King James: contender or pretender?

This article first appeared in the Sep/Oct 2013 issue of World Gaming magazine.

The Miami Heat are NBA Champions again after outlasting San Antonio in a thrilling Game 7 decider, but their success has thrown up plenty of questions. Can the Heat complete a Three-Peat next season? Where will they rank amongst the pantheon of great teams? And most intriguing of all, how will the current world’s best basketballer, LeBron James, compare with the greatest of all-time, Michael Jordan, when the time comes to call it quits? We look at what the future might hold for both LeBron and the Heat.

Sport played at the highest level between the two best sides in the world always makes for compelling viewing. The NBA can be frustrating to follow at times due to the ridiculous length of the season but invariably the playoffs make up for it with a thrilling finish. This year we were treated to one of the best Finals match-ups in years as Miami was stretched all the way by the San Antonio Spurs, but in the end it was LeBron James and the Heat that emerged with their second straight title.

It would be remiss of us to discuss the legacy of this Miami side without paying due credit to just how good the Spurs were through the playoffs. In fact, were it not for some sheer bad luck in Game 6 when they came within seconds of winning the Championship, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. LeBron was the league’s MVP for the year but Tony Parker was unlucky not to steal the title of MVP of the finals. His leadership and ability to dominate under pressure was nothing short of Herculean.

But in the end, it is the winners that are remembered and Miami did just enough to stamp another chapter in the history books. Although they looked tired and laborious at times, good teams find a way to win and that’s exactly what the Heat did. LeBron’s own season will live long in the memory banks and finally he can proclaim that the Heat are his and his alone. Sure, Dwayne Wade was good in patches but it was LeBron who kept the machine rolling.

So what next for the Heat? They will start the 2013/14 season favorites again and if they play to their potential will probably win it again too. With LeBron leading the way and a quality support cast around him, it is Miami’s championship to lose. But with that comes the pressure of knowing anything short of winning will be deemed a failure. It’s not an easy sort of pressure to handle and it very nearly led to their demise this year against both San Antonio in the Finals and Indiana – who also took them to seven games – in the Conference Finals.

Miami’s rivals will take heart from the fact the Heat was almost knocked off their perch. You would think the aging Spurs will go backwards this season but that was supposed to happen last season too so maybe they’ll surprise us again? The Oklahoma City Thunder has unfinished business and will consider the season gone a failure given many tipped them to contest the Finals rather than San Antonio. The Grizzlies, Pacers, Clippers, Nets and Warriors should all continue to improve and we haven’t even mentioned the Lakers who can never be written off as long as Kobe Bryant is running the show. Boston will welcome back Rajon Rondo while Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks will again be competitive.

Clearly it won’t be plain sailing for the Heat and it depends on what sort of hangover they take into their second defense of the title. They may start a little slower next season and try to peak towards the playoffs. To chalk up three in a row they will need LeBron to be at his very best both physically and mentally. His legacy as a player and the legacy of this Heat roster still hang in the balance. If the empire crumbles now, many will still consider it a failure, but add another title or two and history will embrace them as one of the game’s greats. And don’t think the Heat isn’t fully aware what a difference it will make to be looked back on as three-time winners versus a simple back-to-back. They will be desperate to score the “Three-Peat”.

 

LEBRON JAMES VS MICHAEL JORDAN

 

Now that he has not only broken his Championship drought but made it two in a row, the inevitable comparisons with the great Michael Jordan have begun. It’s a tough nut for LeBron to crack because while everyone loves to hate him, Jordan remains one of the most popular athletes to have ever graced a sporting arena. Is MJ the greatest basketballer of all time? Without doubt. And LeBron has a long way to go if he is to challenge for that title.

But the Miami superstar still has a lot of basketball in front of him and his best may still be yet to come. Since Jordan’s retirement in 1999 (we’ll ignore his brief flirtation with the Washington Wizards), LeBron and Kobe are the only two players to have even been mentioned in the same breath as the great one. Chances are LeBron won’t ever scale the heights of Jordan but he is the only person to realistically have a chance of coming close. Let’s take a look at some of the contributing factors you should consider when comparing the two.

