In a league that was once known for animosity, LeBron James is a friendly beast. He’s also a front office legend, whether he has the title or not.
Despite LeBron James‘ ability to singlehandedly determine the outcome of a series, he chooses to team up with superstars instead of playing against them. It’s easy to analyze James’ decisions and say that he just wants to win rings. Yet, it’s hard for the general public to understand that LeBron knows that mindset he has is the same that front offices have had since the beginning of time. There is no other point in constructing a roster than to get the best possible talent together and win a championship.
James has the ability to bring other players because of his willingness to go against the tradition, but also his willingness to be the central piece to any championship run, not just the only piece. James knows he’s the greatest player in the NBA, and it doesn’t matter who he’s playing with because he and everybody else lets them know it too.
Traditionally, only a team’s front office should wield enough power to gather the necessary powers together for a championship run. Yet, James has had to ask himself a round of important questions.
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“What can stop the best player in the league with two other All-Stars”?
“How many teams have constructed rosters with the best player in the league and two other All-Stars”?
“Why shouldn’t he be allowed to do it too”?
Often challenged with being an AAU-like player who only thrives with a good roster around him, there’s little dialogue about the fact that every championship team has had at least three All-Star level talents on the roster or a team with great scoring balance.
If that’s the case, how could he wait for a front office to surround him with what it takes to win? In LeBron’s first stint in Cleveland, no free agents wanted to come and the players the team got that were big names quickly saw their star fade in The Land.
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That much is easy to understand. Yet, the mindset of LeBron isn’t determined by his front office abilities. It’s determined by his ability to grandstand front offices but not teammates.
James has no animosity for players he’s already established a relationship with. James doesn’t often taunt players who he doesn’t have a relationship with either.
While knowing he’s the best player in the world, he actually shows it with his willingness to give his teammates the chances to make plays instead of trying to defy logic and do it all on his own when no team has ever won the championship that way.
However, he’s shown a tendency to be grandstanding towards front office personnel. He knows that the magic phrase to excuse all front office decisions is “it’s just business”.
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When he leaves a team in 2010 to sign with another it’s just business for him as well. They didn’t sign, trade or retain top talent because it was just business. When he doesn’t re-sign with a team immediately it’s just business.
Players that are necessary to championship runs are low-balled and alienated because it’s just business. When he stands by his friend to get the treatment he’s deserved from an organization they’ve both dominated with, and not accept being treated like a third option by a team he gave 13 years and 3 NBA Finals trophies to, it’s just business as well.
In a sense, it would be crazy for him to try to win any other way than the way he’s set himself to win this decade. LeBron hasn’t found the Finals formula, he’s just put its power in his own hands.
In 2010, LeBron completed a vision he already had. Playing with Dwyane Wade (and Chris Bosh) was premeditated. Once again, in recognition of his unmatched greatness, James put his talents on display.
As a player, he dominated and showed that though he was elite in every nearly every facet of the game.
Still, LeBron has shown himself to be the most unselfish megastar the game has ever seen. Not just because of his assist numbers. His assists literally lift the importance of every player on the team as he finds them in their personal hotspots. He hits them for buzzer-beaters, game-winners, his shots.
Hoops Habit
As a general manager, he orchestrated a historical move. By combining the talents of three of the top five picks from one draft class, James had performed a feat never accomplished by any NBA front office. James likely could have been able to get Carmelo Anthony on the team as well, if Carmelo hadn’t signed a 5-year extension as his friends signed deals that would make them free agents at the same time.
James is doing what the best front offices do. He just so happens to be in a jersey when he’s not in a European-cut suit.
Theres no need for him to show the animosity that players had towards other superstars because James is eyeing and scouting nearly every player. It would be unwise for him to show unnecessary animosity to a player who could help him down the line. This doesn’t mean James won’t show up other players and teams, such as Draymond Green and Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors or Danny Granger of the Indiana Pacers.
James even revels in playing against his superstar friends as he wants to have the advantage in their head-to-head matchups. James’ greatest rivalries to date have been his NBA Finals series against Tim Duncan‘s San Antonio Spurs and Kobe Bryant‘s Los Angeles Lakers.
It will never be possible for James to corner the market on superstar teammates, so there will always be stiff competition.
The Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Chicago Bulls, Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets all assembled rosters with multiple superstars in this decade as well. There have always been the grind-it-out tough teams as well, with underrated stars, like the Memphis Grizzlies and Indiana Pacers.
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With that in mind, there’s even more reason for James to wield the entirety of his power in ways the league has never seen a player do.
Signing one-year contracts and waiting for the team to have enough around him to re-sign is ingenious. Writing a letter naming everyone you want to play with is ingenious.
Having roster moves ran by you because you’re the best player on the team is normal. Having the ability to pick-and-choose just about any player in the league that you want to play with is something only LeBron can do.
By passing when people want him to shoot, he’s made players look better and so they want to play with him. By getting to six straight NBA Finals, LeBron has made himself look better and so they want to play with him.
LeBron may not always have a killer instinct while he’s in a jersey. LeBron always has a killer instinct when he’s in a European-cut suit.
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His mindset has cornered the market on NBA Finals appearances because it’s the same mindset every NBA front office has. He’s just making it work from the other side of the fence.