10 Harsh realities about LeBron James
LeBron James is one of the greatest to ever step on the hardwood. Currently pursuing a 4th title with the Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron has had an accolade-filled career which places him right there in the conversation for being maybe the Greatest of All Time.
Despite his nearly infallible game and his completely uncontroversial off-the-court dealings, there are several harsh realities about his career which are often glossed over when armchair pundits like us sit and discuss his career.
The following is a list of 10 harsh realities - unwittingly or willingly - from James' career, which need to be brought to the limelight and discussed more often.
Also read: Top 10 Regular season scorers in NBA History
#10 The Cavaliers became too good too soon with him
The tanking process wasn't nearly as perfect in the noughties as it is today. While Cleveland did tank to obtain a generational, transcendental superstar, they expected to be lower in the lottery places for longer, in order to pick up enough young talent to make a title push.
Inadvertently, LeBron James hurt this process, which the Philadelphia 76ers have pulled off so well over the duration of the last 5 years. It is not a direct knock on James' legacy because as a player you are supposed to give your 100% every time you set foot on the court, but the reality of the Cavaliers' situation is that because of LeBron's extraordinary influence right from his first year, it shortened this duration of tanking that was necessary to accumulate the right talent.
If the Cavaliers had been worse for just one more year, they would've had the chance to draft the likes of Chris Paul, Deron Williams or Andrew Bynum in the competitive draft class of 2005, instead of having to settle for one of the last lottery picks.
Cleveland is not a big market, and the best players in the league were never likely to join the franchise in free agency when faced with competing for offers from teams in better markets.