~Lebron James future~

[beau_boy04]

1. What are your expectations of Lebron James for next season? What would/could he averaged now? 29-9-9? who knows...

2. After his rookie contract is over, do you think LBJ would demand an over 20+ or even 30+ millions per season? sort of what Shaq is demanding in Miami. Or would he sacrificed his wants (more money) for his needs (nba playoff and eventually a championship) and that way leave enough cap room for his team to sign good players? As far as I know Michael Jordan never made over 10 millions per season with the Bulls before his first retirement.

3. Where do you see Lebron James in 5 years? it's only been 2 years so far and he's exceeding all expectations.

The Nba is in good hands after all.

[Shakes]

1. What are your expectations of Lebron James for next season? What would he averaged now? 29-9-9? who knows...

It's hard to say what he'll average when we have no idea who else is even going to be on his team. Because he's a "do everything" type of player, he'll probably pick up some slack in whatever area the team is weak in and get a few numbers there. I don't think 29-9-9 is impossible for him, if he keeps improving at his current rate.

2. After his rookie contract is over, do you think LBJ would demand an over 20+ or even 30+ millions per season? sort of what Shaq is demanding in Miami. Or would he sacrificed his wants (more money) for his needs (nba playoff and eventually a championship). As far as I know Michael Jordan never made over 10 millions per season with the Bulls before his first retirement.

He's limited in what he can demand by the CBA. Shaq earns that much because his contract amount has been grandfathered in under old rules. I do think that if Cleveland don't put a winning team around him, his future there is looking shakey. He'd probably make more money signing on for the minimum in somewhere like New York, simply because of all the extra endorsement dollars he could earn, so I don't expect where he goes to be solely about money.

3. Where do you see Lebron James in 5 years? it's only been 2 years so far and he's exceeding all expectations.

The Nba is in good hands after all.

30-10-10 is within the realms of possibility. It would be a braver man than I am to suggest he's even close to hitting his peak. I think it would be hugely disappointing for everyone if he was still putting up huge numbers on bad teams 5 years from now though. It's clearly in the best interests of the game and the fans for him to be in the playoffs and shining on the big stage. Nobody wins a championship on their own though, so it's going to depend a lot on which team he's playing for in 5 years, and who they put around him.

[Kemp]

James stats future is depend on whether Michael Redd will join the Cavs. If Redd did sign with the Cavs, I don't think James can get 29-9-9, maybe 25-7-7. Without Redd, James stats can greatly increase year after year.

[Cu/Clux/Clan]

i think LBJ will be 28-10-10 next 5 years

[BOSS]

Hmm can he be the next Oscar Robertson with those numbers ?

[Fenix]

Wasn't he playing at a 25/8/8 level for a while past season? If you surround him with an outside threat a la Michael Redd his assists number would improve and he could spend less time at the perimeter > more rebounds. 29/9/9 plus two steals and a block is realistic enough.

I he averages 29/8/8/2 for the next fifteen years (and he plays minimum of 75 games in every of these seasons), would he become a career leader in steals, assists and points?

[AlwaysWhat,NeverWhy]

would he become a career leader in steals, assists and points?

He'll be close, but no cigar... Stockton averaged aroound 11 apg in 19-20 years, so that's out of reach...

Stock also was above 2spg for those 19-20 years, so that's a bit hard too.


Jabbar's scoring title would be up for grabs, but LBJ will need to average consistently more ppg than Karl Malone in 15+ years to get it done.

One thing he could break, is the triple double record...

[Cloudy]

He'll have a bigger chance of getting injured too..
Stockton doesn't have to play too much physical..
Kareem played against players his size..
But Bron Bron has to slash and bump into big men... sigh
Good luck Bron! Come to LA

[Indy]

1. What are your expectations of Lebron James for next season? What would/could he averaged now? 29-9-9? who knows...

He'll average 26/8/8

2. After his rookie contract is over, do you think LBJ would demand an over 20+ or even 30+ millions per season? sort of what Shaq is demanding in Miami. Or would he sacrificed his wants (more money) for his needs (nba playoff and eventually a championship) and that way leave enough cap room for his team to sign good players? As far as I know Michael Jordan never made over 10 millions per season with the Bulls before his first retirement.

I'm guessing he will demand something ridiculous from Cleveland such as 5 years 100 million dollars. They will then trade him to a team like New York or L.A. and get a lot of players in return, similar to the Shaq trade.

3. Where do you see Lebron James in 5 years? it's only been 2 years so far and he's exceeding all expectations.

Somewhere that isn't Cleveland, and he will have 2 or 3 MVP trophies, but no rings.

[Fenix]

He'll average 26/8/8

Didn't he already average 27ppg this season? Do you believe he will regress at the age of 20?

