Soon the NBA will begin televising playoff contention games between the top eight seeds from each conference. This postseason is panning out to be the first time in the last thirteen seasons when LeBron James’s team will not be competing for a chance to get to the NBA Finals and claim Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy, a feat that has been accomplished by three-time finals MVP LeBron James in three of the nine finals he has led his team to.
The debate over Lebron’s dominance of the game had started before “The Chosen One” even stepped foot on an NBA court, with his high school dominance at St. Vincent - St. Mary’s High School in none other than Akron, Ohio. This is where James began his ascension to greatness, earning three state championships, a national championship, as well as being a three-time recipient for the Ohio Mr. Basketball award.
After being selected first overall at the age of eighteen by the struggling hometown Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2003 NBA draft, “The Akron Hammer” led his new NBA squad with 20.9 points per game as well as earning the NBA Rookie of The Year award. Just two seasons later, James would average his highest PPG in any regular season of his career at 31.4, and leading a dumpster fire of a Cavaliers roster to the franchise’s first playoff berth in eight years. James led the Cavs past the Washington Wizards and All-Star Gilbert Arenas who was on a tear, averaging 29.3 PPG. But LeBron was bested in the second round by the leading Eastern Conference 64-18 Detroit Pistons all star lineup that included the likes of Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace, and Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) Ben Wallace.
The very next season, Lebon led his Cavaliers squad to the playoffs, defeating the injury struck Wizards team that was without their leader Arenas in the first round. James’s competition ramped up in the next round facing off against the All Star Jason Kidd’s Brooklyn Nets. The series went to six games. Although Kidd averaged a triple-double the entire span of the playoffs that season, it was not enough firepower to take down the King who was laser-focused on making it to the NBA Finals as a 22 year-old.
But the King’s young aspiration would not become fulfilled quite yet, as he was swept in four games by arguably one of the greatest team and coaching pairs of all time in the 2006-2007 San Antonio Spurs. Led by what will undoubtedly be three hall of famers, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, the Spurs fundamental dominance of the game has been attributed to the long time greatness of NBA coaching legend Gregg Popovich. This was Popovich and the Spurs fourth NBA Finals victory in the past nine seasons, truly marking a period of dynasty dominance.
Following being swept in the Finals, The King began the 2008-2009 season with a sense of vengeance, averaging 28.4 PPG, 7.6 APG, 7.2 RPG as well as earning him his first league MVP award. James once again led his team to the Conference Finals where The King met the new youngest star in the league, one of the most dominant two-way centers in his prime in the past forty seasons, who was selected first overall in the 2004 NBA draft, Dwight Howard. In the Conference Championship matchup between the Cavaliers and the Magic, Lebron posted averages of 38.5 PPG, 8.3 RPG and 8 APG during the six-game series. Unfortunately, a stat line as impressive as that was not enough to put LeBron’s crumbling Cavaliers past All-Star and Defensive Player of the Year Howard.
The next season, LeBron earned his second League MVP award, but lost in the second round of the playoffs to the newly formed super-team in Boston comprised of Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. These four starters will unquestionably be hall of famers when their time comes for induction. James was crushed by the rise and shift of talent around the league at this time combined with the lackluster job of Cleveland’s front office to obtain any true compliment to James other than Larry Hughes, a meager 14 PPG career average shooting guard.
It was for the mismanagement and front office shortcomings of LeBron’s own hometown for seven straight seasons that forced him to leave The Land in search of obtaining legendary status elsewhere. After the highly anticipated “decision” was made, The King called Miami his new home. With the help of joining All Stars Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, LeBron would go onto leading the Heat to four straight Finals, winning the 2012 and 2013 Finals as well as earning back to back Finals MVP awards and League MVP’s.
Being a native from the Cleveland area, I will hold myself back from commenting on the historic championship run of 2016 when The King led the Cavaliers down 3-1 in the Finals series to what I consider the greatest NBA championship ever. However, I will note that after watching every minute of the seven game series, I felt that the ability of LeBron to lead his team in a historic comeback fashion that was previously never obtainable by anyone in NBA history was what secured him as the greatest of all time in my opinion.
