In Defense Of Lebron James' Finals ( Editorial)

Oh boy I know this won't be a popular take on LeBron, but I'm up for the challenge.

LeBron fandom is split almost evenly between unabashed fanboys and vehement haters. Usually if he's on your team you're the former and if he's not then you're the latter. In that respect he's no different than any other generationally great player. In fact ever since the titanic clash of Magic and Bird, where there were two equal parts that clashed almost every year, fans have picked a side. When there's only one transformatively great player in the NBA, fans choose to either hate him or love him. You were either with Jordan or against him. You either loved Kobe or you hated him. A few greats were able to slip through without the venom like Duncan, O'Neal, and to a lesser extent Nowitzki. Shaq was too likable to stay mad at him for long. Duncan was too quiet. Nowitzki was too easy going to hate him. Kobe was a brash, chippy young clone of Jordan who was easy to hate. LeBron is a spoiled, God-given, talent factory that is always at war between his likable off-court persona and his insufferable ego.

For years the knock on LeBron was that he lacked skill. He had no post game. His shot wasn't great. His defense was inconsistent and opportunistic. He exaggerated contact. Okay, let's just call it what it is: he flopped (still does). But over the years he's developed plenty of skill. He's got a fall away jump shot on the baseline straight out of Jordan and Kobe's playbook. His outside shot is consistent now both off the dribble and in catch and fire situations. No he's not a shooter, but he's definitely dangerous enough to command respect out there. He's not a lockdown defender, but he's certainly capable of defending; not just small forwards either, but shooting guards, power forwards, even a few point guards and centers. LeBron's game has fleshed out right now to just about his perfect level. He's in his player prime right now. He may not be as athletic as he was a few years ago, but he's smarter and is infinitely more dangerous.

Maybe his biggest perceived flaw though was that he was too afraid to take the shot. As a player LeBron has always been afraid of hurting his numbers. His stats have meant everything to him. Somewhere along the way he convinced himself that those stats would be the thing that set him aside among the great players in the history of the League. He'd pass up open shots to preserve his field goal percentage. He'd hunt down rebounds like a greyhound when a triple-double was in sniffing distance. He'd transparently pass the ball to boost his assist numbers despite having open shot opportunities.

Which brings me to my point: LeBron has been shaped into this since he was 16 years old. Still in high school in Cleveland he was hailed as the next great player. That's two years before he could vote. That's five years before he could drink a beer legally. That's almost a decade before he could rent a car. LeBron is what the media has made him into: an egotistical, brat and an incredible player. Everything he does is put into a historical context because Heaven forbid we allow him to just be a great player without comparing him to everyone before him. It took years until the media even allowed Kobe his due, and even now he doesn't get all of it. LeBron is trapped in much the same boat. He's constantly held up to the scrutiny of Jordan by the hordes of bloggers, media personnel, and the 15 people that still write for print. He's constantly compared to his predecessors by the fans of any team he's not playing for. He's not as tough as Kobe to Laker fans. He's not as clutch as Jordan to Bulls fans. He's not as skilled as Hakeem, he's not as calm as Duncan, he's not as dominant as Shaq, etc. etc.

Through the Finals he's posted absolutely incredible numbers. In his fourth Finals in a row, he's averaging 45.6 minutes per game. He's averaging 36.6 points, 12.4 rebounds, 8.8 assists, 2 steals, and a little over half a block a game. Those numbers are astounding. They're tremendous. That's not to take away from the fact that without him on this team, the Cavs would be blown out by probably 30+ points every single night. LeBron is literally their only threat to create offense. Outside of about 20 minutes of Matthew Dellavadova creating in the pick and roll and about 3 minutes of JR Smith creating for himself and the voices in his head, LeBron has done everything for this team. Watching the games I'd estimate his usage rate at about 98%, but the smarter guys than me have it at a still unfathomable 44%. For context, since 2005 Kobe has been the face of the Lakers and carried them on his back and his usage rating has never been higher than 39%.

Now I know a lot of Laker fans will say: "You're not talking about his field goal percentage though!"

