The LeBron James debate

Now that the 2016 NBA Finals are officially over, we can let the results sink in and immediately jump to thousands of conclusions prematurely. The seven game series was at times a dud, thanks to multiple blowouts, but in the end, we got a great seventh game, and that is all that really matters. There is the question about Stephen Curry's uneven performances, there is the question about Draymond Green's suspension and the impact it had on the series, and many other interesting talking points. However, obviously the biggest point of contention after the series is what it did for the ever-changing and evolving legacy of LeBron James.

I will save you the time and not go into detail about the expectations of LeBron coming into the league straight out of high school and his background. If you are reading this, then you already know all of that. What I do need to say though, is that I am a LeBron James fan, and I always have been. I am not one of those people that hated him out of the blue after he decided to leave Cleveland and go play in Miami. At the time he made that move he was a free agent. The emphasis there is on FREE. That means that he can go play wherever he chooses, no matter what other people think. He went to Miami, and all of a sudden millions of people hated him. Then when he returned to Cleveland, millions of people liked him "again." If you are one of those people, then get out of here. I have no time for your cynicism or jealousy of him. I will stop my rant about that there, even though I could go on forever about it. Right now, I just want to focus on LeBron James as of today.

Stephen Curry has been the league MVP for the past two seasons, and he has deserved the award both times. After blossoming into a superstar last season and winning a title, he did what was hard to imagine and got even better this season. He shattered shooting records and was clearly the best player during the regular season. All of these accolades never took anything away from James though. LeBron has been the MVP of the league four times, and he has now won three championships. No one ever was suggesting that Curry had overtaken James in terms of all around ability, but with the way that Curry was playing, the topic had been raised, and somewhat legitimately, that LeBron might now be number two in the pecking order of NBA superstars.

When LeBron's Cavaliers met Curry's Warriors last year in the NBA Finals, it was clear that Cleveland was at a distinct disadvantage. Kevin Love had been hurt early in the playoffs, and Kyrie Irving was injured in the first game of the Finals, and he missed the remainder of the series. LeBron was without the second and third best players on his team, and role players were now thrust into starting positions, while bench riders became significant factors coming off the bench.

While James clearly was playing with a team that was not near 100%, I do think that many people gave him too much of a pass. It was as if he was playing one against five in the eyes of many. While Cleveland was not the team it was during the regular season and into the postseason, this was still the team that came out of the Eastern Conference. It wasn't as if it was LeBron and a bunch of guys they picked up at the park on the way to Game Two. LeBron played very well throughout the series, but Cleveland was unable to overcome a great Golden State team, and the Warriors won the series in six games. Does LeBron get a pass for that? Somewhat, yes. Totally though? No. So after last season, LeBron had reached the Finals six times (once with Cleveland, four times with Miami, and then again with Cleveland), and had two rings to show for it. 99.9% of the players in the NBA would love two championship rings, but for James, the bar had been set much higher.

In 2007 when James led the Cavaliers to the Finals against the San Antonio Spurs, Cleveland was simply not the better team, and San Antonio swept Cleveland. Then, in 2011, LeBron and the Miami Heat lost in six games to the Dallas Mavericks in what is the biggest stain on James' resume. The Heat took a 2-1 series lead into the fourth game of the series and LeBron then had what many consider to be his worst game ever, scoring only eight points on 27% shooting in 45 minutes. Miami lost that game, and the next two as well, and LeBron was criticized without end for his collapse in the final three games of the series that Dallas eventually won in six games.

In 2012, things got much better as the Heat beat the Oklahoma City Thunder and James finally captured his first title. Miami then won again the following year, and James was the best player on the floor in the deciding seventh game after what was (in my opinion) the most thrilling basketball game ever thanks to Ray Allen's miracle shot in Game Six. However, the next year the Heat were blown off the floor by the Spurs in five games, and LeBron was now 2-3 in the Finals. His teams had been completely overwhelmed by the Spurs twice, and he had shriveled once against the Mavericks. Despite winning two titles, he had three losses that stuck out in the minds of many. When LeBron returned to Cleveland and went to the Finals last season, while his team was clearly not close to full strength, they still did lose, and his record in NBA Finals stood at 2-4. Fine by the standards of most since he did have the two rings, but not acceptable for someone who was destined to be the greatest player that the game had ever seen.

Then came the 2016 Finals. With a Cavaliers team that was now fully healthy getting a chance at revenge against the Warriors, LeBron had no excuses. Nothing other than a title would be acceptable. Golden State blew Cleveland off the floor in the first two games, but Cleveland responded by beating the Warriors by 30 in the third game. With Game Four in Cleveland, and the Cavs down two games to one, LeBron and his team were facing what could possibly be dire circumstances. A loss in the fourth game would mean that the series would shift back to Golden State with them having a chance to win the title at home in Game Five. And what happened? LeBron (along with Kyrie Irving) were terrible in the fourth quarter, and the Warriors took a 3-1 series lead and it seemed as if Cleveland was dead in the water. Most people (myself included) thought LeBron was looking at a fifth NBA Finals loss, with another dud performance in the games that mattered most. What we did not see though, was what LeBron James saw. This was going to be different. There would be no 2011 disappearing act. There would be no record points differential loss in five games like what he suffered against the Spurs in 2014 in Miami. Something changed in LeBron's mind, and as someone who has been a fan of his since he came into the league, I must say that it was a joy, and in many ways a relief, to witness.

