Skip Bayless is one of the staunchest critics of LeBron James we have seen in mainstream media over the last 20 years. Bayless has made countless enemies through his attempts at diminishing LeBron’s achievements, with the NBA superstar never responding to his slights across countless years on national TV.
Bayless gave a very revealing answer on how he views LeBron during a recent appearance on the ‘All The Smoke’ podcast, calling him the most overprotected superstar the league has ever seen.
“I say what I see, and I still believe that LeBron has been the most overprotected superstar in the history of the NBA.”
Bayless then listed all the amazing qualities he appreciates about LeBron as a person and a player, calling him the greatest passer and driver in the history of the sport and saying he has arguably the best IQ in the sport with only Magic Johnson challenging him there.
“I have thrown him many flowers when it’s time to throw him flowers, I have consistently said, to this day, that he’s still the best passer in basketball on a nightly basis. He’ll take my breath away with a pass he’ll make where I’ll say, ‘That’s just special.’ That’s a gift. He’s a generational passer of the basketball. I’ve said it a thousand times that he’s easily the greatest driver of the basketball I have ever seen because he’s ambidextrous at 6’9″, 260ish, obviously an explosive athlete with the highest IQ in basketball. It’s somewhere between him and Magic for IQ, but I frame all this with positivity, and what he’s done off the court, it’s stellar.”
Bayless then went off on James’ faults and compared him directly to Michael Jordan, explaining why he can never put LeBron in the same conversation as Jordan.
“Now we take this man, who’s the greatest scorer in the history of the game. By his standards, he’s a poor three-point shooter and a pathetic free-throw shooter with 74% for his career. Jordan was 84%, Magic, Bird, and KD were 90ish%. There have been so many flameout moments for LeBron in his career. On TV, I was often thrown up against Shannon Sharpe, who loves him like a brother, a stalker, it got scary sometimes. He’s just proclaiming LeBron is better than Jordan.”
“I get goosebumps talking about Michael Jordan. This man is another universe from LeBron bleeping James. If you compare the two of them, Jordan never had an epic failure. Anything he did in the Playoffs, even when he lost, he’d score 63 in OT in Boston and Larry Bird would say, ‘I just saw God in sneakers.'”
Bayless confronted his potential hate for LeBron but complimented him on being a great person who’s very likable before pointing out that trait as a potential flaw compared to Jordan.
“Do I hate LeBron? I don’t know LeBron, I am happy I don’t because if I was around him very much, I think he’s a very good guy, a very nice guy, sometimes nice to a fault. I was around Jordan a lot and he wasn’t a nice guy, he was a bad MF. He scared the hell out of the rest of the league. I don’t think LeBron scares the rest of the league because I think they all really like him and he wants to be liked to a fault.”
Bayless has had multiple major criticisms against LeBron over the last two decades, although it’s cooled off recently. He was one of LeBron’s biggest critics after he blew a 2-1 lead in the 2011 NBA Finals, still using that Finals series as a disqualifier for James in the GOAT conversation.
He’s said before that James is worse than Kevin Durant, said his son is more clutch than him. and has ranked him 9th all-time on multiple occasions including later in this interview as well. He’s a firm believer in Michael Jordan being the GOAT over LeBron, a fact that likely won’t change even if James wins another championship.
Calling James overprotected when Bayless regularly attacked James over his entire career on the biggest sports media platforms is unfair, especially when Bayless’ arguments are what many use to this date to discredit what James has achieved. He might respect the man, but it’s unfair to suggest he’s been overprotected when everyone over time has started holding him to the same standard Bayless does.
Thank you for being a valued reader of Fadeaway World. If you liked this article, please consider following us on Google News. We appreciate your support.