I know guys, just bear with me for a moment. It's true LeBron's field goal percentage isn't good. In fact it's terrible! He's shooting only 40% (65/163) in the Finals thus far. He's shooting a decent 34% (11/32) from deep and a fairly-consistent-for-his-career 71% from the free throw line.

I have no problem with that whatsoever. LeBron, for the first time in his career, is embracing the moment. I've watched LeBron in the Playoffs for years and every single year there's been at least one instance of him shrinking from the moment. Passing the ball off instead of taking the last shot. Standing in the corner pouting instead of taking charge.

This year that LeBron is gone. THIS LeBron is doing everything he can to win games. He's shooting the ball over 30 times a game because nobody else can. That's something I never thought I'd see from him. He's passing the ball to (let's just be honest here) BUMS like Dellavadova and James Jones and he's still getting almost nine assists a game with a assist-to-turnover rate of 2.93 per game. That's just incredible. As Laker fans we've seen what a good pass to a bum can result in and usually it's not pretty.

Don't get me wrong Laker fans, I know the deal. LeBron has also shown weakness. He's flopped more than a few times. He's whined more than his fair share. He's exaggerated injuries like he has his entire career. But man... I've never been more impressed with him.

I'm not saying I'm a LeBron fan by any stretch. I can't wait for him to lose these Finals. I'm just coming to the realization that most of the reason I don't want him to win isn't because of LeBron. Sure he's kind of a jerk, but who isn't at that level? If Kobe wasn't a Laker, I'm not sure I could stand his arrogance either. It comes with the territory of the great talents to have that mindset.

What really stands out is that if it weren't for the media coverage on the King telling me how amazing he is, I would see it. If it wasn't for us comparing his run right now to Magic or Kobe or Jordan, I can admit it. We're watching one of the best Finals performances we've seen in a long time and if it wasn't coming from LeBron I think we'd be more willing to accept it. I don't want to give him the Finals MVP. Not because he isn't deserving in some ways, but because to me the Finals MVP should be called the Playoffs MVP and you can't have the cakewalk he had to the Finals and still get that award. Curry had to fight through an army of All-NBA players and All-NBA defenders while LeBron got (oh c'mon we're being honest right?) just BUMS. Boston in the first round? Aren't they rebuilding? How did they even make the Playoffs?...

My only hope friends is that we are able to enjoy the show that LeBron is putting on without having to root for him to succeed. I know he's being single covered most of the time and I know we want him to fail, but man oh man is he FINALLY playing like the guy everyone WANTED him to be.

 

I agree with you guys wholeheartedly. I'd say about 90% of my hate comes from him being anointed as one of the greats without earning his way there. The other 10% is his arrogance and the fact that he hasn't embraced losing like the others did. There's no harm in failure if you're great. There's harm in being afraid of failure though and for the longest time that's been my problem with him.

Now he's not afraid of missing shots and taking shots, he's just playing. If he'd played like this his whole career I'd have a profoundly different opinion of him. He still flops and whines a lot, but I could forgive that if he played like this ALL the time. This is heart, hustle, fearlessness, and grit. It's what he hasn't shown enough of even with two rings on his fingers.

 

I agree that James is now taking it upon himself to win or lose games by his own hand. He does not pass the ball to others like Wade or Bosh who are proven playmakers especially the former. He had to take an inordinate amount of shots and minutes just to keep his squad from being blown away. James deserves much credit for that. Sans Game 4 and the end of Game 5, all have been close contests so far. His post-game is still clunky though not as much as Howard's. James has even exhibited some good footwork in getting his shot around defenders. Iguadala though has made him work for EVERY shot which all that you can do. I do like his Nowitzki like fade. He does throw his forearm to create space but I've seen Bird do the same trick a million times.

Question is how much would he be glorified if a healthy Love or Irving were on the floor with him? Would he still be shooting as much? Would he have deferred to Irving more? James is not the volume scorer like Jordan or Bryant. James does not have the same competitive ferocity as either player. His game is more like Johnson or Bird's. Multi-faceted but not necessarily that well rounded. James isn't as great a passer as Johnson was but the latter could control a game and everyone around him including the opposing team. He isn't as good an interior rebounder as Bird and not even in the same zip code as a shooter. Hell, he doesn’t even have one iota of Larry Legend’s on court arrogance. Bird was also an underrated pinpoint passer. James' edge on those two icons is his defense which is much, much better. One thing I have to say is that the ones I mentioned NEVER passed on the opportunity unless they had to. Not to Abdul-Jabbar or Worthy…not to McHale…not to O’Neal.

