LeBron James

First and foremost, it should be mentioned that I am not a fan of the NBA in general. There are several players and coaches that I like and a few teams that are (sometimes) enjoyable to watch play. I will admit that I did watch nearly all of Game 7 of the NBA finals this year (keep in mind that I do not have cable so the opportunity rarely presents itself). I figured that my self-imposed NBA exile, which is going on twelve years now, could have a one night hiatus to watch one of my favorite all time teams (Celtics) battle one of my least favorite teams (Lakers).

Before I get on to the meat of this article, I have to pay homage. Game 7 was a brawl. It was the type of game that I enjoyed playing in when I was in high school because while I never seemed to be able to find a shooting rhythm offensively, physical defense was one of my fortes so I loved watching the Lakers and Celtics trade body-blows for 48 minutes and yes, when all was said and done, the Lakers definitely deserved to win that game.

I’ve watched and followed a lot of great players come and go through the NBA over the past 18 years or so. I distinctly remember watching the Chicago Bulls and the Portland Trailblazers in the Finals, cheering for some guy named Clyde “The Glide” Drexler and watching him get beaten by Michael Jordan. Over the next five or six years I began to appreciate Michael Jordan for what he was and what he brought to his team every night. I watched every game of the NBA Finals after the Bulls won 72 games and then beat my Seattle Supersonics (they were mine at the time). I watched every game the next two years as two of my favorite players of the past twenty years, John Stockton and Karl Malone, tried to punch through the wall that nobody could get through between 1991-1993 and 1996-1998. I feel confident in saying that the Jazz would have won back to back titles in 1997 and 1998 if Jordan had been playing baseball; that team had everything.

Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Shaquille O’Neal, and (sigh) Kobe Bryant have been just a few of the magnificent players that have played in front of my eyes in the time I’ve been aware of the NBA. None of them could hold a candle to the physical gifts of one LeBron James.

Here’s a good way to look at it. Karl Malone, one of the best players in league history, was listed at 6’9” and 250 pounds. He had broad shoulders and was light on his feet but he was a forward. He wasn’t the type of guy that could scramble for a loose ball on the floor in front of the basket, rip it away from an opponent, and then elevate and throw down a two-handed stuff over the opposing shot-blocking center. He would still get two points out of the equation but he would leave you thinking “How can he make that shot right under the hoop when he’s only 6’9” and the opposing center is 7’2” and right next to him?” Trust me, I know because I had that thought I-don’t-know-how-many times in the mid to late 90’s.

By contrast, LeBron James is listed at 6’8” and 240 pounds. Just an inch shorter, just ten pounds lighter. James runs the floor like a point guard, light on his feet and ready to change direction at an instant’s notice. Once he gets the rim into the forefront of his mind, there is very little that you can do to stop him other than… no, I can’t really think of anything. Around the rim, he explodes with a size and strength (not to mention a 44” vertical) that few in NBA history have ever had.

Now that we’ve talked a bit about the meat of this post, it’s time to tackle the gristle. By that, of course, I mean “The Decision”.

Does the prospect of having LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh in the same uniform intrigue me? Absolutely. Does it interest me that all three took less money to play together? Not really because even though it’s been reported that they all left about $15 million on the table, the contracts are still worth roughly $105 million (for Wade) and $110 million (for James and Bosh). While a 12% discount may be significant in the NBA, it means nothing in the real world when it comes to sacrifice. If they wanted to make headlines about taking discounts, I would have loved the three of them to signed for $5 million a year and tell the general manager “go out and get all the pieces that you need to put around us so we can be the Celtics (60’s version) of this generation”. Did that happen? Nope.

Last year, James put forth a ridiculous line of 29.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 8.6 assists per game. Combining that with Wade’s 26.6-4.8-6.5 and Bosh’s 24.0-10.8-2.4 does make one wonder. How many times in league history has a team had three 20 point-per-game scorers on the same team? Very good question.

