Bad Decision

LeBron James is the most physically gifted athlete the NBA has ever had.  LeBron is Karl Malone but with point guard skills.  Talent he has, but drive, competitiveness and overall alpha male traits he does not.  The choice to leave his hometown of Cleveland and pursue rings with someone else’s team is not a characteristic you would have found in Jordan, Magic or Bird, who are considered the 3 most important players the NBA has ever had. Not even Kobe Bryant, the best in the game today would have done what LeBron did.

LeBron literally left his alpha dog status at home when he decided to chase rings along side Dwayne Wade, another top 5 NBA player of today and Chris Bosh, a Beijing Dream Teamer and play for Miami or better known as “Wade County.” 

Competitiveness and wanting to beat your opponent were Jordan’s greatest traits are ones that LeBron lacks.  He had a good situation at home where ownership did what they could to help surround LeBron with talent.  This team made the finals 3 years ago and had the best record this past season.  Michael Jordan said he would have never called Bird or Magic to join forces because he wanted to beat them. Bird said the same thing that he wanted to beat Magic and Magic vice-versa.

 

Plenty of stars stayed with the same team so they could create their own legacies and their own dynasty.  From 1999 to today, Tim Duncan has  won 4 championships as the focal point of the San Antonio Spurs.  Kobe Bryant won 5 championships: 3 with Shaq, and 2 on his own.  Kobe is such the alpha dog that he ran Shaq out of town so he could be the main man in LA.  People thought he was selfish but in reality it was the best move for him to grow.  People could no longer say that he won because he had Shaq on the team.  Today, Kobe is getting mentioned along the likes of the all-time greats for leading his team to multiple championships.  

Alex Rodriguez was in a similar situation in Texas.  Like LeBron, A-Rod is much more physically gifted than most baseball players. He is tall, muscular and can run. In a similar move to damage his legacy, he accepted a trade to the New York Yankees when it was already known that it was Derek Jeter’s team.  A-Rod would have been the greatest shortstop in the history of baseball. But gave up the chance of that prestigious title to chase a ring with the Yankees by stepping aside to Jeter and played 3rd base.  Moreover, nobody has talked about A-Rod being the best player in the game since he left Texas.

We haven’t heard from Kobe Bryant since “The Decision” was made.  We do know already the hardest training player in the game is training even harder so he could beat LeBron.  Just like Jordan, Bird and Magic would have done.