LeBron James‘ decision to go to Miami may have been the best thing that could happen to the league.
How do you figure? Well let’s look back at the league’s best years in history.
The old Boston Celtics team led by Bill Russell and ran by Red Auerbach did not win 11 rings by accident. At that time Auerbach was able to beat the system to continuously stack talent to maintain the elite level of play.
The 1980s were ran by Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, who both played with many hall-of-famers and guys who were stars (or close to it) with or without Johnson and Bird. Think for a second, the Los Angeles Lakers traded for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar then were able to draft Johnson and James Worthy. That was not by a coincidence: the league was top-heavy and just like everyday society, “The rich get richer.”
In the 1990s Michael Jordan dominated like no other player ever in a somewhat diluted league full of overpaid scrubs. But it’s not a coincidence that he won rings with Scottie Pippen, then the Chicago Bulls were able to bring in Dennis Rodman and Horace Grant.
In the 2000s Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant were able to dominate and then add Gary Payton, Karl Malone, Robert Horry, Glen Rice, and stack up talent. The San Antonio Spurs have an MVP in David Robinson then draft Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker. They stacked more talent. The Boston Celtics traded for Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to play with Paul Pierce.
The league has benefited the most when teams are stacked.
James’s decision to join the Miami Heat changed the league completely because now players were the ones stacking the talent. Without his decision, Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire would not be New York Knicks, Deron Williams and Joe Johnson would not be Brooklyn Nets, Dwight Howard and Steve Nash would not be Lakers, and Chris Paul would not be a Los Angeles Clipper.
In other words, the decision by Lebron James to become a Heat player was just a 21st-century version of making the league stronger and more competitive.
Don’t hate the player, hate the game.
