There are people who, for one reason or another, don’t want to give LeBron James the credit he deserves. Or they begrudgingly give him credit, but insist that they don’t like him.
It’s always been difficult for me to figure out why that is. He’s never in trouble. He’s a family man. His list of charitable contributions and foundation programs is probably more massive than most realize.
I do understand the complaining issue. I don’t fully agree with it, but I understand it. James can be very visible when he thinks the referees missed a call or that he doesn’t get the same treatment from the officials as most other players. To be clear, he’s correct. James plays through contact more than just about anyone since Shaquille O’Neal. He is essentially penalized for being as strong as he is, because contact that would derail another player doesn’t appear as harsh when it’s committed against LeBron.
But so many players complain about calls that to nitpick that as a reason to dislike James is a bit ridiculous. It probably just appears to be more from him because he plays more and has the ball more than anyone else in the game. James just wrapped up his 15th regular season in the NBA, in which he played all 82 games and more minutes than anybody in the league. He has led the league in minutes per game the past two seasons at ages 32 and 33. He’s only sat out 71 games in his career, which comes to fewer than five per season.
For comparison’s sake, Dwyane Wade has also been in the league for 15 years. Everyone seems to love Wade and considers him a warrior on the court, but he has missed 232 games. That’s 151 more than James — almost two full seasons. Wade has played 33,888 minutes; James has played 44,298. So 15 years after each was selected in the top five of the NBA Draft, James has logged 33 percent more court time than Wade, not even including the playoffs.
Who doesn’t love Steph Curry? Nobody, right? But in nine seasons, Curry has missed 91 games, which is still pretty good considering the ankle issues that worried some teams when he entered the league, but 20 more than James. Curry also does his fair share of complaining and ref glaring — and unlike Curry, James has never hucked his mouthguard into the crowd, to the best of my recollection.
People can cheer who they want, boo who they want and like or dislike anyone they choose. But at some point, we’re all going to come to the realization that LeBron James is the greatest basketball player of all time. Yes, Jordan has more championships and I’ll never downplay how amazing Jordan was.
LeBron is better.
Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were incredible to watch and Magic revolutionized the game, as well as the point guard position.
LeBron is better.
It’s impossible to watch what he does now and not reach this conclusion. I don’t need the analytics to tell me (which they do) or for him to set virtually every statistical record (which he is) to proclaim James as the greatest of all time.
From a total talent perspective, this Cleveland team is almost certainly below Golden State, Houston, Boston, Oklahoma City, Toronto, Utah, Philadelphia, Washington, New Orleans, even Minnesota and Milwaukee. Yet LeBron has them a win away from another NBA Finals appearance.
Now, this all being said, I think Boston wins today. Oh, to be a Celtics fan right now. As much as I can’t stand it as a die-hard Knicks supporter (in need of some support, myself), this Boston team is so much fun to watch. If they can hold serve and win at home today with Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward in street clothes, it will be one of the more phenomenal postseason showings I can ever remember from such a young team.
But discounting LeBron’s chances in a one-and-done scenario isn’t wise. Hopefully his numbers this postseason (33.9 points, 8.9 rebounds, 8.8 assists in 41 minutes per game) aren’t lost on those less-enthusiastic LeBron watchers, because it’s going to be a shame when some realize they spent the most amazing parts of his career gritting their teeth for no real reason.
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David Simon can be reached at dsimon@thegardenisland.com.
Good east conference finals. Eating garlic meatballs and spaghetti sauce watching it. Did you notice Lebron James is bigger than Arnold Swharszenegger?
This article is the exact reason why. If one needs to write an article of why don’t people like him and promote
him, sell him, when obviously he is the most talented player ever played, sorry. Confidence is one thing but an ego the size of Texas is a turn off.
He may be the most talented at the sport he is not the greatest to watch. When he scores or wins and stands on a table pounding his chest and portrays baby like emotions when things don’t go his way I just don’t care to watch it.
Do you have the same reaction to Wade jumping on the scorers’ table after game winners? Or Curry pounding his chest and doing the shimmy dance after hitting a shot? Screaming “this is my *$*% house after scoring a bucket in traffic? I’m honestly asking. None of those things bother me but there seems to be a double standard that I can’t quite figure out. We don’t want the best to acknowledge they are the best, but we’re okay with those who aren’t the best acting like they are the best. Is that it?
Correct. I don’t care for any player that gets over dramatic. There is heat of the moment and then there is nauseating. This article was about Lebron and a question was asked. I answered it with my opinion.
As for your last question, who is ” we “? I acknowledged he was probably the most talented player ever ( which certainly can be debated by anybody, for eternity ) .
I don’t recall when watching the Bulls that the announcers, every other sentence was ” so and so is the greatest ever “, or any of the other players/teams. It takes away from the game I am watching when all that is reported is about is Lebron. I am watching 2 teams play. I want the game reported, not how great Lebron is.
I very seldom get through a Cav’s game because of this.
Announcers,
” Did you see Lebron inbound that ball? Amazing! He’s now dribbling up court, unbelievable “.
Just like Kobe, when Lebron retires the games will still be good because there is so much talent now.
The amount that he is ” better ” than everyone else on a game to game, play to play basis just isn’t that much.
I can see that in one way it makes sense that he went from Miami back to Cleveland. In Miami he wasn’t ” the whole team ” Every single move didn’t revolve around him. In Cleveland it does.
Neither Wade or Curry ever pronounced themselves “The Best in Basketball!” Can you even imagine either of those two humble stars saying such a thing? I hope that is insight enough for you. If not, then dwell on the fact that most of us consider basketball to be a team sport. Magic took that to a new level. Golden State has taken it to another new level. Watching Lebron is like watching Wilt score 100 points in another time far, far away!
It just seems like he can’t win. Early in his career, the knock on LeBron was that he was too passive. In big games, people have wanted him to take over more instead of deferring to teammates. Now he doesn’t involve teammates enough. Forget the fact that he averaged 9.1 assists per game this year, which was SECOND in the NBA. Curry, a point guard, averaged 6.1 assists on a team with Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson. And if it’s humility people want, then they must also really dislike Michael Jordan, who called himself Black Jesus, openly berated teammates and had one of the least self-aware Hall of Fame speeches ever. Muhammad Ali too, for that matter.
How to the analytics say Lebron is better than MJ? Not only is this not true…but the dearth of any evidence in this article is annoying. Even then, to take such an obtuse view of analytics also shows a lack of nuance and context. This article basically says “Lebron is the best. Don’t hate him. Why? Because I said so.”