The rush to anoint LeBron James as the Greatest Of All Time might be premature at the very least, and maybe we should take a broader look.
The tweet went up shortly after LeBron James’ historic, record-setting fallaway Tuesday night, from Atlanta Hawks guard Dejounte Murray, with the requisite goat and basketball emojis:LeBron James Is The GREATEST OF ALL TIME!!! 🐐 Debate OVER!!!!! 🏀And yes, that tweet started the debate all over again.
Yeah, we know. Recency bias. Julius Erving, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Oscar Robertson, Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Bill Russell, Bob Cousy and all of those other greats from the eras before the ubiquity of televised highlights? No chance they could ever contend for G.O.A.T. status, at least on Twitter.LeBron has won four NBA championship rings. Kobe and Magic won five each. Kareem won six, the same as Jordan.
Shouldn’t there be a G.O.T.T. category, as in greatest of their times, to recognize those who impacted and helped change the game well before highlight video clips?Late Tuesday night, James was asked in the interview room his thoughts about the G.O.A.T. debate, and where he’d put himself.“If I was the GM, or whatever the case may be of a franchise that was starting up and I had the No. 1 pick, I’d take me. I mean, that’s just me, because I believe in myself.
“That don’t take away from nobody else. So many great players played this game and long legacies in this game. This NBA is a beautiful thing, and there’s been some beautiful players that played. But I can’t take nobody over me.”“Barbershop talk” is probably as good a description as any.
By the way, the grace with which Kareem celebrated LeBron’s achievement Tuesday night was in itself a beautiful thing. As Kareemon Wednesday morning, “It’s as if I won a billion dollars in a lottery and 39 years later someone won two billion dollars. How would I feel? Grateful that I won and happy that the next person also won. His winning in no way affects my winning.”“Whenever a sports record is broken – including mine – it’s a time for celebration.
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