Former NBA player Cuttino Mobley had the fortune/misfortune of going up against Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Kobe Bryant in his career. During an appearance on Byron Scott’s Fast Break Podcast, Mobley was asked who was the hardest to guard of the three and went with James.
“They all are so different, the one that I would say that is the hardest is LeBron,” Mobley said. “The reason why is because he’s 6’9″ 260 (lbs) and he’s Magic Johnson, Kobe. He’s like everybody… If he had Kobe and Michael’s mind, he can average 45, 10, and 10 every day if he wanted to ’cause he’s so big and he’s so smart.”
Mobley went a bit too far by suggesting James could have averaged a 45-point triple-double if he wanted to, and he certainly could have averaged more points if he wanted to. He is somewhat of a pass-first player and that’s hurt his scoring averages.
James has averaged 27.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 1.5 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game in his career. The four-time MVP would have put up close to 30 points a night had he been a bit more selfish.
“LeBron to me is the hardest, he’s a small forward but he had a point guard mindset with like a scoring mentality,” Mobley added. “… He is the worst scorer coming into the league out of the three and surpassed them.”
James certainly wasn’t as refined a scorer as Jordan or Bryant were when they came into the league but he has blown past them on the all-time scoring list. His game has also grown to the point where he can hurt you from everywhere on the court.
All that said, it’s hard to call James a better scorer than Jordan, who averaged 30.1 points per game for his career and won a record 10 scoring titles. It’s also important to note that Mobley never faced the Chicago Bulls icon in his prime. He was drafted in 1998, the year that Jordan retired for the second time.
Jordan was on the Washington Wizards when Mobley got to play him and while he was still good, he wasn’t the same player he was with the Bulls. It would have been interesting to see what the 49-year-old’s answer would have been had he been drafted 5-6 years earlier.
As for Mobley’s career, it wasn’t anywhere near as great as the three men he was speaking about but it was a pretty good one. He was selected by the Houston Rockets with the 41st pick of the 1998 NBA Draft and made the All-Rookie Second Team.
Mobley would go from strength to strength in the years that followed, averaging a career-high 21.7 points per game in 2001-02. He continued to be a solid scorer for much of the 2000s but his career would be cut short in 2008 when he was traded to the New York Knicks.
Mobley’s physical with the Knicks revealed he had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a potentially fatal heart condition. He chose to retire just weeks later but claimed to have found out after a year that it was not an accurate diagnosis and that his life wasn’t at risk.
Mobley sued the Knicks but dropped the lawsuit later and abandoned hopes of a comeback. He finished his NBA career with averages of 16.0 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game.
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