Lebronification

(photo from ihatelebronjames.com...yes there is such a website)

All of America outside of SoFla is rejoicing as the Miami Heat lose their shot at a title in the first year of the experiment that is the Heatles. The hatred towards the Heat, and especially Lebron, has reached levels not seen in sports since well...maybe ever. At least for a guy who has done nothing criminal and a team that has played by the rules that free agency provide all of the NBA teams equally.

Its true that Lebron has not scored or performed well in the 4th quarter of these Finals. However, the vitriol spewed his way by fans and the media nationwide in the last year is laughable and easy, but not fair or right if you look at the whole picture. We always look at history and make it bigger and better than it really was. Historical stories and greatness often get stretched as time passes. In today's Twitter society, that time is even as short as minutes, days, and weeks.

But stats don't lie. We don't even have to look too far back. Anyone remember how LeBron was the Heat's savior against Chicago and Boston when D-Wade was struggling?

Jordan is the best ever in my generation. No doubt in my mind. But let's take a look at some career playoff stats to clarify LeBron's greatness comparing him to other championship great PG/SG/SF's over the last 30 years...before he's even won a single title:

Player PPG RPG APG SPG BPG

Jordan 33.4 6.2 5.3 2.35 0.83

Lebron 28.2 8.4 7.0 1.70 1.0

D-Wade 26.0 5.8 5.6 1.65 1.0

Kobe 25.4 5.1 4.8 1.41 0.68

Bird 23.8 10.3 6.5 1.80 0.88

Magic 19.5 7.7 12.3 1.88 0.34

2nd in PPG. 2nd in RPG. 2nd in APG. 4th in SPG. 1st in BPG. That's compared to five playoff LEGENDS. Tell me that's not GREATNESS.

The Decision was horrible. Easy to hate. But LeBron raised MILLIONS of dollars for charity from it. Sure he didn't let crazy person owner of the Cavs know where he was going, but how many owners cut, trade, or otherwise get rid of players without telling them a thing before it happens? How many players force their teams into trading or getting rid of someone by holding out, complaining, or otherwise (read: Charles Barkley forced trades to try and win a title ... rookie Eli Manning forcing a trade right after getting drafted ... Deron Williams basically forcing Jerry Sloan to retire ... Kobe forcing LA management to get rid of Shaq)?

Rising from a stage predicting 5...6...7...titles. Dumb, but the Heat organization created that event/buzz. In the end, it was a free celebration for the Heat (bandwagon) fans to rejoice in the greatest free agency coup in NBA history. Did you want him to say "I'm not sure if we'll win a title together"?

Pairing up with two other stars (ok, maybe 1.5 b/c Bosh is merely a soft All-Star) was a no-brainer after having a terrible supporting cast in Cleveland year in and year out with no second, third, or fourth option after King James. The jealousy from other cities due to their teams not procuring Bron's talents is understandable. But don't say Hall of Fame superstars have never played together...

Pierce/Garnett/Allen. Kobe/Shaq. D-Wade/Shaq. Jordan/Pippen/Rodman. Duncan/Ginobili/Parker. The Logo/Wilt/Goodrich. Bird/Parrish/McHale. Magic/Kareem/Worthy. Moses Malone/Dr. J/Mo Cheeks. Thomas/Dumars/Laimbeer. Frazier/Reed/DeBusschere. Russell/Cousy/Havlicek.

Guess what...titles are won by great duos/trios, not by one individual. Not even the G.O.A.T. did it totally by himself.

Career playoff stats show LeBron is one of the greatest of all time. He is not better than Jordan, but probably the closest thing to the most complete overall player in history when you look at his numbers. Bad Finals or not, his production throughout the playoffs speaks for itself, this year and throughout his career. It's funny how easily people forget games like when he scored 25 out of the Cavs last 29 to beat the Pistons. Or when he dropped 37 per game with 8 rebounds and 8 assists in a series against the Magic. Or when he shutdown this year's regular season MVP.

His deferring to D-Wade is natural. LeBron is right to defer to D-Wade. D-Wade has a title. D-Wade (and Riley) brought him to Miami. LeBron has lower scoring production levels with Wade in the line-up and its obvious that the Heat need to figure out the niche for each superstar despite having played about 100 games together. The Heat's offensive deficiencies doesn't prove LeBron chokes under the 4th quarter pressure. It just shows that they need to figure out how to best utilize their two superstars skills when the game is on the line. That's something they've struggled with all year.

Hate on the Miami fans for being bandwagon. Most of them are. Hate on the fact LeBron hasn't won a title. Yet. Don't hate on his greatness. That's just jealousy and envy because your squad/city doesn't have him. It's also not true. The dude is GREAT at what he does. Even without a title yet. Even with one series of bad 4th quarter performances.

The NBA titles might not be there now, but the guy is going to get his eventually.