Congratulations LeBron James for helping the Miami Heat win its second straight NBA championship.
But I have one problem: James couldn’t do it with the Cleveland Cavaliers—the team that drafted him as an 18-year-old fledgling.
Michael Jordan—to whom LeBron has often been compared—did. James and Jordan were lottery picks, but that’s one of the very few similarities that I see between the two. After being drafted by a struggling Cleveland team, which desperately needed him, James became a free agent and left the Cavaliers the first chance he got.
That’s why Jordan is more special, and in my view, he is a lot better than James. Jordan was chosen to be that special person chosen to help deliver a down-trodden franchise to Hoops Heaven. Jordan fulfilled his obligation, guiding the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships.
Despite LeBron’s second championship, he is no Moses or Jordan. When things got tough, Jordan didn’t bolt to the highest bidder with the best weather or the best tropical beaches. When Jordan’s Bulls were getting their butts whipped by Detroit and Boston, he didn’t go out and beg some of the other all-stars of his time to join him in Chicago. Jordan just got better, and he followed it with six rings, a statue, top-of-the line signature shoes, and a successful clothing line.
LeBron is a long way from being in the category of a Jordan. In LeBron’s case, when things got tough in Cleveland, he gathered two other all-stars together to form a mini all-star team in Miami. We all saw what happened next.
However, any pick-up basketball player in the country, especially in my home state of Indiana, where basketball is king, would agree that Jordan was the best player to have ever played the game. LeBron is just another great player, but he’s not a legend; a legend would have saved the poor Cavaliers.
Think about it. You are about to choose teams in the park or at your favorite gym. LeBron shows up, and he will only play on the same team as the four other best players. Then he challenges the others, a collection of short, fat, and athletically challenged geeks to a game.
The geeks complain. They say, “It’s just not fair!
And I agree. It’s not competitive because the outcome is predictable. In other words, Lebron’s team will and should win because he has abused the system of fair play by collecting the best available players at the time.
With Cleveland, LeBron left a good team. The Cavaliers made it to the Eastern Conference championship in 2009 and the Eastern Conference Semifinals in 2008 and 2010. The teams of ’09 and ’10 won more than 60 games. With a little more leadership, skill, and patience, he could have taken the Cavs to the promise land—an NBA championship—earning even greater respect.
Leading Cleveland to two NBA championships would have put LeBron in the legendary category.
Instead, he abandoned his team and home state. The Cavs haven’t won more than 25 games since.
Consequently, for the second straight year, the Cavs are back in the draft lottery –with the rest of the losers.
But winning in Miami, a place where you won’t see basketball hoops in every other driveway, park, or fitness center—doesn’t put LeBron in the same category with the legendary Michael Jordan.
In fact, because of the way James ran out on Cleveland—King James is King Lame!
And that’s not cool.
No comments:
Post a Comment