It was most refreshing to read reaction comments from both Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley in ESPN.com, pertaining to LeBron James signing with Miami, joining Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, as opposed to remaining in Cleveland. The basic message from both men, was that if you want to be considered among the very best of all time, then you have to compete against the very best and beat them, not align with them on a fantasy like All-Star team. They were 100% right on that, and when you speak with basketball fans who are not attached to the Miami Heat, most seem to agree that even if James gets one, or several championships with his new teammates in south Florida, he will never be thought of as being in the same league with Jordan, or other all time greats, who could not choose their fellow players. They had to make the best of what their general manager could assemble. Even with his superb regular season statistics, LeBron has not been able to elevate his team in the post season,the way many thought he would. Fairly or not, he was accused of quitting on his team in the 2010 and 2009 playoffs by the Cavs owner, Dan Gilbert, after he announced his decision to leave Cleveland. No one ever made a comment like that about Jordan, that’s for certain. Barkley isn’t a perfect person either, but he knows his basketball, and he too is accurate in pointing out, that James has no chance of ever being among the very greatest, especially in assessing playoff success, by joining Wade and Bosh in Miami. No matter how many titles they win together, James will not likely be regarded as the man who made average players better in crunch time, or specifically, in the post season, where greatness is really measured
As detailed in the ESPN.com story, Jordan stated: “ There’s no way, with hindsight, I would’ve ever called up Larry( Bird), or Magic (Johnson), and said, ‘Hey, look, let’s get together and play on one team. But……..things are different. I can’t say that’s a bad thing. It’s an opportunity these kids have today. In all honesty, I was trying to beat those guys.”
Not surprisingly, Charles Barkley did not sit on the fence in expressing himself. The Hall Of Famer said of James joining the Heat: “ He’ll never be Jordan……….This clearly takes him out of the conversation. He can win as much as he wants to………There would have been something honorable about staying in Cleveland and trying to win it as ‘The Man’………LeBron if he would’ve in Cleveland, and if he could’ve got a championship there, it would have been over the top for his legacy, just one in Cleveland. No matter how many he wins in Miami, it clearly is Dwayne Wade’s team.”
This may not help hoops fans in Cleveland, but they will know what every fan of the game understands, which is that LeBron chose the easier route to a potential ring, or maybe more than that. If he does achieve that objective, then he will be remembered that way, as a superstar who selected the softest way to the top.