Clarion Content

LeBron James defined his legacy with his off-season free agent move to the Miami Heat. He will never enter the discussion of greatest player ever. As numerous commentators have pointed out, Jordan would not have gone to play with a competitor because he couldn't beat them. Bird and Magic didn't scheme to team up, they schemed to beat one another's teams.

NBA veteran Jon Barry pretty well summed it up on ESPN Radio today, paraphrasing, "I'm okay with this type of move when you are a veteran on the downside of your career and still haven't won a title. Then fine, team up with another guy or two, to give it a run, but when your one of the two or three best players in the NBA and you are only twenty-five..."

The Clarion Content loves that quote for the subtext, the understated understood element, "one of the two or three best players in the game..." ?!? LeBron James was considered no less than the second best player in the league, likely the best player, a mere twelve months ago, according the standard accepted order. But since he clearly does not have the killer instinct of Kobe, witness Game 5 versus the Celtics, and since he accepts that he is not even the best player on his own team, deferring to D-Wade, suddenly LeBron is at most the third best player in the league.

And have no doubt, this is common knowledge in the NBA intelligentsia, from Charles Barkley on down. There is a defined pecking order in NBA locker rooms. And when a guy at LeBron's age and career arc accepts that he is not the alpha dog, then clearly, he is not the alpha dog.

¿Quién sabe? Maybe he is the fourth best player in the league? Dwight Howard has been to just as many Finals, and his Magic have dominated LeBron's teams in the playoffs...

Labels: NBA, sports