NFL
By: Monte Perez
On July 8th in 2010, LeBron James announced his decision when he famously said, “I’m going to take my talents to South Beach and join the Miami Heat” on an ESPN special called “The Decision” Within minutes of this announcement the common theme along social media and amongst writers was that LeBron couldn’t win a championship alone, like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Isiah Thomas, or Michael Jordan did. They said James took the easy way out.
News Flash: No one has ever won a title alone. This is the laziest take in all of sports.
Johnson played with: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy and had Pat Riley as a coach.
Bird played with: Danny Ainge, Dennis Johnson, Robert Parish, and Kevin McHale and had Bill Fitch as a coach.
Thomas played with: Joe Dumars, Dennis Rodman, Bill Laimbeer and had Chuck Daly as a coach.
Jordan played with: Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Toni Kucoc, and had Phil Jackson as a coach.
On April 20, 1986, Jordan scored 63 points in an NBA playoff game against the Boston Celtics. Despite Jordan’s achievement, the Bulls lost to the Celtics in double overtime, 135-131, and lost the series in a 3-game sweep. It wasn’t until other players developed that Jordan and the Bulls were able to win a title.
LeBron and the Cleveland Cavaliers made it to the NBA Finals in 2007, with this roster:
Shannon Brown, Daniel Gibson, Drew Gooden, Larry Hughes, Damon Jones, Dwayne Jones, Donyell Marshall, Ira Newbie, Sasha Pavlovic, Scott Pollard, Eric Snow, Anderson Varejao, David Wesley, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas.
Not one player on the Cavs Eastern Conference winning roster, averaged more than 16 points for their careers.
Luka Doncic became the first player in the History of the NBA to score 60 points, and have 21 assists and 10 rebounds in one game. He did this in an overtime win against the New York Knicks, 126-121.
In a post-game interview, Luka said he was exhausted and needs a recovery beer. There is no way that Luka, doing it all, is a recipe for long-term success for the Dallas Mavericks. I am shocked Jason Kidd continues to limit Christian Wood’s minutes. Before Dallas was hit with the injury bug, Woods was only playing 24 minutes per game. When he is on the floor and playing 30 minutes or more, Woods is an 18 points 9 rebounds per game player. He can score on the inside and is shooting 38% from three-point range and 53% from the floor.
This was a great accomplishment by Luka and a once-in-a-decade performance but, if the Mavericks want long-term success he can not carry the burden every night. If he keeps up this pace he will be exhausted 50 games in. We have seen players like LeBron and Jordan do this for their teams and they never won a championship being Mr. Everything for Cleveland or Chicago. The same results are going to happen in Dallas.
Owner Mark Cuban tweeted after the game:
We are watching greatness
I’ve never seen anything like that ever
Memo to Cuban, If you want to keep Luka healthy and in Dallas, you better get some players around him quickly before he leaves Texas like LeBron left Ohio. As great as Doncic is, no one can win a championship alone.
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