The title of “Greatest of All Time” in the NBA has been the subject of debate among the media and its fans for the past few years. In the middle of the discussion is LeBron James, the 15-year veteran and the newest superstar recruit of the Los Angeles Lakers. Ever since he started racking up MVPs, championships and Finals appearances over the past decade, people have wondered where James belongs in the conversation of the greatest to play the game.
When mentioning the G.O.A.T., the most frequent name you’ll hear is that of Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan. Jordan has hogged the limelight whenever the debate for the NBA’s greatest player becomes the hot topic among fans, the media and former players.
A case can and have been made for several other players such as Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. As great as these players are, for the sake of this particular conversation, we’ll look into how James can overcome the perception that he is far from being Jordan’s equal, much less his superior when it comes to the G.O.A.T. conversation.
James has already surpassed numerous records, an accomplishment 99 percent of NBA players can only dream of. Consider, too, this list of his NBA Awards:
- 3 NBA Championships: 2012, 2013, 2016
- 3 NBA Finals MVPs: 2012, 2013, 2016
- 4 NBA Most Valuable Player Awards: 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013
- 14 NBA All-Star Games: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
- 3 NBA All-Star Game MVPs: 2006, 2008, 2018
- 12 All-NBA First Team Selections: 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
- 2 All-NBA Second Team Selections: 2005, 2007
- 5 NBA All-Defensive First Team Selections: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013
- 1 NBA All-Defensive Second Team Selection: 2014
- Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award: 2017
- 2008 NBA Scoring Champion
- 2004 NBA Rookie of the Year
- 2004 NBA All-Rookie First Team
Despite his lofty accomplishments, the Akron, Ohio native has to work harder in these next few years in order to make believers out of everyone. I listed down 10 things that James has to do to before he retires to swing the narrative of the G.O.A.T. in his favor.
Though many of these may seem unreasonably difficult for James to achieve, the goal is to create a paradigm shift so that he is at the forefront of the “greatest ever” discussion. As they say, if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. When it comes to James, who has much to overcome by way of perception, he has to beat the best to a pulp (figuratively speaking, of course) to be the greatest of all time.
10. Master the Fadeaway from the Post
While the rest of James’ “Things to Do” from this list are about what he needs to accomplish, this one is a means to an end. James seems to have a love/hate relationship with the low-post and mid-post game. There are times when he uses his skills in the post to the hilt and there are times when he completely ignores it in a number of games.
To take the next step in his evolution as a player, the future Hall of Famer has to master the fadeaway from the post that Jordan perfected and that Bryant added to his game. It’s the one skill that will help James age gracefully as he enters the twilight of his career. Not only will it limit his touches, which means better ball movement for the team, it will also keep him from the pounding that goes on when he drives down the lane. It will also keep him fresh heading into the playoffs and avoid devastating injuries.
He can always go back to driving and barreling his way to the hoop, but this provides him with another go-to move that will make him that much more unstoppable.
He’s already very good at this (witness Game 2 of the Toronto Raptors series las May) but if he utilizes this to its fullest potential…watch out!
9. Double Jordan’s Assists Total
There’s a reason why Kobe Bryant is hardly, if ever, included in the G.O.A.T. talk. He’s too much like Jordan in everything. If you’re going to copy the greatest to ever play, your accomplishments have to surpass his by a mile to make people believe that you’re better. The fact is, Bryant did not go beyond Jordan’s airspace which is not good for his legacy. As great as he is, No. 24 is seen as nothing more than No. 23’s clone, a great player but a less-than-perfect copy of the original.
James doesn’t suffer from the same stigma that Bryant does. He’s like his new boss from the Lakers, Magic Johnson, but he’s not. He’s a scorer like Jordan but he’s not. He is the perfect amalgamation of Jordan and Johnson, a prototypical point forward who controls the ballgame by being a threat to score or to find an open man at any given time.
Doubling Jordan’s assists total (5,633) or more will further distance him from the perception that he is copying his idol. Wearing No. 23 put a target on his back, one that made people compare him to the legendary shooting guard. This separates him even more.
Jordan was not the passer that James is although he had the skills to be as good. Former Bulls coach Doug Collins’ experiment of switching Jordan to point guard in the latter part of the 1988-89 season proved that when he recorded a career-high 8.0 assists per game. But if there’s a category where the King is clearly superior to His Airness, it’s in the assists column. Going out with the second or third most assists in league annals (very achievable at James’ rate of 7.2 assists per game for his career) creates a huge separation between the two players.
