The Attribution

I think I am probably the happiest person around when it comes to the ring that Lebron James (King James, the dude with the horrible hairline and whatever other names you all call him) just acquired. I am not a Heat fan but I am excited simply because I am tired of hearing the debate about his greatness just because he lacked a championship title. It is certainly time for a new NBA discussion.

The NBA series ended Thursday night in Miami with James finally picking up his first NBA Finals championship. Heat fans and foes went crazy on my Twitter timeline expressing their opinions on James’ athletic ability and comparing him to Kobe, Magic and of course Jordan. The debate is certainly not new as the discussion of James’ lack of titles even made it to the big screen in the movie Bad Teacher last year and was mentioned way before then.

But what does it take to make someone the greatest of all time? Is it rings? MVP titles? The max number of points one can score in a game? Before you answer, take a look at some of Lebron’s highlights and honors right now:

• 2012 NBA Finals MVP and 2012 NBA Champion (First player to do both since Duncan in ‘03)
• 3× NBA Most Valuable Player
• 8× NBA All-Star
• 2008 NBA scoring champion
• 6× All-NBA First Team
• 2× All-NBA Second Team
• 4× NBA All-Defensive First Team
• 2004 NBA Rookie of the Year and 2004 NBA All-Rookie First Team
• 2× NBA All-Star Game MVP
• etc.

This is good and all but what more do you think James has to do to be considered the greatest? He’s passed one hurdle but how many more awards and titles does he have to add to the above list for his haters to finally accept him as THE amazing player?

Since he has highlights and honors similar to James, the better question is, will Durant become the next great argument for NBA critics?