We use the word "elite" to describe athletes all the time. To me, there are only 6 players in the history of basketball that I consider to be truly elite. I had the chance to watch LeBron James last night as he came to town with the Miami Heat to play the Jazz. This got me thinking about where he fits in the history of basketball.
This blog will come in two parts. First, I will explain my criteria and why the six members are in and why others are not. Part two will look at what LeBron has done already and what he needs to do to move into this elite group.
First the criteria. Pretty simple. You have to have the talent. You had to have maximized that talent. You had to be a guy who brought out the best in others, lifted them, and been a leader. In other words, you had to be a great teammate. You had to win, but that's not enough. You had to continue to win. There had to be a driving force that inspired you to win and win again.
Without further delay, here are the 6 members of my Elite Club:
1. Michael Jordan
A no-brainer. The only criteria where MJ fell short was in the teammate department. In his early days, MJ was absolutely belligerent toward his teammates. He couldn't fathom why other people were not as driven as he was. While he never became as good of a teammate as the others on this list, he became adequate.
Here is what separates MJ (and Bill Russell) from everyone else: They owned their era. We look at Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, John Stockton, and Reggie Miller and we say "Those guys were good, never won a title, but they played in the Michael Jordan era" and we cut them a certain amount of slack. Russell and Jordan are the only two in this category.
2. Bill Russell
He was an outstanding teammate. In fact, he is probably the best teammate of all time. Easily the best defensive player ever.
In a recent Bill Simmons article, Russell talks about watching film of new teammates and devising a plan to incorporate their strengths into the team goal. He then made adjustments to his own game to ensure that his teammates strengths were amplified and their weaknesses minimized. He did this every single year. No one has ever done it better.
3. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem was a freak. With his 7'4" height, long arms, and an extremely strong lower body, Kareem was able to develop the most unstoppable weapon in the history of sports: the sky hook. The only way to stop him was to pound on him and pray that the officials were in a "lets them play" mood that night.
4. Larry Bird
Nobody can touch his career 24-10-7 career averages. More than anyone else in history, Bird milked every bit out of the talent he was given. Technically, he played small forward. But really, there isn't a position for him. Larry Bird was just a basketball player.
5. Magic Johnson
Another guy who grew from being a pest to a good teammate. Magic's vision and play making were and are unparalleled. You could take any team in NBA history and Magic would have fit in stylistically. How many players can you honestly say that about? Yeah, that's my point.
6. Tim Duncan
Go ahead. Call him boring. Make fun of him for his wide-eyed "no way!!!!!!!!!!!" looks when he gets called for a foul. Duncan got the job done. He made everyone else around him better. He could do anything, defense or offense. Even now in the twilight of his career, he is still leading his team to title contention.
I know there are some people reading this whose blood is boiling right now. "How could you exclude player x? You're an idiot!" Well yeah, but let me explain the big omissions.
Kobe:
Talented enough. Has won enough. But are we ever going to look back and say "Man, Kobe lifted his teammates to be the best that they could be!"? Nope. Final thought: How many of the elite six had their coach write a 200+ page book that was meant to be a recap of a season that ended up being a cover to cover beat down of their character because they were such a pain in the butt to everyone? None. I rest my case.
Wilt Chamberlain:
Wilt's stats are eye-popping. On numbers alone, he should be in any top group of players. But he is not. He led the league in assists because he thought it would be cool. He passed up wide open layups to dish to teammates so that he could pad his assist numbers. He often berated teammates for missing shots, but only when it would have given him another assist. That's not unselfish, its idiotic. For more reasons, I invite you to read Simmons' "The Book of Basketball".
Shaq:
It is difficult to look at Shaq's career and say that he underachieved. But he did. Shaq could have been so much better.
As he got going, he ran up against players like Luc Longley and Arvydas Sabonis who had the size to withstand his powerful post up attacks. Instead of changing his game to dominate these slow-footed counterparts, Shaq decided to just become bigger so that he could barrel through anyone. The added weight was hard on his lower body, robbing him of his explosion. If he had kept reasonably close to the 300 pounds that he started his career at, and expanded his game to include more moves, Shaq would have passed Kareem in the pecking order. Instead, he just gets to be considered among the best.
If you don't maximize your talents, I have to leave you off my list.
Jerry West:
West worked as hard as anyone ever has at his game. His long arms and extremely quick feet made him one of the best defensive guards ever. In an era that didn't clearly establish the difference between point and shooting guard, West played both better than anyone in that era.
His problem? Russell. He could never get past the guy. A title or two in the sixties, and West is in the elite club. Of those I have listed so far, West was the closest to making it in.
Oscar Robertson:
Great stats, a championship (to be fair, Kareem carried a shell of Oscar to a title), and the only guy to ever average a triple-double for an entire season. Why is he excluded? He was quite possibly the most horrendous teammate of all time. No one (except Kareem) was ever good enough for him and he let them know. His whining about teammates continues to this day. Of all the people I have written about here, Oscar is the furthest from being included in the elite club.
So there you have it, part 1. Look for part 2 about where LeBron fits into this.
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