ESPN surveyed 26 current NBA players and asked them some questions about LeBron James. The most interesting of the bunch was, if James, Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan were on the floor at the same time, who would you want taking the last shot?
88 percent of the guys polled said that they’d have Jordan taking the last shot. The other 12 percent said Bryant. None of James’ peers said that they would have him taking the last shot of the game if Jordan or Bryant were available. This is what one Eastern Conference Guard had to say about the situation.
“That’s like ranking the shortest giant. I’d want the ball in LeBron’s hands at the end of the game, but I’d want him to pass to Kobe or Jordan for the last shot. And don’t forget, LeBron is not a great free throw shooter either.”
These sentiments are interesting considering that James has won consecutive MVP awards and has led the Heat to consecutive NBA Finals titles. Even with the recent accomplishments, both Bryant and Jordan are still viewed as guys who are better in crunch time. For James’ peers, it seemingly isn’t about numbers as he has a better shooting percentage in the last 24 seconds of one-possession games in the playoffs, but it’s the perception that Jordan or Bryant will knock down the shot.
The poll also revealed that players believe Paul George, Metta World Peace and Bryant do the best job defending James while four percent of them believe that James will end up on the Lakers during free agency this off season.
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