When LeBron James finally led the Cleveland Cavaliers to an NBA championship this past summer, it was the last truly unfulfilled promise of his career. Sure, he’d proven a few years before that he could win a title when it seemed (fairly or unfairly) overdue, but he knew just as well as all of us that his status as a hometown savior meant that he had to “do it for the Land.” Well, he’s done it — so what’s next? To LeBron, the answer is the same as he’s always admitted to himself, if rarely to others: He wants to overtake Michael Jordan as the greatest of all time (GOAT).
It’s a personal goal,” James told The Associated Press on Monday. “I just never brought it up. It’s my own personal goal to be able to be greater than great. I think that should be everybody’s personal goal.
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“If you work for any company or you work for any designer or anywhere, you’re like, ‘Oh, I aspire to be that guy because he’s done it right.’ He’s the greatest and that’s who you look at,” he said. “So that’s always been my personal goal, to use the motivation he gave me as a kid and I’ll use it as motivation now as well that I want to get to where he is. That’s never changed. People kind of wanted to turn it into a conversation, but that’s my personal goal and that’s where I land at.”
If you want to “turn it into a conversation,” the ammunition is certainly there, but LeBron is right — it’s not particularly controversial that, as someone who’s been seen as the best player in the NBA for as long as he has, your goals have to be loftier.
But LeBron also knows that the award of GOAT is determined by the media and the general populace, with perceptions that are hard to change. It’s not just about who would win one-on-one.
The odds are against LeBron winning more than MJ’s six titles, just like they were against MJ himself winning six — it’s just really freaking hard to do. But even if LeBron does get seven rings, we’re not sure if the majority of fans would cede the title to the new contender. There are simply too many questions of eras and playing styles for old hoop fans to fall back on. It’s simply too easy to claim that LeBron wouldn’t have had as much success as MJ if they switched places. The question of GOAT is not just subjective, it’s inextricably tied to memory, and it’s just difficult to tell someone that their memories — the ones they have of believing that they’d never see anyone better than Jordan — don’t have as much significance.
So go on and chase that ghost, LeBron. Why not try to win as many people over as you can? Just don’t think of it as failing when those stuck in the deeper past never give you your due.
(Via AP)
