Lebron And His Place In History

Lebron James brought a championship to Cleveland.  The first one in a major sports league since 1964.  It was very impressive, and has people questioning where he belongs amongst the greats. I think the experts now see him as being almost eye to eye with Michael Jordan.  I've felt, for a while, that his is the 2nd greatest basketball player of all time, and while I still feel that way, this championship further cements his legacy.  While Jordan is still considered the greatest basketball player of all time, Lebron has closed the gap.  He is ahead of Larry Bird.  I've had him ahead of Bird as the greastest Small Forward ever, for some seasons now, but now I don't think it's a good argument.  He's played 13 seasons like Bird, his individual accomplishments are better, and now he has just as many championships.  He's ahead of Kobe, though many Kobe fans might now think so.  Even though I would probably put Tim Duncan ahead of Kobe, Kobe is the guy that many see as being the Michael Jordan of his generation.  I understand that Kobe has 5 championships, while Lebron has 3, but championships are a team accomplishment.  Kobe had Shaq for the first three, and Shaq was clearly the most dominant player in the league at that time. If two players are close to even in terms of invidual success, I can understand giving the advantage to the guy with more rings, but Lebron is well ahead of Kobe in terms of what he's has done individually.  He's won 3 more regular season MVP's, one more finals MVP, and has been the best player on 3 championship teams, compared to 2 for Kobe using stats from basketball reference.


Let's compare their per game stats through 13 seasons
           Regular Season
              PPG  RPG  APG SPG BPG MPG
Kobe       25.1  5.3   4.6    1.5   0.6    36.4
Lebron    27.2  7.2   6.9    1.7   0.8    39.0
          Playoffs
              PPG  RPG  APG SPG BPG MPG
Kobe      25.0  5.1    4.7    1.4   0.7   39.4
Lebron   28.0  8.8    6.8    1.8   0.9   42.1  
Now a look at the metrics
             Regular Season
               PER  Trfg%  Win Shares WS/Per 48 
Kobe       23.6 .558      136.5          .190
Lebron    27.7 .581      192.5          .240
             Playoffs
                PER  Trfg%  Win Shares    WS/48
Kobe       22.0 . 539      22.5               .157   
Lebron    27.7  .567      41.6               .238
WS/48 is wins shares per 48 minutes,  PER=Player Efficiency Rating


Lebron is cleary ahead of Kobe through the same number of seasons.  Kobe's best PER in a single season was 28.0, but Lebron has had 4 seasons with a 30+ PER.  Kobe statistical advantages have come because he's played longer, but Lebron is just a more dominant force, and dominates the game in more ways, and more consistently.  The main argument Kobe fans have is rings, but Lebron has so many clear edges, that he should be ahead of Kobe.

Off topic, I would also put Shaq ahead of Kobe.  When you compare the two, Shaq was better in his prime than Kobe, but the feeling many may have is that Kobe lasted longer as an elite player.  Still Kobe finished his career as a shell of his former self, and he had been that for the past 3 seasons.  In two more seasons Kobe only played 139 more games, and he has less career win shares than Shaq.


Right now Lebron James is looking right at Michael Jordan, and Jordan's legacy.  That's the only thing between him, and the status of being the GOAT.  They are almost mirror images in terms of peak success.  James has a different style of play than Jordan.  Jordan was more of a great scorer, who could also produce all around numbers when he had to.  Lebron is a great all around player, who can score a lot of points if he needs to.  Both had four seasons in which they finished with PERs of over 30.  Jordan was more clutch, he had a greater edge in terms of consistency of his career, and he has 6 championships and 6 finals MVPs, but Lebron is right there with him.  In my book he is the #2 basketball player of all time.
           

Durant's Decision

     The popular opinion is that Durant should stay with the Thunder.  The Thunder are in a complex situation.  Their team was one win away from making it to the NBA Finals, but Durant, and Westbrook may well have peaked as a duo.  Four years ago when they lost the NBA Finals
to the Heat, they were a very young team.  Their future looked bright.  Four years later, while they have been good since then, they have not won a championship.  In their own conference is a young Golden State team that looks better prepared for the future than OKC.  They had their chance this year, and they had a great chance.  They got Golden State with an injured Steph Curry, who hadn't quite found his touch since coming back.  They got out to a 3-1 lead, and then Golden State came back, and won the series.  You have to wonder will the Westbrook-Durant dominated Thunder win any championships.  If Durant goes to another team, it could be a team that isn't very good.
If he stays with the Thunder they might not win a championship.  The championship is what is missing from Durant's resume. 

      There is also the issue, of Russell Westbrook.  Durant is the best player on the team, but the team's second best player is the one who always has the ball in his hands.  It's like Westbrook got addicted to dominating the offense when Durant was away, and not even Durant's return will make him change up his style of play.  It was part of what hurt the Thunder in those last three games, though Durant also played a big role in the team's struggles.  Late in game six Westbrook, and Durant tried to put the team on their shoulders, and it didn't work.  The Thunder's had too
many turnovers late in the game, and too few passes.  Westbrook especially was making bad mistakes.  The feeling when they had the 3-1, lead was that they were going to lose game 5, and win game 6.  When they were competitive in game 5, they were acting as if they were fine
with things, even though they lost the game.  They knew their best chance to close the series was at home, and they blew that one.  Westbrook wants his numbers, and I don't think he wants to step back, and let Durant be the man, even if that's what's better for the team.

     What are my feelings on this decision?  I think that unless Durant is going to jump the bandwagon of a really good team (which he might do), the best thing to do would be to stay where he is at.  Now I don't think they have a great chance at winning a championship next season, but it seems like going back would at least give him a realistic shot.  Besides I don't think he wants the backlash that would
happen if he left.