FIRST TAKE | “Michael Jordan is only GOAT” – Stephen A. vs Shannon debate about LeBron’s GOAT case

FIRST TAKE | “Michael Jordan is the only GOAT” – Stephen A. vs Shannon debate about LeBron’s GOAT case

thanks Mina in his 21 seasons in the NBA LeBron James has played for three different teams and nine different head coaches and now the Lakers will be looking for his 10th head coach Michael wilbon had some strong words for what Darin Ham’s firing means related to LeBron James’s goat status take a listen if you want to be the goat you want to tell everybody you’re the goat you’re the greatest player of all time you want to have it on podcast you want to have it then take accountability like one do that cryptic or backhandedly on Darin ham I don’t want to hear from anybody in a Laker uniform that the primary problem was Darvin ham yes LeBron and Anthony Davis were great in that series but they weren’t good enough against Denver so take that on Goat carries responsibility I don’t see it all right Shannon we know he’s your guy does 10 head coaches hurt LeBron’s case for being the goat no I think it helps his I think it helps his case um I wish LeBron could have had Eric pooser his entire career I wish he could have had a tyo although taoo isn’t much older hell I’m not sure Eric SP Eric spola is much older than LeBron um you look at these guys that we consider to go you look at uh uh Michael he had field for what at least a decade um you look at Kobe and he had field for probably at least a decade uh you look at uh uh with the exception of only a handful of guys magic and what he had he had Pat Riley uh for at least a decade I think for for me Stephen A and and and I agree with a lot of what what what Michael wilbon said and that’s what’s most frustrating to me is that but I also look at it look at it try to look at it through LeBron’s prism and he said what I’m what I’m saying is is that I don’t believe the guy that’s in charge is good enough to put me and this team in position to compete consistently to win a championship and I’m not so sure how how long LeBron James has respect I think the only guy that he’s really had respect for for an extended period of time was tou because LeBron LeBron believed that like he didn’t create the game of basketball but Dr Nate Smith handed him the script and he’s the overseer over it so and he is brilliant his mind is brilliant Stephen there’s no denying that they not I I you you nor I can name name five people that have a better basketball IQ that played the game than LeBron James but still I cannot but still there comes a level of responsibility when you play that you have to take on some ownership when things go bad because when things go good we give you all the credit we forget that there are other 11 other guys that played we give you the credit so when things go bad you have to take ownership in some of that bad and I’m with I’m with Michael wil I wish he would come out and say one time say you know what I need to be better I’ve got to be better there’s much more expected of me demanded of me and I demand it of myself to get this job done and I’m not going to put it on all the coaches because he does bear some culpability Stephen A but it’s hard for me to say I’m surprised he got that many championship that just goes to show you how great he is what other player you know can have that many coaches and have the level of accolades and achievements as one goat James you are wrong sh sh got this one way wrong you understand way wrong you I might call in the I might call in the night capap just to tell you this stuff I don’t know what the hell is coming out of your mouth oh no no no no no he doesn’t get away with this let me be very very clear you are absolutely right LeBron James is a basketball Savant he’s one of the most brilliant basketball mind he’s a basketball genius makes no mistake about it that uh has a lot to do with his greatness but with greatness comes great responsibility so Shannon I don’t even want to see me on I don’t even want to see me on a full screen y’all I want to see Shannon while I’m talking this whole time I want to see this man’s face right here okay he ain’t getting away with this all right Shannon sharp Shannon sharp my brother so you’re brilliant enough you’re brilliant enough to know when a coach ain’t the right dude but you you weren’t brilliant enough when he got selected you had something to do with that too you understand what I’m saying so let’s let let’s take that into consideration let me throw the coaches by you LeBron James Paul salz Brenda Malone interim for 18 games Mike Brown Five Seasons Eric sper Four Seasons David black one season okay Ty Lou two plus Seasons Luke Walton one season Frank vogle three seasons Darvin ham these last two seasons I’mma take out the first four for you I’ll do that for you Shannon okay David black comes there we were hearing that he wasn’t the right man for the job you wanted tyo originally tyo was supposed to have the job but David Griffin could that was his choice he couldn’t give it to him because obviously you had ownership who wanted his guy blat up in there and they had to wait a year you LeBron James okay guess what you could have influenced that decision a bit earlier you didn’t have to have that on your do but you did it you come to Los Angeles when Frank voger was there and you and they decided to move you know Kyle kosma and cavius car just want to chip for you now just want to chip for you now and Alex guso was left walking out the door because of the money well guess what LeBron James where’s your influence there you could have made sure listen we good with what we got we just want a damn chip but that was your boy cuz you you know Russ r Russ lives out here in off season you saying you know they meet up in the offseason stuff like that drink their wine together and all of this other stuff all right I’m sorry I’m sorry Shannon did I speak out of turn am I snitcher am i s I just want to know right I mean we talking we talking NBA right so that’s what happened you didn’t have to let that happen but but but you did okay by the way and now it’s the Darin ham situation and let’s not forget listen we can’t sit up here and act and say it’s a Stars league and watch this man literally don’t accept accountability for any kind of decisions that’s made he has nothing to do with it if you listen to LeBron James in this Camp it’s got nothing to do with who the head coach is got nothing to do with who the firing of the head the firing of the head coach I mean this brother I mean this brother is so innocent he put Gandhi to shame this is what this is how they try to come across and and then and then we say something like that it’s not a crime it’s not a crime for you