Last week, Paul Pierce said that Lebron James is not in the top five All-Time NBA players list. A lot of people have been giving a lot of crap to Pierce saying that he is crazy to think that Lebron James is not on his top five players list. But am I the only one that seems to agree with Paul Pierce’s list?
Now Lebron is a phenomenal player, and he is definitely in the top ten of NBA players all time, but he is not in the top five, not yet. Before you get on me, No Pierce is NOT a top 30 player All-Time, but I don’t think that Pierce’s opinion is wrong.
This is Pierce’s list on who he thinks is in the top five.
- Michael Jordan
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
- Bill Russell
- Magic Johnson
- Kobe Bryant
Now what do these top five players have in common? These Five players have at least FIVE or more rings. Michael Jordan won six rings with the Bulls going a perfect 6-0 in the Finals, Kareem won six rings (one with the Bucks, five with the Lakers) going 6-4 in the Finals, Bill Russell won eleven rings with Celtics going 11-1 in the Finals, Magic Johnson won five rings with the Lakers going 5-4 in the Finals, while Kobe won five with the Lakers going 5-2 in the Finals.
What is Lebron’s record in the Finals? 3-6. Winning two with the Heat, and one with the Cavaliers. Lebron’s record in the Finals is not amazing, he has won three rings, but I don’t think it is “amazing”. Let’s look at his Finals appearances.
2007, Lost to the San Antonio Spurs, 4-0
2011, Lost to the Dallas Mavericks, 4-2
2012, Defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder, 4-1
2013, Defeated the San Antonio Spurs, 4-3
2014, Lost to the San Antonio Spurs, 4-1
2015, Lost to the Golden State Warrior, 4-2
2016, Defeated the Golden State Warriors, 4-3
2017, Lost to the Golden State Warriors, 4-1
2018, Lost to the Golden State Warrior, 4-0
Now Lebron’s most impressive Finals appearance was probably in 2007, when he was such a young player in the league with not much help on the Cavs to lead them to the NBA Finals. They may have got swept that series, but the journey there was impressive. The best Finals win he had was versus the Golden State Warriors in 2016, when they came back to win the Finals after trailing the series 3-1. But two of those Finals, he almost didn’t win. If it wasn’t for Ray Allen’s game tying three in Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals, or Kyrie Irving’s three pointer in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals, Lebron would be 1-8 in the Finals.
When Lebron was a free agent, Lebron ALWAYS left a team when he couldn’t get the job done. He left Cleveland the first time, because he couldn’t reach the Finals after being the top seed in the Eastern Conference in 2009 and 2010. He went to Miami to team up with Wade and Bosh to finally get a ring, and went 2-2 in the Finals after saying they were going to win 8 titles. He hopped off the ship when they lost to the Spurs to head back to Cleveland to play with Kyrie Irving and their first overall pick, Andrew Wiggins that would end up being traded for Kevin Love. Lebron basically ended up being a general manager for that team, firing coaches, and bringing in and trading away many players to make sure he had the most talent and help on the roster. He went 1-3 with the Cavs before leaving again for the bright lights in LA to play for the Lakers.
Whenever the tough got going for the top five players in the list, they never just hopped off the ship to team up with someone after a Finals loss, they used it as motivation for the next season. MJ could never reach the Finals, because he couldn’t get by the Detroit Pistons “Bad Boys”. He stayed with that team, got stronger, and took them down that next year. When Kareem and Magic lost to the Celtics in ’86, they responded right back winning the title the next year. When Bill Russell didn’t reach the Finals after winning 8 years in a row, he responded back winning the Finals the next season. Kobe stayed with the Lakers after Shaq left, lost to the Celtics in the 2008 NBA Finals, and won two titles in a row after that Finals loss.
Another thing is Stats don’t mean everything.
People look at Lebron’ stats and they see how many points, rebounds, assists, he averages. But just because you have good stats, but it sometimes does not mean anything if you don’t win. If you want to be in the top five best list, you got have amazing stats and win multiple chips, not just one or two titles. Lebron is almost there in the top five, if he wins another title or two, he is FOR SURE in the top Five, But right now, he is not. Everyone in the top five list, has at least five rings and phenomenal stats. Karl Malone, Julius Erving, and Larry Bird were all great players who put up phenomenal stats, but they don’t even come close to the Top Five, because they didn’t win many titles, or no titles at all. Or the other way around, Robert Horry won seven rings in the NBA, but were his stats really good? No. You have to have really good stats and at least win multiple rings.
I personally think that Lebron is ranked either #6 or #7 on the All Time List
Lebron is either ahead of Shaquille O’Neal or behind him. Shaq has won 4 rings while averaging pretty good stats in his career, but I don’t think he is in the top five. All those players ahead of Shaq has won more rings than him. Lebron has better stats than Shaq, but he does not have four rings.
To Wrap it up
Lebron is an amazing player and without a doubt a top ten player of all time, but he is not in the top five yet. If he wins a ring or two with the Lakers, he will earn my respect and will make my top five list. Stats and winning multiple rings plays a big factor in wanting to be in the top five all-time.
If Lebron was 1-8 in the Finals, would people put him in the top five All Time?
FYI, Y’all need to stop acting like Paul Pierce was terrible, watch some of his highlights in the 2000’s decade the guy could get buckets!
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