It also makes James distinct from Jordan and every other contender for the greatest ever title. That uniqueness elevates him above his peers and the legends that have come before him.
James needs to pounce on Jordan in the categories where he has an advantage and the assists department is one of them.
8. Play at a High Level Until He’s 40
At 33 years old with 15 years of experience playing in the NBA, James has a lot of mileage in his legs. Despite this, he performed at an MVP-level last season, leaving critics dumbfounded at what they were witnessing. James was second in the MVP voting to James Harden though the 6-foot-8 forward was decidedly better in most categories to the Houston Rockets guard. If the Cleveland Cavaliers had won eight to 10 more games last season, James would have undoubtedly won his fifth Most Valuable Player award last June.
Though it may seem unthinkable, James is perhaps the only athlete capable of playing at this level all the way to when he reaches 40. He keeps his body in terrific condition even in the offseason.
To grab the narrative of greatest ever, he will have to play like an MVP all the way to middle age. Longevity is something that eluded Jordan because of his two retirements, but even when he returned to the game at 38 playing for the Washington Wizards, he was able to show flashes of brilliance (his 51-point outing comes to mind) that allowed him to dominate the game for a decade.
Abdul-Jabbar was an All-Star up to age 41, a mind-boggling feat that has never been equaled. James can do the same and he has to sustain this level of excellence for the next seven years or so no matter which team he joins next. And if there’s anyone who can do it, it’s James.
7. Lead the Lakers to 60 Wins
The new-look Lakers don’t look like world-beaters at the moment even with their latest additions to the lineup such as Rajon Rondo, Lance Stephenson, Michael Beasley and JaVale McGee. But if you look at the Lakers roster beginning with Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma, they have a lot of rising talent who could blossom into excellent players around James this season and the next.
Comparing this roster to the Cavs lineup that James led to the Finals last season, this team has a lot more upside and the potential to be a very special team. Lakers GM Rob Pelinka put this team together to battle the Golden State Warriors and perhaps even go toe-to-toe with their death lineup featuring the Hamptons 5 (Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green).
But can James lead these Lakers to at least 60 wins? That’s the goal and one that will further enhance the idea that he can elevate any team to a winner by his mere presence. A 60-win season would mark a significant change in the Lakers’ fortunes and, more importantly for James’ cause, will make him perhaps the only player to lead three teams to 60-win seasons while being an MVP candidate on each one.
6. Win More Games in the Clutch
Last season, James made three buzzer-beaters to defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves, Indiana Pacers and Boston Celtics. The latter two came during the playoffs where the stakes are much higher. Additionally, he led the league in total points in the clutch.
His clutch play proved once and for all that James doesn’t freeze during crunch time as some people think. It may be that James has simply been learning the nuances of clutch play during the early part of his career but he has nearly mastered the art of delivering for his team when he is needed the most.
When it comes to winning a close game, it’s hard for James’ critics to wrap their heads around the fact that he can score in crucial moments. Many point to his performance in the 2011 Finals when the do-it-all forward was practically clueless for much of the series against the Dallas Mavericks. More than anyone, he was responsible for the Miami Heat not taking the title that year when they were favored to win it all over Dirk Nowitzki’s Mavs.
But, believe it or not, the statistics are steadily heading in James’ favor. If he plays in close games and delivers at least 45 to 50 percent of the time when his team needs a basket in the dying seconds of a ballgame, he can change people’s minds. Hitting more game-winning shots than Jordan seems too far-fetched to some. But if last season’s performance is any indication, James has more than a few tricks up his sleeve in the coming years.
5. Eliminate the Warriors from the Playoffs…Twice!
There’s no greater obstacle to James’ quest for more championship rings than the Warriors. Time and time again, Curry and company blocked the future Hall of Famer’s path to a title, doing so in humbling fashion the last two years with a 4-1 finish last year and a 4-0 sweep this year.
The Warriors, however, made it all the more difficult for the King to retake his throne by adding All-Star DeMarcus Cousins just a couple of days after free agency had started. How can these Lakers possibly win against the Warriors now?
