I think every athlete is protective of their eras.
Especially when new players come into the league and receiving the shine they use to have. I don’t play the “What If” game, I try to stick to the here and now, but Dennis Rodman isn’t overly impressed with LeBron James.
“If LeBron was playing in the late ’80s or early ’90s,” Rodman said, “he’d be just an average player.”
“If Michael played today … really? If he played the game today at 28 years old, he would average 40 points a game, probably more,”
“Look at those teams [when Rodman played]. Look at the Cleveland Cavaliers. Look at Golden State when they had Chris Webber and all of those guys. If those teams then could play now, they would kick anybody’s ass today. Are you kidding me?”
“The Heat has better talent than we had, but we had smarter players,” Rodman said. “We would match up with the Heat easy. I would take Bosh out of his damn game easy. That’s not even a problem. How would Dwyane Wade match up with Scottie Pippen? Really? Scottie Pippen would guard LeBron easy. How are you going to cover those two guys [Jordan and Pippen]?”
“If I was 28 years old guarding LeBron … are you kidding me?” Rodman said. “If he scored on me, I would be like, OK, thanks. Guess what, though? Sooner or later, somebody’s gotta win, somebody’s gotta lose, and most of the time I don’t lose.”
Prime Rodman or Pippen guarding Prime LeBron, would have been a sight to behold. But, once again it is different eras and different times, so who knows how LeBron would have worked back then, just like no one knows if Michael Jordan would be averaging 40 PPG now.
But, since we have to “Embrace the Debate” these conversations will always take place.