The State of LeBron

On the occasion of his back-to-back NBA championships and Finals MVP.

Until LeBron James wins a championship by beating Michael Jordan, we will never, ever, ever know who is better.

They are simply different.

Different beasts from different eras. It’s a compliment to both that they are in this debate, because it is a debate about the best ever. Kobe Bryant was in this debate, but his candidacy will be forever clouded by having won three championships alongside the most dominant big man of all time, Shaquille O’Neal.

So for now it’s LeBron versus Michael. They both were the best players on their championship teams when they won them in their primes. LeBron having won his second NBA championship has really solidified his claim to greatness. Making it a back to back title, with a chance of three-peat is even a greater piece of evidence.

We need to stop this LBJ vs MJ debate now. If we keep looking in the rearview to think about Jordan too much, we will lose sight of the legendary basketball talent that we can still go watch and play on a nightly basis. Michael Jordan will continue to live on and dominate in YouTube mix tapes 24-7, but we only have a limited time to enjoy LeBron’s otherworldly talents as a live event. We need to go. We need to appreciate the now. For in time, LeBron will also retire and live only in holographic projections in our living rooms. We need to appreciate the genuine article now.

To me Tiger Woods is a better comparison for LeBron. We watched LeBron playing ball when he was in junior high. He was a favorite cover subject for major magazines when he was in high school. His childhood was well-documented. It felt more like the build-up to Tiger than MJ. MJ had a big shot in college, but no one predicted that far in advance that he would become a world-changing, mass-marketing, basketball-globalizing force when he entered the NBA. He was cut from his high school team afterall. MJ’s rise to legendary status was a slow burn.

LeBron was tagged as a Jordan heir apparent from a young age. By this time, the media had a long history of crying wolf about crowning ‘next Jordan’s.’ (‘Baby Jordan’ Harold Minor anyone??) We were collectively wary of the hype. A big percentage of us didn’t want to believe because we had been burned before. Add to this the size of the modern sports contract coupled with the monolithic endorsement deals that certain talents become entitled to. Then there were rumors that the kid was cocky and didn’t know his place. Then he did a couple silly things. Suddenly it was fashionable to root against LeBron.

Just let it go.

LeBron is a basketball player, not a politician. Sure, he’s had some misteps, socially, awkwardly, and many of them have been nationally broadcasted (sometimes on his own dime). But seriously, let it go. If you love basketball, you should be really tuned into what LeBron has turned himself into on the basketball court. He is a rare player who has eliminated most of his tendencies. He is impossible for an opposing coach to build a game plan around. He is impossible for defenses, even double and triple teams to stop. He has reached an elite point where even when everyone in the arena knows he’s going to get the ball and shoot, he still can’t be stopped. That is not fair. And it is a lot of fun to behold. Enjoy it.

The first eight minutes of the fourth quarter of Game six were some of the most inspired minutes of basketball I’ve ever seen anyone play. LeBron willed that game to victory. And no one in the arena could bring him down. He was taking on the entire Spurs’ defense, by driving, and spinning, and finishing. He was blocking Tim Duncan. He was backing fools down in the post. It was an absolute clinic. It was a dominating, legacy fortifying stretch that I will never forget. During those 8 career altering moments, it was pure basketball. There was no commercial message, there were no soundbites to take out of context, it was just pure, dominating basketball by the singular greatest player on the planet.

It’s one of the great pleasures of sportswriting to be able to gush superlatives about a player and still not feel like you have done his talent justice. Some championships dwindle to a hazy conclusion simply because ‘someone had to win.’ Not this era, not with LeBron. With each championship LeBron achieves, it will be done with an aura of destiny. The best player, on the best team has proven to be the best. There is a cleaness and a symmetry to the claims you can make. For Duncan and the Spurs to have won this one would have been an upset. They are a great team and dynasty of their own, but they lack the most dominating playmaker in the game today. LeBron James.

Somewhere MJ is dominating Bejewled on his iPad. Somewhere else Kobe is pretending to ignore the news.

Today, only a single name is being raised to basketball’s cosmic rafters. LeBron James, two-time NBA champ.