Game five in Golden State. The Warriors had a chance to clinch a second consecutive championship on their home court. All the odds were against Cleveland. The only problem was, someone forgot to tell that to LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. They teamed up for a legendary performance in the fifth game, as they both scored 41 points, and despite still being down three games to two, they had Game Six back at home. They had to follow it up, and LeBron did just that. After scoring 41 points in the fifth game, he decided to match that, and he scored 41 points again in the sixth game.

After being down three games to one, Cleveland had won two straight, and as in the case in any sport, when it comes to Game Seven, all bets are off. Where the game is played does not matter. How you got there does not matter. It is one game for all the marbles, and in this case, it was for the NBA title. LeBron would either answer the bell and bring the city of Cleveland its first professional sports title in over 50 years, or he would suffer another NBA Finals defeat. He had two options to choose from, and right from the start, it was clear that he was going to answer the bell. He put up a triple-double, led the Cavaliers to their first ever title, and on the way blocked an Andre Iguodala layup that will surely go down as one of the best plays of his career. When the series ended, LeBron led both teams in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks. It was clear he was the MVP of the series. Not only had he ended Cleveland's championship drought, but he had left his impact in the biggest of ways on the biggest of stages in the biggest of games. For LeBron, the fifth, six, and seventh games of the series were emphatic stamps on the positive side of his ever-critiqued legacy.

So after he led the Cavaliers back from a 3-1 deficit, the first time in NBA Finals history that any team has overcome such an obstacle, the biggest question was where it put him in the pantheon of greatest players of all time. I have heard all sorts of opinions from all sorts of people on this topic, and I have to say that the majority of them have been afflicted by the "prisoner of the moment" disease. Is LeBron an all-time great? Absolutely. If he retired tomorrow would he walk into the Hall of Fame? Yes. However, is he the greatest to ever play the game? No, and I don't think he ever will be able to claim that title.

Based upon overall talent and skill level, LeBron is in the conversation for the best to ever play the game. His ability to do everything on the court is legendary, and what he did this season only solidified that statement even more. There is a difference between overall ability and greatest to ever play the game though.

In my opinion, and I would guess the opinion of most basketball fans throughout the world, the greatest player ever is Michael Jordan. Jordan was an unbelievably great all around player, and his six championship rings validate that. Along the way with those six rings, he also won the MVP of the Finals six times, and never lost in the Finals once. Six for six, with six MVP's. It is impossible to overlook that. If he had not left the game for two years to for some reason I will never understand, try to become a professional baseball player, a legitimate argument could be made that he would have had a chance to win eight consecutive championships. He won three, left for two years, and then won three again. Add his scoring prowess, his defensive ability, and his overall impact on the sport, and I do not see anyone passing him in the foreseeable future.

In recent days, I have heard LeBron's name mentioned as the second best player to ever play the game, and I wholly disagree with those who think that as well. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has scored the most points ever in the NBA. He won six championships and six MVP awards. He also was probably the best college basketball player ever, winning three NCAA titles at UCLA. I know those three are not at the NBA level, but I think with nine overall titles, you could argue that Abdul-Jabbar is the greatest to ever play the game of basketball.

Next, let's look at the two transcendent centers from decades ago. Bill Russell won an unprecedented eleven titles with the Boston Celtics, and if you are asking about the "greatest winner" to ever play the game of basketball, then there is only one answer to that question, and Russell is it. However, the game was much different back decades ago when he played, and as it has evolved, the center position has become much less emphasized. The same can be said about Wilt Chamberlain. Wilt played in and era where someone of his size was such an aberration that his numbers can easily be skewed. So while Russell, Chamberlain, and Abdul-Jabbar all put up extraordinary numbers, I still do not think they are at the level of Jordan.

Now, since I am mostly focused on LeBron, I want to mention Magic Johnson and Oscar Robertson. Those are the first two names that should come to mind when you think of the top tier of overall talent. Robertson played long enough ago that most fans today do not remember him, but he was the only player in the game to ever average a triple-double for an entire season. Ask any NBA fan how hard that is, and they will tell you it is nearly impossible. The only reason it is not impossible is the fact that Robertson actually did it. However, Robertson only won one title, and (somehow) only won one MVP award.

Magic Johnson is next. Magic won five titles, was the MVP in three of those series, and also was the league MVP three times. Until LeBron James came along, he was known as the greatest all-around player to ever play the game. By that I mean the greatest combination of size, scoring, passing, rebounding, and defensive ability. Jordan, Abdul-Jabbar, Chamberlain, and Russell can trump him in one of those categories individually, but in my opinion, Magic Johnson was the greatest ever to combine all of those attributes into one.