Pelinka and company may have found the formula by developing a different game plan than what the Warriors have made popular. Rather than surround James with shooters, they added playmakers who will allow him to play more in the post and let the offense run through Ball, Rondo and, to a lesser extent, Stephenson. They also feature a player who can keep up with Durant defensively with Ingram. The young, three-year veteran can also create his own offense when matched against the 2018 Finals MVP, while Rondo and Ball can take turns harassing Curry into submission, defensively.
As impossible as it may seem, if their game plan works, James and the Lakers have a chance to upset the Warriors in the playoffs this coming season and the next.
Why does he need to defeat the Warriors twice? Because the greatest player ever cannot be bestowed on someone who hasn’t mastered his enemies. The Warriors are the latest incarnation of a long line of teams that beat him previously and in return was on the wrong end of the King’s ire for bullying him for a year or two. He has to take down the Warriors not just once but twice to make up for the last two humiliating losses in the Finals. That’s what the G.O.A.T. is expected to do and that’s what James needs to do.
4. Win Six MVP Awards
The four-time MVP has suffered from voter fatigue the past few years. James is easily an MVP candidate just by doing what he does on a nightly basis. Yet he hasn’t gotten as much consideration recently because what he does (which is nightly exploits of brilliance, by the way) has become commonplace. When people catch you doing a great thing once, they are amazed and you get applauded for it. Do it two or three more times and they’ll still take notice of you. But do it for 15 years and they don’t find it as thrilling as the next best thing. Harden was great last season but the playoffs showed who the real MVP of the league is.
It has been five years since James last won the award and it’s almost ludicrous seeing other players pass him in the voting. It is very similar to when Jordan lost in the MVP voting to Magic Johnson in 1987 and 1989 and Karl Malone in 1997. Both players were deserving then, but not as deserving as Jordan was.
Since 2013, recent MVP’s have been Durant (2014), Curry (2015, 2016), Russell Westbrook (2017) and Harden (2018). All of these players deserved the award during the years that they won them. I’m not taking that away from them. However, when looked at objectively, a case can be made for James winning the award at least once in the past five years and a maximum of twice.
Now that he will be playing for a new team, he has a good story going for him, one that voters will take note of and one that involves taking a varied group of individuals to the playoffs and beyond. James has a great opportunity to win the MVP this coming season if he can lead the Lakers to a winning record of at least 15 additional wins compared to last season’s 35-47 record.
The trickier part is in winning another MVP in the next few years to match Abdul-Jabbar’s historic six Maurice Podoloff trophies. Jordan (five) never won that many and it will add to James’ current total of four and get him a leg up over the six-time NBA champion.
3. Pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Career Scoring
One of the most enduring milestones in NBA history is that of Abdul-Jabbar’s scoring record. Ever since he passed Wilt Chamberlain in career scoring, the Captain never looked back finishing his career with 38,387 points. Since his retirement, no one has come remotely close to that record due to various reasons. Not Malone (36,928), not Bryant (33,643) and no, not even the one-man scoring machine known as Air Jordan (32,292).
But Abdul-Jabbar’s record has not met James…yet. In about three years, it will be within reach and by the middle of the fourth year, surpassed. James currently scores roughly 2,000 points a season. At 31,038, James needs less than four seasons, actually, to get ahead and by the time his contract with the Lakers is done, he’ll be 37 years old with probably three more seasons where he can add to his total.
When that time comes, there will be less questions about his standing in the game. In fact, grabbing the scoring record from Jabbar would vault James further ahead of the Lakers legend and make him even closer to Jordan as his equal, if not widely considered as his equal by then.
2. Become the First Player to Reach 40K Points / 10K Rebounds / 10K Assists
As a consequence of James nabbing the scoring record from Abdul-Jabbar, he could very well be the first player to reach 40,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 10,000 assists. All three records should be within reach to James in four years while playing for the Lakers. He is currently sitting at 8,415 rebounds and 8,208 assists and he's already the first player in league history to reach 30,000 points, 8,000 rebounds and 8,000 assists.
Congrats to @KingJames of the @cavs on becoming the FIRST & ONLY player in @NBAHistory with 30,000 points, 8,000 rebounds & 8,000 assists! #ThisIsWhyWePlay #AllForOne pic.twitter.com/ceTyOlEWgv
— NBA (@NBA) February 28, 2018
The Ringer’s Zach Kram imagines a future in which James achieves these absurd numbers which will be beyond those of Jordan’s and wonders whether these will be enough to give him the nod as the greatest to play in the NBA:
“Would a hypothetical future James who holds the all-time scoring record and ranks in the top 3 in all-time assists and the top 25 in all-time rebounds, and who has inaugurated the inconceivable 40,000-10,000-10,000 club, surpass Jordan?
