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| If Lebron James ever wants to be considered great, he must stop accepting defeat. |
After the Heat's 1 point loss to the Jazz Saturday Night Brian Windhorst, the man who has followed Lebron basically his entire career, wrote an article pertaining to the unique reality the Miami Heat, and especially Lebron James, find themselves in. I'm not here to rehash what Windhorst said, or continue to talk about how every Heat loss feels like the end of the world to them. I'm here to explain the Lebron James effect.
The Lebron James effect isn't simple. It's a complex, psychological argument that separates talent and skill from greatness. Before we continue, we have to define greatness. Greatness is somewhat about the stats and championships, but it's more about the competitive level an individual reaches during their career; it's about that attitude, about reaching that fifth gear when necessary. Lebron James is not great.
James is clearly the most talented, athletic and skilled player of our generation, and probably of any generation. His abilities outmatch Jordan's(minus the shooting) and he is built like an Acela train. But, James hasn't been able to turn his superior, almost alien-like talents into success. Yeah he's won games. Yeah he's amassed ridiculous stats. Yeah he has an unbelievable highlight tape. But he's not great. Starting with James' competitive nature we see his weaknesses, two of them to be exact. First, he lacks a killer instinct. James' fourth quarters have been much scrutinized, maligned and mocked, but his fourth quarter woes are truly alarming. Lebron is supposed to take the biggest shots and make them. He does neither, and I'm not exactly sure it's because he can't physically make them. James just doesn't have that "foot on the throat" mentality and he was not born that way. That seg-ways perfectly into my next point.
Lebron James doesn't hate losing. The 6'8" 250 lb(I think more 265-270 lbs) freak of nature was born to play basketball, not to win. He was put on this earth to wow us day-in and day-out, not to create a jewelry collection. No that right was reserved for Bird, Magic, Jordan and Kobe Bryant. These are arguably the four greatest players of all-time and for one reason, they hated to lose. Losing was worse than death. Winning wasn't as important to them as not losing was. But for Lebron, it's all gravy, and it always is. LBJ doesn't like losing, that's not what I'm saying, but it's fine for him. Lebron simply loves playing basketball, that's it. He plays because he loves the game, not because he wants to be considered the greatness of all-time, although he proclaims he does. If Lebron hadn't so arrogantly danced his way to Miami, we all would be still gushing over his charisma and enjoying watching him try and watch a championship. But instead, people were offended by the way he left Cleveland, and immediately forgot about the 6 or so years of charm that had made James the league's most popular player. The world wants to watch him fail, and his acceptance of this failure is his ultimate downfall. There's no anger in his eyes after a loss and sometimes there's a maddening look of sadness, as if he simply can't do it, as if his confidence is as inconsistent as a manic depressent. Don't get me wrong, James cares. But he just is too content with losing, too content with "we'll get 'em next time." If you think about it. If you think about all those skills, all that talent, that freakish athleticism; it's an absolute travesty.
This year we will most likey watch Lebron James put together the most ridiculous season in the modern era. His player efficiency rating(PER) is five points higher than Dwyane Wade in second place and he is becoming such a triple-double machine that even Oscar Robertson would be impressed. Add that to the fact that he literally can guard anyone at any position at anytime and you clearly have the most talented player in the league. But that won't matter to the voters when they select the league's MVP. They aren't going to vote for a player who doesn't take his team's last shot. They're not going to vote for athleticism and skills. They're going to vote for greatness and at this moment, the greatest player in the NBA is Kevin Durant. KD has put his killer instinct on the show this season and has surpassed the aging Kobe Bryant as the league's most clutch player. Kevin Durant also finds no solace in losing, no moral victories. He might not be able to defend or pass like Lebron, but he personally wins games. That folks, is why Kevin Durant, and not Lebron James will be crowned the league's Most Valuable Player.
But this isn't about the 2011-12 season, this is about a career. Maybe even, at this point, at age 27 we can call it a wasted career. Yeah, sure Lebron will win a few titles. How could he not? The Heat have looked like the greatest team on the planet all year. But the Heat will always be Dwyane Wade's team and will always be remembered by Wade's fourth quarter heroics. No one will think back ten years from now and be reminiscing on Lebron's PER rating or his penitence for triple-doubles, they'll be glowing over that big shot that Dwyane Wade hit to win Game 4 or his and-one late in Game 7. There is still time for Lebron to change his ways and turn into a legitimately great player, but the signs don't point in that direction.
You can always improve your shot, defense and passing, but you just can't simply teach killer instinct. No one taught Jordan or Bird or Magic or Kobe to be deadly, and no one is going to teach Lebron that either. Time for him to man up, or get out.
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