Now I wish I could give you the thorough analysis of Jordan’s first seven seasons in the NBA, but that would genuinely be quite boring when compared to The King. Jordan did not make it past the first round of the playoffs until the Bulls traded for soon to be All-Star Scottie Pippen, who turned out to be the Robin to MJ’s Batman. Additionally, Jordan did not make it to his first NBA Finals until his seventh year in the league.
For those who still claim that the 80’s and 90’s were respectively when the toughest defense in league history was being played, I offer no critique of the altered hand checking rule; I wish it was still in effect today. As much as I enjoyed watching the game shift to favor the skill of the deep perimeter shooters like Kyle Korver and J.R. Smith, I hate how little defense is being permitted by referees on ball handlers above the key and around the three point arc. My critique with the game today is one concerned with the true skill level and athleticism of professional players. It is no secret that with every passing day, our technological abilities improve the quality of players and their ceiling potential. With every new draft class that enters the league, the top scouted players are larger, stronger, faster and more athletic than the predecessors that they looked up to as they learned the game.
Now, I would never make this claim without support so here is how I have reached that consensus. I discovered a report on the net efficiencies of all the NBA Finals opponents for both LeBron and Jordan throughout their careers. A net efficiency is the average amount of points scored per 100 possessions by a team subtracted by the average amount of points allowed per 100 possessions by the same team. This statistic gives a more accurate report of teams defensive performance coupled with their offensive averages over the postseason. To put this into perspective, the best net efficiency team that Jordan played against was the 1992 Trail Blazers at +2.9, the other net efficiencies he was competing against were: +2.7, +2.7, +1.7, +1.6, +1.0. The best net efficiency LeBron has played against in the Finals has been 2017 Warriors at an astounding +13.6, but of course LeBron lost that Finals to four All-Stars so it is wrong to give him any credit at all for this accomplishment. So instead let us consider the worst net efficiency that LeBron played against, it was the 2012 Thunder at +4.6. That year was also LeBron’s first NBA championship. LeBron’s other Finals opponent’s net efficiencies were: +11.6, +9.0, +7.0, +6.7, +6.3, +5.3. The average net efficiency that Jordan faced was +2.1 in his six trips to the finals, LeBron’s opponent’s average net efficiency was +8 in his eight finals appearances before the 2018 Finals.
I felt the need to write this piece based on the harsh brand of criticism that Lakers fans and others around the NBA have placed on LeBron this season because he is missing his first playoffs in the last thirteen seasons. LeBron is in his 16th season currently, age 34, and is averaging 27.5 PPG, 8 APG and 8.5 RPG on 51.4 FG percentage. This stat line is being widely considered The King’s “down year”, and the only other player to put up this stat line in history was Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson in 1962. Now to compare, in Jordan’s 14th season he was age 38 and had taken four total years off throughout his NBA career to pursue his dream of play in the MLB. Jordan averaged 22.9 PPG, 5.7 RPG and 5.2 APG, on 41.6 FG percentage.
If your argument for Jordan being the greatest of all time is that he is 6-6 in the Finals, or that he played against tougher teams and defensive schemes, I simply have no time to dispute the greatness of these two legendary athletes with you. I believe we are primed to see another four years of dominance from King James starting next season, when he leads the Lakers to the playoffs. He is in great physical shape, and his stats are nowhere near the decline in which we saw when Jordan re-entered the league to play with Washington in 2001. When The King leaves the NBA for good, I am certain he will have obtained the GOAT status he has very much lived up to and deserves. Long live King James. LeBron’s long term productivity, unmatched consistency on both ends of the ball, and injury resilience for every team he has been apart of marks his most indisputable asset: durability. Next time you hear someone berating LeBron for his game, lean over and remind them to appreciate what they are witnessing: history.
Nick Shook is a senior studying political science pre-law at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Do you agree? Let Nick know by emailing him at ns258814@ohio.edu.
