It won’t be until LeBron James hangs up his sneakers and have been gone from the game 15 or 20 years that people will really understand just how great he was. Right now the haterism, especially in the hood, keeps boyz from appreciating him.
On Sunday he led the Los Angeles Lakers to their 17th overall NBA title to tie the Boston Celtics with the most championships. What was most amazing was that he proved to all of the naysayers or let’s just call them what they are, haters, that he was still the best player on the planet and it ain’t even close!!!
The dun, in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, after showing like my momma used to say, his bare bottom in Game 5 (40 points, 13 rebounds and 7 assists) dropped off a strong triple double to get rid of Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat. Ole boy dropped off an amazing 28 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assist just to remind boyz of just how great he really is. Did I say the dun was in year 17? Just making sure.
It burns cats up that he had the audacity to accept the nickname given to him coming out of high school and he’s lived up to every bit of the hype. When they called him the “Chosen One” and put him on the cover of Sports Illustrated at 16 years old he not only accepted it but he tattooed it on his back.
Seventeen years later he’s done everything on the floor but paint the lines and make the nets. He’s won 4 NBA championships with three different franchises and spent 60 percent of his career playing for championships. He’s been to 10 Finals in 17 seasons! That’s NUTS!!
For y’all that’s checking, more than half of the time he plays an NBA season he ends up in the championship round regardless whether he’s on the best team in the league or not. He’s getting to the championship.
Some players have only been able to compete for a title when they were finally on the BEST team in the league and not until then. Figure that one out on your own playa.
Simply not the case with LeBron James. He’s taken bums to the Finals that wouldn’t have gotten in the playoffs without him. Take him off of teams that competed for titles the year before and the following year they become the worse team in the league more often than not. That’s a greatness we’ve NEVER seen before.
For a player to have that type of impact everywhere he’s played is mind blowing. And yeah, I know that it’s burning boyz up inside to see him celebrate this fourth title but that says more about them than it does LeBron.
When you call a person having that kind of success LeBum, LeBrenda, LeFraud or whatever other nicknames you can come up with. That’s says that you are insecure with who you are. Even if you think in your mind that he’s not the greatest player of all-time he’s in the Top 2. So how on earth is he a fraud?
He’s the only player in the history of the game that plays all five positions and guards them every night of a 17 year career. Sure, we saw Magic do it once in the Finals when Kareem was hurt. However, LeBron does it EVERY night for 17 years and is the best player on the floor EVERY night for 17 years.
He’s third all-time in scoring, 8th all-time in assists (not a guard), 13th all-time in steals, 48th all-time in rebounds (not a center) and wins everywhere he’s gone. Put him in any scenario and he comes out on top. Amazing!!
His comments on what makes it special playing with Anthony Davis after winning his fourth Finals MVP. “I can’t really explain it. It’s just certain things you know. In any type of relationship, you kinda just feel, you know, that vibe, you can have that respect. You have that drive, and sometimes you can’t explain what links you with somebody, and that’s organic.”
Keep in mind that Anthony Davis is just 27 years old and coming into his prime. LeBron is 35 about to turn 36 at the end of the year with a game that is aging like fine wine. What makes his game age so well is that it’s not dependent upon his first step. He’s a distributor by nature. So as he gets older he’s extremely willing to share the ball and his knowledge of the game. And he can play with his back to the basket whenever he wants to. Dangerous…
So guess what playa, this isn’t going to be the first title run by the Lakers with these two headlining the show. As Davis matures on this stage, LeBron will be more than willing to let him sing lead. He just wants to win.
LeBron’s maturity in the Finals brings a wealth of additional experience to a franchise that understands too well what greatness looks and smells like. He’s the piece that they needed to extend the brand into the future. You’ve got to be drunk if you don’t think superstar free agents aren’t going to be knocking the door down to get to LA to play with he and AD next year.
It’s LA for crying out loud. The haters are literally jumping off of roofs this morning because they’ve got to deal with this cat for the next 4 or 5 years. He just won a championship with a roster that was put together overnight according to Frank Vogel during his postgame comments.
It’s about to be stupid in LA with LeBron driving and AD riding shotgun. It’s mighty funny that nobody complained when Jordan and Pippen were killing boyz swooping up the best rebounder in the league after he’d already won a title in Detroit. So don’t get beside yourself when another superstar shows up in LA this offseason because it’s about to be Cleo up in that piece. “Set It Off”