2016 NBA Finals: LeBron James Can Achieve Basketball Immortality
In just one series, LeBron James can elevate his legacy to greater heights than it’s ever reached before. The task: leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to a first ever NBA championship.
Throughout the illustrious depths of NBA history, few players have ever been as dominant as LeBron James. The consistency with which he produces borders on incomparable, and his postseason resume ranks amongst the greatest of all-time.
In the 2016 NBA Finals, James can solidify his resume and achieve basketball immortality.
James will be remembered as an all-time great for years, if not decades, to come. He’s one of the most productive players to ever grade the Association, and has a list of accolades that only the titans of the sport can match.
Yet, nothing he’s accomplished seems to matter more than what he hasn’t.
James is a two-time NBA champion and a two-time Finals MVP, and that can never be taken away from him. Those accolades were accumulated with the Miami Heat, however, which has left his Cleveland Cavaliers tenure in flux.
In order to truly understand what’s on the line, one has to acknowledge what’s already been accomplished.
The Accolades
LeBron James is one of the most accomplished players ever. If he were to retire today, before the 2016 NBA Finals could even conclude, he’d go down as one of the 10 greatest players in NBA history.
That much is objective and undeniable.
James is a four-time NBA MVP, which is an achievement shared by just Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell, Michael Jordan, and Wilt Chamberlain. He’s a two-time Finals MVP, which can only be claimed by nine other players in NBA history.
Perhaps most impressively, James—and longtime teammate James Jones—recently became the first players to make six consecutive NBA Finals appearances since the 1960s.
LeBron James (and James Jones) first players since Bill Russel-led Celtics of the 1960s to make it to six consecutive NBA Finals.
— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) May 28, 2016
A 2-4 record in the NBA Finals isn’t spectacular, but even if it falls to 2-5, this is a remarkable feat.
Many have attempted to downplay this achievement by commenting on the level of competition James has encountered. Those people are ignoring factors such as fatigue and complacency—and yes, that happens with professional athletes—that James has managed to overcome.
What James has already accomplished in his illustrious career—including 10 All-NBA First Team nods, which is just one shy of the all-time record—is safe in history.
The Shortcomings
For as brilliant a player as LeBron James is, there are career shortcomings that simply cannot be ignored. There is significantly more good than bad, but there’s enough of a downside to acknowledge his shortcomings at this current juncture.
For instance, James has lost more times than he’s won in the NBA Finals.
Two of James’ four NBA Finals losses were forgivable, and one could even make a case for a third. The 2007 Cleveland Cavaliers had no business making the championship round, and James was outstanding in both 2014 and 2015.
Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love both missed the 2015 NBA Finals, and Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade combined to average 29.2 points per game in the 2014 series—just 1.0 more than James posted individually.
The harsh reality is, going 2-4 in the NBA Finals is a blemish, and being 2-5 would be a scar. Michael Jordan was 6-0, Kobe Bryant went 5-2, Magic Johnson was 5-4, and Larry Bird went 3-2—and those are the only four perimeter players who can be seen through James’ windshield.
Dropping to 2-5 wouldn’t change James’ Top 10 status—at all—but it’d certainly be a hit on his all-time resume.
The Opportunity
Having acknowledged the exceptional and insufficient aspects of LeBron James’ career resume, we arrive at the 2016 NBA Finals. This is a series unlike any James has played before, and it’s undoubtedly the most significant round of basketball of his career.
If James is able to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA championship in 2016, he will achieve basketball immortality.
All of talk of the, “Easy path,” to his success would be neutralized by his defeating the 73-9 Golden State Warriors. Golden State won more regular season games than any team in NBA history, and secured the NBA championship a year ago.
More importantly, all of the criticism James receives for leaving Cleveland to win a championship would be silenced and eradicated.
No Cleveland sports team has won a championship since Jim Brown led the Cleveland Browns to the NFL title in 1964. Brown is widely regarded as the greatest athlete in Cleveland sports history, and even if James fails to surpass him, he can enter his tier.
By ending a 52-year title drought and defeating the winningest team in NBA history, James would silence the two biggest criticisms he’s faced in his otherwise illustrious career.
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In a period of four-to-seven games, LeBron James can rewrite his career narrative and enter the illustrious ranks of the all-time greats.