ShareThisOkay, let' step back for a minute.
Let's think globally, not locally, as so many of the politicos like to say.
Let's take a broad look at the NBA, and realize that the finals the NBA would love to see is not the Celtics and the Lakers, which is so last year.
It's the Cavaliers and the Lakers.
It's LeBron and Kobe.
Or maybe it's just LeBron.
For he has become the show, the NBA's alpha dog. He is the one who is on more magazine covers than Tom Brady, the one on all the TV commercials, the one who recently was profiled on 60 Minutes. He is the ... the new Jordan.
Which is no small thing in the NBA.
Sometimes it seems as if the league has been searching for the next Jordan ever since Michael finally called it quits. It was always going to be somebody, until it was going to be Kobe Bryant. Before he got caught in a hotel-room scandal in Colorado and that all disappeared.
Then along came LeBron, called the next wunderkind, arriving right out of high school in Ohio, a superstar before he ever played a professional game, complete with the huge Nike contract, the next Jordan, ready or not.
For the thing to remember is that the NBA always has been a show. It's the legacy from the early years in the 1950s when the key was to keep the customer satisfied and maybe they might actually come back. And if it took the home team to get the big call, so be it. If it took giving every advantage to the stars, so be it.
This was the NBA, where the most important line on the court was the bottom line, and everyone quietly understood that. In the NBA, it always was about stars.
This is what the league was built on, for in those early years there was no tradition to sell, only stars.
So that became how the game was marketed: Russell versus Wilt in the '60's. Bird versus Magic in the '80's. Then Jordan took it to another dimension, NBA star as cultural icon.
The point is it's always been about stars. It's the reason why no zone defenses were allowed for decades, the thinking being that zones slowed the game down, were the great equalizer, had the potential to bother stars, make them look more mortal. It was the reason why there was a 24-second clock, designed to keep the game moving. It's the reason why the stars always seem to get the big calls.
It also was the reason why the NBA game was originally made 48 minutes long, up eight minutes from the college game, for the originators wanted it to last two hours, thinking that was an ideal time for an evening's entertainment.
For it was supposed to be about entertainment.
Is it any wonder that the pro game became about stars?
It's no different now, which brings us back to Le Bron.
Doesn't the league need him to win now, this biggest star of all?
Which is not to get all conspiracy theory here, a basketball version of Commies hiding under every bed. It is to suggest that the league would love a LeBron-Kobe matchup, the contemporary Bird-Magic, the new Jordan versus the guy who was supposed to be the new Jordan before he had a symbolic fall from grace. Rest assured it would get big ratings
For LeBron already has moved beyond being a great basketball player into true celebrity in a celebrity-obsessed culture. The profile on 60 Minutes was the ultimate example of that, certainly, but it's not the only one. The innumerable endorsements. The fact he's become LeBron, no last name needed, one of the barometers of true fame in America.
And the one thing missing from his resume?
An NBA title.
You can almost see the promos now. See LeBron try to win a ring. Can LeBron win a ring. See LeBron, period.
For an NBA title is the last mountaintop left for LeBron, the only unanswered question, fair or not. No matter that without LeBron the Cavaliers would be very ordinary at best, and even that might be a reach. No matter that even if he doesn't win an NBA title this year his reputation will be untarnished, such is his cachet. He is only 24 and there are many more miles to go before his career starts to sleep, many more seasons for him to chase NBA titles, whether in Cleveland or someplace else.
But how can you be the next Jordan if you don't start winning titles, the ultimate validation?
It would be a great story line in a sport that loves great story lines.
LeBron versus Kobe, the new Jordan versus the player who once was supposed to be.
Coming soon to a TV set near you.
(Contact Bill Reynolds at reynoldsb@projo.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
columnMust credit The Providence Journal
I think Kobe would have
I think Kobe would have officially been "the next Jordan" if it weren't for his sex scandal. I think his image clearly diminished after that incident. Though his game only improved, the public's perception of him fell. LeBron is the new "Boy Wonder" and people look up to him as a savior in the NBA. It is stars like him that bring new excitement to the game. Hypothetically, on a 5v5 game between 5 Kobe's and 5 LeBron's, I would honestly have to say that LeBron would win by a margin. Kobe's the smarter player, but LeBron is the more talented player. Regardless, I like them both and think they are both excellent athletes.
roll off dumpsters & containters
Lebron is by far the better
Lebron is by far the better player. He has surpassed kobe in every possible way, (except jump shooting) and is the smarter player. He is a better defensive player, better rebounder, better passer, better all around scorer, more explosive, bigger, faster, and down right nastier. Not even a comparision. If it was a football game, lebron would win 35 to 10. Game over!
Kobe/lebron
Whoever says Lebron is more talented than Kobe doesn't understand the game very well. Kobe has a way to score from anywhere on the floor and he thinks the game better than anyone in the league. He also doesn't have the physical advantages that Lebron has and still get's it done.