MIAMI
Heat Forward, LeBron James is 28 years old. When Michael Jordan was that age,
he had one championship ring but LeBron James now has two. This isn’t to
suggest James definitely will reach Jordan’s six rings but he has plenty of
time to get there. After winning a second straight title Thursday, James legacy
is still being built. The way he has improved in each of the past two seasons,
he might not even have peaked yet. If the Miami Heat star is still going strong
at 35, the age when Jordan won his sixth crown with Chicago in 1998, that would
mean James has at least seven more good cracks at continuing to win titles.
When Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was James current age, he had one ring, and he also
would end up with six. When Shaquille O’Neal was 28 , he had also had just one,
and he finished with four. When Tim Duncan was that age, he had two and now he
has four. Larry Bird at that point had two of the three he would get. Yes,
Jordan, Abdul-Jabbar, O’Neal, Duncan and Bird all spent at least three years in
college while James never stepped into one university class. Kobe Bryant also
didn’t go to college and had three rings at age 28 . But Bryant didn’t get his
fourth until he was nearly 31, so James needs just one in the next two years to
move ahead of that pace. And while were fully dissecting the age of various
greats and their ring totals, Magic Johnson had four of his five when he was
James current age. And Bill Russell, whose 11 titles never will be equaled, had
five at the time. The bottom line is James championship pace now compares
favorably with many of the legends of the game. And his
Most Valuable Player award pace is off the charts. James four are more than
anybody ever has had at his age and are two shy of Abdul-Jabbar’s record total
of six. Abdul-Jabbar had told FOX Sports Florida last month, As long as LeBron
stays healthy and keeps playing the game at a high level, he, of course, could
break my record. The last two seasons have elevated James stock tremendously.
He has joined Russell (1961 and 1962) and Jordan (1991 and 1992) as the only
players to have won the MVP trophy and championships in consecutive seasons. I
want to be, if not the greatest, one of the greatest to ever play this game,
James said after his Heat had polished off the San Antonio Spurs 95-88 in Game 7
to secure the crown. And I will continue to work for that, and continue to put
on this uniform and be the best I can be every night. James already is one of
the best. He’s not top five yet, but he’s getting close. Bryant recently told
ESPN Radio in Los Angeles his five greatest NBA players ever are Johnson,
Jordan, Bird, Russell and Abdul-Jabbar. I agree with that list except I would
replace Bird with Wilt Chamberlain. Yes, I know Wilt the Stilt was often Wilt
the Stiff in the postseason with just two titles, but its hard to ignore his
overall dominance. And, in case you’re wondering, both of Chamberlains
championships came after he was LeBron’s current age. When it comes to the
greatest players ever, James is now in the second five. But he’s got plenty of
time left in his career to move up to the first team. No, James cant go 6 for 6
in Finals the way Jordan did. He’s already lost twice in four trips. But, when
all is said and done, there should be no shame in that. Johnson dropped four
Finals in nine visits. Abdul-Jabbar fell four times in 10 trips. Bird (out of
five Finals) and Bryant (out of seven) also each had two defeats. (James has)
been in a championship four times and he’s won two of them. That’s a great
percentage when you can make it to the Finals, said Heat guard Dwyane Wade, who
actually has a better percentage, having won three of four Finals. So the story
is still yet to be seen what he’s going end up with. But, right now, he’s going
to enjoy No. 2. Winning back-to-back, there’s not a lot of people who have done
that. Jordan, of course, won three in a row twice and that will be James quest
next season to do it a first time. When Jordan completed his initial
three-peat, he was 30 years, four months. If James can do it next season, he
would be roughly 10 months younger.
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