LeBron James and the Legacy Question
LeBron James' legacy is secure. He is a Pantheon-level player, and nothing that he does as his career winds down is going to change that. I understand why some people rank him as the greatest player of all-time based on his size, athleticism, skill set, and durability, but I also understand (and tend to agree with) people who rank James as a very great player but not the greatest player.
It is amazing that it took until James' twilight years for him to lose a first round playoff series (though it should be noted that he has missed the playoffs three times, while Pantheon members Bill Russell and Julius Erving never missed the playoffs). A first round loss as the defending champion does not invalidate last year's championship or any of James' four championships.
James' blatant craving for approval--including an exhortation after last year's NBA Finals that he receive "respect" that he feels he has earned but not been granted--is tiresome, but should not affect how we view his accomplishments; nothing said by James or anyone else changes what he has done. However, when he demands "respect" and when he makes outlandish declarations (such as asserting that Cleveland's 2016 NBA title cemented his status as the greatest player of all-time) it is only natural to carefully scrutinize James' career to test the validity of his statements.
James' career includes many spectacular highs, and a few ignominious lows. As I wrote two years ago, "LeBron James is a supremely gifted basketball player who has had a great
career but who has also been disruptive to multiple franchises. Have
other great players been demanding and difficult at times? Yes, but in
most instances not to the extent that James has been and not in ways
that make it appear that winning as many championships as possible is
not the top priority."
James squandered two excellent opportunities to win championships during his prime: he quit versus Boston in the second round of the 2010 Eastern Conference playoffs and--despite leaving Cleveland to form a "Big Three" in Miami--he lost in the 2011 NBA Finals to a team that had just one All-Star player in his prime (Dirk Nowitzki).
James won one title mainly because of a great shot by Ray Allen (2013). Allen's shot is much more important to James' legacy than the clutch Finals shots hit by John Paxson and Steve Kerr are to Michael Jordan's legacy; if Paxson or Kerr had missed their shots, Jordan's Bulls would have played a seventh game in each of those series. On the other hand, if Allen had missed his shot then the San Antonio Spurs would have celebrated yet another championship win over James.
James won his fourth title during a bizzare "bubble" playoffs after a shortened regular season split into two segments--a unprecedented break that was very beneficial for an older player such as James.
The reality is that James' four titles place him one title short of his contemporaries Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan, and two titles short of Michael Jordan, whose final retirement happened not long before James jumped straight from high school to the NBA. James perhaps "should" have won more titles, and--were it not for Ray Allen's shot and the vagaries of the "bubble"--he "could" have won fewer titles, but four titles as an All-NBA caliber player are more than enough to secure Pantheon status (which, in my estimation, James had reached even before he won his first title).
Due to a combination of personal circumstances, mentality, and the rules in place during various eras, Bill Russell, Jerry West, Magic Johnson, Tim Duncan, and Kobe Bryant pursued championships with just one team, while James has repeatedly sought out greener pastures to build "super teams." I am not a fan of the "super teams" that are built by depriving small market teams of their best players, but James' choice to handle his business that way does not lower (or raise) my ranking of his career.
It will be interesting to see if James' current ankle injury is just a temporary challenge to be overcome, or if he has entered the twilight phase experienced by former Lakers West and Bryant, who played at the highest level for a long time until--rather suddenly--their bodies immediately and permanently stopped them from playing at the highest level on a consistent basis.
Anthony Davis has never been a durable player--James had the good fortune of not only winning a title during the odd "bubble" season but also of playing alongside Davis during that rare season in which Davis was not limited by injury. One suspects that if James seeks to prolong his career by ceding the number one role to Davis then the Lakers will not win another title during James' career, because Davis does not appear to be a player who is built to shoulder that kind of load.
Labels: Anthony Davis, L.A. Lakers, LeBron James
posted by David Friedman @ 6:53 PM
6 Comments:
Great write up. One thing that still confounds is how passive Lebron was in these do or die games. You rarely saw that from Kobe who would go down shooting.
