California Dreaming: Why LA should be LeBron James’ last chapter
Legacy and Chasing Ghosts
LeBron as profiled by Lee Jenkins after he delivered to Cleveland the promised championship said “My motivation… is this ghost I’m chasing. The ghost played in Chicago.”
It was assumed that LeBron had to surpass Jordan in order to be considered the greatest player of all time. Surely LeBron needed six rings in order to be validated. Well, Golden State and Durant happened and all that changed.
LeBron observed Golden State at play with Durant. He heard the criticism levied at Durant and must have remembered the aftermath of his own decision. Durant went to a team that he fits in with seamlessly. He made the right basketball decision even though it wasn’t the popular one. He ultimately won a championship and celebrated it. The important lesson for LeBron was that he won while playing the way he wanted to play. His move was called a ’cupcake move’, and he was ridiculed for being the softest superstar in NBA history. Durant took all the blows and came out on the other side with a championship and an MVP trophy.
Durant took all the blows and came out on the other side with a championship and an MVP trophy.
Durant stopped chasing and just played his game, to heck with what others say, whatever happens, happens. For his entire career and even before then, LeBron has been compared to Jordan. We all remember the iconic sports illustrated cover and the Grant Wahl interview don’t we?
LeBron has always been in Jordan’s shadow, and by admitting that he was chasing Jordan, he seemingly forever condemned himself to the shadow of ‘the Jumpman’. Durant liberated LeBron from the Jordan chase. LeBron’s record stands for itself, he is not Michael Jordan and he doesn’t have to be. A supermarket list of NBA achievements is unnecessary, his achievements speak well enough on their own.
The time is right for LeBron to just be LeBron. Where better for LeBron to just be LeBron than in a new city? Every great player has to reinvent himself when the years slip away. He has to adjust his game to supplement changes in his body. He has to take a more cerebral approach. LeBron is no different. LeBron is most maligned for making the right basketball play. The player that makes the right basketball play is who he is at his core.
In LA LeBron can become the player he has always wanted to be. Scoring, taking the last shot, and so on, all these were important in his previous incarnations, not this time. If a player is open in a scoring position, he should get the ball, no matter what time in the game it is. If the opportunity to score comes up, LeBron should take it, and if not he should pass the ball. It is quite fair to presume that he is going to compete as hard as is humanly possible to win a championship or championships.
He has won a championship for every franchise he has ever suited up for, and the Lakers/Clippers would be no different. If he gets to do it with his friends then all the better. LeBron James is a basketball immortal and when his career is over he will reside in Olympus with Kareem, MJ, Wilt, Russel, Hakeem, Magic, Bird and all the other basketball immortals.
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Many things can change between now and when LeBron is a free agent. The Cavaliers have a year to convince LeBron to stay. Maybe a great team and another championship will convince him to stay, but let’s not hold our breath. My best advice to every Cavalier fan is to enjoy this upcoming season, take in every game that ’23’ plays because it just may be his last season in wine and gold.
To LeBron himself I say, your hardest decision next year should be, is it going to be the Clippers or the Lakers?