By Mike Burke
Q: What do Bill Russell, Sam Jones, Tommy Heinsohn, K.C. Jones, Satch Sanders, John Havlicek, Jim Loscutoff, Frank Ramsey, Robert Horry, Bob Cousy, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, George Mikan, Jim Pollard, Slater Martin, Larry Siegfried, Don Nelson, Michael Cooper, Magic Johnson, Dennis Rodman, Ron Harper, Steve Kerr, Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher and Tim Duncan have in common?
A: They won more NBA championships during their playing careers than LeBron James has won.
Q: What do Vern Mikkelsen, Frank Saul, Bill Sharman, Gene Guarilia, Jamaal Wilkes, Kurt Rambis, Robert Parish, Will Perdue, John Salley, Horace Grant, Shaquille O’Neal, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker have in common?
A: They won just as many NBA championships during their playing careers as LeBron James has won.
Just sayin’.
It’s tough being the old guy, having grown up checking the TV Guide to see if tonight’s NBA, NHL or MLB game was going to be shown in color or in black and white. Seriously, black and white television came first just as black and white movies came first. Why do you think “Gone With The Wind” and “The Wizard of Oz” were such big deals in 1939? And, no, I wasn’t here then. Not quite that old.
But that’s where we are in today’s sports culture. There is no appreciation for history. If it happened when the film was black & white and grainy, or if it wasn’t on SportsCenter (GAK!), it didn’t happen.
As we all know by now, the Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA title on Sunday and that makes LeBron James the GOAT (that means Greatest of All-Time for those of you who wisely do not watch SportsCenter). Why? Because he has won four NBA titles with three different teams and has been NBA Finals Most Valuable Player four times.
Impressive to say the least, but where do the six NBA Finals he has lost factor into the distinction? That’s right, LeBron is 4-6 in the NBA Finals. And since you asked, it puts him at No. 3 all-time, which is much higher than he stands on the titles-won list, behind Jerry West (The Logo) and Elgin Baylor with eight and seven respectively.
Bill Russell was 11-1 in the NBA Finals and those 11 titles came in a 13-year career. With one team. But that doesn’t count in this Attention Span of a Gnat sports culture because, well … it just doesn’t. It wasn’t on SportsCenter. Besides, not once did Bill Russell announce to the world. “I want my damn respect” the way the guy who has called himself King James since he was in high school did on Sunday night.
(Please. “I want my damn respect.” What does that even mean? Hardly the stuff of, “There goes Ted Williams, the greatest hitter who ever lived.”)
Now, is this to suggest that Bill Russell was the greatest basketball player of all-time? No, but he is clearly the greatest winner in professional sports history. But again, that was before shoe deals, so how does that pertain to basketball history? All we know now is the greatest player of all-time is either LeBron James or Michael Jordan because LeBron has four titles and Jordan won six.
But see? This pinhead sports culture is being taught ESPN math. Four is not greater than six or even equal to six; four is less than six. Just as six is less than 11 – and all the numbers in between, as well as all of the players between Jordan and Russell on the most-titles list if this is the criteria we are using for this.
Maybe LeBron James is the greatest of all-time, but if he is it isn’t because of the number of titles his teams have won. But maybe Jordan is the greatest, or Russell, or Wilt Chamberlain (look him up on your phone), or Kareem, or Magic, or Bird or Kobe. Who’s to say? Nobody’s to say because nobody can say as the game of basketball, more than any other game, continues to evolve daily.
And speaking of never-before-seen evolve, well done to the NBA for pulling it off. There were no positive COVID-19 cases reported during the three-month hoops convention in the Disney World bubble, which in itself is remarkable given the physical nature of the game.
The bubble’s stringent health and safety protocols apparently worked perfectly, without a single player who cleared quarantine testing positive and without a single game affected by the virus. The NBA rigorously enforced its protocols, held its breath and crossed its fingers and was able to complete the 2019-20 season.
That is the feat to me that has earned and deserves our damn respect.
Mike Burke has been writing and covering sports since 1981. Write to him at [email protected], or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @MikeBurkeMDT and listen to him, Matt Gilmore and Lydia Savramis on their “You Don’t Know Jack” podcast. Follow “You Don’t Know Jack” on Facebook as well.