LeBron’s greatness is often overlooked by critics and the media in favour of a particular jump man. Is he actually the G.O.A.T.?

Article by SG Basketball Coach Victor Tan

The debate of who is the greatest ever in basketball rages on between the camps of the great Michael Jordan and LeBron James. The writer is fortunate enough to witness and watch both superstars, from their rookie year to their prime and in Lebron’s case, his 10th NBA Finals currently underway.

Looking at stats, both camps have their individual valid arguments. Now, let’s take a step back. Let’s travel down memory lane, with the help of the documentary “The Last Dance”. Michael Jordan was the 3rd overall pick in the 1984 NBA draft, selected by the Chicago Bulls. The general consensus then was that you had to build a championship winning team around a 7 feet tall center, hence explaining the choice of Hakeem Olajuwon and Sam Bowie earlier in the draft. For that reason alone, Jordan was not expected to come in and make an instant impact. In the first few years in Chicago, he had to battle the prevalent weak team culture and showed that he was all about winning. After the internal Bulls demons were exorcised, he had to contend with the 3 demi-gods then; the Larry Bird-led Boston Celtics, the Isiah Thomas-led Detroit “Bad Boys” Pistons and the “Showtime” LA Lakers of Magic Johnson. It took Jordan a while to figure things out, before winning 3 championships on the trot, 6 in total. However, the media attention, to put it mildly, was culpable in forcing him to retire from the sport, amidst accusations of gambling addiction.

Coming out of high school, LeBron James was expected to win straight away as the Chosen One.

Fast forward to 2003, the debut game of a certain LeBron James in Cleveland Cavaliers jersey. He was the high school phenomenon who was crowned “The Chosen One” by Sports Illustrated even before he had played his first official NBA game. He was the “King”, the “Saviour” to the starving Cleveland community, with zero championships across all sports in its history. Drafted as the overall number 1 pick, he was expected to carry the Cavaliers on his shoulders. The pressure. The responsibility. The expectation. With abated breath, the whole world tuned in to see if the young man was legitimate or just hype, in his debut against the Sacramento Kings. I watched the game. Lebron’s stat line that night: 25 points, 6 rebounds, 9 assists, 4 steals.

17 years have since passed. With all the different stats comparison argument between the two icons of basketball, on who is the greatest ever, I would like to highlight a few points.

First, the word “Expectation”. The word that broke so many Jordan wannabe’s back. All the trolls, fingers on their keypads, locked and loaded to destroy any pretender to his Airness’ lofty perch. Ever since Jordan’s retirement, dozens of pretenders had fallen by the wayside, some unfortunately to injuries. No one could take such pressure from the media. Remember how Kevin Durant clap back to social media trolls using burner accounts? Any bad game from LeBron James would result in various talk shows or podcasts dissecting his every weakness. Those seasons when he lost in the finals? It felt like I was watching him being surrounded by the white walkers and the zombie horde from Game of Thrones. I am not sure if Michael Jordan could handle the amount and level of social media scrutiny that Lebron had endured, without affecting his gameplay and mental health.

Second, consistency. LeBron does not own a prefect game. But then who does? “All roads lead to Rome”. As Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat put it, most championships in the last decade had to be wrestled away from a Lebron led team. 3 NBA championships with 2 different teams, 10 trips to the NBA finals and now in the finals again with a 3rd team, at age 35 and still playing at an All NBA first team level, Lebron’s illustrious career is close to NBA 2K fantasy material.

Lastly, LeBron has been a model athlete off the court. There is a reason why the general public did not make a stronger case for the late Kobe or Kareem for the G.O.A.T conversation, although they have more championship rings than LeBron. His community work, establishing foundations to help children and involvement in social activism swayed my vote. Everyone can see Lebron inching his way towards Jordan’s undisputed throne, whether you like it or not.

I, for one, am not overly concerned to see which way the general vote goes to. I am here just to witness greatness. After Air Jordan, I am just blessed to able to witness the greatness of King James.

The curious case of LeBron James: Are you a hater?

Article by SG Basketball Coach Victor Tan