I'm not sure it's so clean cut. He's had a slew of injury issues and has taken off a bunch of games over the years for "load management." All that was in a much less physical NBA.
LeBron got his first serious injury and “load managed” more than a decade into his career, after playing more regular season and playoff minutes than any other player during that time. I believe he has some consecutive-games-played records too.
Wilts competition as in what many feel GOAT defensive player Bill Russel?
Glad you are back as I never laughed so hard. 
Don’t be ridiculous. Russell was the only player in the league who could play at his level, which is why he has such a ludicrous amount of championships.
I just want to add that there's a strong argument to be made the the game is overall more physically demanding now than it ever has been due to better training and the way the game is coached (especially on defense). The more clear and obvious distinction has to do with how rule changes affected physicality - what you could get away with without a foul - and changed the scoring rate overall across different eras. His whole first team retired before the introduction of the 3 point line.
+1
The conditioning and strength of today’s players is not to be believed. You can’t compare era to era but just because games looked scrapper does NOT mean today’s players aren’t as strong as or stronger than the players in the early days. Not to mention players are certainly taller and heavier today.
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Topic: NBA Master Thread (Read 755186 times)