[fgrep15]

He'll hopefully improve his defense. I expect relatively the same numbers, but vastly improved defens, and maybe get to the line a little more.

28 PPG | 7 RPG | 7 APG | 2+ SPG

[Sauru]

He'll have a bigger chance of getting injured too..
Stockton doesn't have to play too much physical..
Kareem played against players his size..
But Bron Bron has to slash and bump into big men... sigh
Good luck Bron! Come to LA

you clearly never watched john stockton play. also about the kareem comment, if lebron bumps into those big men a few times a game when he breaks for the hoop, what do you think kareem went through constantly being guarded by them?

[beau_boy04]

Stockton averaged 10.5 apg and 2.17 spg in 1504 games. Those are not hard to break. If they surround LBJ with the right people, he'd lead the league in apg and total assist.

Karl Malone averaged 26.18 ppg in his first 13 seasons and the most shocking is he only missed 5 games in those 13 years.

[Andrew]

Seems a lot of people have LeBron pegged to average a triple double, which makes it sound like an easy feat. Remember a couple of years ago when Kobe had around 30, 7 and 5? Everyone was predicting he'd be up around 35-8-8 at least (some even saying he'd be close to 40 ppg), he hasn't come close to that since then.

I think LeBron's numbers will be about the same next year give or take, and that's by no means a bad thing. I think a lot of the improvements we'll see will be his ability to carry a team in the clutch, step up at the right times and defer at others, etc. I think it's wrong to assume just because he's 20 and averaging these numbers he'll explode for something like 30, 15 and 15 as he continues to get more experience.

Stockton averaged 10.5 apg and 2.17 spg in 1504 games. Those are not hard to break. If they surround LBJ with the right people, he'd lead the league in apg and total assist.

I couldn't disagree more. If it was a number that wasn't hard to break, more people would be besting that mark or very close to it. Also consider some of Stockton's highest career marks for assists per game. He had 8 straight seasons averaging at least 12 assists.

[maes]

His #s will go down.

He seems like a player focused on winning, not setting some meaningless personal stats on a losing team.

As his team improves in quality, the ball will be shared more. You simply will not get the best basketball players in existence to come play and get 1 or 2 touches a game. Won't happen. Part of the deal of bringing in high quality talent is that they get the ball more.

Lebron is at a crossroads since the entire team is reorganizing, he can either take the MJ path or the Dominique Wilkens path, and the MJ path is going to reduce his numbers.

[kevC]

I'm guessing his numbers will be more Magic-like than big O-like. Also, for per game stats pace has to do with everything (which Cleveland plays at an above-average pace). I think Lebron could very well have 30+ ppg and 10+ apg if he plays on a fast paced team.

[Kemp]

Without Michael Redd, James can explode to 28pts, 8rbs, 8asts this season.

[Shakes]

Seems a lot of people have LeBron pegged to average a triple double, which makes it sound like an easy feat. Remember a couple of years ago when Kobe had around 30, 7 and 5? Everyone was predicting he'd be up around 35-8-8 at least (some even saying he'd be close to 40 ppg), he hasn't come close to that since then.

I think it's more that it's possible, not that it's likely. He probably wont do it, but I sure as hell wouldn't want to bet against it. Remember he's only 20 years old, and most players go on improving at least until their mid-20s. It's impossible to tell how much improvement he has in him.

I couldn't disagree more. If it was a number that wasn't hard to break, more people would be besting that mark or very close to it. Also consider some of Stockton's highest career marks for assists per game. He had 8 straight seasons averaging at least 12 assists.

Damn right, John Stockton's record is going to be hard for anyone to ever beat. He's arguably the best passing point guard ever, and he played at such a high level for so long. I don't think it's possible for any player, no matter how good they are, to beat it unless they also play the point and have a career that lasts close to 2 decades. I'm not sure LeBron is ever going to adopt that role for the team, and I'd be very surprised if he's able to go on playing for that long.

[cyanide]

He had 8 straight seasons averaging at least 12 assists.

Not to mention 5 straight seasons averaging at least 13.6 assists per game

[Andrew]

I think it's more that it's possible, not that it's likely. He probably wont do it, but I sure as hell wouldn't want to bet against it. Remember he's only 20 years old, and most players go on improving at least until their mid-20s. It's impossible to tell how much improvement he has in him.

Oh, I wouldn't rule it out but I really don't think it's likely, certainly not to the extent popular opinion suggests. No matter how good he might become, it's not a recipe for instant statistical brilliance.

[beau_boy04]

If he gets it that would put him above Michael Jordan in at least one category. Then he would have to work on the rest >>> about 100 and some more

[Andrew]

LeBron should be allowed to carve his own niche. Initial comparisons to the greats are inevitable, but ultimately great players need to stand alone in their era, not be remembered as a next-whoever.