 |
| Don't fool yourself, LeBron James is still looking up to LeBron in age and accomplishments. (Credits: Isaac Baldizon/ NBAE via Getty Images) |
I'm growing seriously restless with all these comparisons between Michael Jordan and LeBron James. There is no comparison right now, you are comparing a player in the hall of fame to a 28-year-old, so let's stop immediately. But then there's the realization that they don't play alike, don't command the basketball court in the same manner and basically are nothing alike, other than the fact that they, at one time or another, were considered the best player in the game by a long shot. At some point in the next ten years, whenever LeBron James hangs it up, we'll be able to really dissect who's the greater player. Even then, if LeBron completes the goals I'm about to put forth, they will be best player 1-A and best player 1-B. Different, but both number one. So instead of sitting here and wasting your time comparing the two like 6 p.m. Sportscenter loves to do, I'm simply going to give LeBron goals he must complete for him to match Jordan. (Ranked by importance)
Goal #1: LeBron must finish 8-2 in his career all-time in NBA Finals
Goal #1A: LeBron must win 6 NBA Finals MVPs (5 more)
Reasoning: Eight titles is more than Jordan by two, obviously. But this will give LeBron two things to compare to Jordan. One, he'll be six finals over .500, right now he's an unimpressive 1-2 (at 28 Jordan was already 2-0). Two, he'll have compiled a ridiculous streak of 8-0 in his last eight Finals, I don't even care if he does it in a row. He doesn't need to go eight-in-a-row because Jordan didn't do it, but I'm in the camp that believe Jordan would have won eight straight if he didn't decide to go pursue another professional sport. It's hypothetical, but I'll give the leeway of LeBron winning seven more over the next ten or so years. Also, he needs to win the NBA MVP five more times to match Jordan there, but that seems like it'd be a given.
Goal #2: LeBron must average 29.5 pts, 9 rebounds and 9 assists or 26.5/10/10 in one season, either works
Reasoning: Jordan's best regular season campaign was '88-'89 in which he averaged 32.5/8/8. LeBron needs to have one of these seasons just simply to show his dominance of an entire 82-game season. Maybe a year after his team doesn't win the NBA Finals or if he just feels like he wants to really put forth an all-around disgusting season. Jordan never put up all-around numbers like that again, but he proved he could do it. LeBron puts up these all around numbers all the time, so for me he just needs to have one season where you go "Those numbers are a joke." Right now LeBron's best season is currently 29.7/7.3/8.6, which is pretty damn good, he's just has to up it a little bit more. I know, I'm nit-picking here, but it's important in the grand scheme of things.
Goal #3: LeBron, as a member of the Heat, must sweep a team in the NBA Finals
Reasoning: He needs to erase that sweep vs. the Spurs within in the next few years to show that if you maximize the talent around him he can annihilate a team in the other, more superior conference. The West is clearly better than the East and will be, barring some crazy trade or freak draft pick, for the next all of the next three years that LeBron plays in Miami. So I think it's a fair goal for him to have to sweep a Western Conference team like OKC or the Clippers in order to truly eliminate that embarrassing loss in '07. Even Iverson won an NBA Finals game in his first Finals, which was against a superior team with his own surrounding cast potentially worse than LeBron's '07 Cavs. Get my point? This is more about eliminating that blemish then it is matching an accomplishment of Jordan's.
Goal #4: LeBron must win 5 NBA MVPs (2 more)
Reasoning: You're probably confused about why it's more important for LeBron to have that season that everyone remembers than him winning five regular season MVPs. It's because we're always going to remember LeBron for having phenomenal seasons and winning multiple MVPs (most likely more than Jordan). However, we need him to have that one season that is clear in your memory, more clear than any of the others. If he wins seven or eight MVPs, cool, but the regular season isn't as important as the way you play in playoffs and most importantly, the Finals.
Goal #5: LeBron must return to Cleveland after his contract with Miami is up and finish his career there
Reasoning: This is more a fun one and doesn't really need to happen for me to put him up there with Jordan, but if he does go back and win three or four championships in a city which hasn't won a major sports championship since 1948 that'd be pretty cool. He would be a god in Cleveland, even with the embarrassingly immature way he departed it three years ago. Most importantly he might even get the respect back that he lost from many of the greats when he decided to join a super team. Just saying.
Goal #6: Win 3 All-Star Game MVPs (1 more)
Reasoning: Again, another extra one here. It's good for the All-Stars to take the game seriously like they did this year. Back in Jordan's day they took the All-Star game even more seriously, so matching him will show that LeBron truly cares about promoting the entirety of basketball in the right way.
Conclusion:
Go ahead, complain all you want about how absurdly lofty these goals are, but I know deep down in LeBron's DNA these are all possible. The way he has started to effortlessly dominate every single game makes me completely believe the possibility of all six of these goals. And you know what? We're talking about comparing this guy to MICHAEL F'IN JORDAN, who dominated one single sport like no other human on earth, except for maybe Michael Phelps and swimming. His accomplishments are laughable in their amazingness and that's where LeBron needs to get to in order for him to be on the Jordan plateau (a lonely place). You need to look back on LeBron's career and laugh at the fact he was 8-2 in Finals, that he won five MVPs and that he had a season that made your jaw drop to the floor.
So for now, let's stop comparing him to Jordan and just enjoy his dominance of the game. We'll start making comparisons when LeBron enters his late thirties, whenever that actually will be.
0 comments:
Post a Comment