Is Mcdavid the greatest Athlete in the big 4 Sports since Lebron James?

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

That's fair

I have him in a group 4-5 athletes ever to challenge to be the GOAT in their sport

LeBron, Messi, , Kohli (Indian Cricketer) and McDavid

There have been absolute legends in those sports

A tier or so below

Durant/Curry, Crosby/OV, CR7 (after his decline in 2019 pushed him back here),

But those 5 are the only guys I can think of to challenge MJ, Gretzky, Pele, Bradman


Is Mike Trout going to win anymore hardware?

Super hyped and he lived up to it from individual basis. Used to follow him before and knew he had 3MVPs but is he going to add to that and other accolades?

McDavid finishing with less than 7 rosses seems impossible

You putting mcdavid over cr7 is a big joke and that is the last thing I will read in this thread

 

[WarriorofTime]

Messi

Every single source I see states that there are roughly 450million "basketball players"(ie people who sometimes go on the court and throw a few). Anyway they are no more aspiring basketball players than I am as a runner and I do run on occasion.

The talent pool for, professional, basketball is pretty much freakishly tall americans of certain complexion. The average height is around 2 meters, that's just riciulous I don't even know a single person that tall.

stop talking out of your ass, over 100 countries have professional basketball leagues

 

[gtrower]

As I’ve said before this is still wayyyy too early. He has another decade of sustainment for this to even be worthy of discussion. He’s definitely laying the foundation for a future argument though.

 

[Arthur Morgan]

McDavid is having one hell of a season and almost goal per game too. be interesting if he can keep this pace up over the rest of the season and how high he can get, 150 seems pretty possible now.

 

[DearDiary]

Crosbys is skewed by partial seasons.

I have Ovy/Sid as a 1A/1B. Same tier. Ovy possibly higher.

You don't think partial seasons are canceled out by the higher scoring caused by the reduction in goalie equipment? It's also not like those partials seasons are being prorated or paced. For instance, 35 year old Crosby and players like Gaudreau smashing peak Crosby's ES numbers

 

[Sasha Orlov]

As I’ve said before this is still wayyyy too early. He has another decade of sustainment for this to even be worthy of discussion. He’s definitely laying the foundation for a future argument though.

If he does this for another decade he will have more Art Ross trophies than Gretzky lmfao you think he needs that to even talk about it?

 

[HockeyVirus]

Pretty embarrassing tbh they have never won the cup with McDavid and Draisatl. I understand a season or two but 8 years???

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

To begin with I claimed that the talentpool for professional basketball is small(

No, you questioned the valid fact that basketball is one of the most practiced sports in the world and I kept arguing over that point.

Besides that, your whole assertion about height is ridiculous. You use that as an excuse to pretend the talent pool isn't wide. It's as if we souldn't consider small hockey players as part of the hockey pool because they won't make it to the NHL. It's assinine. Let alone the fact many NBA players are under 6.5 feet, and past greats like Iverson, Stockton and Nash weren't tall at all and also the fact the NBA has a diverse demographic, getting players from faraway regions because guess what, there are tall people in all countries, even China.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

I call malarky on this.

You can start playing basketball and football in Jr. High/High School and make it in the NFL or NBA, there's no way you start baseball that late and have even a hope in hell in even playing AAA. The same goes for hockey, if you aren't skating when you're a little kid you'll never play in the NHL.

That has more to do with physical specialization and nothing to do with difficulty. The only specialization in both football and basketball is handling and throwing the ball, while the other attributes are more general, like running, jumping and physical tackling. The swinging of the bat and pitching of the ball are highly specialized and central to baseball, while hockey requires the need to learn an entirely different form of locomotion on top of the highly specialized uses of the stick. Being more specialized doesn't mean the sport is more difficult. I don't see what's more difficult than having to physically confront and battle with opponents like all those sports do.

 

[joelef]

Too bad the nhl doesn’t market him

Absolutely not.

Besides, worldwide wise, ice hockey is a marginal sport.
Sure i love it and its big for me but compared to the big ones,...
For example, go outside Europe and NA, know one will know who Connor McDavid even is.
- go ask anyone who Cristiano Ronaldo is and everyone will know

Then again this wasn't about that, but yeah, i dont think he is the greatest athlete since and from "big 4"

Most people in North America don’t know who he is

 

[hackeyman]

McDavid is looking like he'll be in a tier with 99 and 66 only

So............. the group behind Bobby Orr .