MJ came first

This sounds like a moot point but it is a fact worth considering. Sports fans, journalists and punters alike love to remember the “good old days” when the sport was apparently at its peak. MJ didn’t have to live up to the expectation of being as good as himself.

People don’t like LeBron

Again, the purists would say this doesn’t matter but it does. LeBron was extremely popular when he first made his presence known but for some bizarre reason decided to wake up one day and take himself way too seriously. During his move from Cleveland to Miami in 2010, LeBron put plenty of people off-side with his comments about “taking my talents to Miami” and the desire to ease the offensive burden he would need to shoulder by linking with Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade. The sad part of all this is that LeBron desperately wants people to like him, whereas MJ seemed to take everything in his stride.

Bulls better than the Heat

Give me Pippen, Rodman, Longley and company over Wade, Bosh and Chalmers any day of the week. The Chicago Bulls of the 1990s were MJ’s team, but they were also the best team of all time. The Heat may have been built on a list of champions but they are a champion team because of LeBron and LeBron only.

Cleveland hurt LeBron

MJ was a Chicago Bull through and through but LeBron had to leave Cleveland to win titles. The Cavaliers just couldn’t build a team around LeBron and that wasn’t his fault. It was hard for him to leave but he didn’t have much choice. Chicago also loved MJ from the start while LeBron only found that love in Miami after leading them to the first of their consecutive titles. Until then, the jury was still out – even among the Heat faithful.

Six is bigger than two

No matter how good you are as an individual, you are never going to receive due credit unless your team wins the ultimate prize. Jordan won six Championships with the Bulls while at this stage LeBron has just two. Jordan also showed just how important he was by retiring after winning three Championships in a row, then coming back a few years later to lift the Bulls to another stunning “Three-Peat”. It should be noted that MJ was 28 when he won his first title. LeBron is 28 now and already has those two. But Jordan’s other four are already in the record books while there is no guarantee LeBron will even win a third.

Different Eras

It is hard to compare champions from different eras. Jordan played in an age of champions – butting heads with the likes of Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Shawn Kemp, Hakeem Olajuwon and Shaq. LeBron has only really had Kobe Bryant as competition for greatness. You could argue the overall standard of the NBA has improved dramatically in the last few decades but then you can only play what’s in front of you.

Conclusion

With two Championships to his name already and plenty of years ahead, there is no doubt LeBron James will go down as one of the NBA’s all-time greats. As far as the modern era goes, he is one of the very few that has shown the ability to truly dominate when it matters most – the mark of a true champion. But LeBron has some challenges to overcome if he is to ever be considered the equal of Michael Jordan. For starters, as physically imposing as his huge physique is, Jordan was loved for his sheer athleticism and ability to produce the spectacular. The image of him high in the air, dunking the ball with his legs splayed remains one of the most enduring images in world sport and he alone can be credited for the phenomenal success of the Nike brand. Who knows where Nike would be today without him?

Jordan’s record also speaks for itself. He won six Championships, was named NBA MVP five times, was a 14-time NBA All-Star, won 10 scoring titles and retired with the NBA’s highest scoring average of 30.1, not to mention his countless other achievements.

However, James’ stats match-up favorably: he is already a three-time MVP and eight-time NBA All-Star, while his career average 27.6 points per game places him third all-time behind only Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain. Pretty impressive.

The critics might be disgusted by the very thought, but those numbers alone prove the LeBron v MJ debate is one well and truly worth having.

The reality is that it will take someone very special to overtake Jordan on the list of all-time greats and even though LeBron is putting his best foot forward, he still has a lot more he needs to achieve to draw alongside. The fact he boasts just one scoring title to Jordan’s 10 hasn’t been lost on WGM either. But whatever happens from here, we can at least strap ourselves in and enjoy the ride.