Not since Michael Jordan in Chicago has any team won an NBA title relying so heavily on one individual player.That might be the next trick for LeBron James.
By winning the Most Valuable Player Award on Thursday, James cemented his status as the best basketball player in the world today. If he wants to reach the real rarified air where the best in history reside, there are other things he must accomplish now.
Like winning championships. Like averaging a triple-double through an entire season, something no one has done since Oscar Robertson did it 47 years ago.
Throughout the last 12 years, the key to winning championships has been some kind of team balance, either a 1-2 punch like Shaq and Kobe had with the Lakers, or a real spread-the-wealth system like Detroit and Boston did.
James finished the season averaging 28.4 points, almost 11 points more than anyone else on the Cleveland roster, a scoring gap that no NBA champion has had since Jordan and the Bulls in the 1995-96 season.
And Jordan at least had Scottie Pippen, an All-Star in his own right. James has only Mo Williams as his second fiddle. And Mo Williams is no Scottie Pippen, leaving James lonelier than Jordan ever was.The Cavs may have won a league best 66 games, but winning a championship is far from a given. In fact, it's probably not going to happen this year. There still are too many things that can go wrong without help.
Assuming Atlanta is no more than a nuisance, the Cavs still must face either Boston with a one-two punch of Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, or more likely Orlando, which has a Big Three of Dwight Howard, Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu. The Magic held a 2-1 advantage in the regular season.
Then in the Finals, there is either Kobe and Gasol with the Lakers, or the Denver Nuggets with Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony. Notice that every other team out there has co-stars.
There is a reason winning with one star – however big -- is so difficult. If James can do with this Cavs team, he deserves his rightful place among the greatest.
Then we can start talking about averaging that Triple-Double, when he can challenge Oscar Robertson for the title of the Greatest Basketball Player of All Time.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-04-2009 @ 7:44PM
dinohealth said...
No doubt about it, Oscar is right up there with Michael Jordan. However, Oscar, as great as he was, had a few bare fingers on both his hands in comparison to Jordan. Even if Cleveland wins the title, Lebron has a lot of fingers to cover with rings before anyone can begin to compare his accomplishments to those of the Greatest Player that the game has seen: Michael Jordan.
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5-04-2009 @ 8:02PM
dinohealth said...
I might also venture to add the following: 1) If Jordan had not
played baseball for 2 years (in his prime; won three more AFTTER he
came back!), he would have had another 2 fingers of rings - Houston
would never had gotten those titles! 2) Pippen was OK as a
sidekick, but without Michael drawing EVERYONE, he would have been a
lot less than OK! 3) In my mind, the Big O and MJ had the greatest all-around game and skills in the history of the game; but, Jordan is way ahead on accomplishments! 4) Jordan could spot Big O and James a few
fingers, and still be the - hands down - runaway GREATEST PLAYER OF
ALL TIME!
5-04-2009 @ 9:14PM
akroncardfan said...
With no comments of the deep team the cavs have.The comments are ignorant.Big Z deserves better.
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5-04-2009 @ 9:20PM
Skrying said...
When did MJ win a title all alone? Pippen was better than an All-Star, Pippen is a Hall of Famer easily some day and legitimately could be considered a top 50 player of all time. He changed the way defense was played for crying out loud.
MJ is far and away the greater player of all time, but even the greatest can not win it all alone when the competition is at least decent.
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5-04-2009 @ 9:27PM
george said...
Spot on Tim,Oscar was and will always be the best of all time. Jordan was the greatest ballhog of all time,he may have averaged more triple-doubles if he could spell 'pass'. Wilt even had more assists than Mr. Ballhog and I don't remember him being a guard lol. If you shoot 40 times a game,you are going to win some scoring titles.
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5-06-2009 @ 12:50AM
dejohn4170 said...
Dumb article, dumber points made. MJ never one a title by himself. Cartwright, Rodman, and others were no bums. And Pippen was always considered one of the top 5 all around players in the league for years. In fact since MJ retired, there has been another like him, Kobe. Is there another Pippen in the league now? No. To the writer, give up your day job.
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5-06-2009 @ 3:32AM
Giles said...
LeBron`s commercials are good. Does LBJ write them (or direct
them?)? All little credit where credit is due, please. I especially
like his old man, a cross between Redd Foxx, who couldn`t ball, and
Bill Russell, the greatest role player of all time, on the greatest small ball team of all time, who still is hilarious when he wants to be. The old
man character would sum up the suitable reaction to LBJ`s hype
reasonably G-ratedly, and reasonably well. He`d sneer "Pretty Boy".
Not LBJ`s fault the press adores him as their chosen one, though. He is
suitably modest, so far at least. He has one legit mvp season,
very young. But he hasn`t won a single championship, and he`ll have
to stay healthy to have a prayer of doing that. Nobody around him?
Ilgauskas, Wallace, and Scerbiak up front have all been all stars
without LBJ, though they are only role players now. Let him just be
himself. That is already pretty good in its own right. Compare him
with Oscar when a triple double is just an average night`s work for
him, like it was for Oscar, not an unearned gift, false publicity
from the NYC media to sell tickets in Manhatten under false
pretenses, which the commissioner admitted was a lie. Compare him with Kobe when he has three championships. Shaq O`Neal, Kobe Bryant, and Allen Iverson are all post MJ athletes. I`ll take LBJ the rest of this decade, and most, maybe all, of the next decade, to catch up to them, if he ever does. Compare him
with MJ when he has SIX championships, not just NONE. Yes, he stands
a chance to be in the top five ever, with maybe Chamberlain, Jabbar,
Jordan, and Robertson, and would by position be a good choice. But
plenty of guys are ahead of him. Artis Gilmore (not as good as Shaq O`Neal, but Shaq isn`t retired yet), Karl Malone, Julius Erving, George Gervin, John Havlicek, Moses Malone, Elvin Hayes, Rick Barry, Elgin Baylor (not as good as Kobe Bryant, but Kobe isn`t retired yet), Jerry West, Robert Parish, Bill Russell, Larry Bird, Earvin Johnson, Bob Cousy. Is
LeBron going to score over 30 thousand combined NBA/ABA points like
now all but forgotten Dan Issell? We`ll see. Remember when Rodman said Bird was
just another good player, when the press annointed HIM as their
goddess? Check the all time stats. Bird is barely up there in FT%,
nothing else. A legit Hall of Famer, but
maybe not even better than an uproven 24 year old like LeBron. Ever`
body talkin` `bout the Hall of Fame ain`t goin` there. LBJ hasn`t
even proven he deserves to be THERE yet, though I think he will if he
stays healthy. The Greatest Lone Individual SuperStar Of ALL Time?!
Please. Which is only since `46 for the BAA turned NBA. Longer if
they`d count the NBL and ABA, but, sadly, they don`t. `46 is before
even my time, but is hardly forever. Why can`t the media become
addicted to facts instead of hype for a change? Right now LBJ is
just the new George McGinnis, which is a pretty darned good start for
the kid. And yeah, LBJ might already do a fairly good Harold
Carmichael impression for the NFL as a 6`8, like Harold was, tight
end. But then he`d risk injury even more. Like Bird`s eventual bad
back. Just enjoy LBJ for what HE is/does, not what he could be
fantasized to become like, okay?
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