“What if James reaches 42,292 points—10,000 more than Jordan—which ‘favorite toy’ suggests has a 28.4 percent chance of occurring? What if James doubles Jordan’s assists total (43.7 percent chance)? Even his most likely final numbers at this point—39,847 points, 11,071 assists, and 11,130 rebounds—would dwarf Jordan’s totals. And again, consider the absurdity of 39,847 career points representing the average outcome for James at this point.”
It’s mindboggling to think that anyone could achieve this seemingly impossible feat, much less come within striking distance. And yet James is at the precipice of something greater than any individual record and it feels like he is doing all of this without breaking a sweat and without us giving him the recognition he truly deserves. The 40K-10K-10K record is not likely to be matched by anyone within this generation. If James achieves this milestone, he will forever be immortalized as a pioneer of the highest order and this may be the one achievement that propels James over Jordan.
But there is one thing more that will make believers of even his harshest critics.
1. Win Seven Championships
Jordan’s immaculate 6-0 record in the Finals has never been matched by another great player even though his Hall-of-Fame teammate Scottie Pippen was with him for the ride. That record has been Jordan’s supporters’ trump card whenever the subject of greatest ever is brought up.
James, meanwhile, suffers in this type of discussion with his 3-6 record in the Finals. But if we’re talking about Finals records, Bill Russell’s Boston Celtics teams were 11-1 and, if looked at objectively, is far superior to Jordan’s 6-0. Why does Jordan get the nod over Russell for greatest ever if championships are the measuring stick? Besides, other players have more rings than Jordan’s six. Robert Horry has seven and he’s a role player even though he has won games in crucial moments with his clutch shooting.
The truth is, Jordan’s greatest ever title was bestowed on him mostly because of the perception that not losing in the Finals is his greatest accomplishment and the fact that he delivers game-winning shots even on the biggest stage. It set Jordan apart as someone who single-handedly carries his teams to championships and if the Bulls front office hadn’t gotten greedy and decided that they wanted to hog the limelight for themselves, he could have had more.
But why penalize James for losing in the Finals to a superior team such as the Warriors who spanked his team three of the last four years when they met in the championship round? His teams have mostly been the underdog and that accounts for why James has been unable to bag the championship as often as he could have.
Rather than fight the argument, however, it will be better for the King to lick his wounds and move forward by winning four championships in the next seven years before he retires. The Warriors will not always be this good. Their time will come. Free agency, team chemistry, the luxury tax and repeater tax will have an effect on the makeup of this team. Opportunities to win the championship will no doubt open up soon and James has to be patient but not too patient that he misses out on the last few chances he has at basketball immortality.
In his autobiographical book, “For the Love of the Game: My Story by Michael Jordan,” the NBA’s most celebrated athlete acknowledged that someone will come after him who will be greater than him. Jordan was humble enough to admit that he wasn’t the end of the evolutionary chain, that we will eventually see someone better than him:
“Somewhere there is a little kid working to enhance what we’ve done. It may take awhile, but someone will come along who approaches the game the way I did. He won’t skip steps. He won’t be afraid. He will learn from my example, just as I learned from others. He will master the fundamentals. Maybe he will take off from the free-throw line and do a 360 in midair. Why not? No one thought they would see a 6-foot-9 point guard or a 7-foot-7 center. But here we are. There are now more 6-foot-10 perimeter players than at any time in history. Magic would have been a center 30 years ago. Evolution knows no bounds. Unless they change the height of the basket or otherwise alter the dimensions of the game, there will be a player much greater than me.
I listened, I was aware of my success, but I never stopped trying to get better.”
What if we are already seeing that player right before our eyes but are still stuck in the past to acknowledge that the future is right before us? What if we already know in our hearts that our generation’s greatest champion will not be the greatest for long?
And what if, in all this G.O.A.T. conversation, we have lost the inquisitiveness and the curiosity to see if perhaps there is someone better than Jordan, someone who in time will accomplish these feats and we have no other recourse but to acknowledge that the greatest of all time title will eventually be bestowed upon the King?
That means, that we are not only witnessing greatness, we are witnessing the greatest.
Let that sink in for a moment.
Follow Us
Subscribe