 

[gtrower]

If he does this for another decade he will have more Art Ross trophies than Gretzky lmfao you think he needs that to even talk about it?

Why don’t you re-read my comment and see if there are any other non-straw-man interpretations of it.

rofl lmao brb lols wwjd

 

[dma0034]

I haven't read through the comments but Patrick Mahomes deserves to be in this conversation. He will shatter all NFL records if he plays until he is 40.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

Why don’t you re-read my comment and see if there are any other non-straw-man interpretations of it.

rofl lmao brb lols wwjd

I don’t think you know what a straw man is

You said he needs to sustain this for another decade to enter the discussion lol

Good try though

 

[gtrower]

I don’t think you know what a straw man is

You said he needs to sustain this for another decade to enter the discussion lol

Good try though

sustain != win an AR every year

He needs to sustain an elite level for another decade. Like Ovi/Crosby have done after having comparable peaks. Doesn’t mean he needs to win ARs for another decade. If he dominates trophies for another 3-4 years maybe he can lessen the importance of longevity. But he’s not there yet.

roflmfaoandothertrendyteenageracronymsfromthe2000s

 

[Sasha Orlov]

sustain != win an AR every year

He needs to sustain an elite level for another decade. Like Ovi/Crosby have done after having comparable peaks. Doesn’t mean he needs to win ARs for another decade. If he dominates trophies for another 3-4 years maybe he can lessen the importance of longevity. But he’s not there yet.

roflmfaoandothertrendyteenageracronymsfromthe2000s

requiring 20 years of extremely elite play is an insanely high bar that puts him more in the conversation of greatest ever rather than greatest since Lebrun

You sound like the kind of millennial who plays with legos when you say shit like this btw

 

[gtrower]

requiring 20 years of extremely elite play is an insanely high bar that puts him more in the conversation of greatest ever rather than greatest since Lebrun

You sound like the kind of millennial who plays with legos when you say shit like this btw

I don’t think requiring elite play to span two decades is too much to ask to be considered as (or amongst) the greatest hockey player(s) of all time. Not when you’ve already got a couple handfuls of current/former players who have done exactly that. The bar has been set high. And McDavid has set an extremely solid foundation to get there. But he’s not there yet.

You literally type out lmfao into a post and then call me the millennial for calling attention to it. Now that actually is worth an acronym.

 

[Randyne]

You don't think partial seasons are canceled out by the higher scoring caused by the reduction in goalie equipment?

playing partial seasons is very convinient to keep per game stats. 36 old Ovechkin would win 4th Hart, 4th TL, 2nd Ross and 10th Rocket if last season ended in 20th January.

 

[JianYang]

I don't think hockey is "big" anything. In a north American context, hockey is very much a niche sport.

Heck, there may be more feild hockey players than ice hockey players so one could call it the niche version of hockey as well.

About mcdavid, he's definitely the most dominant hockey player but when you compare it to other sports, hockey players are inherently at a disadvantage to establish dominance on their own much like soccer players.

 

[DearDiary]

playing partial seasons is very convinient to keep per game stats. 36 old Ovechkin would win 4th Hart, 4th TL, 2nd Ross and 10th Rocket if last season ended in 20th January.

It's actually not, Crosby's injuries came during his peak so any seasons played outside it further lower his per game stats. For instance for a 400 game sample size

Player A
200 start of career
50 peak (50 missed)
150 end of prime

Player B
200 start of career
100 peak
100 end of prime

It's obvious that missing games during your peak lower ppg, because more of Crosby's stats lean to games where he wasn't at his best.

 

[MacMacandBarbie]

No. He isn’t a big name. That’s what this thread is asking right?

Bryce Harper is a name everyone knows.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is a name everyone knows.
Patrick Mahomes is a name everyone knows.
Idk if everyone knows McDavid. You should, he is the most talented hockey player to be drafted since 2005 by a pretty large margin. But they don’t.

 

[MacMacandBarbie]

I don't think hockey is "big" anything. In a north American context, hockey is very much a niche sport.

Heck, there may be more feild hockey players than ice hockey players so one could call it the niche version of hockey as well.