Overall, my take on him is that he is very good. These Finals, James has elevated himself from previous forays. What I am impressed with is his outside shooting though it has been unreliable in the latter stages of the game when things are in the balance. James can't really be counted on for that. I read recently that 24 has had 29 game winners to date. Does James even have a third of that? I can certainly think of two. One against Orlando in 2010 and this playoff run at Chicago.

What detracts his critics is his constant self-serving persona but I personally I don't find him that bad. It is not at the Terrell Owens or Keyshawn Johnson level mind you. His attitude is a creation of the times...the media saturation and easy access to all manner of info. It does annoy me a bit when the press prop him up too much at the dismissal of other greats but what are they supposed to do? James is the NBA face of the moment so it goes with it. Bill Simmons at one time aptly compared James to Julius Erving as far as accomplishments and impact. Close but not really. The former does not have The Doctor’s savvy and total respect.

Bottom line is that James has been great this Finals because he had to be out of necessity. If that wasn’t the case, he’d be his usual self of doing just enough then try to take over when the time came. Definitely not the intense, cold blooded need to dominate at all times like the icons discussed even if they only have a Brian Cook or a Brad Sellers on the floor.

I have to give kudos to Van Gundy for reigning in Jackson yesterday when the ex-Warrior coach was getting carried away comparing James to Johnson. He mentioned that The King has not pulled a game for the ages like Magic's Game 6 performance against Philadelphia in 1980. Real talk.

 

No worries. I'm not trying to make people love Bron. I still have a hard time giving him his proper dues. I just wanted to kind of open people up to maybe seeing that he really is doing something awesome here by dragging this team by his own coat tails. It's what we admired about Kobe not too long ago and he's trying to do it here. I don't like him, I don't think he's the MVP, I'm not trying to change anyone's opinion of the man. Just the performance he's putting on.

Despite the media, I'm impressed.

 

James would have been fine save the little antics like admitting he was gassed, the tumble against the camera, the constant whining [not that others didn't before] and now freely declaring himself the best player in the planet. I mean, who does that sort of stuff? Otherwise, this has been his best overall showing in the Finals.

 

I agree. He doesn't do himself any favors in interviews and has come off as a jerk basically every time he's tried to make a statement. I would never try to defend the guy or his mouth. I'm only saying he's doing a great job of being who I've been told he is.

 

James is doing a fine job of playing through a heavy workload. He's even accepted the prevailing consensus that he and his squad are heavy underdogs. The fact that they haven't been blown out in three of the five games and last night wasn't decided until the latter part of the fourth quarter speaks volumes on how well he's performed. I'm with you that it rankles me how James is lauded as being THE best when like you mentioned the greats that preceded him have turned in more masterful performances. The Flu Game anyone?

On record, it would not surprise me if James was voted MVP even Cleveland does lose and given what he has put out would not be against it. Curry? He's sporadic at best. Iguadala? Forget it. Constant clunkers at the free throw line...

 

TLDR... sorry.

LeBron still sucks no matter what you typed.

 

You suck no matter what I type!

 

James has been really good with the higher than normal workload but maybe it's me that I don't find his game mesmerizing. To me it just doesn't have that oomph...that special "it" factor about it. Maybe I'm just been spoiled seeing the likes of Johnson, Bird, Abdul-Jabbar, Jordan, Barkley, Malone, Olajuwon, Bryant, O'Neal et all. I find Duncan more scintillating to be honest.

 

Some of the shots he made in that last game were fantastic. I think offensively he's a little repetitive, but he's just been fantastic in keeping his team afloat.

 

Agree...until Curry stole his shine on those frenetic last minutes. Your description sums it up perfectly for me but hey points are points, right? James did not sink the shots when needed. Fatigue perhaps...

 

Yeah that's kind of how I see it. He's not going to wow like Curry does or like Kobe used to be able to, but he'll get the points in his ugly barging way.

 

Here's my editorial:

I hate LeBron.

The end.