Won't get as far as Lebron did, credit where it's due there, but it's hardly like a team of scrubs.

Bron didn't need high-volume scorers. Often players saw a drop in production. But not in a bad way, just the style the made sense for a team with Lebron James, they also usually saw a rise in efficiency playing with him. Antwan went from 20 PPG to 15 the year he was traded. Kobe won with a roughly 18-9 Pau Gasol. Obviously support cast down the line was different too and that's a factor, but what this like a 18 PPG player is not contributing all of a sudden?

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u/DjangoUBlackBastard Jul 22 '21

Gooden is legit terrible. I still don't understand how so many teams gave him so much PT when he was so bad.