Debate, and Appreciate, Greatness

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I think LeBron James is the GOAT.

Ok now that my stance is known let’s move forward.

I’ve been guilty of engaging in the GOAT debate even though at its core it’s an ultimately frivolous and endless task. Whatever criteria you use to evaluate your GOAT is an exercise in fantasy, a discussion with no possible solution.

That’s not to say don’t have your debates. Your bar arguments and barber shop quarrels. But I’ve decided to approach this differently.

Here is my, for lack of a better word, tribute to LeBron James and his influence on the game I love so much.

When we analyse the greats of our game through a critical lens we often point to how they changed the game and influenced the generation beyond theirs. Guys like George Mikan and Shaquille O’Neal were so dominant inside that the league adopted rule changes and tweaks like widening the lane, breakaway backboards and zone defences. Stephen Curry led the advent of the three point era, inspiring a mixtape generation of shots from the parking lot.

What’s LeBron’s enduring watermark on the NBA you ask?

To be honest, I can’t answer.

It says a lot that here’s a man who in his 20 year (and counting) NBA career has 18 All-NBA Team nods, holds membership to six All-Defense teams, has four NBA titles, four MVPs, four Finals MVPs, is fourth all-time in ASSISTS as well as obviously being first in scoring and people still aren’t sure what his greatest strength on the court is.

Just as an example, look at LeBron’s…well I don’t want to say contemporaries because I’m not sure he truly has any, but for argument’s sake let’s assume he does. Steph, as we all know, is the greatest shooter of all time. Kevin Durant? A smooth assassin and maybe the most gifted all-round offensive player ever. Giannis Antetokounmpo is an athletic blitzkrieg of unrelenting transitional terror. Nikola Jokic a playmaker so smooth it makes point guards blush.

Is LeBron’s greatest asset his scoring? He’s statistically the best scorer of all time so it seems easy to point to that right?

Then you have the school of thought that LeBron’s playmaking is his greatest asset. Being fourth all time in assists as a power forward is a testament to his unselfishness, vision and passing ability.

While underrated and not as tenacious in his later years, you don’t earn six All-Defense selections by being anything short of elite on that end of the floor too. The fact this isn’t even brought up often when stacking up LeBron is a comment on just how stacked his resume is.

So whether you view him as a scorer, as a playmaker, as a defender, as a general manager (har har), it doesn’t really matter. The three pillars of LeBron are like the Egyptian God Cards in Yu-Gi-Oh (sorry for nerd moment). On their own, elite players in their own right. Combined in unison, utterly unstoppable.

But to me, beyond the on court counting stats and statistical recognition, the truest quality of LeBron’s greatness is…and bear with me, his greatness.

Allow me to validate that ridiculous circular analogy.

LeBron, while plying his trade for small-town St Vincent-St Mary HS in Akron had the level of coverage and hype 99% of fully fledged NBA players will never see in their careers. Don’t forget, the late journalist Grant Wahl lauded him as the “Chosen One” on a Sports Illustrated cover story in 2002, when LeBron was all of 17 years old.

Sports history is littered with examples of athletes being anointed heavy crowns their immature personalities are not yet strong enough to withstand, and yet LeBron adopted the regal title with a level of nonchalance that suggested he was picking a screen name on AOL, not proclaiming a title that soon millions of adoring fans and snarling critics alike would hold him to.

You don’t go around calling yourself the King as a high schooler if you’re a meek wallflower hoping to fit in.

LeBron has never shirked the limelight that came with his immediate superstardom since breaking into the NBA in 2003 (and even before).

Drafted as the consensus first overall pick to your hometown team in dire need of rejuvenation and hope is a cocktail that no NBA player would readily admit to seeking out. That sort of pressure and attention from your own city, where the line between friend and leech is blurred beyond reality, is as undesirable as an old sock in a gym bag.

Despite that, LeBron’s early Cleveland years were littered with moments that foreshadowed his inevitable greatness, perhaps none more famous than that fateful playoff game where he effectively ended the reign of the remnants of the Pistons 2004 title team over the Eastern Conference in Game 5 of the Conference Finals in 2007.

For the unaware.

29 of the Cavs last 30 points, including the last 25. Incredible (and heartbreaking as a Pistons fan).

Sure LeBron’s original Cavs tenure ended sourly, with lacklustre roster construction around him driving him to the warm embrace of Miami via an unnecessarily dramatic free agency announcement, a rare blot on an otherwise pristine resume from a public relations point of view.

Returning like the prodigal son though? To lead a barren wasteland of a franchise to its first title in history? A redemption arc so intense it would make George R.R. Martin hesitate.

Scandal-free, a doting father and devoted husband, generous philanthropist and aspiring actor (Trainwreck was OK, Space Jam 2 sucked I’m sorry), the vitriol directed at LeMickey over the years is both astounding and yet symptomatic of modern sports.

As with any form of greatness, it brings with it a level of hatred reserved for those who have the ability to hurt you time and time again. Sports fans at their core are emotional beings, parochial beyond reason and rational in mind only. As the saying goes, they hate you because they ain’t you, and this isn’t more true of someone of LeBron’s stature.

Reading this, regardless of who you support, there’s definitely a time LeBron ripped your soul out through your mouth via an unnerving and merciless destruction on the hardwood. Where others have been content to talk behind packs or bark on the bandwidth (looking at you Ja, Kevin), LeBron has also never been short of a stirring word in battle.

The difference?

LeBron has backed it up every time. Every brutal lash of the tongue accompanied by a devastating takedown on the court. Over twenty plus seasons and 1400 games of brutal punishment, the sadists in the league returning for more every year.

Wherever LeBron’s record finishes up, whether he gets that coveted fifth title, his legacy and his longevity are immortalised.

As I said earlier, players define their eras. LeBron’s era of dominance has gone so long that players who looked up to him have come and gone, his students now his analysts, his adoring childhood crowd now with families of their own, spawning generations of new fans.

His own family is about to join him in the Association. LeBron has played against generations of NBA families, and he’s about to play with generations of his own blood.

Players define eras, LeBron defines generations.

The Chosen One indeed.