In the history of the NBA, a player has averaged 20 or more points per game 1,131 times, from Joe Fulks in the 1946-47 season (23.2 ppg) to the young superstars of today. The first set of teammates to score 20 points per game or more happened in the 1954-55 season when Neil Johnston (22.7) and Paul Arizin (21.0) accomplished the feat. Believe it or not, there have actually been 16 different sets of three teammates that have averaged over 20 points per game in the same season.

1959-60 St. Louis Hawks
Bob Pettit – 26.1
Cliff Hagan – 24.8
Clyde Lovellette – 20.8

1960-61 St. Louis Hawks
Bob Pettit – 27.9
Cliff Hagan – 22.1
Clyde Lovellette – 22.0

1966-1967 Boston Celtics
Sam Jones – 22.1
John Havilcek – 21.4
Bailey Howell – 20.0

1968-69 San Francisco Warriors
Jeff Mullins – 22.8
Nate Thurmond – 21.5
Rudy LaRusso – 20.7

1969-70 Chicago Bulls
Chet Walker – 21.5
Bob Love – 21.0
Clem Haskins – 20.3

1969-70 Phoenix Suns
Connie Hawkins – 24.6
Dick Van Arsdale – 21.3
Gail Goodrich – 20.0

1971-72 Golden State Warriors
Jeff Mullins – 21.5
Cazzie Russell – 21.4
Nate Thurmond – 21.4

1980-81 Denver Nuggets
David Thompson – 25.5
Alex English – 23.8
Dan Issel – 21.9

1981-82 Denver Nuggets
Alex English – 25.4
Dan Issel – 22.9
Kiki Vandeweghe – 21.5

1982-83 Denver Nuggets
Alex English – 28.4
Kiki Vandeweghe – 26.7
Dan Issel – 21.6

1983-84 Philadelphia 76ers
Moses Malone – 22.7
Julius Erving – 22.4
Andrew Toney – 20.4

1986-87 Seattle Supersonics
Dale Ellis – 24.9
Tom Chambers – 23.3
Xavier McDaniel – 23.0

1987-88 Seattle Supersonics
Dale Ellis – 25.8
Xavier McDaniel – 21.4
Tom Chambers – 20.4

1988-89 Phoenix Suns
Tom Chambers – 25.7
Eddie Johnson – 21.5
Kevin Johnson – 20.4

1990-91 Golden State Warriors
Chris Mullin – 25.7
Mitch Richmond – 23.9
Tim Hardaway – 22.9

2007-08 Golden State Warriors
Baron Davis – 21.8
Monta Ellis – 20.2
Stephen Jackson – 20.1

So in other words, having three good scorers actually share the ball isn’t unheard of. However, for the James-Wade-Bosh marriage, I only see two scenarios for how well it will work out.

1) The three of them start bickering about whose team it is and who deserves the most shots/points/dollars, etc. Halfway through the season Pat Riley realizes the magnitude of his mistake and retires. All three have decent statistical years but the Heat go 41-41 and miss the playoffs. Cleveland and Toronto rejoice while the rest of the league looks on in amusement at the situation in Miami.
2) With the addition of a big bruising, 7’, 300 pound center that can’t score worth a lick, Bosh is free to cherry-pick rebounds, outlet the ball to James, who sprints down the court with Wade and another 3-point shooter filling the lanes. Bosh averages 16-14, Wade averages 35-4-4, and James averages his triple double (25-10-12) as the Heat win 65 games. In the playoffs, they don’t change their style of play and keep running up and down the floor and the young legs of LeBron, Dwayne, and Chris (25, 28, and 25) carry the Heat to another title, the first of several during this threesome’s tenure.

Is it going to work? I honestly don’t know. Dwayne Wade and LeBron James are two very unselfish players so I think that they could coexist peacefully. The only question is how the locker room will react when they lose three or four games in a row.

If I was team president Pat Riley, I’d send these three along with head coach Erik Spoelstra somewhere remote where all they had was a gym and I would get the four of them to start game-planning how these three superstars are going to share just one basketball.