LeBron James Haters Guide

LeBron James has claimed he deserves to be included on basketball’s hypothetical Mount Rushmore as one of the top four players ever to hit the court. James suggested he’d carve Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and maybe Oscar Robertson into stone, but he’d need to bump one of them first.

Not so fast, LeBron. Just in time for your water cooler debates, we’ve assembled a handy list of arguments against The King’s legacy as one of the best of best. Here is your Hater’s Guide to LeBron James.

Why LeBron James Is Not in the Top Five NBA Players of All Time (Yet)

Rings

LeBron finally won his first NBA championship in 2012 with help from Wade and Bosh. He added another the following year when Ray Allen saved his legacy in a gripping seven-game NBA Finals against the Spurs. While two is all well and good, Jordan has six, Magic has five, Bird has three, and Kobe has five.

[sc:NBA240banner ]James can get his third this season with the Heat being pegged as the top favorites to win it with + 225 odds to win the 2013-14 NBA championship. But he hasn’t yet, and he’s already talking.

Rebounds, Assists, Steals, and Blocks

Outside of his point totals, James has some holes in his statistical resume. He is 173rd all-time in rebounds, 40th in assists, 52nd in steals, and 164th in blocks. And sure, he’ll add to these totals as he goes along, but then again Derrick Rose was also planning to be adding to his statistics these last two seasons. Injuries happen and only time will tell if LeBron can stay healthy long enough to climb into the upper echelons of those statistical conversations.

Legacy

Jordan owned his era. It was only when he stepped out of the game for a breather that the likes of Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler won NBA titles. Olajuwon and Drexler were great players but they probably could have retired without rings had Jordan stayed in the game.

Before Jordan came along, it was undoubtedly the age of Magic and Larry, who alternated winning championships in the 1980s.

While James is certainly putting together a case, it would not be fair to say this is firmly his era just yet. There were the years in Cleveland where his start wasn’t shining as bright as it is now. There was the tail end of Kobe’s reign. Plus, there’s this other guy…

Kevin Durant

Kevin Durant is putting up more points (31.5), rebounds (7.8), and blocks (0.8) per game than James (26.5PPG, 7.0 APG, 0.3 BPG) this season, while hitting a better percentage of his threes (41% for Durant, 35% for James) and free throws (88% for Durant compared to James’ 75%). The only statistical category The King leads in this year is assists, and even then it’s only one extra assist a game. Best of all time? More like second best of 2013-2014.

Longevity

If Durant can keep this pace up, he’ll have a place in the all-time discussion as well. But chances are, he won’t open his mouth about it. Because bottom line, that’s the issue with James’ claim: much of what will be said about LeBron has yet to be decided. The names he’s comparing himself with are players who put their time in, rang up career numbers that stand up, and added some rings to the trophy case while they were at it.

The debate will go on and on as to where exactly James will end up in the rankings once he hangs up his sneakers. Here’s hoping he isn’t a part of it.