to be the one of the best players to have ever played the game and say yo man this not the right guy for the guy not the right guy for the job I don’t mean to be disrespectful I’m not saying he can’t be a head coach but here we needed a new voice here we needed something different here this wasn’t working you don’t hear him commenting about it and then when other people comment about it we’re the villains we’re the villains and so I look at it from the standpoint that you can say what you say but all of that plays a role in Goat when we talk about Michael Jordan I’m gonna lean on you and this is where I got you sh Shay this is where I got you you see that damn three time Super Bowl champion that you are that Hall of Famer that you are do you know do you know what Shannon do you know that I have heard you say close to nothing about your greatness as a player you always talk about how formidable you were as a leader you always talked about accountability you always talk about how you wouldn’t ask anybody to do anything that they knew you wouldn’t do you always talked about how oh it would have been a problem if this happened in my locker room and that happened in my locker room and that happened in my lock room you never as great as you were as a tight end in the National Football League and I’m proud of you I’m proud to have you as my teammate as great as you were you never talk about that ever you always bring up leadership always when it comes to you you’re Hall of Famer don’t let me call your brother Sterling on you you know he likes to agree with me right you know he likes to agree with me he agree with me on this one you say you talk you talk you talk about leadership you don’t talk about your abilities and exploits you talk about leadership so my point is with is that applic where where does that apply with LeBron I’m not saying he wasn’t a leader I’m not saying he hasn’t been a leader I’m certainly not questioning his greatness but when Mike wilbor says you know what it took you know how long I’ve known Mike wilbor you know how much Mike wilbor loves LeBron James and appreciates LeBron James do you know what it took for Michael wilbon to go on national television and call LeBron James out like that Anthony Davis is a Chicago boy if you know anything about wior the one time you get to question you know his objectivity is when it comes anybody from Chicago cuz that brother if you from Chicago he going to find a silver lining that’s will do you have any idea what it took for him to go on national television and say what he said about those two brothers because it was necessary because there’s no way that Darin ham is gone if Anthony Davis and LeBron James wants him to stay Anthony Davis speaking out against him and LeBron James not speaking and LeBron James not speaking up for him excuse me all of those things come along with critiquing one’s goat status as well because the acrimony the friction the divide the fragmentation all of those things play a role in contributing to one’s greatness or lack thereof maybe that’s the reason LeBron has four rings instead of six Stephen Stephen I I I I agree with a lot of what you said every every voice doesn’t came carry the same weight in the locker room Anthony Davis and LeBron James knows that Anthony Davis knows that when he says what he says everybody is listening to what he says and it goes up you know a lot of times they say sound goes up also because Linda Rambis can hear that uh Rob pinka can hear that Stephen that here is why I push back on you when you say he wanted those coaches fired but he didn’t see that in the beginning it’s kind of like a relationship and you and I have both been in relationships and we’ve been out of relationship and a lot of times in the beginning what we see we don’t see we see something different once we get in I’m not naive enough I’m not foolish enough to to to sit here and say it’s none of the relationships were my fault were not my problem it was I bear a lot of culpability but I’m mad enough to own that and I think the thing is a lot of times what we see with athletes they’re not enough they’re not M men enough to own their culpability in this LeBron James Bears some culpability in this and rightfully so whether he says it publicly or not he knows he’s not he’s with he he can’t be without fault and none of these nine so all nine so I’ve been a relationship let’s just say five times all five breakups of my point somebody else’s fault you’ve been married six times and every time you got a divorce it’s on someone else n that can’t be because the common denominator is you all six times that’s five different people six different people seven different people that’s nine different coaches and every last one of them as it fault in you bear no culpability I refuse to believe that this situation he should at one point go go to B for one person go to bed for one person one one one one that’s it that’s one and here’s the deal Shannon to be fair because we want to be fair we want to be fair to LeBron James I mean I mean Rich Paul and and Maverick and the crew watch I mean God forbid that we’re unfair in any way I mean Lord have mercy stop the presses okay but here’s the deal to just throw out most career head coach coaches all right uh 10 or more career you know players with 10 or more career NBA Allstar selections okay Moses Malone had 13 coaches and 19 Seasons tied for number one was Shaquille O’Neal 13 coaches 19 Seasons Patrick euan 11 coaches 17 Seasons Carmelo Anthony 11 and 19 Allan arson 10 and 14 years Bob petett 10 and 11 years Kobe Bryant 10 and 20 Seasons Kobe Bryant Okay Kevin Garnett 9 and 21 Seasons LeBron James now 9 and 21 seasons and Jason kid congratulations to him he just got his contract extension he deserves it nine and 19 Seasons so we’re not saying just because you’ve had these coaches that ultimately compromises you to some degree what I’m saying Shannon is every voice that I that I gave you maybe with the exception of Patrick Yan who just didn’t talk he was like ka l it before kawh landed to some degree at least to a small degree anyway but outside of that all of these brothers are outp were outspoken they didn’t mind speaking their mind and they you they didn’t leave room for you to wonder and the contemplate and to take into consideration nor did they have a crew that was willing to pounce on you when you uttered the wrong or the slightest negative syllable in their Direction they handled their own business right this man LeBron James when it comes to coaches we hear crickets and he wants us to believe he has nothing to do with it well it doesn’t Vibe when you’re one of the for speee for for for e for e for for spee fore speech [Music] for for for for for e e for I know you