Then again we don't know how badly the ankle was bothering him.
Anonymous:
Thank you.
LeBron has often been passive in do or die games even when he was not injured, so I am not convinced that the current injury is the main reason that he played passively. The injury may have played a role, but LeBron's mindset played a bigger role.
Great post as always David, completely agree with your points here in particular the championships that James has won seems to have asterisk to them all.
2012 - easy win against young and inexperienced Thunder team who weren't in the primes yet but it was a lockout season.
2013 - as you noted the Ray Allen shot was huge as they were down and on the brink of elimination. James fans doesn't give credit for this shot as apparently the Heat won was all because of James and no one else. He actually missed a few shots and turned the ball over in the last minute of Game 6. Credit goes to him though for playing well in Game 7.
2016 - it was ludacris that he said this championship cemented him as the GOAT. People fail to recognise Iguodala was hurt, Bogut was done during game 5 and Green got suspended for not even making contact with James when he seemingly swung at him. Irving also hit the game winner in Game 7.
2020 - I actually thought the bubble would make it easier for players to perform as no travel and they couldn't go outside so all they can focus on is the game. The hiatus as you noted was key to vets like James as they didn't need to spend the energy as they normally would during the regular season. The Heat was also way less talented to go along with injuries from Dragic and Adebayo.
James fans and the media always knock Kobe for playing with Shaq and invalidate his 3 rings but no one penalises James for jumping teams 3 times and has played with future HOFs/All Stars i.e. Wade, Bosh, Irving, Love, Davis, Rondo, Howard and Allen. Kobe won back to back titles and 3 straight trips to the finals with Gasol as his sidekick and no shooters.
James loves to control the narrative and throw his teammates under the bus when they lose. He also loves to highlight his accomplishments on social media when he breaks certain records and I've seen him do this even when they lost the game that night.
He is no doubt one of the 10 greatest players ever but to rank him the GOAT, top 3 or ahead of greats like Bryant is a joke.
Marcel
Lebron def in my top 3 all time
He been consistently. In the best player in nba running well over decade
His made 10 finals
He won 4 rings
4 mvp
4 fmvp
34,000 points
Etc so his legacy cant be questioned
His team underachieved this year
He passive at times
But overall nothing changed for lebron legacy
No player played at this level at his age or that many seasons in nba he in 18th year
Bron critics just dont like the power he has but he earn the right to have that power based on his goat production
I think u prob see the real decline next year tho
Its been a great run tho
But its over for lebron
Anonymous:
Thank you! I would not put an asterisk by any championship, but I agree with you regarding LeBron's blatant efforts to control the narrative. It should also be mentioned that many media members are very compliant with the narratives that LeBron creates and promotes.
The main thing to remember about James is that he's been ring chasing his entire career teaming up with either great teams and/or 1-2 other AS everywhere and while 4 titles is impressive, it's not when compared to Kobe/Jordan, probably Shaq, maybe Duncan amongst just his contemporaries. I can't see KD having less than 4 rings if he replaced James on all those teams either. Also, each title isn't equal. Some more impressive, some less so. 2 lockout titles and Ray Allen needing to save another. He's lucky to have even 1 title maybe. I can't see Kobe having less than 6-7 minimum if he followed the same team paths as James either.
Marcel, 10 finals is great, but need to know context. He was in the much weaker East for 9 of those, and couldn't even make the Finals in 2009/2010 when he had the best team in the league. He would've had tougher 1st round series in the West than ECF series several years. Now 3 seasons in the West: miss playoffs, wins title during covid year when every top contender stunk it up after the season resumed, loses 1st round. Even if Davis was entirely healthy during 1st round, I'm not so sure LAL would've won. PHO is hardly a contender either, they only have maybe 7 competent rotation players and their best player was hurt for almost the whole series. James is still great and 18 seasons is a lot, better than Duncan, Kobe, and Shaq were in their 18th seasons for sure, but this is twilight time. Duncan also had the luxury of being a glorified role player during his last title though, something James didn't have this season.
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