LeBron didn't stay and make something work. He left again, at 40, for a better shot at a ring.
That's not excellence equals love. That's talent chasing convenience.
Jordan stayed with a middling roster before the Bulls got good, and won six without ever putting on another team's jersey. That's the difference. Love doesn't change teams when the winning gets hard.
Hey, Terry! I'm saying this all in good faith and being authentic and honest here...I find this line of thinking so tiresome, lazy, and robotic! Lebron has always wanted to win championships! Of course he is going to put himself in the best position to do just that. Lebron hasn't chased convenience, either. He *is* the reason the Cavs, Heat, and Lakers won championships. None of those teams were winning championships without him. None were close. Jordan is a different player in a different era than Lebron. Jordan is extraordinary, awesome, no words. But I'm also not sure if Jordan could ever have tolerated not being the guy. Lebron will be a second, third, or maybe even fourth option some games in Philly. It will be interesting to see how it works out. But to say Lebron doesn't love the game strikes me as absurd. Anyways, I know you're not the only person with this take. But I find it asinine to the point of the post! Carry on!
Brad, fair on the sloppiness. Not fair on the conclusion. Let me make the case properly.
I'll admit my bias up front: I never liked LeBron. Respected him enormously, never liked him. The self-coronation is why. Chosen One on an SI cover at 17, then tattooed across his back. A one-hour ESPN special to announce where he'd work. A welcome party in Miami before a single game — "not five, not six, not seven." He got two.
Jordan never announced anything. He just took teams apart.
Six Finals, six wins, six Finals MVPs. Never once pushed to a Game 7. Career 30.1 points per game — highest in NBA history. Playoffs: 33.4, also highest. Ten scoring titles, seven consecutive. Five MVPs. Defensive Player of the Year in 1988, the same season he won MVP. Nine All-Defensive First Teams.
Now the opposition. He lost to the Bad Boy Pistons three straight years — Isiah, Dumars, Laimbeer, Rodman — then swept them. In the Finals he beat Magic's Lakers, Drexler's Blazers, Barkley's Suns, Payton and Kemp's 64-win Sonics, and Malone and Stockton twice. Barkley and Malone were the reigning MVP when he beat them. All of that with hand-checking legal, in a league that also had Hakeem, Ewing, Robinson, and Reggie Miller.
LeBron is 4-6 in the Finals across three franchises.
Yes, Jordan went to Washington at 38. For $2.03 million, to a team that missed the playoffs both years, with no promises attached. He never left a contender to join one. LeBron has now done it four times.
Excellence equals love is the six rings and the second three-peat after eighteen months away. It isn't a fourth address.
I’m just another arm chair quarterback, spewing opinions.
LeBron didn't stay and make something work. He left again, at 40, for a better shot at a ring.
That's not excellence equals love. That's talent chasing convenience.
Jordan stayed with a middling roster before the Bulls got good, and won six without ever putting on another team's jersey. That's the difference. Love doesn't change teams when the winning gets hard.
Hey, Terry! I'm saying this all in good faith and being authentic and honest here...I find this line of thinking so tiresome, lazy, and robotic! Lebron has always wanted to win championships! Of course he is going to put himself in the best position to do just that. Lebron hasn't chased convenience, either. He *is* the reason the Cavs, Heat, and Lakers won championships. None of those teams were winning championships without him. None were close. Jordan is a different player in a different era than Lebron. Jordan is extraordinary, awesome, no words. But I'm also not sure if Jordan could ever have tolerated not being the guy. Lebron will be a second, third, or maybe even fourth option some games in Philly. It will be interesting to see how it works out. But to say Lebron doesn't love the game strikes me as absurd. Anyways, I know you're not the only person with this take. But I find it asinine to the point of the post! Carry on!
Brad, fair on the sloppiness. Not fair on the conclusion. Let me make the case properly.
I'll admit my bias up front: I never liked LeBron. Respected him enormously, never liked him. The self-coronation is why. Chosen One on an SI cover at 17, then tattooed across his back. A one-hour ESPN special to announce where he'd work. A welcome party in Miami before a single game — "not five, not six, not seven." He got two.
Jordan never announced anything. He just took teams apart.
Six Finals, six wins, six Finals MVPs. Never once pushed to a Game 7. Career 30.1 points per game — highest in NBA history. Playoffs: 33.4, also highest. Ten scoring titles, seven consecutive. Five MVPs. Defensive Player of the Year in 1988, the same season he won MVP. Nine All-Defensive First Teams.
Now the opposition. He lost to the Bad Boy Pistons three straight years — Isiah, Dumars, Laimbeer, Rodman — then swept them. In the Finals he beat Magic's Lakers, Drexler's Blazers, Barkley's Suns, Payton and Kemp's 64-win Sonics, and Malone and Stockton twice. Barkley and Malone were the reigning MVP when he beat them. All of that with hand-checking legal, in a league that also had Hakeem, Ewing, Robinson, and Reggie Miller.
LeBron is 4-6 in the Finals across three franchises.
Yes, Jordan went to Washington at 38. For $2.03 million, to a team that missed the playoffs both years, with no promises attached. He never left a contender to join one. LeBron has now done it four times.
Excellence equals love is the six rings and the second three-peat after eighteen months away. It isn't a fourth address.
I’m just another arm chair quarterback, spewing opinions.