Lebron James

Here's what I think is the best thing about Lebron James. He's 6'9", 235 lbs. and he is more athletic than all the guards in the league. He's a fast shot of liquid amazing on offense and not a liability on defense. This guy is 25 and playing in an era that can keep his already freakish body working for a very long time.

The best part of the future I see for him is that when he finally loses his step a little, he'll just play a power forward and become the best post scorer in the league. He is going to be a valuable part of a franchise as a top-3 rotation player until he's 40, and then he'll probably win a couple sixth man trophies when he's in his mid-to-late forties. The only thing that can change this future is if the man doesn't have the desire to play for as long as he can.

He seems to like being a celebrity, and that siren song may take him from the game prematurely. With today's training and medicine, I am confident Lebron could hang with the NBA talent in a useful capacity until he's 50. He could break all the records, even the silly ones that don't really even count in historical perspective, like Wilt's scoring record. Plus, wouldn't it be awesome to see him like late-80s Kareem, He'd be all bald but with a gigantic Kimbo Slice beard, he'd get even bigger like 30s Shaq, 6'9" and 290 lbs., he'd be hanging around the rim, playing defense and delivering punishing fouls.

 He would have the most amazing NBA career, not top five but number one. He would surpass Jordan as the most amazing player in the league. Jordan isn't really even the right comparison. He's more like a thicker Magic, capable of really playing any of the 5 positions at a high level. He's better than Magic, too, because his defense is better. So as long as his career doesn't get derailed like Magic's did, I think he really will go down as the best player the league has seen so far.

He won't win as many scoring titles as Jordan, he won't win as many rings as Russell, he won't put ahead a 50-point average season like Wilt, but he'll whip up a lot of triple-doubles in his career, he'll be the best player on his team for at least another ten years, and in this diluted and mostly well-managed league, he will be an envied asset for any organization. Especially when he realizes that he has hundreds of millions of dollars and only has to play to win.

He already makes his team play better, what will happen when he starts signing 5 million dollar deals to play with his buddies and win a few rings? Sports fans are a fickle bunch, though, and I have a bad feeling that if Lebron doesn't live up to that expectation, he may be remembered as a disappointment. Not because he wasn't great, because we already know that he's great, but because if he loses his desire to win, and retires before he's 40, true fans will feel like they got cheated out of seeing Lebron morph into Bill Laimbeer when he's reinventing his game for the third or fourth time.

He's just such a special player that everyone wants to see his gifts utilized 100% because we know that he has transcendent game within him and its magical to see and we will never be happy with the amount of transcendence he get from him. Make no mistake about it, he will be a bit of a disappointment if he doesn't surpass everyone else with his career.

I can't believe anyone ever even asks, "Kobe or Lebron?" It doesn't make sense. Just consider their positions and bodies. In the gap between players at their own positions, Lebron is far better than his competition at his position than Kobe is. Kobe is expected to score more at this point in his career. He's a perimeter player. Lebron makes up for it in that he makes his team better than Kobe does. He seems more well-balanced mentally than Kobe as well, so I think that he will be able to become a great big man, great sixth man, great role player, great clutch player on a lot of competitive teams. He'll get around a bit as he gets older, and he'll bring some personality to every team lucky enough to have him.