And before I delve into where LeBron fits in on this list, I want to recognize some of the other greats so they do not get overlooked. Hakeem Olajuwon, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, Larry Bird, Elgin Baylor, Julius Erving, John Havlicek, Isiah Thomas. Those are just a few of the names that also need to be mentioned. However, now that LeBron James has won another title, I think it is time to start mentioning him as one of the greatest to ever play the game. Best ever? No, and I don't think he can ever reach that level. Top five? Maybe, but not yet. I need to see more championships from him before I can say that. Right now though, I do believe that LeBron is in the top ten of the all-time greatest players in the history of basketball. The only thing that will prevent him from ever reaching the top is the fact that he has failed on the biggest stage multiple times.

I have always considered it better to have won multiple titles and never lost to be better than winning multiple titles as well as losing some, but I am beginning to come to realize that winning many and losing some as well might in fact be even more of an achievement. Michael Jordan won six titles and never lost once. Is that great? Absolutely. But if he won six times and made eight Finals series would that be even better? I think it may be.

The same goes for quarterbacks in the NFL. Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana both have four Super Bowl rings in four Super Bowl appearances. All time great? For sure. Tom Brady has four Super Bowl rings in six Super Bowl appearances. He has the same amount of rings as Bradshaw and Montana, but he has played in more Super Bowls than both of them. Is that actually a greater accomplishment? If you wanted to argue that it is, then you could convince me that it is.

So while LeBron James now has three championship rings, he is surely not the greatest player of all time, and I do not think he can ever have a legitimate claim to that spot. However, he has already reached the Finals more times than Michael Jordan did, and LeBron is still only 31 years old. That means he has many more years ahead of him to add to his resume. If he wins multiple titles before the end of his career, I think he can claim a spot in my top five players of all time. Right now he is 3-4 in the Finals. Even if he were able to win two more rings (which I think is definitely possible), he has to have a legitimate claim to one of the greatest ever. He is already climbing up the lists of career points, rebounds, assists, and all other kinds of statistical categories, so who knows where he will stand on those dockets by the time his career eventually ends.

What really amuses me though is the fact that we are already talking about where LeBron may end up at the end of his career. He still has many more years ahead of him to play, and I think the sky is still the limit. Can he pass Michael Jordan as the greatest player ever? It would take a ton of rings for him to do that. Can he pass Russell as the winningest player ever? Probably impossible. Can he pass Chamberlain as the most dominant player ever? The chances are very, very, very slim. Might he pass Abdul-Jabbar as the top scorer in the history of the sport? Most likely, no. Could he pass Magic Johnson and Oscar Robertson as the greatest all-around talent ever? Yes, I think he can, but he still has a lot of work to do in that chase.

Right now, I think I view the guys I have mentioned multiple times as the greatest to ever play the game. Jordan, Russell, Abdul-Jabbar, Chamberlain, Johnson, and Robertson. Rank them as you wish. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and can use their own set of standards to do that. LeBron James is not at that level quite yet, but like I said before, I think he is already one of the ten best players to ever play the game, and he has the potential to crack the top five.

Recent superstars like Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, and Tim Duncan I think still have done more in their careers than James, but if LeBron can win at least one more ring, I think he surpasses all of them, and many would argue that he has already surpassed all of those guys. So while it seems like hours since I first started writing this piece, my bottom line is that James is right now a top ten talent, with the potential to be top five, but no chance to be number one unless some miracle happens and he somehow blows past Jordan's six rings.

No matter my opinion though, I think right now we just need to appreciate how good James actually is and stop trying to critique each and every miniscule fact about him. He is a once in a generation talent. While he may not have lived up to the initial expectations, I think it is easy to say that the initial expectations were unrealistic. This guy is an all-time great, and will walk into the Hall of Fame whenever it is that he decides to retire. Until then, I will just hope to see more and more of the greatness that he displayed in Games five, six, and seven this year. He ended the 54 year drought of professional sports failures in Cleveland, and I expect that this past Sunday will not be the last time he will be known as an NBA champion.

Daily NBA Update: Obviously, I do not need to go into detail about how the season ended, as I just spent quite a while giving a synopsis of the fallout from the Finals. I do have to say though that despite the numerous blowouts, Game Seven made up for that all. It was thrilling down to the final buzzer, and LeBron's block as well as Kyrie Irving's clutch three pointer will go down in Cavaliers history as two of the biggest plays ever in the history of the franchise. Congratulations to LeBron and the Cavaliers.

Daily NHL Update: Rangers. Ugh. Next year. Maybe.

Daily Diamondbacks Update: Arizona completed a four game sweep of the Phillies and are in Toronto tonight for the first time in I don't even know how long. It has been years in years since the Diamondbacks played in Toronto, but that is why I like more interleague play. Arizona is still six games under .500, but there have been some positive signs, and winning four straight, no matter how bad the Phillies might be, is always nice.

Daily Giants Update: Obviously, at minicamps the news is always good since teams are playing in shorts and t-shirts. Quarterbacks and wide receivers do nothing but excel, even though they play with no defense on the other side of the field. There is still quite a while until we even get close to the games mattering, so until then, all we need is no one getting injured. And on that front, so far, so good.