LeBron James employs his new Macarena defense.
If you love LeBron James, you obviously think he’s one of the greatest players in the history of the NBA. If you hate LeBron James, it’s probably because he’s one of the greatest players in the history of the NBA, and he routinely ruins your season by crushing your team’s hopes. Either way, regardless of how loudly you yell your case at another person, James is a once-in-a-generation athlete who has dominated his sport and league like few others, and even his most extreme haters should (and probably do) feel lucky to be watching his entire career.
And yet, even as it is a full-blown, indisputable, concrete fact that James is a living legend still in his prime, people keep debating his place among the all-time NBA greats because it is the sports argument that will never die. “Is LeBron James a Top 5 player in NBA history?” This “embrace debate” talking point has become the NBA fan’s “I Got You Babe,” as we wake each day hoping for fresh, intelligent analysis only to want to drop a toaster in our bathtubs when Skip Bayless and his peers ask the question all over again with the hopes that it makes people (*points to self*) talk about them so their ratings get a mild bump.
Case in point: Chris Broussard, he of multiple sources, joined The Herd on Tuesday to tell us how he ranks the NBA’s all-time Top 5. Hot stuff comin’, handle with caution.
Why LeBron is second only to MJ – pic.twitter.com/VjJO8pehwv
— Chris Broussard (@Chris_Broussard) November 1, 2016
Awesome. Great. Grand. Groovy. Noted, and we will add that to the official register. Sadly, it’s not even just a matter of Colin Cowherd and Broussard trying to stoke some cheap heat. In speaking about the difficulty of comparing players from different generations, Dan Patrick recently asked Clippers coach Doc Rivers: “Would you allow LeBron to be a top 5 player of all-time?” Rivers’ take:
Statistically speaking, and visually, since I was the coach of the Celtics and we had a 3-2 lead and I watched him score 45… he is in the top five. There’s no doubt. LeBron has a different game. We’re so used to seeing skill looking graceful. We’re not used to seeing skill look so powerful. And so I think that rubs people wrong. But LeBron, statistically, championship-wise, he’s one of the top five players to ever play the game.
He’s totally right, but this point is much better:
The players of the past are bigger than life to us, and it’s almost impossible for us to ever move a current player in front of them.
And wouldn’t it be great and perfect if it stopped there? We can’t compare this guy to that guy, so let’s just accept that they’re all great and move on to new conversations. There are so many things we can talk about instead. Like, shouldn’t we be worried that the GMs overwhelmingly believe the same two teams will end up in the Finals? Why aren’t there more stars? How come no great players want to play for my crappy team? Did a ghost actually sexually assault Metta World Peace?
Really, anything other than James’ place in the all-time top five would be great, even if for a month.
