King Dethroned?

For years everyone has made excuses for LeBron's lack of postseason success. "He's too young." "He hasn't learned how to win yet." "He has no supporting cast." "It took Jordan a while to win one." Well it's time to stop babying the "King" and let him take some flak for what has been one of the most epic failures in NBA history. You think epic is too strong a word? Consider that the Cavaliers just became the first team in NBA history in back-to-back seasons to:
- Win 60+ games
- Have the best record in the league
- Get home court throughout the playoffs
- Have the best player in the league
- Have the reigning MVP
- AND NOT WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!!

In fact, the Cavs didn't even make it to the NBA Finals once over that 2 year stretch! They won a grand total of ONE game after the conference semis in those two seasons. That has to be the biggest underachievement by a team/superduperstar in the history of the league.

Since LeBron has come into the league people have been talking about how he has no ceiling as a player. How he can average triple-doubles and win 6-8 titles in a row wherever he plays. It may be time to re-think that philosophy a little bit. Now I don't want to go too far like some have already done and proclaim him a Grade A choking dog a la Dirk Nowitzki (I think he just choked on something while reading this. What? You don't know that he doesn't read this) or that he'll always come up small on the big stage a la Karl Malone. We know he's got more substance than that. We all saw him carry a Cleveland team to the Finals in 2007 that had absolutely NO business being there and single-handedly eviscerate a far superior Pistons team along the way. He's submitted one of the greatest individual playoff performances in history on the road in a crucial conference finals game. He just threw up a 27-19-10 in a desperation closeout game last night (albeit the ugliest 27-19-10 you will ever see). But still...something seems off. There's been one constant on the court for Cleveland during the underachieving LeBron era, and that's LeBron. He's got no excuse for not delivering a championship for his hometown folks at least once in the last two seasons. He's been in the league seven years now. He knows what it takes to win. His front office has spent the money and acquired him the pieces to a championship roster. He knows how to put a team on his back and carry them through. Yet he still inexplicably no-showed a pivotal Game 5 in this past series. He seemed disinterested and distracted, like a guy who knew this was his last game before he skipped town. Maybe LeBron James isn't "The Chosen One" after all.

Will LeBron James never win an NBA championship then? No, I believe he will. I refuse to think that a player of his ability and dominance will never win. He won't be the Malone to Kobe/Durant's Jordan. (Am I giving Kevin Durant too much credit too early? Probably. But I'm completely biased and irrational when it comes to KD). However, it wouldn't shock me if Lebron turns out to be the Shaq to those guys' Duncan. Think about it. Just like Shaq, LeBron seems a little more interested in all the glamor and the lifestyle and playing in a "Big Market" than winning. Just like Shaq, LeBron loves to joke around on and off the court, keep the locker room mood light, and be the center of everyone's attention. Just like Shaq, LeBron gets way too much credit for being funny and a great guy from the media and the fans just because he's The Man. And just like Shaq, LeBron may be on his way to a career that sees him play for more teams than is befitting of an all-time great player. On the other hand, Kobe is renowned for his obsession with winning above all else (Durant has this in him too...or maybe that's just my bias rearing its head again) much like Duncan, at the expense of cultivating a gregarious and engaging personality. Maybe LeBron, like Shaq, will only reach 90% of his potential and win half the titles he was capable of when all is said and done. Maybe what he needs is a young punk with oodles of game and swagger along the lines of Young Kobe to drive him harder in the playoffs push him over the top. I believe a perfect landing spot for LeBron is Chicago, where Derrick Rose has the game, and Joakim Noah has the swagger to provide him with the Young Kobe to his Shaq. And it will be perfect timing as well. Shaq won his Lakers titles in the window between Jordan's Bulls and the peak of Duncan's Spurs. LeBron can start fresh with a new team and start winning in a year or two in between the eventual, inevitable fall of Kobe's Lakers and the rise of Durant's Thunder. Who knows, he may even somehow get Phil Jackson as his coach to lead him to the promised land. However LeBron's career turns out, we may have just witnessed the finishing touches to his brand-new ceiling.