At 6’8″, 260 lbs., Cleveland Cavaliers small forward LeBron James is a physical specimen. James’ freakish athleticism allowed him to become a basketball phenomenon before he even entered the NBA. James was the first overall pick of the 2003 NBA Draft by the Cavaliers and he came to a franchise that’s greatest claim to fame was having their hearts consistently broken by Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. And even at the age of 18, James was expected to save the Cavaliers from themselves. In James’ first season with the Cavaliers, the team’s win total increased by 18 games. By James’ fourth year in the NBA, he single-handedly got the Cavs to the NBA Finals. But when James realized that he could only do so much for the Cavaliers, he left Cleveland in 2010 to join the Miami Heat as he was desperately seeking an NBA Championship.
In four years with the Heat, James would play in the NBA Finals each season while taking home a pair of NBA Titles. Over that same stretch, the Cavaliers reverted back to being a laughing stock in the NBA as they were once again bottom feeders. But just like it was in Cleveland, James found himself doing everything with the Heat which led him to re-joining the Cavs last summer.
James returned to the Cleveland and he was greeted there with a hero’s welcome by the same people who burned his jersey and called him “gutless” when he left town in 2010. And just like that, when James returned to the Cavs, Cleveland once again became a playoff contender. The James led Cavs would win the Eastern Conference Title this season, but by the time that the NBA Finals rolled around, it was a very familiar theme for him.
In the first round of the NBA Playoffs, the Cavaliers lost the services of power forward Kevin Love who suffered a torn labrum. And in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, the Cavaliers lost point guard Kyrie Irving to a fractured kneecap. Suddenly the help that James was expected to have wasn’t there and once again his team looked to him to carry them.
In the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors, James would average 35.8 points, 13.3, rebounds, 8.8 assists, and 1.3 steals. James had a pair of triple-doubles for the series and after three games, the Cavs were leading the series 2-1. James’ efforts against the Warriors had some people believing that he should have been named as the NBA Finals MVP even in a losing effort. But why is it that wherever James goes, he tends to put teams on his back without having that much help?
Throughout his NBA career, James has been unfairly compared to Jordan and current Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant. James’ overall game doesn’t compare to either Jordan nor Bryant as the game of basketball has never seen a player of his magnitude and that is in no way discrediting what these two icons have accomplished as James’ style of play is totally different from theirs. James is more of a facilitator that can do everything whereas Jordan and Bryant each had strong supporting casts for the majority of their respective NBA careers which doesn’t diminish from the fact that each of them possessed the famed “clutch gene” as well. But as good as Bryant and Jordan have been, neither player was handed the keys to a terrible franchise at the age of 18 like James was. When Jordan was 18, he was getting ready to attend the University of North Carolina while Bryant was embarking on his first NBA season with the Lakers, but he was coming off of the bench for his first two years in the NBA as he played with the likes of Shaquille O’Neal, Elden Campbell, Eddie Jones, and Nick Van Exel. And as James is now 30-years old, he must face the harsh reality that he will continue being in a no-win situation.
James has been fighting an uphill battle from his first day in the NBA. The Cavs put so much on his shoulders and it was tough for him to get top-tier free agents to join him in Cleveland due to the fact that the city itself is not a popular tourist attraction which is something that most of the other great NBA players before him didn’t have to deal with. James went to the Heat where he won a pair of NBA Championships and fairly or unfairly, some people will claim that he had to win his titles elsewhere due to the fact that he couldn’t do it in Cleveland. And once James returned to the Cavaliers last summer, you had to wonder if he is really simply chasing rings as the Heat got older really quick while the Cavaliers all of sudden had youth, talent, and potential.
Reports are now coming out about James’ lack of respect for Cavaliers head coach David Blatt. And if the Cavaliers decide to not have Blatt return for next season, it is another black eye for James due to the fact that he knew that Blatt was going to be the head coach of the Cavs before he made his grand “homecoming” decision as firing the coach would turn him into a martyr.
The fact is that no matter what James will do, he won’t get the full credit that he wants or deserves. Make no mistake about it that James wants to win more NBA Championships and he wants to be remembered as an all-time great. And although James is one of the best players to ever step onto an NBA court, his true greatness might not be recognized until long after his playing days are over.
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