On The Line- LeBron and his Legacy- Part B

Comparing LeBron James to the NBA Greats

So when his career is all said and done where will we place LeBron James amongst the very best to ever play the game? I feel like we can now project the ceiling AND the floor of where he will rank in NBA history’s greatest players. For arguments sake I feel that projecting James to win three championships is a fair for a couple of reasons:

• It’s a middling number considering the fact he is still in his prime but he hasn't won a title yet.
• However-his team is ageing and he needs a team without injuries to win, other teams will improve and make it tougher to win.
• Self-preservation-I don't want to be classed a 'hater' for projecting anything less. 

Here are my Top-12 players ever to play in the NBA without future projections:

1.Michael Jordan

2.Kareem Abdul- Jabbar

3. Magic Johnson

4. Bill Russell

5.Larry Bird

6.Tim Duncan

7. Wilt Chamberlain

8. Kobe Bryant

9.Oscar Robertson

10. Hakeem Olajuwon

11.Jerry West

12.Shaquille O'Neal

 19. LeBron James

1509. Brian Scalabrine

As you can see LeBron is not in my Top-12 players at this point in time, all these players have had long, successful careers with multiple championships, apart from West who won just one. There are two current players in my top 12- Duncan and Kobe. Let’s suppose that LeBron wins the three titles and Kobe and Duncan don't add any. Lets also claim that he eventually becomes second all time on the most career points list ahead of Kobe as well as third all time on career points per game list. For argument sake where would he rank?

1.Michael Jordan

2.Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

3.LeBron James

4.Kobe Bryant

5.Magic Johnson

6.Tim Duncan

7.Bill Russell

8.Larry Bird

9.Wilt Chamberlain

10.Oscar Robertson

11.Hakeem Olajuwon

12.Jerry West

13.Shaquille O'Neal

2506. Brian Scalabrine

Some thoughts on my final rankings:

• LeBron is a physical specimen and so I think he can outlast Kobe when it comes to overall points scored in career. LeBron has had no serious injuries in his career so far and he started scoring earlier in his career then Kobe because he had to sit on the bench the first couple of years of his career.
• I think he has a chance of beating Kareem's all-time career points record but too surpass him on the all time greats list he will need to get at least four championships as the top guy on that team as well.
• To beat MJ he will need to lead a team to six or more championships to be honest and I think  that is highly unlikely happen. 
• The fact he has Dwayne Wade, another alpha male and future Hall of Famer, must be taken into account in the future. People will note he didn't start winning titles until he teamed up with Wade, who carried the Heat to the title in only his third season.

If he wins less than three championships on the other hand- I think he drops down all the way down to No.9- ahead of Wilt Chamberlain. In fact I believe LeBron should be compared to Wilt Chamberlain more than Michael Jordan in terms of legacy for several reasons.

• They are both physically gifted beyond anyone else in their era. Chamberlain was a colossus amongst men during the 1960’s, no one could approach his combination of height and power. LeBron also has the edge physically in an era of elite athletes. He has the strength and length to play power forward  but the speed and quickness to play point guard. Both are untouched in their respective eras.
• Both are extremely gifted scorers. Chamberlain is 2^nd all time behind MJ in all time points per game with 30.1. LeBron is third with 27.6 ppg.

• Despite both having the physical skills to dominate the NBA they have shrunk under the stresses of the playoffs. Chamberlain would routinely disappear vs Bill Russell and the Celtics when they faced off despite the fact he was fat bigger than Russell. LeBron has not dominated crunch time situations as much as someone of his skill and size is expected to do. LeBron has passed up many shots in the dying seconds of close games to pass to a open team mate, much to the chagrin of many.

• Despite having virtually no opposition outside of Russell to face every year it Chamberlain eight seasons to win his first championship. At nine years and counting(probably not for long) LeBron has had to wait longer to be this close to a title.

Both players had the physical tools to be the best in the world but for reasons still unexplained, they weren’t or aren’t strong willed enough like MJ and Bill Russell to win titles consistently. I don't think there will be any question that LeBron James will become one of the Top-10 best players to ever play once he retires. How high he gets depends on how many championships he wins- it's as simple as that.

  

Photo sourced from BleacherReport.com

Part One- Link here