About mcdavid, he's definitely the most dominant hockey player but when you compare it to other sports, hockey players are inherently at a disadvantage to establish dominance on their own much like soccer players.

I’m afraid I have to agree. Are we talking North American context? Cause hockey barely falls on people’s radar after baseball and football. You could almost argue basketball as being kind of niche. I actually run into more people who know about the latest UFC PPV fight coming up or who Jake Paul is fighting next than someone who knows what’s going on in the NHL rn.

Hockey markets teams more than players, even though teams don’t need marketing, and you will see headlines like, ‘Mathews’s leads leafs with win over Carolina in overtime’ instead of ‘Matthews makes controversial statement after win over Carolina’

 

[ItWasJustified]

From the big 4 NA sports is 97 the greatest player drafted since 03 when LBJ was taken?

LBJ will end his career either the GOAT or 2nd best and he's in a tier with himself and MJ

I don't think anyone that great has come in the NFL and MLB

McDavid is looking like he'll be in a tier with 99 and 66 only

Any names that have dominated their sports as heavily as McDavid is doing this era?

Playoff success eludes but that's mostly team driven as his last year run was a top 10 run all-time.

Being born tall is the trait of a good athlete for North Americans? Lmao.

 

[3074326]

Every single source I see states that there are roughly 450million "basketball players"(ie people who sometimes go on the court and throw a few). Anyway they are no more aspiring basketball players than I am as a runner and I do run on occasion.

The talent pool for, professional, basketball is pretty much freakishly tall americans of certain complexion. The average height is around 2 meters, that's just riciulous I don't even know a single person that tall.

You should watch more basketball. The two best players currently in the NBA are from Greece and Slovenia.

I’m an NBA fan. Your post doesn’t make any sense at all. There are tons of non-American players in the NBA doing great. Two historic players, even.

EDIT: lol and I wasn’t even referring to defending MVP Nikola Jokic. He’s from Serbia.

I’m afraid I have to agree. Are we talking North American context? Cause hockey barely falls on people’s radar after baseball and football. You could almost argue basketball as being kind of niche. I actually run into more people who know about the latest UFC PPV fight coming up or who Jake Paul is fighting next than someone who knows what’s going on in the NHL rn.

Basketball is HUGE. It is not niche in any way, shape or form. It gets better ratings than baseball. Three years in a row.

Source: I work at a casino and handle sports programming.

That being said, I agree that the NHL isn’t even the fourth biggest sport anymore. UFC has definitely passed it.

But why does HFBoards not see the NBA as the clear #2 sport in NA like it is? I don’t get it.

 

[psycat]

You should watch more basketball. The two best players currently in the NBA are from Greece and Slovenia.

I’m an NBA fan. Your post doesn’t make any sense at all. There are tons of non-American players in the NBA doing great. Two historic players, even.



Basketball is HUGE. It is not niche in any way, shape or form. It gets better ratings than baseball. Three years in a row.

Source: I work at a casino and handle sports programming.

That being said, I agree that the NHL isn’t even the fourth biggest sport anymore. UFC has definitely passed it.

But why does HFBoards not see the NBA as the clear #2 sport in NA like it is? I don’t get it.

And they are like 2.10 as I said I am not even sure I personally know (of) a single person that is 2 meters(210cm is circus territory and I am not sure I ever saw someone that tall in person) , even if I coun't people in the very much outer circle of my life. Professional basketball got a miniscule talentpool and the sport sucks.

It might very well be the largest sport in NA for all I know(I don't live there) but it's still a sport with a low talent pool per default. If you are born above a certain height chances are good, heck even great, you make the NBA if you practice basketball. Of course that doesn't mean they are all not talented or that they don't train but compared to other professional sports it's just a smaller(and shorter) pool to draw from, hence makes it less impressive in my eyes.

There is, however, zero chance there are 1 billion active basketball players in the world it's such a mindnumbingly out of touch with reality statement that I had to rant on it. And even then if I am somehow living in a total different reality the vast majority of these 1 billion players are not close to 2 meters tall so they are irrelevant.

Would never watch sports in which there is a point scored everytime one bothers to pay attention(Basketball, Handball, Baseball etc) it's for people with zero attentionspan and the sports are very boring to me.