West contender rankings, LeBron James vs. Donovan Mitchell, Steph Curry’s longevity
Jason answers mailbag questions from Hoops Tonight listeners on topics including if Kevin Durant is enough of a boost to lift Amen Thompson, Alperen Sengun, and the Houston Rockets over the top compared to Nikola Jokic’s Denver Nuggets & Shai Gilgeous Alexander’s Oklahoma City Thunder. Then he discusses how he compares Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James and Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell, how Bron and Steph Curry compare, as well as Stephen’s impressive longevity for the Golden State Warriors.
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21 Comments
mailbag: what is Jokic currently the best at all time? its actually insane how many choices there could be discussed, but it has to be best passer ever right?
Mailbag: why is it that you grade Steph and LBJ on past years success, instead of focusing on what they're CURRENTLY doing?
Exactly!… a different role from Mitchell dictated by the coaching staff and an effort to get the most out of garland, is much different than Mitchell having the same initiator role he had in ‘24 but approaching it more selfishly (which is how Jason made it sound)
Mailbag: what do you think Jdub’s ceiling and comps are, and what do you think he needs to do to reach it?
Lebron, even in 2023 was not close to ye olde Lebron let alone now at 40. He was literally 1/2 of that guy! In the first 1/2 of game 4 he scored 31 points and looked like 2014 Lebron. Then went into the locker room with less than 1 minute left in the half. Bruce Brown seeing him go said: "Lebron is totally gassed! He's done! He's going into the locker room to take a damn nap!" And Lebron came out and only scored 9 points in the second half, while Jokic totally dominated and the Nuggets won game 4 completing the sweep! Lebron used to be able to dominate an entire game like that. But, by 2023 it was only a half. And as he gets older and older, his stamina is less. He's exactly the same player he was – just for a shorter and shorter periods, and less and less often as injuries pile up. Pretty soon Lebron will be like any ordinary grandpa, taking a nap in the afternoon!
Nope K D gonna get hurt
We would never trade Jaden for those bums, Jaden’s ceiling is way higher than those two!!!
Austin Reeves is a choker, if you put the first defender on him Austin doesn’t produce. No thank you!!!
KD has been the best player and number one option on every team he always played on. Hopefully they get enough help outside of KD. If they do like the late great Kobe Bryant said Defence wins Championships. Great podcast Brother.👏🏀
How is it Steph can not play any defense, but LeBron gets dinged for slacking at times? Lmao
Mailbag: saw a report recently where it said Reaves is apparently asking for Tyler Herro money. Question is who you got between the two? Couple years ago I think it was easily Tyler but after last season, I think Reaves IQ qnd confidence has hit a new level where he learned how to be effective when all the stars are gone also while being a great second/third option next to stars. What do u think Jason
KD won't vibe w/ Ime Udoka & his old school hard nosed approach. Doesn't mesh w/ veterans.
Mavs?!
Denver is trash, stop it
MAILBAG: Do you think Lebron is a better 3pt shooter than MJ. i was arguing with someone and my argument was that if MJ and Lebron were drafted in 2003, MJ would be a better 3pt shooter simply due to his shooting form mechanics. he then brought up demar derozan and my counter argument was mj was a cleaner and more impressive athlete that didn't rely on shooting as much as most perimeter guard. also demar's jumper has a weird hitch that makes it only able to shoot middies. and to support my claim i brought up kawhi. do you agree with me or him. i think bron's jumper is just naturally flawed and it only allows him to take certain types of 3s. it's a mechanics problem imo
Mailbag: do you think Fox is being under appreciated since his new contract was announced? Is the contract bad? Does it actually take the spurs along with wemby close to a playoff run
LeBron was better than Steph last year. Even in their head-to-head matchups, LeBron hit more clutch shots and led his team to victory while Steph was often not hyper-efficient from the field when the Warriors needed him. When LeBron was playing on an injured foot, Steph was better but LeBron was playing like a shell of himself. He just had no choice but to play because of the play-in situation. LeBron was definitely better than Steph for pretty much the entire Olympics as well.
And while LeBron does slack on defense for possessions, he has a gear on defense that Steph has never even approached in his career. Like you can't take points for LeBron's mediocre defense at times when Steph's defense is consistently mediocre even when he tries. Teams constantly attack Steph on offense while very rarely do teams run plays to attack 40 year-old LeBron. And LeBron still runs the defense at times, even when he's not actively in the play, by calling out plays and telling players where to be. Draymond does all of that for Steph.
damn jackson get on the whole timestamps thing plz lol
Lebron is a negative for his team in the last five years. he isnt top 25 anymore
I've been waiting for the Lakers to go after Herb Jones. Don't get my hopes up Jason. Really enjoyed this mailbag!
Welcome to Denver . Come up and see beautiful Boulder
"The Warriors were the greates assembled team ever" He says this with a straight face, even when the Lakers had 2 of the top 5 players ever, at or near the primes, and another top 50 in Worthy at his prime, an all time defender in Cooper, and so forth.