We Have Witnessed, And Will Continue To, So Appreciate It, Will You?

The King has his ring.

It’s taken 3,283 days. A long road traveled, and a long time coming. What once seemed unattainable has finally been attained. The crowning achievement has finally been achieved.

The journey began in The Theater at Madison Square Garden, in New York, New York. An 18-year old phenom from St. Vincent St. Mary’s High School in Akron, Ohio fulfilled his lifelong dream of becoming an NBA player selected by his home state team, the Cleveland Cavaliers. Who knew that LeBron James, almost nine years to the day, would have risen to the pantheon of greatness.

The journey continued. What ensued from that moment on were some signs of dominance. James went on to win the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award after averaging 20.9 points per game, 5.9 assists per game, and 5.5 rebounds per game. Those marks left him within elite company, as only the legendary Michael Jordan and Oscar Robertson were the only players to maintain those averages through their rookie seasons. Tyreke Evans of the Sacramento Kings, years later, would join them. He followed that year up with a tremendous sophomore campaign, averaging just a hair over 27 points per game, collecting 7.2 assists, 2.2 steals and 7.4 rebounds a game also, and became the youngest player in the Association’s history to be named to the All-NBA first team, at the ripe age of 20. His 56 points that he scored as against the Toronto Raptors shattered the Cavs’ record for points in a game individually. The following year the Cavaliers made the playoffs, and James put on a show against the Wizards. It’s a forgotten series in the minds of many, but the Akron native posted nearly 36 points per game during the six-game series, including a triple double in his playoff debut. The Cavs would lose to the Pistons, but LeBron went down swinging, averaging 30.8 in the series, along with 5.8 assists and 8.1 rebounds.

The term ‘elite’ was stamped, and James ran with it. He ran roughshod with it, taking the league by storm the next couple of years. Who could forget his 48 points against Detroit in the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals? While the Pistons had one final stand in 2008, James’ incredible performance (48 points, 54.5 FG%, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, 29 of the last 30 points for Cleveland including their last 25). 

(H/T NBA)

The Cavs were subsequently swept, but James’ greatness was unheralded at this point. He was well on his way.

Then things started to get shaky. The Cavaliers were trounced in a seven game series by the Boston Celtics in 2008, but once again, The King went down swinging, scoring 45 points, but It wasn’t enough.

“But it wasn’t enough.” “But it’s not enough.”

Sound familiar? It should. We’ll get to that later.

The following year was James’ first MVP season, and subsequently, one of his more marveled playoff performances. LeBron nearly averaged 40 points a game against the Orlando Magic, and I mean, who could forget this buzzer beater, right?

(H/T NBA)

However, things didn't go as planned. The Magic overwhelmed the Cavaliers and made the NBA Finals. This time though, James didn’t go out swinging. He scored just 25 points, and bounced from the postgame handshakes, which incited a lot of brouhaha. James felt that it didn’t make sense to go shake someone’s hand after a loss, saying he was a competitor, and he wasn’t going to congratulate a team that just beat him.

Seems fair enough right? Nope. It wasn’t enough.

And this wouldn’t be the last time something that LeBron James would incite controversy. Oh no.

James and the Cavaliers once again won the league’s MVP Award, and once again the Cavs were the top dogs in the Eastern Conference. They ran through the Chicago Bulls, but once again, they ran into trouble with the Boston Celtics. They beat them in 6 games, including delivering Cleveland its worst playoff home loss in history, and James’ triple double wasn’t enough in Game 6 to get Cleveland the victory.

As fate would have it, that would be the last time the superstar would don the Cavaliers jersey. And as history reminds us, it was all thanks to one eventful decision.

(H/T AP)

The journey took its toll in Cleveland, and ventured on down to sunny South Beach. Championship aspirations flooded the city like a hurricane, but to many now, James was a villain. A heel in wrestling jargon. Quite possibly the most hated man in the NBA’s long and toiled history. And EVERYONE made sure to let him hear it when they got the chance to.

The Miami Heat smoked through the Sixers, the Celtics, and then the Bulls in an impressive fifteen game run with only three losses to their belt. Then they squared up with the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals, and needless to say, all hell broke loose. The Heat were the New World Order and Dirk Nowitzki was Ric Flair and the Mavericks were The Four Horsemen. It was good versus evil, and like the storybooks tell us, good prevailed over evil, and it was Dallas celebrating on Miami’s home court winning the NBA Finals.

Cue the summer filled with LeBron jokes. Cue the fourth quarter jokes. Cue every pundit and late night host getting his or her kicks in.

And now, flash forward to now. Everyone in this playoffs had the Heat left for dead. Everyone was zeroing in on them, saying what they had wasn’t good enough, and starting over was imminent. That having three of the best players in the world, including the best player in the world was not enough.

But is it now? You bet.

The journey has culminated. LeBron James is a champion now.

You can’t take it away from him. No matter how much it may be to your dismay that this polarizing player finally can hoist up the Larry O’Brien Trophy and fit a championship ring around his ring finger, you can’t take it away from him.

What you can do though, is try and appreciate it.

There will be the critics that say he isn’t on Kobe Bryant’s level, and most certainly there will be people that say LeBron James isn’t on Michael Jordan’s level. But how about this. I’m proposing something right now that I want you to do. I know it won’t mean much because, well, who am I to tell you how to think, but just try and think of it this way:

There will NEVER be another LeBron James.

Register that yet?

Now? Okay. If you have, think about that. There won’t ever be somebody who is LeBron James again. Nobody could possibly be this polarizing. Nobody could seem so villainous when at one time he was almost like a superhero. And nobody will ever seem so great either.

There won’t ever be another Magic Johnson. There won’t ever be another Larry Bird. There won’t ever be another Kobe Bryant. There won’t be another Kareem, Duncan, Oscar, Shaq, Russell, West, Moses, Stockton, Erving, and no, there won’t ever be another Michael Jeffery Jordan.

And there will never be another LeBron Raymone James.

So as you sit back and feel yourself drenched in hate because the Heat won the NBA Finals for the second time in franchise history, just realize that for the last 3,283 days, and for a long, foreseeable future, we have and will be watching one of the greatest players in the National Basketball Association’s history. Hey, that’s funny, because it reminds me of a not-so-old adage that was derived from this 6’8” 250 lbs. presence.

We are all witnesses.