Doyel: LeBron James is refining greatness
LeBron James isn’t reinventing greatness, but he is refining it. On the court, off the court. He’s as good as we’ve got in the NBA, whether we know it or not.
And of course we don’t know it. We never do. Greatness slaps us in the face, and what we do is strike back sevenfold.
We gravitate to places that didn’t exist when earlier greats played – the internet, social media – and viciously mock LeBron. Or we politely compare him to Michael Jordan, and we focus on one of the few numbers that strongly suggests Michael was better: six NBA titles in six appearances in the NBA Finals.
We ignore other numbers that suggest LeBron is better: seven NBA Finals appearances, one more than Jordan, including six in a row, guiding whichever team he’s on – Miami from 2011-14, Cleveland again in 2015 and ’16 – to the NBA Finals. We point out that LeBron doesn’t score quite at Jordan’s level, and we ignore the reason: He’s busy doing nearly everything else better.
Live reaction from Cleveland's NBA Finals win
Who’s better overall, Michael or LeBron? You don’t know. Neither do I. It’s an impossible comparison. Eras change.
Wilt Chamberlain did things we’ll never see again. He averaged 44.8 ppg and 24.3 rebounds in 1963 – and finished seventh in the MVP voting.
My point? Two points, really: One, too often we fail to appreciate what we’re seeing. Two, how do you compare a 7-footer from the 1960s to a guard in the 1990s to a position-defying player today?
(As an aside, here’s as far as I’m willing to go on the all-time great discussion, and even this is probably too far: My all-time starting five is Magic Johnson at point guard, Michael Jordan at shooting guard, LeBron James at small forward, Larry Bird at power forward and Wilt Chamberlain at center.)
In LeBron we’re seeing greatness, undeniable historical greatness, and the culmination of a remarkable redemption story. He returned home to lead the Cavaliers to the NBA title, Cleveland’s first title in 52 years in any major professional sport, a drought that turned the city into a punchline around the country.
And LeBron did this in singular fashion, becoming the first player in NBA Finals history – or in any round of the playoffs, ever – to lead both teams in points (29.7), rebounds (11.3), assists (8.9), steals (2.6) and blocks (2.3). Afterward, Cavaliers teammate Richard Jefferson was sneering at the preposterousness of those numbers.
“Like, come on,” Jefferson said. “What the hell. Who does that?”
LeBron did, six years after breaking northeast Ohio’s heart. He’s from just outside Cleveland – his high school gym in Akron is 32 miles from Quicken Loans Arena – but he left the Cavaliers for Miami in 2010 in search of an easier road to an NBA title.
In 2010 they burned his jersey in downtown Cleveland. The reaction around the country wasn’t much kinder; we mocked LeBron as a front-runner, a coward. When the Heat lost in the 2011 NBA Finals to the Mavericks, we rejoiced.
That includes me, by the way. At the time I was living in Ohio, and LeBron’s departure unleashed something ugly inside me. There are stories at CBSSports.com where I lashed out. Too many stories. Google doesn’t forget.
Along the way, LeBron has almost always taken the high road, which he reminded us last week during that Draymond Green flap. As you’ll recall, James lost his cool during Game 4 after Green called him a bitch.
Well, LeBron, that will not do; stars should be tougher than that. LeBron, his team already down 3-1 in the series, was ridiculed nationally. The Warriors taunted him on Twitter (Marreese Speights tweeted a picture of a baby bottle) and during interviews (“I guess his feelings just got hurt,” said Klay Thompson).
Before Game 5, asked to respond to Klay Thompson, LeBron smiled ruefully, considered his options, then picked this one: “Oh my goodness. I’m not going to comment on what Klay said, because I know where it can go from this sit-in. It’s so hard to take the high road. I’ve been doing it for 13 years. It’s so hard to continue to do it, and I’m going to do it again.”
In Games 5-7, feeling what had to be unimaginable pressure – not just personally, but to rescue and then deliver the Cavaliers – James averaged 36.3 points, 11.7 rebounds, 9.7 assists, three steals and three blocks. The Cavaliers won all three games, two on the road, to become the first team in 33 attempts to rally from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals.
We’ve never seen anything like it.
Doyel: A promise connects LeBron James, Emanuel Duncan
Here’s something else we’ve never seen – well, it’s something I’ve never seen – from a figure as public as LeBron James. It’s something we saw in November, three weeks after a Lawrence Central teenager dying of muscular dystrophy told me his bucket list had one item: meeting his idol, LeBron James.
Emanuel Duncan hasn’t met LeBron, but three weeks after that story appeared here at IndyStar, LeBron sent him a care package that included a signed jersey, basketball shoes, Beats by Dre headphones and a personal note in which LeBron told him: “I know you said that I’m your role model and I inspire you, but I know that you give so many people inspiration, including me.”
Where does LeBron James rank among the all-time greats? I’m not putting him behind anybody.
Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at@GreggDoyelStar or atwww.facebook.com/gregg.doyel.
